![]() Kazanis looks at the application card he filled out. He had been working at another Greek diner but he wanted a different schedule, and he was confident Mr. The young man, who says his name is Rodolfo, came less than a year ago from the state of Puebla, the starting point for the uncertain voyages of many other Mexicans in New York. Kazanis says - "work" - after the man has come to stand by his battered desk as sheepishly as if he had been called to the principal's office. Kazanis looks out over the dozen young men who have been waiting to be called.įrom the second row, back near the wall, a young man with a backpack stands up. But most who come here have no skills, so they wait.Īt 11:15, he takes a call from the frantic owner who has just realized that with lunch about to begin, he is short one busboy. Kazanis says experienced cooks are picked right away. The Mexican job seekers sit in two rows of dirty plastic chairs, with a blurry television tuned to Spanish-language soap operas. Kazanis, 66, is often the only American in the office. He became a citizen a few years ago and now Mr. Kazanis's Atlas Employment Agency - everybody calls it Mr. Most of the workers he sends for jobs are thin young men with shallow cheeks and dark eyes who have come illegally from the parts of Mexico that have not benefited from that country's deepening economic ties with the United States.Įvery weekday morning they come to Mr. ![]() "If these illegals leave New York City, New York will die. Kazanis says one morning, his words a drumbeat of Old World vowels and New World weariness. "They are very good quality workers," Mr. Now he specializes almost exclusively in sending Mexican workers to Greek restaurants and diners. But the population of Mexicans in the city tripled during the 1990's, making Mexicans one of the fastest-growing groups in New York. Kazanis sent men from Bangladesh and China to fill the back-of-the-house positions in restaurant kitchens. In a complex, constantly changing city, niche businesses keep things humming. Since 1986, shortly after he came to New York from Greece, he has run his own employment agency, helping the Greeks, who still own many of the city's diners and coffee shops, hire the busboys, dishwashers and waiters that keep their businesses going.
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