Ara's Iron Rice Bowl

– June, 2008

Funny I can't remember Ara's real name at all.

We met Ara in 1993 or 1994, at a small colonial-style hotel in Oaxaca that Mephi managed. Ara was the reservations manager there. Usually we would see her in the morning, while we sat in the patio having breakfast, she would pass us by on her way to her office in the back of the hotel. She had the typical rural Mexican look, a big brown face with a friendly but shy smile. Her shiny black hair draped down to her waist.

My partner John and I just started our business, making hotel reservations and tour arrangements for people coming to Oaxaca. Most Oaxacans in tourism were suspicious of us. They did not like it at all that some foreigners were trying to take their share of business. But Mephi was very friendly and supportive. He saw us not as competitors but partners with fresh ideas. And it turned out we became good friends ever since.

We would go to Oaxaca four five times a year, and often stayed at Mephi's hotel. We did not get to know Ara much. Her English was very limited and she always seemed busy with work. Mephi liked her a lot, though. He told us that Ara didn't get more than high school education but was very smart and hard working. He also told us Ara was from a small village called Zaachila, about 45 minutes outside of Oaxaca. Most people in Zaachila, Ara included, are of the Zapotec heritage, the indigenous group controlling the Oaxaca valleys before the Spanish conquerors took over this part of Mexico in 1532.

When we first met Ara, Mephi introduced her to us with her real name, which I no longer remember. But he said he did not like the name and decided to call her Araceli. That seemed very odd, because his own name, Mephisobeth, is certainly one of the most exotic. The name is from a minor character, crippled and suspicious and not likable, in the Old Testament. Why would his parents name him after such a character? And now he had the nerve to say he did not like her name!

Nevertheless, both Mephi and Ara seemed to like the name Araceli. We figured if Mephi could change her name altogether, we could at least shorten it to Ara, easier for us to remember.

Within the next few years we established our own office in Oaxaca with three employees, Irma, Esther, and Roberto. And one day, Esther told Irma that she had just accepted a job offer. She picked up her personal belongings and left. Later on we learned that this is a common practice in Mexico, that employees would quit their jobs without giving any advance notice. Usually it is not their fault. The new employer demand that they report to work right away. They either comply or don’t get the job.

So Esther left. We were short staffed, and had a big event coming up within a week. What to do?

John remembered that Mephi mentioned to him a few months ago that Ara quit her job from the hotel. She liked her job and everything was going well, but the hours were too difficult for her. She started work at 8 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Then there was the fiesta for two hours when people go home for lunch and a little nap. And then back to work from 4 till 7 in the evening. Unlike other employees living somewhere in town, Ara had nowhere to go during that two hour siesta time. If she wanted to go home to have lunch, she would have to spend the entire two hours on the bus with no time left for lunch! After five years of putting up with such long work hours 6 days a week, she decided to quit and go home. She would help her father in his butcher shop, her sister-in-law with her little grocery store, and her Mom with the general house work.

We wondered if Ara would be interested in working for an American company, 9 to 5 and no Saturdays. We asked Irma to go to Ara's village and talk to her.

Even though Zaachila was small enough, nobody seemed to know Araceli. Irma started getting frustrated after a while. She tried to describe Ara to the next lady she saw：“Ｉam looking for this woman. She used to work in a hotel. She has beautiful long hair...” And the lady said, Ｏh, that's my daughter, XXX!?

XXX, or Ara, was bored with her mundane village life and delighted with our job offer. She almost jumped in Irma's car to go to the office and start her work right away!

That was October of 2000. Ara became part of our team. Like Mephi said, she was smart and hard working. She paid close attention to everything in the office, and learned her job in a short time. She then took the initiative to take English lessons after work and started to feel confident in herself.

Within the next few years, Ara became somewhat a revolutionary figure. She remained single. She applied for government loan and bought her own house. She moved out of her parents?home and lived by herself in another town. She learned to drive and bought her own car. And she cut her hair short, she highlighted her hair, she permed her hair, and she grew it long and straight again... The only thing did not change was her visit to her parents in Zaachila every weekend, besides her good work in the office, and her sometimes too loud laughters.

Our business grew and we hired more people. Ara took more responsibilities at work. Everything was going great. Then came the riots of 2006. Within a short time, the tourism industry in Oaxaca fell apart. Many hotels, restaurants and other businesses closed. Thousands of people lost their jobs. We tried to weather the storm and asked staff to work on part time basis for the time being.

One day in mid-December Ara did not come to work and did not answer Irma's calls to her cell phone. The next day she came in late, only to resign her job.

For a while now she had been looking for, and eventually getting, a job from the federal government. It was a secure job, an iron rice bowl? She had the interview the day before-- the day she did not show up for work-- and she had to report to her new job the very next day. She came in to gather her stuff and to say goodbye:

I am very sad because I need to tell you that I'm quitting my job with you. I never wanted to say good bye in this way, but,...I need to take this job. Maybe in the future it will be more difficult for me to find a new job, because of my age and other situations. You know it is difficult to get a job when you are older than 35 years old...?

There she left, the same way as she came six years ago. Poof, and she was gone.