I like living in a town where I know all the shopkeepers and even the workers at Dunkin Donuts and my mini-mart gas station. At my 24-hr Dunkin, they make my regular when they see my car pull in. That's nice. My Dunkin franchise is owned by a (Dot not Feather) Indian couple, but mostly served by Pakistani male immigrants. One black American lady works mornings there, and a Mexican guy does the night shift. The one black dude who worked there for about 6 months was fired for stealing from the till.
My gas-mini mart place ("Eat Here and get Gas") is manned by a Haitian, 2 Mexicans, and a Dominican. 4 shifts but they often do double shifts. A nice Mexican gal worked a fill-in shift for a while, but quit because nights were too fatiguing for her with three kids at home. I am friendly with the Mexican guy and the ever-cheerful Haitian guy who is always trying to figure out how to get rich and move to Miami. He is a brother in Christ. I briefly trade life stories for a minute or two with those 2, and they save a left-over Sunday New York Times for me on Monday morning. Free, of course, on Monday.
That Mexican guy has finally gotten off Oxycontin after two years of multiple leg repairs from his job in construction when he was in a ditch when a gas line exploded. Kept working through it all, in pain. He finally feels "pretty good, thank God." He has a noticeable gimp. He is legal, is trying to bring his wife and 2 kids to the US but has trouble paying the immigration lawyer. Has not seen his family for three years, sends them money. He lives in a small apartment with a cousin and brother, and the three share a small rusty 15 year-old Toyota. He is a sweet guy but he knows absolutely nothing about America beyond the citizenship test he had to take. Other than this job, he lives Mexican.
The other day he asked me about the bruises on my jaw. "Dental surgery," I said. "Pain?" he asked. "For a while," I said, "but better now." He said he had a very bad tooth, broke it on a chicken bone. Told me that in Mexico the dentist would pull it for $25 or $50. In the US, $400. and if he needs a root canal, $1200., so he is waiting to deal with it. Dentistry is expensive.
I told him about the couple of dental schools which have free clinics. Also, I told him that most dentists will give you a payment plan if you ask. After all, most people cannot walk in and put $4000 on their credit card, or write a $4000 check from their checking.
