Beggars and Thieves

Some days the encampment under a bridge just south of downtown and just north of Chicago’s Chinatown has the feeling of a bedraggled back yard barbecue. Men from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala cook frozen shrimp or crab over a fire, drink beers, joke, and even sing. On this Saturday in February, however, the men are silent, and the fear and misery in the air are palpable. It is just too cold.

These men are homeless but they are not unemployed. They work at Chinese buffets, Japanese sushi bars and steakhouses, and other restaurants across the midwest, sent by Chinese employment agencies that are being investigated by the Illinois attorney general for alleged civil rights, human rights and labor law violations.

The dirty little secret of restaurant work.

Years ago I worked in a famous Portland restaurant that paid minimum wage and charged you for anything you ate.  The place had its entertainment value at times, however.  The owner was in the middle of an affair with his top hostess and the wife would come in frequently and pick a loud fight with her husband and the girlfriend.

So it had that going for it.


TS