[BEGIN INTERVIEW] [00:00:00] Kathryn Sutton (KS): This is Kathryn Sutton, I am at the Blue Bonnet Cafe. I am in the back stockroom right now, um, surrounded by some bread and syrup and some other tasty things, and I'd like to introduce my first interviewee. Could you please state, state your full name? Thelma Suarez (TS): Thelma Veronica Suarez. KS: And where are you from, Thelma? TS: Guatemala. KS: When did you arrive in the United States? TS: I think um, 1992. KS: And, when did you start working at the Blue Bonnet? TS: I start working in 1994. KS: How did you find out about the job here? How did you become an employee? TS: Ah, because my mother and my sister they working here before, I coming from Guatemala so, [laughs] [unintelligible]. KS: Great, and did did your mother and sister also work as dishwashers here? What did they do? TS: Yes, she's dishwasher, she's still working here, she's working here for twenty years now. KS: Great. So could you describe your average day at the Blue Bonnet? What do you do each day? TS: Oh [laughs] I love working here still because, my boss is the best boss in the world [laughs]. Because he's a nice guy, he takes care of the employees. He's my boss, he's my friend KS: Great, great. And when do you get here each day, and when do you leave each day? Does it fluctuate or do you have a regular schedule? TS: Well, I have regular schedule. Sometimes nah, it's ten to close, sometimes ten to five. KS: Do you have any memorable experiences from working here, you talked briefly about your relationship with your boss, but um, does anything funny happen here? Do you have a community here beyond obviously your mother and your sister? Can you just talk a little bit more about that? TS: Something funny? [Laughs] Oh my gosh. Funny, I don't remember anything funny, because everything here is, is fun. But, I tell you that when [unintelligible] with John, he has helped me a lot, yes. KS: Great. Do you have, um, relationships, the people you're back here with? Are you usually always back here working during the day? TS: Mmm, yes. [Laughs]. KS: Do you eat here? TS: Oh yeah. I love to. [Laughs] I love to because we don't pay nothing for food, so we eat a lot [laughs]. KS: That's a great deal. What's your favorite thing to eat here? TS: Vegetable soup. And banana pie. KS: Banana pie is your favorite? Yeah. TS: That's usually why some of the people over here, we're fat [laughs] KS: Have you ever made the food from here in your own house? Is this the kind of food you make in your own house? Is it completely different? TS: Completely different. Yes, [laughs] of course. KS: So you take a break at home. From- TS: [Laughs] Yeah but sometimes we take food home to the house, because we take it to the house, so. KS: Do your children ever come in to the Blue Bonnet? TS: Yes my daughter when she was in the high school, after the high school she bring her friends over here to it. Because they loved Blue Bonnet for the-Because the waiters, they have good waiters, they are friendly so they like over here and it's fast. KS: Great, Great. Do you, do any of your friends come in as customers, do you know the customers at the Blue Bonnet, or, do you not-do you? TS: Yes uh, well, I don't know all the customers but we've had many, many customers for a long time and the come in here. They say "hi," we say "hi." So we're friendly. KS: Great, Great, well you know Thelma I think this concludes our interview. But thank you so much for talking to us. [END INTERVIEW] [00:04:17]
