by Krista Weidner

It's 6 a.m. on a Pennsylvania dairy farm. Lights are blazing through the barn windows. Milking is in full swing as the farm owner comes into the barn and makes his rounds, surveying the scene. The milkers, many of whom have immigrated from Mexico, El Salvador, or other Central American countries,
glance at the owner, waiting for a good morning or buenos dias, but they get only a curt nod. The workers wonder if their employer is angry.

“This is a pretty typical scenario we encounter as workers from Latin American and Central American countries are increasingly arriving on Pennsylvania farms in search of job opportunities,” says Richard Stup, human resource specialist for the college’s Dairy Alliance. “In this case, the Hispanic employees are interpreting the employer’s behavior as unfriendly or angry. Some might even be wondering what they did wrong. But this is just a communication problem. The owner is a little tired, he hasn’t had his coffee yet, and he’s not going out of his way to say hello to the workers. From the workers’ perspective, it’s expected in their culture that you say hello and talk a little bit.”