"

Thinking about the posters of the workers, peasants and soldiers that he was so familiar with in his childhood, David thought, sometimes those images did have a shred of truth in them therefore he decided to try to talk to a supervisor.

Curretz fetched a supervisor who was average heights, average looking, whom David remembered as the bald supervisor with no notable features who interviewed him on a slow Sunday when he first started working with Bud and the Houston Burrito House. The supervisor first asked what David did crossing the border to US and after David replied that he was merely crossing the border to develop a computerized Point of Sale (POS) systems, the average supervisor seemed reproaching David that he was the kind of Canadian workers that did not need to TN-1 visa. His tone almost questioned, why wasted his time for such a trivial matter. When David explained that another agent had advised him to apply for TN-1 visa and regarded that as a must have, then the average supervisor changed his tone. David thought, like a good NFL referee, one never overturned the rulings of a colleague without strong enough incentives and compelling reasons.

He told David that his work in US is in the not very clearly defined areas subject to interpretation. Then David and the average supervisor touched upon the real questions that David wanted to ask him about the decision to deny entry by officer Curretz. David said, "Listening to customer requirements is the textbook first step of developing any business applications. I don't know any computer professional that just develop software without listening to customer requirements. Is office Curretz an expert in software development? And why is he altering standard accepted practice in the software development industry?" The average supervisor replied: "We are not experts in software development, but we are all experts in NAFTA guidelines." In order to prove his point, the average supervisor stared at the letter signed by Bud Westwood and pointed out: "Your letter of employment does not comply with NAFTA guide line because there is no such category of skilled professionals under 'software development manager'. You need to have this letter re-written with the position matching one of the categories in this list". He then handed David a list.

David went home to call Bud Westwood and Burrito House, telling them he won the lottery again and would not be able to attend the project meeting scheduled on Tuesday morning. In order to make minimum adjustments, David asked Bud to change the wording into "the skilled professional would work as a Software development manager under the NAFTA category of 'System Analyst'" instead of being confused as a 'Managing Consultant' so he could listen to customer requests instead of lying to the border agents. There are usually signs such as "if you provide false information to the officers of the United States, you may be permanently disallowed to enter United States" posted both at the border and in US consulate offices. At that moment, entering United States to work is still a big deal that David can not afford to forfeit.

In order to save time, David went back to the airport hoping to catch an afternoon flight to Houston so he could still have chance to attend the Tuesday project meeting if everything worked out well. This time, he ran into another officer named "Gurretz" who even looked similar to officer Curretz. Gurretz pointed out the letter of contract employment for David was still not in compliance with NAFTA guide line. Instead of working as a "Software Development Manager under the NAFTA category of System Analyst", the letter should simply be working as a "System Analyst under the NAFTA category of System Analyst". David wondered whether "repetition" is no longer a grammatical error anymore since he took the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) which was required for most of the overseas students coming to USA. But like anywhere in the world, people with a little bit of authority at the moment is always right. Before David said anything, officer Gurretz found another error in David's TN-1 application. He asked David to show him all his diplomas and David did. There was a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from one university in China and two universities in Ohio. Officer Gurretz asked, which one of them show evidence that you had qualification to be a "System Analyst"? This was truly a checkmate for David, because none of his diplomas actually had the words "computer", "system" or "analyst" printed on them. David explained the Master of Business Administration degree he obtained was with concentration area in "Management Information System", which was precisely related to the kind of job duties that he was going to perform in Houston Burrito House franchise. David also explained that universities usually do not print a student's major or concentration areas on diplomas. "If the universities do not print your major in the diploma, do you have a resume to show that you have worked with computers and are proficient to work on information systems?" Gurretz asked. In a last attempt to get through the border that day, David said, "if you have any computers connected to the Internet, I can show you the work that I have done and I also have resumes posted online. I can even solve your computer problems on the spot if you have any. You are also welcome to call any universities that I have attended or any companies that I have worked for to verify my qualifications".

Office Gurretz refused in sarcasm: "You are the one who is trying to enter United States, not me. The burden of proof is on you. I don't have the time or obligation to help you prove your skills".

So there is not much to do for David but gave it a last try of asking to see a supervisor.

The poster of "we are the face of our nation" is still unchanged, but this time the face of the supervisor was changed. This supervisor had a black patch underneath his right eye that looked like from radiological treatment for skin cancer patients. He was of average heights and also bald, but he seemed to have much more concise language and answers. He walked out to David and said: "Are you the one who wanted to see a supervisor? Go back home! This conversation is over". So went the "one face at the border" jingle in that poster.

Going back home was something David more than happy to do, if not for the sake of bringing some food and money back home. David's ever-optimistic wife Jade was at it again and tried to persuade him to find an easier way to make a living. "I told you that demands for computer programmers are getting lower and lower, at least in North America and Europe. You should start writing a novel with all the stories that you have seen at the borders of different countries. Look at that John Grisham guy. He had a good profession as a lawyer, but the even a lawyers profession was no match to his career as a novelist. Let along your computer programmer profession."

David always enjoyed inspirational talks of his Zig Zigler styled wife and said, "Thank you Mr. Zigler, but I think people are probably more interested in stories about lawmen and cops than stories about computer programmers and scientists. People like to see guts spilling all over the screens and then they think they got their money's worth." "Enng, wrong answer!!! Like Will Smith said, don't think Denzel is the only Brother who could act? Everyone can do his or her piece and get some audiences. Look at that Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger? How many times had you seen similar scenes in your childhood, and how could you understand its appeals and popularities in the West for that crap? Believe me; any kind of garbage has values if you try hard enough to sell it. If you believe in God, science, computer, and your miserable life as an immigrant all have some values in them. Why don't you learn to pray?"