Hearts of Darkness

Hearts of Darkness

I walked in the door with shaky hands and my heart beating a mile a minute. The building was beautifully decorated and I felt very out of place. I had never had a job before and was nervous that busing tables at a country club wasn't really for me. I walked into the linen room and put on my burgundy bus coat for the first time. Now I was feeling more excited than nervous. I would meet people and learn new things. Maybe this would not be so bad.

Everyone seemed very nice and another bus girl offered to give me a tour. We went to the main dining room, a smaller dining room, the bar and the kitchen. She told me not to spend too much time there because the Mexican guys were kind of scary. I thought that was a mean thing to say but I listened and didn't even say hello to them.

After a few days I became curious about why she had said to stay away from the guys in the kitchen. I asked around and heard a lot of rumors about sexual harassment. I decided to say hello to some of the Hispanic men anyway and not listen to the rumors. I wanted to find out firsthand if they were true.

The first man I saw was short with dark, shoulder-length hair. I said hello and he replied with a shy Hola. When I saw the next man, I said, "Hola" very enthusiastically to let him know I wanted to be friends. He replied with the same and a very broad smile. I decided then that I did not need to listen to other people. These men seemed very nice.

From then on I always said hello to my new friends in the kitchen. I'd had two years of Spanish at school and could somewhat

communicate with them. I learned their names and a little about their lives. My favorite person at the club turned out to be Felipe, one of the chefs. He was the nicest person I had ever met. He always yelled Chreeeessy! when I came in the kitchen and gave me a huge hug. He would ask me how I was and how my soccer team was doing. I learned that he had a wife and a son.