AMEN ´S HANDS: always doing his best

Two months ago I started to work in a restaurant as a waiter. Amen was one of my first teachers – the second one -. He is very skilful and competent at drying the plaits, also fast, efficient and meticulous. I do love the way he moves his hands and the full coordination of each of his gestures. I like de way which he takes care of every detail.

He knows the timing of things, the restaurant rhythm due to have been working for years in each one of the differents posts. He is always very busy but instead of this he never gets down. May be because of the fact that he has global view. He is methodic and perseverant; organised and decisive, he is able to deal with any difficult situation.

When we shock our hands the other day I realised something about his particular fisionomy. He had several fingers slightly deformed, surely because he has dedicated many hours to this job, too many wounds and too much energy to develop his job, which is to managing “the back” properly, the part of the restaurant located between the floor and the kitchen; between the customers and the cooks.

Amen is definitely a generous teacher, a good magister; somebody able to communicate his own experience (acquiered after years of hardworking, little by little, correcting mistakes, step by step).

Furthermore, he is participative, cooperative and versatile as no other. What I like the most about him; his best quality, is his actitude; for example, he works always from the respect to rest of the staff and overall, to himself. He is very generous and he is able to keep working, without a break in order to get everything before his shift ends. He solve problems, doesn´t create them, he is very intuitive and also he knows the difference between right and wrong, he is kind, patient and polite with customers; with no doubt, he is a good waiter.

…

Last Monday night, there was not very much work and we only completed a half shift. It was 21.30 h when I opened the staff room door to take my coat and go back home. Then, surprisingly, I meet up with Ebadul, another of my workmates, who usually works in the bar.

I can´t remember exactly how, but after a couple of minutes we were seated in a posh restaurant close to ours, where we were having a nice kind of tea called /masala/. We were talking about differents topics and I discovered that he was from Bangladesh and he had studied History at the University.

Ebadul, who is actually bilingual, tells me that Amin had been working there for 3 years. He could become one of the restaurant managers, but he doesn´t speak English fluently, he can´t speak it properly. I wonder what he could do to improve his English speaking. I wish one day he will be albe to overcome this language border.

…

Today I have seen him on the street, in Stratford Road, walking on the pavement, just in front of one of the neighbourhood sweeteries, besides the traffic lights while I was waiting to cross over). He wasn´t alone, he was pushing a pushchair and inside it, I discovered a babygirl with precious eyes.

Amen ´s hands don´t belong yet to him. I suppose he focuses all his effort and attention on her, leaving everything else in second place, including his own life and health.

I suppose that taking care of another human being requires us to renounce a part of ourselves to benefit the other, may be because it results in being rewarded.

Now, I see Amin in a different light; from another viewpoint. Now, I can understand why he day after day tryies to finish his job on time; because he has got a very good reason to arrive home early. Anyway, I agree with him. Now I can understand his daily fight better. I trust in him. He is setting a good exemple not only for all of us (the others members of the staff) but for his little baby.

I am sure about this: she will speak English fluently and she will have the most beautiful hands in the world.

Edited by Tamar / Mi profesora de inglés en la Brasshouse (el Language Center donde acudo cada mañana a aprender inglés “posh” / port out starboard house)

today in my room: una canción del disco elephant in the room / dave gray (músico que pone la nota de color en las calles de B´ham, es fácil encontrarle por New Street; también cuando llueve; los días de lluvia, bajo alguna marquesina - el “show must go on” supongo que piensa -) / a mis profes, con todo mi cariño y agradecimiento, por su implicación en el trabajo y con el alumnado, en particular, con éste que escribe