Zaza\u2019s Coffee Bar<\/a> spill into Terminal A at Orlando International Airport.<\/p>\nKnown for great coffee, fresh made-to-order sandwiches and warm smiles, the Cuban Caf\u00e9 is one of the most popular restaurants at MCO. <\/p>\n
And chances are if you\u2019ve stopped by in the past 10 years, cashier Carmen Campos served you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love to work. I don’t, I don’t want to stay in my house all the time,\u201d Campos beamed.<\/p>\n
Immigrating from Venezuela, the grandmother of two came out of retirement nearly a decade ago to help her grandsons after her daughter died.<\/p>\n
And she’s been serving up Zaza\u2019s signature coffee, with a side of compassion ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work in there 3 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Yeah,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Director of Operations for Non-Traditional Zaza, Andrew Childress, said Carmen finds a way to put travelers at ease. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe’s like a breath of fresh air when she sees you, right? \u201cCause, \u2018Hey how are you? And, \u2018What?\u2019 \u2018How are you doing today?\u2019 What? I’m in an airport. What are we doing here? I\u2019m just trying to get my stuff,\u2019\u2019 Childress explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re mad they just went through TSA. They got screened. They spent all their money at Disney. They did whatever, right? But they\u2019re coming to the airport. They\u2019re not expecting anything. And then they get a Carmen, with a smiling face. Who\u2019s dancing to the music that\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
And at nearly 80 years young, Childress said the Abuelita, the Spanish word for grandmother, has more energy than people half her age. She often works back-to-back shifts \u2013 the first starting at 3 a.m. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s wild. It’s don’t know what. It’s in the food. It’s in the coffee or what. But she is, she’s nonstop. She’s a mover. She’s talking to people. She doesn’t like to sit still, which is awesome. And she, she takes care of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Venezuelan immigrant\u2019s English is still a work in progress, Childress said her warm smile and huge heart speak volumes. <\/p>\n
\u201cGenuine translates to any language right?\u201d When you care and you\u2019re great and you say whatever, genuine translates,\u201d Childress added.<\/p>\n
The 78-year-old cashier reinvented herself after retiring from the oil industry, not only for a paycheck but she stressed for the people. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is my secret. Yeah! I love you the person you know. Tener de contacto con las personas. Hola. Como estas? Como te sientes?\u201d Carmen encouraged us all to get to know other people. Think about how they feel. \u201cSi conocer qu\u00e9 la otra persona? Como se siente la otra persona. Porque no sabemos la otra persona esta pasando on ice.\u201d Because she said you never know what they are going through.<\/p>\n
Timeless advice from a woman who\u2019s lived and loved enough for two lifetimes. <\/p>\n
Childress said Carmen is the embodiment of the Hispanic culture. \u201cI’ve never experienced a culture where if you come into the house, you’re automatically family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carmen was recognized a few years ago, receiving the airport\u2019s highest customer service award after a traveler raved on Google about Carmen and her service at Zaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Hispanic Heritage Month runs September 15th through October 15th. A time where Spectrum News celebrates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,139,141,140,275,835],"class_list":["post-428791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}