Age Is Just a Number
‘Silver Cafeteria’ Offers Job Opportunity to Seniors
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Taking orders, grinding coffee beans, extracting espresso, steaming milk, cutting sandwiches, putting the food on a tray, and saying, ``Here's your ham sandwich and cappuccino.''
Everything is the same as an ordinary cafe, except that the barista has deep wrinkles under her eyes ― the 63-year-old Sohn Ok-kyeong smiled while serving the food and beverage.
Sohn is one of ``grandma and grandpa'' staff at the Silver Cafeteria located in the Seodaemun Community Social Welfare Center in central Seoul.
With Korea entering into an aging society, jobs for elderly citizens have become an important issue, as they live two to three decades more after retirement.
The cafeteria is part of government-level projects to create jobs for seniors. The center chose a cafeteria among other types of business, as visitors to the center needed a place to take a rest.
In the small cafe with some 20 seats, 12 people aged over 60 ― from 63 to 68 ― work as cooks and waitresses in three shifts. Before the opening in April, they beat out 30 other people in a tough competition.
Only two of them had experience in the food and beverage industry, and they all received a training for the job ― from making sandwiches and dealing with the espresso machine to how to greet guests, serve food, clear the table fast, and even on wearing make up.
``It was difficult in the beginning. I learned how to make milk foam five days before the opening. But now I am accustomed to the work and can deal with many orders at the same time by myself,'' Sohn said.
Sohn ran a cloth shop in her 40s. In her 50s, she was laid up with palsy. Gradually recovering, she started volunteer work for the elderly living alone, and then got the job at the cafeteria.
She made coffee and served people without difficulty, although she sometimes took a peep at a recipe note, on which recipes are written in big letters, so that the 63-year-old presbyope can read without glasses. ``Every worker here has her or his own recipe notes, the letters of which suit their own eyesight,'' Sohn said.
``Not many people of my age can get a job. Without this job, I may have to stay at home, bored, but now I'm happy every day. Plus, I make my own pocket money,'' she said.
The seniors there receive 5,000 won per hour, and their monthly salary differs according to the time they work for ― from 200,000 won to 500,000 won.
``The sales are spent mainly for the staff's salary, and the rest, in upgrading the facility or as their bonus,'' said Kim Tae-kyoung, community welfare department manager of the center. The cafe reaped 250,000 won per day in May, and aims to raise the daily sales to 400,000 won.
Job Creation for Seniors
The government and local authorities are making efforts to provide job opportunities to senior citizens, and most of these are community service-style welfare work, such as foot massage and haircut for the poor or for the elderly living alone. Those doing such jobs receive 200,000 won, working 48 hours per month, Kim said.
``However, jobs for senior citizens should be more market-oriented, so that they can eagerly work and make money,'' he said.
Huge Human Resources Market
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs started funding business-style job projects this year. Twenty businesses projects, including a kimchi factory, restaurants, craftwork making, and mushroom farms, were selected nationwide and received 50-100 million won each, according to Ryu Si-ik, official of the ministry's senior support division. The Silver Cafeteria is one of them and the only one in Seoul.
The government plans to create 20,000 jobs for elderly citizens every year by 2012.
``Not every project is going smoothly, as it takes time for seniors to adapt themselves to the new jobs,'' Ryu said. He added that the ministry will review the projects early next month, and will give consultation to those having financial and managerial difficulty.
Kim of the welfare center said, ``The elderly staff here have not been fully accustomed to the job and cannot work as professionals yet. But we plan to open franchise shops of Silver Cafeteria, when the business reaches a certain level.''
``The ultimate goal is making them run their own cafes. I believe they can do it if they gain self-confidence,'' Kim said.
He noted grandma waitresses have many merits that young people do not have, such as taking care of babies when mother customers need to attend a class provided by the center.
The center also plans to open a massage parlor in July, where the volunteer masseurs can transform their community service into a ``job'' like the cafeteria.
``The massage parlor, to be opened in the center building, will offer cheaper rates than the market. Customers may be residents using the center at the beginning, but will bring more people, like the cafeteria does,'' Kim said.
One of the cafeteria staff, Lee Mae-ja, 66, who used to be a housewife, said with a proud face that it was the first time in her life that she has made money for herself.
``On my feet hours a day, it was exhausting at the beginning. As time goes by, however, I felt my strength increasing instead. Some of my friends say they don't understand why I am toiling in this old age. But I'll do it, I'll enjoy it as long as my health allows me to,'' Lee said.
