Reseda--I moved FROM Reseda, after living there 27 years because of this problem and the ones like it.
I could no longer do business at a restaurant, dry cleaners, gas station, hardware store, etc, because I spoke ENGLISH and these intruders did NOT. I got too frustrated with trying to communicate a simple order for a samdwich and a coca cola with no ice. It ALWAYS came with ice, and there were totally "deer in the headlights" looks
when I asked for it the way I ordered it. Had to speak to "manager" more than once. They often weren't much better. Sure took the enjoyment out of going out to eat. Notice that the article doesn't clarify if the worker at Carrows was illegal intruder or not.
True story: McDonalds on Parthenia near Tampa, just north of Reseda in Northridge: Employee didn't speak English. COULD NOT take an order from a customer in English. A second employee stood there, on the crowded back counter at lunch time, translating order from customer to "order taker" who then struggled to put info into computer and then find the items, all of which had wrappers printed in English. One of my best friends had a total hissy fit about this-MIDDLE OF THE LUNCH PERIOD- and flat raised a ruckus. Manager told him there was nothing he could do about it. My friend said if he came in again and witnessed the same thing, the shop lunches he bought there every day to the tune of $75-100, 6 days a week would be purchased elsewhere. He went elsewhere after that. I don't think there is a single McDonalds in the country that can walk away from prox $2000 a month from one source of customers, a nearby machine shop.
A by-product of these "employees" is the fact that their non-working "friends" start hanging around the place of business, hanging in the parking lots, loitering, just waiting to chat with their working friends during breaks, lunches, etc. This becomes a completely separate problem, but it is very off-putting for customers. Made me quit going more to than one place. Even when I expressed my discomfort to managers, they were too scared or too stupid to address the problem. It didn't take long for fairly busy places to be scratching for customers.
I think the efforts to teach "bi-lingual" classes for years in LA is also part of the problem here. Millions of dollars of money were wasted. The longer you coddle these people, the longer they take to learn the English language. I think they also develop the idea that we should learn their languages. I will--when and ONLY WHEN I go to their country, not one second earlier.
The fact that someone is now complaining that there is such a high rate of illiteracy in Southern Calif is no news to me. I have alot more stories about how frustrating it became to live there. They cannot make change. They cannot give directions. They cannot count items to ring them up. They are a disaster to the employer, especially the small businessman.
Add all the other costs of doing business in Calif, and there is no secret why businesses are closing and starting up out of the state. Cannot fire or lay these people off without penalties, so you move to a new place, out of state, and wipe the slate clean and start over.
This is a cancer that needs to be addressed. Most are here illegally. Ship them out, and keep them out.
How far away did you move and is it any better. I'm living the same situation in Texas and it is difficult.
For example, I bought a 2nd grade math workbook for my son at the local walmart. Got it home and started him on it and all the problems were (in English) but with a Mexican tilt. Instead of "cutting a pizza into 4 pieces" it was cut a tortilla!! All of the book was like this - only one example of the way that immigration, here most of it illegal, is changing our cities and our history.
bump
I've lived in the San Fernando Valley for over 30 years, and your post is the gospel truth.