The two countries remain distinct only in their earnings potential: a graduate engineer in Matamoros earns less than ashopassistant across the river in Brownsville.
Litsa Grigoropoulos, a sales assistant at Sephora's smaller downtown shopin Manhattan's Soho district, used to work at Macy's (part of Federated Department Stores).
In front of a newly-opened phone shop, the sales assistant flashed an iPhone to the Foxconn employees, with everyone focused on his every "cool" gesture, as if it was something new.