{"id":1361,"date":"2020-11-26T14:42:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T19:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2023-02-19T06:03:29","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T11:03:29","slug":"07-my-first-day-of-work-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/07-my-first-day-of-work-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"07. My First Day of Work in The US"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

07. My First Day of Work in the U.S. (October 3, 1975)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>

I was told to come for work at nine o’clock.
<\/span><\/span>A short distance across the road from the motel.
<\/span>My first task was to vacuum the dining room.
<\/span>Wanting to be a good worker, I asked for more.<\/span><\/p>

Jim DePhillips often observed me working, I noticed.
<\/span><\/span>When I finished one thing, he\u2019d find something else, no waiting.
<\/span>It was my first time using the vacuum machine;
<\/span>My back was in pain, but I dared not to complain.<\/span><\/p>

Jean and Fred came downstairs checking my work.
<\/span><\/span>The dining room was so clean, they agreed.
<\/span>\u201cJim, do you need anything else from Lay?
<\/span><\/span>Let’s keep him busy for today,\u201d Jean insisted.<\/span><\/p>

I worked long hours without a break,
<\/span><\/span>Trying hard to give them a good impression.
<\/span>Although I\u2019d been working like crazy,
<\/span>I would say, \u201cI\u2019m fine\u201d if Jim asked me curiously.<\/span><\/p>

The lunch break seemed like it would never come,
<\/span><\/span>While my back hurt like it was about to crumble.
<\/span>But when I saw Jim walking from a distance,
<\/span>My pain vanished like I just took a godly medicine.<\/span><\/p>

My back was hurting and my stomach starved for food,
<\/span><\/span>I had to keep on working \u2013 not the time for wishing.
<\/span>\u201cLunch time.\u201d Someone shouted.
<\/span><\/span>Oh! It\u2019s lunch time. I was saved by the bell.<\/span><\/p>

That was the best sound of the day,
<\/span><\/span>There was no need for them to ask, I would eat.
<\/span>Unlike last night\u2019s dinner,
<\/span>I ate for my stomach\u2019s avenger.<\/span><\/p>

We had half an hour for lunch,
<\/span><\/span>Which was better than ten minutes in my old navy boot camp.
<\/span>As soon as I sat down, I ate,
<\/span>Stuffed my stomach to the max, good food! Mate.<\/span><\/p>

I thought that I was done for the day,
<\/span><\/span>After having my lunch break.
<\/span>But Jim did not wait long,
<\/span>\u201cLay! I have something for you to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>


<\/span>\u201cCome with me! I\u2019ll show you.
<\/span><\/span>Clean the restrooms and take out the trash.
<\/span>Wesley will show you how.
<\/span>Work together to get it done fast.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Unaware that it was already 4 o\u2019clock.
<\/span>Getting ready for the customers to come in.
<\/span>We’d expected a very busy night,
<\/span>Get ready everybody, inside and out.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cHarry! Lay will help you,
<\/span><\/span>Wash the dishes, stack them up in the cart.
<\/span>After the cart is full of plates,
<\/span>Take it to the dining room, stack them up on the racks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Tonight the customers just kept on coming,
<\/span>Lots of work, however, it was exciting.
<\/span>Coffee must be made fresh frequently;
<\/span>Busboys would empty the leftover coffee into the pots promptly.<\/span><\/p>

Waitresses and busboys were in and out like crazy,
<\/span>Altogether about ten people working like bees making honey.
<\/span>Waitresses waited on guests, getting the coffee and water;
<\/span>Busboys were standing nearby ready for help whatever.<\/span><\/p>

Tonight looked different than other night,
<\/span>There was an Asian man working in the dish washing area.
<\/span>He was quite small, but overall a pleasant looking guy,
<\/span>Curious, everyone came in to check out the Asian man.<\/span><\/p>

Waitresses and busboys were in and out, doors swinging,
<\/span>Talking, joking, laughing, and even smoking.
<\/span>Several waitresses were about my age,
<\/span>But two were very good looking with beautiful faces.<\/span><\/p>

One came over to say hello,
<\/span>Shaking my hand and saying, \u201cYou\u2019re doing a good job.\u201d
<\/span>She was small in size and about my height,
<\/span>She had gotten my attention, and I liked her since that time.<\/span><\/p>

After all the customers were all gone,
<\/span>Waitresses gathered in a corner room,
<\/span>Emptied out all the tip money in their apron bibs
<\/span>Placed it on a table and counted their tips.<\/span><\/p>

All waitresses received an equal amount of tips;
<\/span>Each one would throw in their share for the busboys.
<\/span>Jean also threw in her two cents:
<\/span>\u201cGive Lay some tips will make him happy.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Jean came back to the kitchen to give me the tip.
<\/span>I was thrilled, and so was Jean for having a crowded night.
<\/span>Back to my motel, I was such a happy man on my first night.
<\/span>Counting those dollar bills: one, two, three, four, five.
<\/span>###<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

07. My First Day of Work in the U.S. (October 3, 1975) I was told to come for work at nine o’clock.A short distance across the road from the motel.My first task was to vacuum the dining room.Wanting to be a good worker, I asked for more. Jim DePhillips often observed me working, I noticed.When…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-sailor-named-lay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietphilly.net\/hq11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}