Trio of Cuban-American brothers thriving at the same workplace
Their 10th birthday was days away when the twin boys learned that their older brother, and inspiration, was leaving their native Cuba to pursue a future in the United States.
“The first question that I asked was, ‘How many days?” David Rodriguez told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Because I expected that he was going, but that he would come back.”
David and Dariel Rodriguez, now 21, recalled crying for days. For years thereafter, they cherished the few minutes they were able to speak with Alejandro Pais-Rodriguez over the phone every couple of weeks.
“You know, when you’re a kid it’s hard to understand,” Dariel Rodriguez said about the separation. “He was far away from us.”
For Pais-Rodriguez, the immediate joy of moving to a new country evaporated and gave way to missing his family, he said. “They were so little when I left.”
In Las Vegas, the older brother struggled to assimilate and to learn English, but he quickly ended up at COX Communications, climbing the ranks to become an account manager for the telecommunication giant’s business side.
His brothers followed a decade later, and now the three are reunited at the same workplace thousands of miles and a sea away from their small town of Cotorro near Havana.
“My goal is that they do better than I do,” Pais-Rodriguez expressed proudly.
The brothers are living an American dream typical of millions of immigrants in this country: Work to support yourself and your family back home.
“It’s not about what I have or what I can get, it’s about the ability to make sure my family is being taken care of, that they don’t struggle,” Pais-Rodriguez said. “That’s pretty much the dream.”
‘Humble young men’
A company spokesperson described the brothers as “remarkable, humble young men,” adding that they volunteer at COX events.
The twins, for example, shined during a recent corporate challenge where their coworkers fell in love with them, the spokesperson said.
“As long as we can have a lifestyle that we’re comfortable here and we can help my family and we can manage all that at the same time, we’re good,” Dariel Rodriguez echoed his older brother. “To be honest, we don’t need a Ferrari, this fancy car or big house. As long as the family’s good, we’re good.”
Pais-Rodriguez always dreamed of a career in tech. After serving two mandatory years in Cuba’s military nearly 12 years ago, he moved to Las Vegas where his father lived.
Studying information technology in Cuba, he would tell his friends that he wanted to work for Microsoft, “even if I have to clean the floors.”
He emigrated from Cuba without knowing a lick of English.
Working as an on-the-field technician for a COX contractor, surveyed customers would comment on his friendly and hardworking demeanor, but they also noted his difficulty communicating, he said.
The 32-year-old man now speaks fluent English. And he is thriving at COX, which touted two major corporate awards he’s won.
During his time in the U.S., he became a father, and continues supporting his family back home, too.
Thriving together
The twins reunited with Pais-Rodriguez two years ago, and initially got jobs at a local McDonald’s restaurant.
Understanding how hard it was for their older brother to learn the language, they signed up for evening English classes at a library.
As kitchen workers, they begged and begged to get headsets so they could hear drive-thru employees take orders, they said. As their confidence grew, they asked to be assigned as cashiers.
It wasn’t easy, they said, but within months, they became fluent, and they were promoted to managers before they were hired at COX a few months ago as door-to-door salespersons.
“I can get you an interview, but I can’t get you a job,” Pais-Rodriguez remembers telling his brothers.
Now, he encounters old bosses who wish he would recommend more prospective hires, he said. “Dude, you have anymore civilians?”
As the older brother, he’s shown tough love, giving the younger men tips on how to succeed.
“What they have accomplished out there is amazing,” Pais-Rodriguez said. “And I see they will do it better than I did.”
Meanwhile, the twins continue looking up to their brother.
“Alex for us is a leader, like a mentor for us,” David Rodriguez said. “We know the success that he’s had here at COX, and we have that compromise every day that we have to do it as good as he did it or even better.”
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
