A specical birthday song at Applebees dinner
While celebrating his birthday, an Imperial man who was born deaf received a surprise from Applebee’s staff that even those outside the restaurant could appreciate.
Carlos Alejandro Nava celebrated turning 20 years old on June 1. To celebrate the occasion, family and friends took him for breakfast and lunch at two restaurants in El Centro, neither of which had servers that sung “Happy Birthday.”
“I felt sad. It was weird, they didn’t bring me anything or sing to me,” said Nava on celebrating his birthday at the two restaurants.
Fausto Gonzalez, a friend of Nava, explained to some of Nava’s friends how his birthday was going so far. This led Gonzalez to organize a dinner for the 20-year-old at Applebee’s in El Centro, where Nava’s translator Yolanda and his friend Josie Berrelleza, the same day, taught restaurant staff how to sign the song “Happy Birthday” in American Sign Language.
They learned the song in about three minutes, or as much as they could.
Applebee’s staffers Stacy Shelton, Erika Ayala and Celia Zamora then sang “Happy Birthday” to the 20-year-old at the table in American Sign Language.
“I was surprised, I just thought I was having dinner with friends. The servers came behind me, I turned around and looked and I started getting excited and happy,” recalled Nava on the servers signing to him.
“Seeing the smile on his face made my day brighter,” said Shelton, who hugged Nava at the end of the song.
While Shelton admitted she wasn’t very accurate at signing, her colleague Ayala was no stranger to sign language as she took an American Sign Language class at Imperial Valley College recently.
“It was very exciting for me to be able to apply what I had learned for the first time ever at work,” said Ayala, who enjoyed meeting Nava and was glad the restaurant’s staff could make his birthday special.
Zamora explained that when Nava’s friends approached her with the idea, she didn’t think she could do it although decided to anyways.
“I was nervous and I still kept messing up, but I felt happy we got to it for them,” stated Zamora.
The three staff member’s decision to participate in signing “Happy Birthday” was made by choice as they believed it would make Nava’s day more special, stated Zamora.
Nava explained it was the first time his 20 years of living that any restaurant staff had used sign language to wish him a Happy Birthday and was proud and happy that someone finally made the effort to do so.