On January 21, the day of Holy Eid-Ul-Adha, one of the greatest religious festivals observed by Muslims on January 21st, the temperature fell to nine degrees. Everyone who went to offer prayers that day ventured out to the mosque dressed in many layers to keep warm. Some who work on the weekends tried to remain home and spend the cold day with their families. The wave of freezing cold air and warnings of a snow storm with a possible accumulation of one-and-a-half feet prompted people to return home as soon as possible. There was no business on the streets, just the movement of people returning home.
On the day of Eid-Ul-Adha, in the frigid winter weather, Abdul Baten Miah was vending hot dogs from his food cart near the City Hall subway entrance. Although he had dressed warmly, he shivered in the cold while serving his customers.
When asked why he had not rested on this freezing holiday, Baten Miah smirked and said, “I live in America. I am just like a money tree to my relatives in Bangladesh. Their demands have to be fulfilled right there and then. No one understands what a struggle for survival one has to endure here. If I told this to my relatives in Bangladesh, they may take it as an excuse or misunderstand me.” Baten Miah came to the United States in 1996 through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. He has yet to bring his family to the United States, and instead, lives with a family in Astoria.
When asked, Baten Miah said that on average he sells $300 to $400 a week during the summer, while in the winter he sells $100 to $150. Making a 60 percent profit, his annual salary ranges between $20,000 and $22,000. Having to take care of his wife, children, father and mother, sisters and brother in Bangladesh, Baten Miah has no savings. There is no money left after meeting their expenses.
Despite his painstaking job, his greatest consolation is the comfortable life that his large family is living in Bangladesh because of his work. He also said that a small piece of land has been purchased in Bangladesh with his earnings. According to Baten Miah, Bangladeshis rank third in the food vending business, after the Greeks and Egyptians. However, Afghans are at the top of the ‘coffee cart’ industry.
Abdul Baten Miah cited economic problems as one of the natural calamities that came with his business but also mentioned physical altercations as an additional nuisance. He’s encountered worthless customers who create problems for him all the time. They make phone calls to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even on flimsy grounds. It isn’t difficult to contact the FDA as its contact number can be found on all vending carts. Since “the customer is always right, vendors have to bear the penalties as steep as $2000 to $5000; recently these penalties were reduced to $1000.
Abdul Baten Miah, who has been selling from a cart for many years now, has grown accustomed to his work and has no intention to change profession – he has no boss and he enjoys the independence in his profession. “It is difficult for an uneducated person like me to get a good job in this country. Despite the difficulties, I have no intention of leaving.”
