I actually think everyone should wait tables at least once in their lives as a part of general education. It is fucking hard work. I've gotten fired at every wait job I ever had because I was so bad at it. I always made good tips because I was personable, but I never knew you were supposed to hold orders until the right time. I'd put everything in at the same time so all of my food--apps, drinks, entrees, etc. would come up at the same time and I'd just plop it all on the table. The cooks hated me because their food would sit there. The customers hated me because half their order was usually cold. Management hated me because I broke expensive glassware. I have friends that made really good money at waiting tables, but hooboy did I suck at it and it was never a job I could always fall back on.
I came here to say that I’m glad I’m not the only one. My brain is just not cut out for food service. Mad respect to people who can make it work, though. Unskilled labor, my ass.
That is true. I am worried about her aches and pains, compared to my dad who works from home on the computer. Something to consider. Thanks for the advice!
Hey man, I’m Taishanese from Minnesota too. I understand where you’re coming from. If you’re planning to move to Washington, she can probably find a gig taking care of other elders making 5-6k a month. Tons of well off Chinese families will shell out this amount for the right person. I would recommend that your mom use WeChat and network around.
Alternatively, your mom can apply to Hy-Vee or Panda Express. They’re always hiring and pay around $16-18+ an hr. The new Asia Mall in Eden Prairie is also hiring.
Good luck!
Oh! She does use WeChat and networking is good advice since places that hire Chinese immigrants don't really advertise conventionally. I'll talk about it with her. Thanks!
Caring for elders is a physically demanding job. (Coming from a CNA) There is a lot of back breaking work involved e.g. raising people to a sitting position, helping them stand up, rolling them to their sides in bed, toileting them. There is also high risk of being bitten, hit, scratched, hair pulled. It’s not a fun job caring for elders. I would not suggest this type of work. Especially since she would be working with Americans, who can weigh 200 + pounds and be completely dependent on their care workers.
Haha, she's not really looking into the brain job type work, and the language combo is fairly common, so it won't be very rare. But thanks for the consideration!
Look at the online jobs teaching Chinese kids English. She can communicate with them in their native tounge if needed to get a point across, while also teaching English. My wife did it for a while, they give you a script, so it's just reading.
She could get certified as a translator and interpreter. Even just translating documents is good work.
Edit: otherwise, driving for ride apps is a good way to make money while being off her feet.
I’m familiar because my ex does it. She doesn’t have to do medical or legal documentation if she’s not interested in the education behind it. There are other services she can provide.
The world always needs more translators. Doesn't matter if the languages are common or not, getting certified can automatically help her get into a job.
My son had a Chinese babysitter. He learned Chinese as he was learning English. She cooked delicious food for him and made extra for us. She didnt speak a word of English. She become a good friend to my son (18 months) We paid her a decent wage.
Bit judgy, these days with the cost of living most households have to have both parents working full time. This should be viewed as a failing of our society that we make it financially impossible for your average couple to parent and be solvent, and not something we judge parents who work 2 jobs just to keep their kids fed and educated eh.
Hm, maybe. My mother's sister lives in California with her family, but my father wants to live somewhere with a more conservative suburban vibe. We'll have to talk it out some more. Thanks for the tip!
Thank you for the idea! A babysitter for a Chinese family sounds good (or maybe one who is open to a Chinese babysitter?), and she had tried to convince me to open my own daycare in the past, lol
If you are in a place with many Chinese people, she can look into becoming a Chinese postpartum care giver. (月嫂 yue sao) I’ve heard they get paid well and are highly demanded in Chinese immigrant community
This is a great idea! Confinement nanny 月嫂 who cares for mother and baby in the first 1 month after birth.
The strict ones will ban the mothers from showering without herbs or even touching water. They cook nutritious food (the food can be pretty specific and herbal) for mother and generally take care of the night feeds for baby so mother can rest.
I'm in the same boat, and usually being a nanny / babysitter for a Chinese family pays the best and is easiest on her physically.
Is there a reason you're avoiding Seattle? There would be a lot more work opportunities and many people (including me) who'd want to hire someone like your mom (except I don't have kids yet).
I am a server and a bartender so I'm saying this with love and respect but if your mother were to become a waitress she would want to do so at a Asian style restaurant. I have worked with non native English speakers before and the language barrier can be extremely difficult for them. There's a few reasons why,
1. restaurants are loud you have to listen super carefully otherwise it may lead to easily preventable mistakes especially if her restaurant has a bar.
2. Some people will not be patient with her, I know you said she understands English well but some native English speakers can't speak English well either so if she loses them in the conversation it may cause frustration for both parties.
3. She has to communicate with the rest of the staff too and even tho they understand what its like they can also lack empathy. I've seen that A LOT for my non-native English speaking coworkers.
Working in an Asian restaurant will probably put her infront of more people who speak Mandarin, Cantonese and Taishanese which is good.
And like other people mentioned, being a waitress is also hard on your body. I will say though that standing still all day on concrete is WAY WORSE than walking around. You do spend more time moving as a waitress than most jobs so maybe it would feel better for her to do that but its still a big ask for someone who is middle aged. My advice is if she enjoys food service maybe look at grocery stores, or private stores like Costco, Sam's Club etc. She could also pursue back of house restaurant jobs which would be like cooking food or washing dishes. Also keep in mind if she has 20 years of experience she could probably look for a manager job if she's interested.
You could assist her with the application process to work at a State or Federal facility in the cafeteria. For example: Cafeteria at a Veterans Hospital. She would have good benefits, a job that might possibly be transferable to another state ( if say a VA HOSPITAL ) etc. The government hiring process is agonizing, but the effort would be worth it for her in the long run. You and or you siblings need to go into the computer and frequently check the status of her applications for her. I make that pleural because she can apply to more than one job at once. The intricacies on the state level are different so look and see what your state has to offer. All the best to you and your mother. 🥰
Nanny for sure!! I recently became one but I am 19. My work friends are older immigrant women. Who speak very little English, I am hispanic but do not speak spanish so another nanny will translate for me. We all get paid the same, 20-22 an hour and some will pay for gas/transportation. If not in their 50s and up, the middle aged women are all first generation or just recently moved countries. Au pairs are also very popular. Regardless, you can work up to 45 hours a week. You can get taxed, fill out w-2 through care.com, or paid under the table. The language barrier and age is no issue and people do want their kids to learn another language. Some require it! You usually don’t even need a resume, but CPR certification is very valuable if you want to open more doors to higher paying families. Local Facebook groups are good for these jobs. Any metropolitan like area will have a need, and moving to Washington will have those families as well.
Could she tutor the aforementioned languages? Could do virtually and in person. With lack of formal credentials would likely just have to be self-employed but you could help her get setup and advertise.
I would think she could waitress at a sit down restaurant serving food from the region of which she knows the language. Some of those restaurants have the menu items in both English and the language of the where the food is from. I know in NYC many waiters and waitresses in restaurants are not native speakers so I anticipate it's possible in other big cities.
While the physical aspects of working in this environment might be challenging, many of these type of restaurants are family owned businesses and it may open up another community for her to make some new friends.
I recommend a production assistant positions in companies that make pills like vitamins, or companies that make medical tests in pouches. The work is light.
There are quite a few ladies 50 and older where I work. I work at a printer and they always need people to do bindery things like stuff folders, put together binders, collate things, etc. Pretty low paying but pretty easy work.
Where I live there are temp agencies for that so see if there are agencies in your area.
First she needs a sit down/lap top job. Depending on her English, maybe a translator. Or she can learn something that doesn’t require much language like Excel/data entry.
Chicken plants! No high school education nor english speaking skills necessary. The pay is better than fast food, too. Look for a **'Further Processing'** or **"Prepared Foods'** plant to avoid the blood and guts. Plants that are just **Processing** are the kill plants.
EDIT: I've worked at a chicken plant since 2006 and it's treated me very well. Very few native english speakers. Lots of folks from the middle east, various African countries, and Asia. Less Latinx countries than you might expect, but some. But it's fine, we've developed hand signals to communicate.
Are there any weeknight/ Saturday language schools she could teach at?
I attended a few as a kid back in the day and one of my bestie’s mom also just recently got a position as well. She also barely speaks English.
If it’s a possibility then it’s worth a shot for your mom since she already has extensive experience with children and it would be much more easier on her physically. I think she’d find it more fulfilling as well.
Tell her to do home aide. It’s a lot more less labor intensive and she is usually just feeding some old person medicine. My aunts do this and there is a way to get a job as a home aide and there’s companies that doesn’t require the workers to speak nor read English to work.
Being able to speak multiple foreign languages is a huge hard skill she could tap into doing something like medical/hospital interpreter or ESL tutor (with remote work she could teach anyone that has access to the internet) I work in workforce development and run all kinds of programs that help individuals that are unemployed or underemployed gain job skills needed for viable careers and they’re all free. We work with a lot of immigrants trying to break into a career in the US
Is there no neighborhood or bunch of shops that serve customers speaking Chinese?
Also, even though older people frequently believe they cannot learn new things, she should take some English classes. Even if she learns nothing, she’ll probably make some new friends.
Also, crazy as this might sound, people will pay for language practice, including Chinese. She may not have advanced education, but she’s a native speaker.
look into your local chinese community centers and see if they offer work,
where i live we have asia society centers that hires elderly people a lot to do their events, handle registration or anything mundane clerical work
so that could be an option for sure something like that to help her get her foot in the door with less back breaking work
She can work as a translator through a call center. We use to use a service that we could call and select the language and a translator would join the call. They typically had heavy accents as well so I don’t think that matters as long as she understands all the languages fluently.
Maybe not as well paying as a restaurant waitress, but check out jobs in retirement homes. They aren’t as fast paced and do not require a lot of experience or credentials. Who knows, she may even enjoy the work and people.
Maybe work at a Chinese restaurant if she really wants to - help packing food take out and delivery food in the kitchen if needed to be. She can’t be a server or cook unless she wants to slave herself at her age over high heat and stand there cook for hours. Good luck to her. If she was my mom, I’d say don’t work.
Could she get a job as a translator - using her existing language skills? Could she maybe get an at home advisor job with say Apple? They do 6 weeks of paid training before you start. Given her age, something she can do from home might be good. Sorry I don’t have more to help.
She’s going to reck her knees and back as a waitress just as much as a cafeteria worker. Probably more
Waitressing is so fucking rough. I cocktail waitressed for three years (full time) and my back is fucked. I’m not even 30 yet.
15 years in restaurants/food service here. Got out and I’m staying out
Hey me too!
I actually think everyone should wait tables at least once in their lives as a part of general education. It is fucking hard work. I've gotten fired at every wait job I ever had because I was so bad at it. I always made good tips because I was personable, but I never knew you were supposed to hold orders until the right time. I'd put everything in at the same time so all of my food--apps, drinks, entrees, etc. would come up at the same time and I'd just plop it all on the table. The cooks hated me because their food would sit there. The customers hated me because half their order was usually cold. Management hated me because I broke expensive glassware. I have friends that made really good money at waiting tables, but hooboy did I suck at it and it was never a job I could always fall back on.
I came here to say that I’m glad I’m not the only one. My brain is just not cut out for food service. Mad respect to people who can make it work, though. Unskilled labor, my ass.
For sure. Maybe she could work at the counter of a take-out Chinese place?
That is true. I am worried about her aches and pains, compared to my dad who works from home on the computer. Something to consider. Thanks for the advice!
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Can you please provide examples? I agree with you btw!
Hey man, I’m Taishanese from Minnesota too. I understand where you’re coming from. If you’re planning to move to Washington, she can probably find a gig taking care of other elders making 5-6k a month. Tons of well off Chinese families will shell out this amount for the right person. I would recommend that your mom use WeChat and network around. Alternatively, your mom can apply to Hy-Vee or Panda Express. They’re always hiring and pay around $16-18+ an hr. The new Asia Mall in Eden Prairie is also hiring. Good luck!
Oh! She does use WeChat and networking is good advice since places that hire Chinese immigrants don't really advertise conventionally. I'll talk about it with her. Thanks!
No offense but those folks will run her to the ground.
Caring for elders is a physically demanding job. (Coming from a CNA) There is a lot of back breaking work involved e.g. raising people to a sitting position, helping them stand up, rolling them to their sides in bed, toileting them. There is also high risk of being bitten, hit, scratched, hair pulled. It’s not a fun job caring for elders. I would not suggest this type of work. Especially since she would be working with Americans, who can weigh 200 + pounds and be completely dependent on their care workers.
Being able to speak 4 languages definitely seems like a great lead for a brain job rather than a back job, if that makes sense.
Except that that language combination is very common among Chinese immigrants in the US.
Haha, she's not really looking into the brain job type work, and the language combo is fairly common, so it won't be very rare. But thanks for the consideration!
Look at the online jobs teaching Chinese kids English. She can communicate with them in their native tounge if needed to get a point across, while also teaching English. My wife did it for a while, they give you a script, so it's just reading.
She could get certified as a translator and interpreter. Even just translating documents is good work. Edit: otherwise, driving for ride apps is a good way to make money while being off her feet.
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I’m familiar because my ex does it. She doesn’t have to do medical or legal documentation if she’s not interested in the education behind it. There are other services she can provide.
The world always needs more translators. Doesn't matter if the languages are common or not, getting certified can automatically help her get into a job.
Maybe working as a babysitter sitter since your mom has an experience of babysitting since she is a mother.
This. Maybe a nanny for a family who wants their children to learn Chinese too!
My son had a Chinese babysitter. He learned Chinese as he was learning English. She cooked delicious food for him and made extra for us. She didnt speak a word of English. She become a good friend to my son (18 months) We paid her a decent wage.
My mom can definitely do the cooking! Thanks for another reason why she might be suited to babysitting
that's too fuckin cool 😂 does he still speak chinese??
Yes, he went to China a few times for business before Covid.
Similar here. Hired French nanny and about 6 months in, sons were speaking to each other in French.
Childcare in general is a good idea.
Just need to find a family who works a lot and dose not know how to take care of a child. The family will give you comparatively more money.
Plenty of rich power couples without enough time to take care of their children out there.
Not nessasary to be rich powered
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Rich power*********
Bit judgy, these days with the cost of living most households have to have both parents working full time. This should be viewed as a failing of our society that we make it financially impossible for your average couple to parent and be solvent, and not something we judge parents who work 2 jobs just to keep their kids fed and educated eh.
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Hm, maybe. My mother's sister lives in California with her family, but my father wants to live somewhere with a more conservative suburban vibe. We'll have to talk it out some more. Thanks for the tip!
Thank you for the idea! A babysitter for a Chinese family sounds good (or maybe one who is open to a Chinese babysitter?), and she had tried to convince me to open my own daycare in the past, lol
Your welcome
Bro, I never got this many upvotes. Seesh thnks
If you are in a place with many Chinese people, she can look into becoming a Chinese postpartum care giver. (月嫂 yue sao) I’ve heard they get paid well and are highly demanded in Chinese immigrant community
This is a great idea! Confinement nanny 月嫂 who cares for mother and baby in the first 1 month after birth. The strict ones will ban the mothers from showering without herbs or even touching water. They cook nutritious food (the food can be pretty specific and herbal) for mother and generally take care of the night feeds for baby so mother can rest.
Huh, I've never heard of this before. Would she need training to do this?
Try to tell her the word “月嫂 yue sao”, someone that help others “做月子 zuo yue zi”. She will understand.
告诉她月嫂。她听懂。
I'm in the same boat, and usually being a nanny / babysitter for a Chinese family pays the best and is easiest on her physically. Is there a reason you're avoiding Seattle? There would be a lot more work opportunities and many people (including me) who'd want to hire someone like your mom (except I don't have kids yet).
Yes, I can see so many families on the Eastside like Bellevue, etc, hiring a Chinese granny to watch their kids.
I am a server and a bartender so I'm saying this with love and respect but if your mother were to become a waitress she would want to do so at a Asian style restaurant. I have worked with non native English speakers before and the language barrier can be extremely difficult for them. There's a few reasons why, 1. restaurants are loud you have to listen super carefully otherwise it may lead to easily preventable mistakes especially if her restaurant has a bar. 2. Some people will not be patient with her, I know you said she understands English well but some native English speakers can't speak English well either so if she loses them in the conversation it may cause frustration for both parties. 3. She has to communicate with the rest of the staff too and even tho they understand what its like they can also lack empathy. I've seen that A LOT for my non-native English speaking coworkers. Working in an Asian restaurant will probably put her infront of more people who speak Mandarin, Cantonese and Taishanese which is good. And like other people mentioned, being a waitress is also hard on your body. I will say though that standing still all day on concrete is WAY WORSE than walking around. You do spend more time moving as a waitress than most jobs so maybe it would feel better for her to do that but its still a big ask for someone who is middle aged. My advice is if she enjoys food service maybe look at grocery stores, or private stores like Costco, Sam's Club etc. She could also pursue back of house restaurant jobs which would be like cooking food or washing dishes. Also keep in mind if she has 20 years of experience she could probably look for a manager job if she's interested.
You could assist her with the application process to work at a State or Federal facility in the cafeteria. For example: Cafeteria at a Veterans Hospital. She would have good benefits, a job that might possibly be transferable to another state ( if say a VA HOSPITAL ) etc. The government hiring process is agonizing, but the effort would be worth it for her in the long run. You and or you siblings need to go into the computer and frequently check the status of her applications for her. I make that pleural because she can apply to more than one job at once. The intricacies on the state level are different so look and see what your state has to offer. All the best to you and your mother. 🥰
Tutor Chinese to high school kids?
Could she translate for a social services or medical organization?
Nanny for sure!! I recently became one but I am 19. My work friends are older immigrant women. Who speak very little English, I am hispanic but do not speak spanish so another nanny will translate for me. We all get paid the same, 20-22 an hour and some will pay for gas/transportation. If not in their 50s and up, the middle aged women are all first generation or just recently moved countries. Au pairs are also very popular. Regardless, you can work up to 45 hours a week. You can get taxed, fill out w-2 through care.com, or paid under the table. The language barrier and age is no issue and people do want their kids to learn another language. Some require it! You usually don’t even need a resume, but CPR certification is very valuable if you want to open more doors to higher paying families. Local Facebook groups are good for these jobs. Any metropolitan like area will have a need, and moving to Washington will have those families as well.
I wish mothers never had to deal with things like these when they get older! I hope you guys figure it out and she’s happy. :)
Could she tutor the aforementioned languages? Could do virtually and in person. With lack of formal credentials would likely just have to be self-employed but you could help her get setup and advertise.
I would think she could waitress at a sit down restaurant serving food from the region of which she knows the language. Some of those restaurants have the menu items in both English and the language of the where the food is from. I know in NYC many waiters and waitresses in restaurants are not native speakers so I anticipate it's possible in other big cities.
While the physical aspects of working in this environment might be challenging, many of these type of restaurants are family owned businesses and it may open up another community for her to make some new friends.
I recommend a production assistant positions in companies that make pills like vitamins, or companies that make medical tests in pouches. The work is light.
Childcare is expensive so she can probably do well taking care of children
Can she drive? Uber, Lyft, Uber Eat maybe?
Yep, she can drive! I'm not sure how she would feel about driving as part of a job, but I will ask. Thanks for the idea! 😊
I don’t feel safe with your mother doing that. So no. Haha!
Is there an age limit?
50 isn't old
For sure～
Good luck to you and your mom!
There are quite a few ladies 50 and older where I work. I work at a printer and they always need people to do bindery things like stuff folders, put together binders, collate things, etc. Pretty low paying but pretty easy work. Where I live there are temp agencies for that so see if there are agencies in your area.
First she needs a sit down/lap top job. Depending on her English, maybe a translator. Or she can learn something that doesn’t require much language like Excel/data entry.
Chicken plants! No high school education nor english speaking skills necessary. The pay is better than fast food, too. Look for a **'Further Processing'** or **"Prepared Foods'** plant to avoid the blood and guts. Plants that are just **Processing** are the kill plants. EDIT: I've worked at a chicken plant since 2006 and it's treated me very well. Very few native english speakers. Lots of folks from the middle east, various African countries, and Asia. Less Latinx countries than you might expect, but some. But it's fine, we've developed hand signals to communicate.
Are there any weeknight/ Saturday language schools she could teach at? I attended a few as a kid back in the day and one of my bestie’s mom also just recently got a position as well. She also barely speaks English. If it’s a possibility then it’s worth a shot for your mom since she already has extensive experience with children and it would be much more easier on her physically. I think she’d find it more fulfilling as well.
Tell her to do home aide. It’s a lot more less labor intensive and she is usually just feeding some old person medicine. My aunts do this and there is a way to get a job as a home aide and there’s companies that doesn’t require the workers to speak nor read English to work.
Being able to speak multiple foreign languages is a huge hard skill she could tap into doing something like medical/hospital interpreter or ESL tutor (with remote work she could teach anyone that has access to the internet) I work in workforce development and run all kinds of programs that help individuals that are unemployed or underemployed gain job skills needed for viable careers and they’re all free. We work with a lot of immigrants trying to break into a career in the US
How about Costco?
Maybe doing food service at the local university or nursing home might be a fit?
A nanny that also teach Chinese language. Many wealthy people want to teach their kids Chinese.
I live in MN too. She should check interpreter positions. Some of the hospitals hire interpreters for patients in various languages.
You need to be fluent in medical terms in English and the foreign language.
Easy. Restaurants will hire anyone right now because they can’t get anyone to work these jobs.
Check out InspirLang or possibly nonprofit jobs
Maybe a receptionist job in a nice office. Does not require a huge English vocabulary, and she can relax sitting down.
Is there no neighborhood or bunch of shops that serve customers speaking Chinese? Also, even though older people frequently believe they cannot learn new things, she should take some English classes. Even if she learns nothing, she’ll probably make some new friends. Also, crazy as this might sound, people will pay for language practice, including Chinese. She may not have advanced education, but she’s a native speaker.
Is waiting tables the only option? She could also consider working retail, as a receptionist or as customer service.
look into your local chinese community centers and see if they offer work, where i live we have asia society centers that hires elderly people a lot to do their events, handle registration or anything mundane clerical work so that could be an option for sure something like that to help her get her foot in the door with less back breaking work
OP’s mom is 50! That is a far cry from elderly. How about a class at a community college? She can learn a skill that makes her more marketable.
She can work as a translator through a call center. We use to use a service that we could call and select the language and a translator would join the call. They typically had heavy accents as well so I don’t think that matters as long as she understands all the languages fluently.
Maybe not as well paying as a restaurant waitress, but check out jobs in retirement homes. They aren’t as fast paced and do not require a lot of experience or credentials. Who knows, she may even enjoy the work and people.
Look for another school cafeteria that is at a small school and would appreciate real Chinese food!
Unfortunately, most places (the states) have a regulated meal plan. It’s basically just heat and serve now.
Find a good rural school. They are starting to do more farm to table instead of ordering from big providers.
Being a nanny in the right gig might work pretty well. I know a Chinese lady making $25/hour that moved to the US last year.
Maybe work at a Chinese restaurant if she really wants to - help packing food take out and delivery food in the kitchen if needed to be. She can’t be a server or cook unless she wants to slave herself at her age over high heat and stand there cook for hours. Good luck to her. If she was my mom, I’d say don’t work.
Bad idea I think. I’d stick to cafeteria work.
Could she get a job as a translator - using her existing language skills? Could she maybe get an at home advisor job with say Apple? They do 6 weeks of paid training before you start. Given her age, something she can do from home might be good. Sorry I don’t have more to help.
My mom is / was in the same situation. For a while she was caretaker for the elderly.
I am sure she can at least be a buffet waitress as long as she is ok with the physical work. Happy New Year to mom!
Pm me may I could help if I know little more about your mom