Philippinos and Mexicans

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Now, you may wonder what does a black Jewish girl have in relationship to Philippinos and Mexicans. So, let me explain:

When I lived in Chicago, I remember almost every company I called had in their voicemail: Press one for customer service, two for automated credit card payment, and three for spanish. Or something like that. I often wondered how was the "se habla Hispaniol" department? Was it decent? Do they do all the customer service and payment and everything else all there? I used to also think how sad to be in a country and not know the language. How must they feel?

Well fast forward to Israel. Now, I am struggling with the Hebrew. Sometimes I call a company and hope for the "for English, press three" message --but alas, many times its just Russian, Arabia, or Hebrew! No English choice. Well so I try. I do pretty well, but the only problem is when I get tired, that's it. Brain closes down and the Hebrew department is gone. lol

As for Philippinos - I see them, almost as if shadows. They come to the country expressly for working and for sending money back home in the Philippines. But at times I feel wistful for them that they work so hard and often not acknowledged or not treated as if there is a person in the room. So I make it a point to say hello to them or smile or share a joke or something. Not sure if that's the right thing. For all I know they probably just want to get through the day and get out of there. But hopefully I am doing right.

Another stickler for me is because sometimes I feel that they are alot like Black folks. Some people may see them as mere servants! As if that (maid, nanny, etc) is all they were even meant to do /be. For this reason, I have purposefully tried to never hire them myself -some strange way of letting them be. But they came for work, right?

Well, my place is a mess and I saw how well a friend of mine's home is and she has someone working for her. I think I may buckle. But that would be good because they came for work --I am trying to tell myself this.

I suppose that's my version of being "liberal" minded...