With a light tap of the fingers on the neck, the employee in the tavern located in Krini, Thessaloniki, informs his colleague that the customer wants a bottle of tsipouro. A few meters down, at another table, Rodi completes the order and, resting her hand on her chest, nods, saying thank you. The two work as waiters in the tavern of Giorgos Yantsis, who has been employing deaf and hard-of-hearing people in his shop for some time now.

“The world of silence is deep, it is beautiful, it is another world. With the children in the shop we talk with our eyes and soul and believe me, everything works like clockwork”, emphasizes Mr. Yantsis, speaking to the radio station of the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency “Agency 104.9 FM”. As he says, a few seconds of eye contact are enough, without stressful movements, and the order is completed with zero degree of difficulty!

“We have already learned a lot of sign words through our daily interaction with the hearing impaired children, waiters and cooks, and we also know small phrases, mainly those related to the orders at the table and our products. We all know – even the youngest in the field, that the joined palms and the thumb shake parallel to the ground, is the fish”, points out Mr. Yandsis.

The owner of the tavern, located next to the Nautiko Omilo, next to the sea, had placed the ad two years ago. It said at the time that employees who are deaf, hard of hearing and people with Down syndrome are wanted for jobs in the tavern. Giorgos, who is hearing impaired, was the first to arrive at the site and got a job. Hesitant at first, but with an appetite for work, he asked the owner why he wanted deaf and hard of hearing people and the answer was disarming: “to enter your world and you to enter mine”, he told him and the collaboration began. Today, George is in Athens, having a lot of experience working in the tavern on his CV as well as a strong friendship with its owner.

“People with hearing problems, in addition to the everyday problems they face, have a huge issue with finding work. Eleven people have passed, now there are three and I expect two more in the summer season”, says Mr. Yandsis, emphasizing that he wants to employ people with Down syndrome, however their relatives are hesitant, while he also looked for people with mobility problems.

The owner of the tavern explains with a smile that with a good mood and effort, any minor problems were solved (eg tsipouro and ouzo have the same sign language). He enthusiastically says that hearing impaired people are great at their jobs, noting that customers, especially patrons, have gotten to know them by their first names and now make basic orders for their table using sign gestures.

Waiters wear a special badge on their shirts for customers to understand in case they don’t get an immediate answer. For their part, the waiters, with their “weapon” wide smiles, do everything possible to carry out even the most complex order.

“I have a feeling that culture belongs to us and we shouldn’t expect anyone else around us to change it. If we do not create the demand for the proper integration into society of all our fellow human beings, the structures will not change, nothing will change if we do not change”, notes the young owner.

In fact, Giorgos Yantsis has in his future plans to sit at the desks to officially learn sign language.