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Quinito Henson in: "Trash Talk"
Sat, Apr 16, 2005 by JeffO
One sunny Thursday morning while sifting through my garbage, I happen to recall a conversation I had with a 37 year-old named Paquito Concepcion about three months ago. A native of Batanes, Concepcion is a Pinoy sanitation engineer for the Charlotte Bobcats and a resident of North Carolina for over a decade now. I had the opportunity to meet him by chance during my trip to the restroom to clean up after accidentally knocking over a cup of Coors when I heard the woman sitting next to me say that she loves the Philippines. Hearing the "P" word makes me excited in ways that you wouldn't believe! And of course, the first question I threw at him was none other than regrets about our dear motherland:
"I miss the Philippines. The adobo, the incompetence, stabbing someone in cold blood for dropping my change, everything!" said the cheerful Concepcion while rummaging through a pile of assorted tampons by the Bobcats cheerleaders. "I would go back even if its just for one day... just to throw rocks at each other in the wee hours of the Tondo skyline or slaughter a wandering dog to complement my pitcher of beer."" Concepcion said while flashing a small grin, a sign that the Filipino way of being able to do the lowest things with a straight face still burns in him.
Before moving to Charlotte, Concepcion worked as a janitor in a restaurant called "Bun on the Run" in Katipunan Avenue and is mainly responsible for whipping the fastfood joints' surroundings into shape. Armed with a bottle of Scotch Bright, his lucky rug, and sheer determination, Concepcion swipes through grime-infested tables with careful precision. "My attention to detail is unheralded. I can spot someone's crap-filled toothpick lodged on the floor, or a plate that was rinsed only with water" he bragged.
His big break came when a foreigner on vacation was amazed to find out that for once in a Filipino restaurant, his dinner plate was bereft of cockroach eggs and pubic hair. He complemented Concepcion for a job well done and granted him the opportunity to work at the downtown Washington branch of Denny's as head sanitation engineer. Hearing the word "engineer" and "head", Concepcion agreed to the offer. His drive for excellence in his craft won him several awards including "Most Valuable Employee" for performing well during stretches of garbage time, and "Sixth Man of the Year" for his energy and hustle when replacing a fellow employee on leave.
But as he grew older, Denny's wanted to go younger and traded him to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for future cash considerations. "Being a fledgling franchise, we needed some toughness and veteran leadership on the sanitation department and Mr. Concepcion happened to be on the market, so we jumped on that chance." said a very enthusiastic Bernie Bickerstaff, the general manager of the Bobcats. The rest was history.
Being head of sanitation engineer has its perks according to Paquito and apparently there's more to it than black bags and band-aid boxes."I talk to Okafor once in a while and he has nothing but nice thing's to say about the Philippines. He finds the idea of eating at a table 10-inches off the ground kinda neat." he recounts. Oh that Okafor! Just a rookie and he's already charmed his way into our hearts! Maybe I should invite him to dinner and ask him more about what he thinks about our country which I will turn into an article for the Philippine Star! I asked him if he gets to talk to players other than Okafor and shrugged "None, but I've met tons of people that had at least something to say about the Philippines!"
Being one to help others, Concepcion left some words of advice for up-and-coming Filipino sanitation engineers: "You must clean every table like it's your last. You never know when that foreigner who works for a huge restaurant will come over and offer you a contract."
Paquito Concepcion. A god amongst janitors.
Sat, Apr 16, 2005 by JeffO
One sunny Thursday morning while sifting through my garbage, I happen to recall a conversation I had with a 37 year-old named Paquito Concepcion about three months ago. A native of Batanes, Concepcion is a Pinoy sanitation engineer for the Charlotte Bobcats and a resident of North Carolina for over a decade now. I had the opportunity to meet him by chance during my trip to the restroom to clean up after accidentally knocking over a cup of Coors when I heard the woman sitting next to me say that she loves the Philippines. Hearing the "P" word makes me excited in ways that you wouldn't believe! And of course, the first question I threw at him was none other than regrets about our dear motherland:"I miss the Philippines. The adobo, the incompetence, stabbing someone in cold blood for dropping my change, everything!" said the cheerful Concepcion while rummaging through a pile of assorted tampons by the Bobcats cheerleaders. "I would go back even if its just for one day... just to throw rocks at each other in the wee hours of the Tondo skyline or slaughter a wandering dog to complement my pitcher of beer."" Concepcion said while flashing a small grin, a sign that the Filipino way of being able to do the lowest things with a straight face still burns in him.
Before moving to Charlotte, Concepcion worked as a janitor in a restaurant called "Bun on the Run" in Katipunan Avenue and is mainly responsible for whipping the fastfood joints' surroundings into shape. Armed with a bottle of Scotch Bright, his lucky rug, and sheer determination, Concepcion swipes through grime-infested tables with careful precision. "My attention to detail is unheralded. I can spot someone's crap-filled toothpick lodged on the floor, or a plate that was rinsed only with water" he bragged.His big break came when a foreigner on vacation was amazed to find out that for once in a Filipino restaurant, his dinner plate was bereft of cockroach eggs and pubic hair. He complemented Concepcion for a job well done and granted him the opportunity to work at the downtown Washington branch of Denny's as head sanitation engineer. Hearing the word "engineer" and "head", Concepcion agreed to the offer. His drive for excellence in his craft won him several awards including "Most Valuable Employee" for performing well during stretches of garbage time, and "Sixth Man of the Year" for his energy and hustle when replacing a fellow employee on leave.
But as he grew older, Denny's wanted to go younger and traded him to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for future cash considerations. "Being a fledgling franchise, we needed some toughness and veteran leadership on the sanitation department and Mr. Concepcion happened to be on the market, so we jumped on that chance." said a very enthusiastic Bernie Bickerstaff, the general manager of the Bobcats. The rest was history.
Being head of sanitation engineer has its perks according to Paquito and apparently there's more to it than black bags and band-aid boxes."I talk to Okafor once in a while and he has nothing but nice thing's to say about the Philippines. He finds the idea of eating at a table 10-inches off the ground kinda neat." he recounts. Oh that Okafor! Just a rookie and he's already charmed his way into our hearts! Maybe I should invite him to dinner and ask him more about what he thinks about our country which I will turn into an article for the Philippine Star! I asked him if he gets to talk to players other than Okafor and shrugged "None, but I've met tons of people that had at least something to say about the Philippines!" Being one to help others, Concepcion left some words of advice for up-and-coming Filipino sanitation engineers: "You must clean every table like it's your last. You never know when that foreigner who works for a huge restaurant will come over and offer you a contract."
Paquito Concepcion. A god amongst janitors.
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