A man describes the first time he worked as a dishwasher and his emotions.
D.P.: I arrived Saturday afternoon. They came, took me from the airport. We went home. We turned on the radio on the same day and exactly on Sunday I started a job. I went to begin work. We’re at a steak house. ‘Steak house’ you know what it means. RE.: Yes, yes, yes. D.P.: Bravo. So, we are at the steak house which I was waiting for, I was the first and I was waiting on the stairs. In the meantime, others came because they didn’t know, but nobody spoke a word. Like say “Good morning” and so on or bonjour et cetera. Because nobody knew each other’s ethnicity. At that point came the first cook. He says… He saw us over there. He says “Kalimera” (Greek for Good morning). With the “Kalimera”, “Kalimera sas” said everybody of course, because they were all Greeks. We got inside. The only thing he said “Who came first?” I say “Me”. He got our personal info and he wrote down everybody’s name. “From you” he says “I’ll get your name and if in any case something happens with the guy here” he says “We’ll call you”. “Alright”. And so, it happened. He left. Over there where we went then, he tells me… after everybody left “Did you get their names and phone numbers?”. After we went, he tells me “I shall give you the clothes from the wardrobe to change”. Indeed, that’s what happened. And, in the meantime, he tells me, before all these I told you about occurred, we went to the kitchen and he tells me “This is your job”. And there was a corner with baskets, baskets with dishes. The moment I saw them I say “Now, all these here I’ll die to wash”. But in any case, he tells me “Change and I’m going at the front to lit up the fire”. But I saw the dishes, I got scared and I turned back to leave. But the door was in the front, because in the back I hadn’t checked where the door is and where I can exit, because I was fresh eh. I try, then, to leave, he says eeeh says Pavlos, “Where are you going?”. I respond “I’m leaving. What, am I to stay and wash these dishes?”. “No” he says. “Come here” he says “It’s nothing”. Finally, in any case, he had an automatic machine. When he lit up the fire, he returned to the kitchen, to the kitchen, yes, he showed me exactly what to do. He had an automatic machine. You put them there and ‘chlap’ it was taking them away and leaving. This was it and I stayed forty days.
