I applied for part time work at a famous, family-oriented steakhouse type restaurant today, after getting off of work from my regular job. I have alot of free time this year, so I'm looking for a part time job about 15 to 20 hours. I applied (on purpose) for a dishwasher position, but the manager told me that all of those jobs were taken the first day (probably by "guess who.") So, I then told him "busboy," and I did an application, and have to come back tomorrow for part two of the process. There are 4 or 5 slots, so I should have some chance of getting it.

I live in an upwardly-mobile area, more or less, with alot of Americans of all races, but also a large number of illegals. I was disappointed that about 70% of the people applying for jobs while I was there were non-Americans, mostly from South of the Border, and the rest were Americans or people from India/Middle East, etc. I was disappointed that more Americans, particularly young people, weren't there. Part of it is that I think that when people in my area think of restaurant work, the image of a Salvadorean person probably comes into their mind. Whereas when I lived and grew up near Baltimore, and even today up there, Americans are more likely to apply for restaurant work there.

I could come back tomorrow and see alot more Americans, of course, but this just reinforces my point that, at least in certain areas of the country, we need to communicate to our young people and to people in general that there is dignity in hotel, construction, restaurant work, etc, and it's not automatically the domain of the illegal alien. This is a project that I'd like to pursue on my own, but I don't know how to go about it. But, it is something that we as Americans will have to eventually address, especially if you live in an area like mine (Alexandria, VA) with a high percentage of illegals.

Ostrich