b"At what restaurant did you work the longest? I worked at the Steak Pub. It was a Jewish restaurant a long time ago called Cooky's Steak Pub. They had one in Valley Stream, one in Hempstead and then they had them scattered all over the Island.I also worked for the Cedarhurstpolice department, I worked for Nassau County and then I worked for the Town of Hempstead.What did you do at the Cedarhurst police department?Oh, clean up and stuff like that. Then I worked for the Town of Hempstead. I worked in the park. I opened up the parkand the swimming pool.You had several City jobs, smaller, different cities. Did you belong to a union in any of those jobs?Yeah, civil serviceCedarhurst, the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County had unions.When you were working for Housing, you also went to cooking school?That was in 86. Yeah, right down here. There's a private cooking school right down here. I always wanted a job on aboat. While I was working for New York City Housing, I applied for a job to work on a boat. I filled out everything, I sent inthe information and they called me on a Thursday. They told me they were going to call me on Monday about the job.During that time, a big hurricane came through. I never heard from them again. Then I thought about it and I said this iswhat I'm really supposed to be doing, working for the City. I didn't even try to find them. I also went to school to be an exterminator for the City.But I didn't like all those chemicals. Are you a good cook?Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.Did you go to work for the City because the pay was better?I took the job for the benefits.I suppose there were benefits on the other City jobs you'd worked at?It's like a City job in Nassau County. But when I worked for the Town of Hempstead, I had to give them ten percent ofmy money and say that I was Republican, so I can keep the job.I don't know if they do that now.Basically, you were paying them to have the job?I guess so, but I know they were taking ten percent out of my pay. I wasnt getting any medical benefits.Nassau County was ok, but everybody was standoffish. I had to go out of my town and work in Bellmore. There werentmany Black people living in Bellmore when I was over there. I don't know, but I'd have to report to a park and you know,it was just And one day I missed the bus and I had to hitch, I had to hitch a ride. It was way out on the Island. If youmissed that bus, a cab would cost you an arm and a leg. Ive always been dependent on public transportation.164 "