"When new employees are hired onto the cleaning staff of the New York Public Library’s main branch at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, they are often trained by a 14-year veteran named Jaime Herrera."
At first, this seems odd to them, since Mr. Herrera, 56, is deaf and does not speak.
“When they put me with him, to train, I was like, ‘How am I going to learn from a deaf guy?’ ” recalled Mr. Herrera’s current cleaning partner, Emrah Bektesevic, 22. “But after about 10 minutes, I could totally understand what he meant. He was a great teacher.”
Not that this has kept Mr. Herrera from becoming one of the most sociable and popular of the roughly 400 employees working in the huge branch, formally known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
“You know, I like to have fun with people — I like to make them laugh,” Mr. Herrera said recently in sign language, through an interpreter.
Mr. Herrera’s job is largely to sweep, dust, wax and buff the marble floors and walls of the broad hallways and reading rooms of the landmark Beaux-Arts building.
Mr. Herrera, who works nights, reads lips, and he uses facial and body gestures to get his point across. He constantly sprinkles his communication with humor.
4 comments:
What?
I know :)
He's very political. When he puts his index fingers behind his ears and pushes them forward I know immediately he's talking about Barak and when he furrows his brow and looks stern I know immediately he's talking about Michelle, and when he uses both hands to pull his whole face back tight, I know immediately he's talking about Pelosi. And when he uses a hand to apparently stretch his face down while dropping his jaw to elongate his entire face I know right off he's talking about Kerry. And when he assumes a shit-eating 'i just weed the potted plat' grin while darting sinister eyes, I know he's referring to Biden. And when he throws both hands up in the air as a ref saying "touchdown" and then clasps both hands in tight fists then I know he's talking about Hillary.
I want to visit that liberry.
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