I had no expectations. I didn't even think about it. I left my "home" for a better life in Canada. I knew from my sister that life was better here, all the sacrifices we made was just for a "better life". After arriving and working in the restaurant world, I found that I could improve my English by waitressing and I've been doing it and loving it for 30 years!
When my mother and her family immigrated to Vancouver, she was more than willing to leave her hometown and her textiles job. Because her previous textiles job did not require her to have any level of education, she was not really giving up too much. She was thrilled to seek a better life in Canada - she was open to the idea of doing adult education but found that she could learn English and make good money at the same time. When put up against other Vancouverites in the career force, she had a huge disadvantage of not speaking English proficiently. Without much confidence and not having the necessary finances, she did what every immigrant did - look for a job.
My mother and father actually met one another while working a the same Chinese restaurant. They had a mutual friend that owned a Shanghainese restaurant and while my mother went on vacation, her temporary replacement was my father. When she came back to the restaurant, they ended up working together, fell in love, and got married within a year. While earning a steady income, my parents made the decision to try something new and moved to Stettler, a little town of 5000 people in Alberta. My mother said that they worked long hours, beyond comprehension, and was not very appreciative of the way her employer treated them. Their employer was a relative that had been long lived in Stettler and she said that he operated the business with profit first in mind.
After working in Stettler for a couple of years, they both came back to Vancouver to start their family. When asked about her new expectations concerning employment while she was raising my sister, she told me that her expectations had changed a little. She didn't expect to compete with locals who spoke English and had obtained high levels of education, but she expected to work in an environment where she was respected and had the possibility of gaining seniority. She has been working for the same restaurant for 30 years now and has gained respect amongst management. I would also go so far to say that she is a favourite waitress of over 100 regular customers! Her expertise as a waitress has met her goals financially and had let her learn the language of Canada in a comfortable environment.
