Asking the Right Questions

Samuel has been working part-time as a dishwasher ever since he got his work visa.  He is qualified for better work, but he hasn't had any luck find something else within walking distance, so he's still a dishwasher.  Since starting work there, he's complained about how the managers haven't paid him all of his wages yet.  I told him that he would need to review his pay stub before he complained to anyone, to make sure that he had a claim to make, but I encouraged him to confront the managers to make sure that he gets paid everything he's earned.

As it turns out, Samuel didn't understand how earning an hourly wage works.  He's explained to me that in his homeland, everyone is paid a salary.  When you start work, they tell you how much you'll make each week and cut you a check for that amount.  I thought I had explained the basics to him (and how for a labor-intensive job like washing dishes, earning a wage is actually better than a salary), but I apparently was still making some assumptions about what he knew.  The idea that he wouldn't get paid for his thirty minute break was brand new to him and one of the reasons that he kept complaining that "they don't pay me!"  The bigger issue, however, was that he didn't understand the delay between a pay period ending and actually being paid.  Once I saw that missing piece it was easy to explain that every business needs time to process the hours worked and take out the right amount of taxes.  He saw that hours were missing from his paycheck and couldn't understand why he was being told that they would carry over to the next check.  He simply saw it as an excuse to not pay him.

Living with someone from a foreign country has been an interesting exercise in communication.  I can't use idioms and I try to cut down on using slang (though, like a true Californian, I never stop saying "dude").  On top of that, I just learned that when I think I've explained something thoroughly, I may have left out some vital piece of information.  Even so, I have it easy: Samuel has an even tougher time recognizing when he misunderstands a situation, so I do my best to help out where I can.