WORKING -- Ramon Perez

-- Story by Young Chang; photo by Brian Pobuda

HE IS

A driving range target.

WORD PLAY

Ramon Perez says to himself, “pathetic, pathetic.”

It’s a new word -- one he found in the dictionary Tuesday. Standing at

the rear of the driving range at the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club, he

says it over and over again. English isn’t his first language, and he

thinks the word sounds goofy.

He does this often. While vacuuming golf balls in a cart equipped with

ball collectors, Perez will mumble words he memorized the night before.

While cleaning carts for golf patrons to ride, he’ll shuffle vocabulary

through his head.

And while having conversations with golfers at the club, he’ll jot

down words he doesn’t know on a little note card.

He talks a lot as he does his job. It’s not part of his duty, but he

loves getting to know members of the men’s and women’s clubs because it

makes him feel loved.

Wednesday morning, Perez and men’s club members talked about the

Democratic National Convention. The golfers asked him who he preferred --

Gore or Bush. Perez evaded the answer because to him it’s personal.

PEOPLE SKILLS

On most mornings, golfers will come by his cart barn to say hello and

talk pleasantries about the weekend if it’s a Monday or Tuesday.

“They really love me,” the 30-year-old said. “It’s nice to work with

people who love you.”

So nice, in fact, that he might work at the golf course for as long as

the next two decades.

Perez moved to Southern California from Mexico 11 years ago. He started at the golf course as a cart boy about eight years ago.

“People are coming to feel relaxed, to forget problems, and they’re

paying well money for the service. I just want to be sure I do my best,”

Perez said.

HAPPY AND FREE

He rides around in the ball-collecting cart every two hours during his

5 a.m. to 1 p.m. day. Golf balls fly overhead and many hit his makeshift

vehicle. He likes the shocking clang because it gives him a refreshing

jolt.

He even likes washing the 50,000 golf balls -- give or take a few --

he collects throughout the day and making them whiter. Not white, but

more white, he admits.

In Mexico, the land is beautiful but there is no liberty, he said.

Having left a country in which he felt politically unhappy, Perez says

America is the best country to live in -- one that makes him feel excited

just to be alive.

“I’m poor, but happy,” he said.