The Recession in Three Short Stories…
by ST


I was born in El Salvador 22 years ago in San Salvador; the Capital of the country. When I was 18 we moved to this country for a better life, but now we are in a bad situation,so we have begun to think whether it was the right decision. It sounds bad; however, the difference with this country is that we can improve.I remember one anecdote that happened last week on Sunday Night at my house around 10:30 pm.

Everything started when my Mom said to me, "Did you receive your check at work?” The first thought I had was “why is she asking me that?”

My mom had never asked me for money before; it was something new for me and for her. At least at that moment I did not even know why she asked me that. Then she told me that she needed the money because she did not have enough money for the week, I accepted and I gave her my check; after all she is my mom and I have to help her in what I can. At that moment I realized the real situation that my mom and family have been suffering. I have to accept it, the economic crises is affecting us directly or indirectly. Since I was in El Salvador, I never live a complicated situation as this one before.
My mother is a house cleaner, but she works for a company here in Redwood City. She told me one month ago, that many of the clients where she works are cancelling their contracts because they do not have enough money to pay for the service. One thing that surprised me, was the numbers of the customers who cancelled the service, 45% of them have canceled their contracts. I worry that my mother could lose her job because in these particular moments, we need all her support in order to keep on going in this country. My Dad has already given up the job he had had for over 5 years and got another that is pretty much the same as the one he had before, with the difference that he has to work seven days a week to get at least half what he used to earn in his old job. Two months ago I was talking with him (My Dad) about his job.

I asked him, “And your coworkers are calm at work?”

He just said to me, “the guys are nervous because there are not enough jobs for all of us”.
At that time I began to think, why do those guys do not try to get another job? The answer is simple. “It’s not easy”. In addition, my Dad told me that sometimes people have to do everything that is necessary to survive in this life. My father has always been a man who fought for his family, to me my father is the ideal example that we all have to follow in life. My cousin is another member of my family who has suffered the effects of the recession; she said to me three days ago that the company where she works is planning to pay monthly rather than every two weeks as they have done for many years. She expressed concern because of the problem we are facing right now. She told me that if the company toward it, they would have no choice but to seek another job or at least find a part-time job. The good news is that my cousin is a person with great faith and she said to me that the situation will change for the better. At the end she said to me something very real “No hay mal que dure cien años ni cuerpo que lo aguante” that in English means: There is no evil that lasts one hundred years nor body that can hold it. In my case I felt the effects of the recession since the middle of last year when my Boss cut my work hours from 30 to 16 hours per week, but I say to myself all the time that at least I have a job. I'm just pleased that members of my family and I have a work so we can live in peace. At the end I have to say that the recession will not last long.The best we can do is trust that it will end nicely and without too much trouble.