I have been going to the same grocery store for the past several years. Their bread is second to none in in a 5+ mile radius.

I usually go shopping on Sundays and see the same salespeople every week. I pretty much know most of their names and chat briefly when I run into them.

The lady whom I often see at the deli is from the FSU. She is pretty happy and makes sure there’s the requisite ton of ham and hard salami nicely sliced before I arrive. She tells me about her son’s woes, who is in a premed program at a smaller school, but for some reason for two years already couldn’t enroll in a required class (something is fishy there, but who knows).

Today I find she used to be a medical doctor, 18 years. In order to be one in the US she would have to take exams and go through residency again, for which she says she would probably be placed outside of the city because she’s old. She says she actually doesn’t mind the deli job, that maybe 18 years of doing one thing is enough, and that she gets to chat with customers and think about which sandwiches she would make today and that it’s pretty nice.

Kudos to her.

I for one am a total immigrant whiner for ever complaining about my lot in life, with the awesome job that I didn’t have to retrain for. They trusted me I knew what the diplomas said I did,  I could just come to the US and continue building upon my education. I now have a nice life that enables me to buy large amounts of deli meat to feed my numerous carnivorous children, while being served by a lovely medically trained  lady whose education wasn’t quite as transferable, but who managers to stay positive and cheerful on top of everything.