My Day as a Street Vendor
I wake up every day hoping that it will be prodigious for me. My hands get sticky like glue as I prepare the syrups to make sure they are safe to sell. Then I get my block of ice it gets my hand so cold it gets numb. I make sure the corn is soft, hot and ready to sell. That is the start of my day as a street vendor.
“Yo soy Rafael y vento raspados y elotes.”(I am Rafael and I sell shave ice and corn)
I start early in the morning, as the sun’s ray penetrated through my window. I make sure that the syrups are loaded. Making sure they are not spoiled; I make sure it is not bubbly or fluffy signs that they are not safe to sell. I would start from where I live a long road with tagging in all the walls I can lay my eyes on. I cover the area inside Washington and Alvarado Street. I work all day: talking with people, having fun with people, and joking around. I like to talk to my costumers because I like to make sure they feel welcome.
“Hola como le va” (Hi how are you) “bien y usted com va la venta” (good how is the business). I need them to come back. This is job is hard but this is what I have to do for my family and I to survive.
I started as soon as I got to Los Angeles about 16 year ago. I am from Puebla, Mexico. In Puebla I see the kids running in the dirt and on the other I can see the farmers melting away in the heat, we lived in poverty. I always said “I don’t want this for my family.” So as a family we decided to come to the Land of Opportunities.
When I first immigrated to the United States I sold around El Monte; a friend of mine who worked around the area would drive me up there. That is where I started to sell “Raspados”. I enjoyed it for a while, but this guy wanted to charge me to sell. He was annoying, baggy clothes, really short hair what you would describe as a “Cholo”. He was trying to make money off me. Every day, the cholo would threaten me if I didn’t pay. Because I refused to pay him, the entire bottle up anger brought to me by him one day
“Yo soy Rafael y vento raspados y elotes.”(I am Rafael and I sell shave ice and corn)
I start early in the morning, as the sun’s ray penetrated through my window. I make sure that the syrups are loaded. Making sure they are not spoiled; I make sure it is not bubbly or fluffy signs that they are not safe to sell. I would start from where I live a long road with tagging in all the walls I can lay my eyes on. I cover the area inside Washington and Alvarado Street. I work all day: talking with people, having fun with people, and joking around. I like to talk to my costumers because I like to make sure they feel welcome.
“Hola como le va” (Hi how are you) “bien y usted com va la venta” (good how is the business). I need them to come back. This is job is hard but this is what I have to do for my family and I to survive.
I started as soon as I got to Los Angeles about 16 year ago. I am from Puebla, Mexico. In Puebla I see the kids running in the dirt and on the other I can see the farmers melting away in the heat, we lived in poverty. I always said “I don’t want this for my family.” So as a family we decided to come to the Land of Opportunities.
When I first immigrated to the United States I sold around El Monte; a friend of mine who worked around the area would drive me up there. That is where I started to sell “Raspados”. I enjoyed it for a while, but this guy wanted to charge me to sell. He was annoying, baggy clothes, really short hair what you would describe as a “Cholo”. He was trying to make money off me. Every day, the cholo would threaten me if I didn’t pay. Because I refused to pay him, the entire bottle up anger brought to me by him one day