The country’s job market has reached such levels of sophistication, that in order to get work, non-Mexicans are pretending to be, well, Mexicans.

Such was the case of El Salvador-born Juan Carlos Rivera, who this week shared with the San Francisco Chronicle a trick to getting work as a dishwasher.

In his best Mexican Spanish, the Salvadoran asked: “Tienen trabajo?” (Do you have work?); when asked where he was born, he swallowed his pride and answered: Puebla, Mexico.

According to the story, life in Southern California is less complicated as a Mexican, and fitting in is easier. So there you have it. In these uncertain economic times, brush up on your “Mexican” Spanish; grow a bigote, pepper your conversations with lots of güey remarks and join the thousands of happy employed Mexicans!