His booth looks tiny in the middle of the tall glass buildings of Manhattan: deprived of activity during the pandemic, Abdul Rahman, an Afghan salesman who arrived in New York in 1992, has resumed service in dotted lines, like a district where offices are still struggling to fill up.
Coffee, muffins, bananas, hard-boiled eggs: like him, thousands of “street vendors”, emblematic of the sidewalks of New York, hoped that business would finally resume normally in September.
That’s far from being the case. “My sales are at 20, 30% compared to before the pandemic”, notes Abdul Rahman, 44, standing in front of the display where donuts and other sweet pastries are displayed, next to a vat of coffee, which he confides. have trouble emptying.
With a wave of his arm, he points to a long line of customers, now imaginary, who once lined up in front of his traveling business.
Like yellow taxis, small aluminum-colored mobile kiosks are part of the New York landscape.
According to associations that come to their aid, there are 20,000 street vendors in the megalopolis, many of whom are immigrants for whom it is the only way to earn money and do not have a permit. ‘exercise.
On Abdul Rahman’s stand, the city hall permit is clearly visible, as is a photo of his three children, all born in the United States.
It’s been 20 years since the Afghan, who arrived in New York in 1992 to flee the war in his country, settled on this sidewalk of Whitehall Street, south of Manhattan.
A good location, at the foot of office buildings, near a metro exit and not far from the platforms from which the ferries filled with tourists to the Statue of Liberty leave and return, as well as the boats carrying workers from Staten Island.
– Do not stay at home –
Some customers are loyal, like Mike Reyes, a maintenance worker who says he comes every morning. “We need affordable products, like donuts or coffees (at $ 1.25). In town, it’s very expensive. So for me, these people (street vendors, editor’s note) are essential,” explains he does.
But tourists are still lacking and, as a consequence of the Delta variant, “people work a lot from home”.
According to a survey conducted by the association “Partnership for New York City”, only 23% of the million office workers in Manhattan had returned to the site in August and employers were betting on a rate of 41% at the end of September, much less than the two-thirds expected in May.
Cap “NY” on the head, black mask on the mouth, Abdul Rahman hopes for a return to normal “in October … or January”. “I can hold on if business picks up. But I don’t know what will happen in the future,” he worries, explaining that he relies on his wife’s salary as a teacher to support the family.
In the immediate future, and after fifteen months of inactivity due to the coronavirus, during which he was able to receive public aid, he prefers to come to work from Nassau County, in eastern Long Island, where he lives.
This forces him to get up at 2:30 a.m., Monday through Friday. “Better than nothing,” he says, even though his best earnings, between $ 800 and $ 900 “a good week,” are a distant memory. “If I stay home, what do I do? It’s too much pressure.”
After 20 years of work, Abdul Rahman is thinking of retraining, especially as his back is hurting him.
“My wife is trying to help me get a job as a school bus driver, but it’s only part-time,” he explains. And then, “here, I know everyone, I’ve been here for twenty years. It’s a lifetime.”
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