Deli worker in search of the American Dream
Davindar “David” Goyal’s workday begins at 6 a.m. when he catches the R train from his home in Astoria to the 8th Street NYU station. He’s about to put in a 12-hour shift at Sam’s Deli on Second Ave. in the East Village. On reaching the deli, he prepares for a new day – checking inventory, preparing coffee, slicing meat and swabbing the floors.
The store is quiet – but not for long. By 7:30 a.m., customers start trickling in. Most are regulars, and Goyal discusses the news with them. Or he will ask them about their family. All this while making their favorite sandwich. “I know what sandwich they like. I’ll ask them if they’ll have their regular and most times they say yes”, says Goyal.
Goyal prepares sandwiches at the grill. Photo by Rashmi Raman
Goyal rushes between the grill, the coffeemaker and the till. He takes a 10-minute break to call suppliers about deliveries. Then he begins to prepare for the lunchtime crowd. And then for supper.
By 7 p.m., he is dead on his feet. “This is a job where you keep standing or moving. Customers won’t come in if they see the staff sitting,” he says. So on his ride home, he walks to the end of the platform, seeking one of the less-crowded cars so he can get a place to sit. “This is the only time I get to relax”, he says.
Goyal, 38, has been working at the deli for 13 years. He works six days per week in 12-hour shifts, some of them night shifts. He earns about $600 per week after taxes, has no benefits and pays $50 per month on private health insurance. He says he has not called in a sick day in all 13 years and has taken about three vacations of three to four days each since he joined the deli.
Goyal used to enjoy working at the deli. “I didn’t know how to make a sandwich. I hadn’t spoken English for years. There was so much to learn.” But the charm wore off long ago. “Now, it is about killing 12 hours”, he says.
Getting a “green card” two years ago was a major turning point in his life. It took 10 years to get it.
Goyal feels that he now has more opportunities available to him.
And yet, Goyal still has not taken many steps to move beyond the deli. The family discusses his future on Sunday evenings. Getting married is the top priority and his sister is busy shortlisting girls. “A lot depends on the girl I get married to”, he says. If he marries a girl from India, it would take him a year and considerable money to arrange for her travel to the US. “I would need to save some more money”, he notes.
Not that the green card isn’t important. He believes that his matrimonial prospects have improved and now wants to get married. He was also able to get his driving license three weeks ago and is excited about buying a car.
The green card gives him the confidence to think of the future. “It’s time to grow now”, he says. He is considering studying to be a nurse or an electrician.
But he has set his heart on starting his own business, possibly in partnership with his brother-in-law, Jiwan Gupta, an New York City cab driver.
Goyal’s childhood was tough as his parents weren’t working. He was not able to study beyond high school because of lack of money. In 1998, Goyal decided to quit his job as a shoe salesman in the Indian town of Moga and make his way to New York. The decision was an easy one. “I came here for a better future,” he says.
His sister and brother-in-law were already in the U.S. and arranged for his travel, as his savings were near zero. They also arranged to get him a job at Sam’s deli the day after he landed in the U.S., using family ties.
Getting a job via connections is a classic tactic among immigrants. In a study titled “The Strength of Weak Ties”, Mark Granovetter, a professor of sociology at Stanford University, explored the ways in which immigrant populations reach out to others in the community. More often than not, the connection is tenuous. Yet these interactions can yield results. He concludes that weak ties have a “cohesive power”.
Goyal is a case in point. His brother-in-law was able to secure a job for him after speaking with the cousin of a friend. Goyal thinks that his boss, Roop Bring, prefers to employ Asian Indians as he believes they learn quickly, are more confident with interacting with customers and are ready to work for lesser wages.
Goyal’s social life is limited. He lives with his sister, her family and their parents in Astoria. He prefers spending time with them, especially his nieces. He rarely goes out and has few friends. “It’s difficult to make friends if their jobs are like mine. When would we get to hang out?” he says. These days, though, a lot of his free time is spent in visiting the rehab center to keep company with his father, who has a heart illness.
His sister and brother-in-law were also his sponsors for the green card. The process was long and expensive. Legal fees ran around $4,000.
There are parts of the job he still enjoys, particularly talking to regular customers. He is on a first-name basis with a lot of them. They invite him to parties in the neighborhood. Some of the women customers flirt with him.
Goyal’s favorite part of the job is to interact with customers. Photo by Rashmi Raman
While it has mostly been an uneventful job, there have been moments Goyal remembers all too well. He recollects an incident where two men broke into a fistfight when one of them insulted the other. Goyal was required to break up the fight, call the police and later clean the bloodstained floor. “This is part of the job too,” he says.
Goyal has tried to build business, suggesting to his boss that he install more seating area or better interiors. He is frustrated that his suggestions have been rejected, but notes, “I’ll do all this in my business.”
Sam’s is typical of many New York City companies. According to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute, immigrants own 48% of small businesses in New York City across various sectors (please see graphic). Some sectors are dominated by them. For example, immigrants own 84% of all grocery stores and almost 70% of all restaurants in the city.
Bring bought the deli in 2002. He started just like Goyal – migrating to the US with hardly any money and no idea about his job prospects. He put in 80 to 100 hours a week in another deli and saved enough money to buy out his boss. He then went on to buy Sam’s. (He speaks about his experiences while starting his business. in this audio clip.)
Both Goyal and Bring are from Punjab, a part of India known for the entrepreneurial spirit of its people. “You don’t get much respect back home when you tell them you are employed by someone else”, says Goyal’s colleague Amarjeet Singh, also from Punjab.
Goyal is looking to buy an established business. It could be a gas station, a pizza parlor, a liquor store or a deli. However, he is not interested in offering to buy out his boss as he “just doesn’t want to work here”.
He has been saving a part of his salary so that he can make an initial investment without getting into debt. He may consider moving to upstate New York or even to New Jersey, given the costs of buying a business in the city.
Goyal will need to rely mostly on his savings as securing financing for running a small business has become difficult since 2008. Banks and financial institutions have become more stringent with giving credit to small business owners.
While Goyal may not be sure of what the future holds for him, he is optimistic. The American Dream is still something he aspires for. For Goyal and many others like him, “it is now time to grow.”
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