Bilingual
Saturday May 12th 2012, 10:12 pm
Filed under: Life

It was THE Jose! Jose Ibanez!

Richard was sick and grocery shopping had to be done, bashed foot or no–someone had to do it. And so, by force of habit and size of juice consumption at our house, I went to the nearby Costco.

They had recently repainted the parking lot: what had been a long stretch of handicapped parking was no more. Now the spaces were scattered around and much closer to the door, easier to walk to but far harder to drive on a Saturday. That ten-minute-a-row dance? Yup. For each two already-filled spots–I hadn’t thought that oh yeah, it was the day before Mother’s Day and an hour before the store closed (duh!)

I finally got around one turn and was heading back towards the building, thinking, if there isn’t something soon I’m just going to have to give up, when suddenly I saw a man at the far end of the row, waving his arms.

The second spot from the end was open. The best I could possibly have hoped for. With nobody between me and it, he had spotted my plates and wanted to make sure I got that one up close rather than taking one in outer darkness.

And when I got up closer, it WAS him! It was Jose!

Years ago, when Richard wanted someone to come work for his group, he interviewed him at Jose’s restaurant to make a good impression on him and I guess it worked; the guy took the job. But when Jose’s rent went from $4,000 a month to twenty-four-screaming-thousand dollars a month in the first big dot-com boom–it was about a block from Stanford campus–there was just no way, and he was forced to shut down. The community mourned.

I found this article about him, and that smile on his face is pure Jose. Everybody adores him. We still buy his empanadas at Milk Pail; fabulous food, and it’s a way we can tell him that.

And here he was making sure whoever was in that car way back there got the spot she needed. Because that’s the kind of guy he is. He clearly enjoyed being able to help.

I wanted to do more than just smile and wave back, so I, without thinking, said, “Thank you” in sign language as I went by.

Which I realized only instantly after the fact looked like I was blowing him a kiss.

No worries.

Happy Mother’s Day!

(Ed. to add.) I just got a note from Steve at Milk Pail, and the locals need to know this. He said:

Alison, this Wednesday there is a City of MV meeting where the Phase II plan
for the San Antonio Village project will be shown at City Hall at 7 pm.
The initial plan effectively will flatten the Milk Pail.  This won't happen,
but the Milk Pail will need strong community support in the next couple of
months.
Spreading the word would be good.
Thanks
Steve

4 Comments so far
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Three cheers for Jose!

Good luck to the Milk Pail. We had a village project that would have put our firehouse in the midst of a shopping center, but it can’t get out of planning. I wish all the Milk Pail well.

Comment by Channon 05.13.12 @ 3:26 am

best of luck fighting city hall!!

(have a happy mother’s day)

Comment by Bev 05.13.12 @ 8:18 am

I stopped going to the Milk Pail because I COULDN’T PARK! Don’t know if they still do, but they used to have the most delicious, flaky croissants I’d ever eaten.

Comment by Don Meyer 05.13.12 @ 10:36 am

Should you post the milk pail vs city mtg to the chat? Perhaps some may be able to attend it.

Comment by Andrea 05.14.12 @ 7:22 am



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