I work 50+ hours every week at Arby’s in Richmond, Va. As the 2nd largest store in the nation, we are constantly busy and serving a high volume of customers.
We do not have a traditional work force and the language barrier makes it a struggle to relate to other employees. I have worked with people from Russia, Ukraine, China, Lithuania, Bosnia, Chile, Peru, Hong Kong, Belarus, and people who have lived all over the east coast. Okay, so that is maybe a traditional American fast food operation. I grew up in a smaller town, my graduating class was maybe 150 people. Most people were white and there was very few other ethnic makeups. I didn’t meet many people of other cultures until I started working there.
Some fellow employees have lived in the states for over a decade and their English is great. Other employees come here and do not have the same opportunities to learn English and it has changed the way I interact during the work day. The managers at our store are from all over the world too. Since they are from Russia and Bosnia they are able to communicate better with them. I end up being the silly, white boy who plays charades at work to try to communicate with his employees.
Getting to work with all of these people is pretty interesting. Some of my friends tell me I should try and learn their language and maybe I should have but like the phrase goes- there is no use counting grains of sand on a beach. It would be easier to train new employees if I did but it has worked out and I still enjoy what I do.
Some days I wonder “how the heck do I train these employees when we do not speak the same language?” Luckily, we get by and we are different but we are also all people and we all want the same thing, to be known and loved. Even though we cannot communicate the way I’d like, I can teach them with love and patience and learn from their culture. I can learn from listening to their stories, learning their kid’s names, and then after a while we get to know one another better. We learn from one another.
One guy, Igor, is from Ukraine and he came here to help his sister and to escape the turmoil that is going on there. He is intelligent and has his doctorate in finance in Ukraine so I wasn’t surprised to hear he learned English in 4 months. Every time I use slang words or every nuance in the English language he doesn’t really understand. Its eye opening to how I will have to change my habits in the next year. He makes me rethink everything I ever learned in 3rd grade and then also explain it. Written English which he learned and spoken American English are very different. Teaching him and other employees is tough all why trying to work in the fast paced environment where we should be focused on the customers or tasks at hand, yet I’m not. Sometimes I even get yelled at in other languages because of it. But to me some added stress at work makes it more enjoyable. I not only get to “feed” people every day but now I am being used to build relationships with people that are being used to help them grow.
This same guy also brought his daughter and wife to America. His wife, Olga, just came here in July, she knew her name, phone number, “hello, how are you”, and “goodbye”. That is all she knew at the time and she started working 2 weeks after she came here. She was a successful interior designer in Ukraine, now she makes roast beef sandwiches. She is possibly the nicest, sweetest, helpful person I have ever met. Though there is a language barrier she laughs at my jokes and things I do or say to other workers. Her husband helped me by opening the door to “teaching English” to him and now I get to help her. She still is learning English every day and it is hard to explain to her work things and I have to watch my use of slang, but we are both human beings and connect on other levels besides a spoken language.
We are all created for a purpose, knitted in our mother’s womb, and made to be in relationship with the creator of Heaven and Earth. This what I continually think about when I work. That every person on this earth is made for God and by God. From the little boy in an orphanage in Botswana, the sex slave in Malaysia, to the widow in Honduras.
Before signing up for the world race I never thought I had a world impact. I thought just be here in the U.S. and do ministry with YL and help high school student meet and grow in a relationship with Jesus. Which by the way is one of the most awesome ministries in the world.
But know I am seeing my creation for a journey. I am seeing that what I view my life to be is not what Jesus wants.
He wants to keys to the car and wants to take me for a ride across His creation. This will change my outlook on his world, his people, and him. It will grow me deeper in ways I cannot fathom.
I want you to do the same. The Lord Our God created us for more than the 9-5, 2.2 kids, and living without a care in this world’s “American dream”. We should make an impact that can change the world so that people can meet and see Jesus Christ.
Maybe it is helping me in my journey? I want to be someone who can impact the world in some way. And this is one step in doing so. I have $7,000 and need $3,000 more by December 18th.
It’s going into the holiday season now, and that can be a way you can start your world impact by helping with mine. Don’t wait and see how things go and say well if he really needs it then I will donate December 17th. (I mean you can but that makes life nerve racking.)
If you can give big ($250-$500) I would love that a lot. If you can give small ($20-50) I would love that a lot. If you can’t give but believe in prayer I would love that a lot. If you can’t and don’t pray but see the need for social justice I would love that.
Just don’t sit by and let the world go by. Make an impact, surrender that your life is not the only worth living and that others deserve to be known and loved.
