An immigrant’s hard work helps ensure the American dream
Alver Fuentes begins his day with a cup of coffee and a prayer.
The morning ritual offers the 37-year-old a moment of quiet meditation, a time to thank God for his job, his family and a chance to give his children the things he never had. But it’s only a small moment in a very long day.
Fuentes arrives at the Red Lobster in Sugar Land at about 9:30 a.m. and gives the kitchen a good scrub. He’s a certified grill master, the most senior hourly position in the Red Lobster kitchen, and whether the cooks fall behind or execute perfectly relies onhis leadership and example.
The dinner crew cleaned the kitchen the night before, but Fuentes makes sure it’s sanitized. He pulls the food and garnishes he’ll need for the lunch rush and arranges them just so, what the French call mise en place, or “everything in its place.”
Diners soon arrive, andthe orders start coming in.
“I like to work on the woodfired grill, cooking shrimp, lobster and salmon, putting the beautiful grill mark son the seafood ,” Fuentes said .“My favorite food to cook is lobster, shrimp and salmon be-- cause they look so elegant …(but) wood-grilled steak and shrimp are my favorites to eat.”
When lunch is over, Fuentes repeats the morning routine, cleaning and restocking for the next shift. But that’s not the endof his day.
After another cup of coffee and a 90-minute break, he drives to P.F. Chang’s and begins the cycle again, this time working the dinner shift. Fuentes’ typical day ends between 11 p.m. and midnight, depending on the day of the week.
These long, repetitive days are not without purpose. Fuentes wants to give his five children a better life than the one he had growing up working on farm sin Guatemala. He didn’ t tell me how much he gets paid, but a senior cook like him typically earns $12 to $15 an hour. Since he works on average 65 hours a week, and almost never takes vacation, he likely earns about $45,000 a year.
If he only worked one full-time
job, he’d be lucky to make $25,000, when the federal poverty level for a family of five is $28,410.
Fuentes’ story isn’t un common. It’s just rarely told. Every day, a million legal immigrants go to work in Houston, and many of them work in semi skilled service industries and earn low wages. When labor activists talk about raising the minimum wage and ending income inequality, they are trying to help people like Fuentes, the laborers many of us never see because they work behind the scenes, producing dishes like Red Lobster’s “Ultimate Feast” or “Singapore Firecracker Chicken” at P.F. Chang’s.
If Fuentes has political opinions about wages or walls, he keeps themto himself, avoiding trouble and preserving his gains. When Fuentes came to the U.S. in 1999, his first restaurant job was washing dishes, and while he speaks little English, he understands enough to move up from prep cook to baker to line cook in America’s mostly Spanish-speaking kitchens.
Heis laser-focused onhis Christianity, excelling at workand providing for his children.
“My main goal is to make a better life for myfamily, so that my children can go to college and be somebody in life, not like me,” Fuentes said.
That ethic shined through when Sugar Land flooded last year, and most of the Red Lobster staff couldn’t make it to work. Most other restaurants closed their doors, so Red Lobster soon had a full house with not enough staff. Fuentes, a 15-year veteran at Red Lobster, volunteered to help general manager Kristyn Morrow, not only grilling and plating food, but delivering it to tables and even refilling iced tea andwater glasses.
“He jumped right in. I didn’t have to ask him ,” Morrow said .“I couldn’t have made it through that day without Alver.”
His work that day, and leadership in the kitchen every day, led Red Lobster to name him one of eight Team Members of the Year for 2016 out of 58,000 employees in North America. The head office flew him to Orlando to receive a $1,000 check.
In the award photo, Fuentes looks awkward wearing at an suit and striped tie instead of his black chef’s jacket and cap. But he looks proud. Now he pins a golden lobster to his breast pocket, a symbol of his award.
His children, though, are his pride. Fuentes hopes his 17-year-old daughter will go to college, but he says his 16-yearold girl surprised him by saying she wants to be a chef. He’s recommending chef school.
“I always tell my daughters to study hard, stay in school, be respectful and treat yourself with respect,” he said. “If she does those things, she will finda job any where s he wants.”
Those are the values that immigrants have always brought to the United States: commitment to knowledge, resourcefulness born of self-respect and a longing for something better.
That immigrant spirit is what made this country great, keeps our country great andwill ensure its prosperous future.