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terça-feira, 24 de novembro de 2009

Trabalhar nos Estados Unidos


Quando eu vim para os Estados Unidos não sabia o que iria acontecer. Planejei a minha viagem para no máximo 1 mês. Eu tinha uns 900 dólares em dinheiro comigo. Só isso. Tinha cartão de crédito também em caso de alguma emergência. Isso foi no início de 2005. Meu visto de 10 anos estava para vencer, então aproveitei a oportunidade. A última vez em que eu estive aqui foi em Nova Iorque.

O único contato que eu tinha era o Tammer, que eu encontrei no Orkut. Nem conhecia o pessoalmente ainda. Reservei hotel para 3 dias, juntamente com as passagens de ida e volta, um dos pacotes da TAM.

O hotel ficava bem na International Drive, o melhor lugar para se "começar" aqui em Orlando. É bem localizado, tem a maior concentração de restaurantes, lojas, hotéis da cidade, transporte fácil e tudo mais.

International Drive

Logo no mesmo dia, pela euforia de "ver como iria ser" ou mesmo "sobreviver da melhor forma", andei pela I-Drive (International Drive) e fui logo ver como seria se eu fosse pedir emprego nos lugares. Eu já tinha todo o mapa do local, já sabia de quase tudo pelas pesquisas anteriores pela internet. Eu sabia até a sequência das lojas e restaurantes em cada rua. Sabia do I-Ride, o bondinho verde que circula por toda a avenida com várias paradas "estratégicas".

I-Ride, o bondinho verde

Eu não sabia que a frase mágica era "Now Hiring" (o Abrakadabra do emprego). Nunca me ensinaram em nenhum cursinho de inglês no Brasil. Não sabia. Isso teria facilitado muita a minha vida se eu soubesse, mas tudo bem. Aconteceu que eu passei por alguns lugares, sem falar quase nada de inglês perguntando por emprego. Eles me davam sempre um formulário para preencher (com várias coisas que eu não entendia direito e nem tinha os dados como endereço, lugares em que eu trabalhei antes, estas coisas..). Na maior calma eu ia "analisando" a situação.

Por sorte, no dia seguinte, eu passei em uma steak house (mais ou menos como uma churrascaria, mas um pouco diferente) que eu queria trabalhar, não sabia inglês direito e tudo mais. O dono, um indiano, perguntou se eu quisesse, poderia começar agora mesmo. Eu nem estava preparada (roupa inadequada e tudo mais). Mas aceitei.

Neste restaurante eu trabalhei 3 meses. Eu fazia de tudo um pouco (ou tentava fazer, hehe). Desde preparar salada, pasta Alfredo (macarrão com molho branco), mini-pizza.. Até peixe Mahi-Mahi eu fazia. Aprendi tudo. E até que me saí bem. Eu ficava na parte de preparar os pratos "que não são tão importantes", os que acompanham a carne ou o prato principal. Aprendi a diferença entre ranch dressing e caesar dressing (molhos de salada com base de maionese). Tinha até uma salada que eu preparava e fui até elogiada por isso, chamada Cobb Salad. Eu ganhava 8 dólares a hora.

Cobb Salad, com vários ingredientes em cima da salada.

O dono do restaurante ficou sabendo que eu entendia um pouco de computação e queria que eu mudasse para a parte de controle de estoques. Eu iria ganhar quase o dobro, mas achei muita responsabilidade. Nem inglês eu sabia direito (tinha acabado de aprender que lettuce era alface e zucchini era abobrinha) teria que fazer toda a compra por telefone com os fornecedores. E também eu teria que conferir o estoque, que significa entrar no freezer (câmara frigorífica ou sei lá o que), quase congelar e contar cada produto e ver o que estava faltando.. Eu pulei fora, não era pra mim não..

Nesta época eu já tinha dividido um apartamento com o Tammer (o amigo do Orkut) e mais 2 russos. Os russos também não falavam inglês direito. A comunicação era uma maravilha.. O Tammer era professor de inglês em Fortaleza, ele se virava bem.. Depois fomos morar em um excelente apartamento no Lake Buena Vista (bairro nobre), o Discovery Palms, com outros brasileiros.

O Lake Buena Vista é um bairro meio afastado. Após a saída do steak house, eu decidi tentar trabalhar no Subway (fast food de sanduíches, tem no Brasil também) porque era bem atravessando a rua de onde eu estava morando. Eu acho que dei sorte. Meu inglês era ainda bem ruinzinho, mas mesmo assim consegui o emprego. Eu acho que era porque todos os empregados desta loja, incluindo o gerente (de uns vinte e poucos anos), tinham tatuagens e piercings. E nesta época eu tinha um piercing na boca (tirei recentemente após 6 anos de uso) e tatuagem visível. Talvez não seja isso, não sei..

O mais difícil foi memorizar os ingredientes que vão em cada sanduíche.

Fiquei 2 meses no Subway. Eu fazia de tudo um pouco (como todos os outros empregados). Preparava os ingredientes dos subs, colocava nos potes, etiquetava, atendia no balcão, preparava os subs, trabalhava no caixa. Foi uma experiência e tanto. É mais ou menos como trabalhar no Mc Donalds, imagino eu. Mas eles pagam pouco, menos de 7 dólares a hora. Eu trabalhava meio período no Subway e meio período em uma padaria brasileira (aconteceu de eu consegui os 2 empregos na mesma época, a idéia era manter os 2 e depois escolher 1 deles).

No restaurante brasileiro eu fiz coisas que eu nunca tinha feito no Brasil. Aprendi a fritar ovos, ajudava a preparar arroz, feijão, enrolava coxinha, lavava panelas grandes e "gordurentas". Não gostei muito, apesar da comida ser ótima (eu comia todos os dias lá, de graça). Mas eu estava engordando também. Comia no Subway e no restaurante brasileiro. Ia virar um balão, isso sim..

Bom, preocupada com o "efeito balão" resolvi abandonar os 2 empregos e ir para o caminho saudável (que aliás era o plano todo o tempo, mas não havia tido a oportunidade da mudança ainda). Fui então trabalhar em um restaurante japonês chamado Sushiology por 2 anos. Lá eu aprendi inglês melhor, comia todos os dias decentemente, quase todos os dias sushi, arroz integral, peixes, etc. Comer saudavelmente todos os dias aqui nos Estados Unidos é a coisa mais difícil que tem.. Um dia eu faço um post somente sobre este restaurante onde eu trabalhei.

Eu atendia no caixa e atendia o telefone (pedidos de delivery)


Em uma época em que eu estava no Sushiology fui trabalhar meio período em uma pizzaria brasileira também porque eu estava empolgada em juntar um dinheiro.

Após estas aventuras eu já estava com o Franky (que trabalhava também nesta área de restaurantes). Decidimos que a gente queria trabalhar juntos de alguma forma. Foi então que começamos a trabalhar nesta pizzaria brasileira por um tempo, atendendo mesas, telefones, pedidos de delivery. A gente fez até uma época delivery, entregando pizzas nas casas. A gente tinha um GPS, era tranquilo, vivia de lá pra cá com pizzas no carro, foi engraçado.

E enfim começamos o grande desafio de trabalhar em nossas verdadeiras áreas ligadas a design (eu) e computação (Franky). Começamos a fazer websites no final de 2007. E assim sobrevivemos até hoje, fazendo sites para clientes daqui de Orlando (maioria brasileiros) e online (clientes virtuais). Fizemos entre eles os sites do Sushiology (na época em que eu trabalhava lá eu já tinha refeito o logo, cardápio e cartazes) e HiPizza (também fiz o logo, sugeri a mudança do nome, menu, folheto, etc). Alguns destes sites que fizemos estão neste link: http://www.clapweb.com/web/

Detalhe do site que fizemos para o Sushiology

Um dos materiais gráficos que eu fiz pro Sushiology

Agora que estamos nos preparando para a grande mudança para o Havaí não estamos mais trabalhando. Só organizando a bagunça e pensando como vamos sobreviver por lá. Talvez continuamos com websites, talvez não, quem sabe?

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Muito legal a sua história. Estou embarcando pra Orlando em Fevereiro agora. Mas ao contrário de como foi contigo, eu ja vou com trabalho em empresa definido. sou designer também grande coincidência lol. Meus jobs: www.ronaldocardoso.com Alias ja faço só projetos pra empresa ai. Seria legal mantermos contato pra que me dê algumas dicas sobre Orlando. Obrigado e boa sorte na sua empreitada.

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