That there is a Mexican Breakfast made by the men at Sunny Side Up in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Three men work behind the counter cooking things. There’s Gary Do, Sean (Grasshopper), and Dude. I don’t know Dude’s name yet.
Two ladies work all over the place: Valerie and Destiny. And there’s another guy who does things, too.
That’s a lot of breakfast teamwork going on there.
My food was excellent. I put Tabasco on it and let the yolk be free… Free to get on to those hash browns and grilled doodads then free to get into my mouth!!
When I last wrote about Sunny Side Up, I guessed at Valerie’s name and just outright named Sean, “Grasshopper.”
The name “Grasshopper” reminds me of the television show Kung Fu which is about a Chinese guy in America, played by a Caucasian American, of all things. Sean is not Chinese, but he’s an American, from Vietnam. That makes it all even funnier.
My father’s grandfather came over from Russia with the last name Winetsky. When they got to New York, they changed it to Winett.
Every Asian immigrant I know in town has chosen an American-sounding name.
And the Italian immigrant I know uses a nickname easier to pronounce than his real first name.
What does that tell you?
When my great grandfather came here from Russia he changed his name to be more American.
He came to America for the same reason most people come to America!
Also, being remembered by your name requires association. And Sean used it on me. I repeated his name several times and then he mentioned 007… Sean Connery. Association! I’ll never forget Grasshopper’s name now.
Asian names can be hard to remember if you don’t know people with Asian names with whom to associate them.
I remember Ling Fu Xia because it’s burned onto my brain, but that’s another story. Vivian is a nice name. She chose it because it’s easy to write. Remember, if you’re coming from Asia then you have no associations with the names… no basis to pick a name except how it writes, looks, and sounds. I thought Vivian was an excellent choice because it repeats the ‘v’ sound… nice. And I like how v’s look on the computer. Nice.
I like to think of her by her original name, though. She prefers that I call her by Vivian, and that’s cool, but I love that she is Chinese and I want to learn all about Chinese things starting with Vivian Fu Xia Ling.
Anyway, we all came from somewhere.
It’s great that talented, motivated people are coming to this country and starting businesses. You know what? Most people in America are employed by small businesses like the one owned by Gary Do.
Heck, I was able to make some ends meet because I was able to work as a waiter in an Italian restaurant, Frateli’s in Shawnee. That place is there only because Telly and his wife have made a home here. They’re from Milan, Italy. A small business which was started by a naturalized American saved Joe’s bacon, AGAIN.
We actually need more immigration of talented, motivated people.
Most people in the world are talented.
And almost everyone in the world is motivated.
🙂
Why don’t you start a business and hire some people? Come on!! I’ll help.
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