No English...No Intercom
Ok…I finally feel motivated enough to write about something I’ve been meaning to write about for a while… God forgive me, but I have a serious problem with half-ass, broken up, three languages in one, non-english speaking foreigners who work at American fast food joints. I feel terrible about this little predjudice of mine, but the more I talk about it…the more I realize I’m not alone…here’s a little story for you…
So, I go to Mac Donalds, and, I already know that I will not achieve complete satisfaction by feasting there..ever, yet I go anyway with a friend of mine. So he and I are in the ever so convienent drive thru, when finally it’s our turn. The person says over an already shitty intercom… “ Amay Iumatake ayourauma aorder” What the? Luckily there was not but one thing she could have said , so I responded. Now mind you, my slight predjudices have started to arise but I clearly remember thinking to myself…”musicgirl, don’t be like that” so we carry on. “zumbersi?” No…number 6. “zithjeans?” NO with Cheese…goddamn. After about 30mins of trying to break the communication barrier, we approach the window. Now, the salad I ordered did not come with a drink, so I get to the window and ask if she would add a “Coke with no ice, please” to the order…From the look on her face you would have thought that I just asked her to strip and run around naked. Her face did this twisty,turny, ripply thing and she said “Cuk? Zi New? Eeece? Then my face did this twisty,turny, ripply thing and I said “C-O-K-E W-I-T-H-N-O-I-C-E-P-L-E-A-S-E.” Then right on the beautiful African lady’s forehead appeared the words “Help me. I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. Don’t you know I just got here from another country yesterday.” And as we sat there looking eye to eye with perplexed expressions, the manager walks up behind her. I then repeat myself and the manager had to show her “coke” and “ice”. COME ON!!!! You mean to tell me that you are working at Mac Donalds and you don’t know at LEAST the words on the menu. That’s just ridiculous….
So, I pay for the meal and as my friend and I drive off (he’s driving) I tell him about my feelings on the subject at hand. As I spoke to him I was thinking, I should write about this in my blog…and then I thought that instead of being predjudice, I should feel honored that I live in a city like Washington, DC where all types of people can live, learn,work and, grow together…by golly… I had my predjudice under control, I replaced the negative thinking with positive thinking, and my salad was only half wilted. Life was looking good…
…until I looked at my receipt and that non-English speaking bitch put $19.00 on my card instead of &7!!!!!! GODDAMN IT! Stupid bitch!
Needless to say we had to turn around and drive all the way back. Not only did I tell the manager that I was way overcharged, I brought it to her attention that the lady at the drive through window could not understand the words coming out of my mouth because she DOESN”T SPEAK ENGLISH! Her response…oh, “she just got here.” What the?
I don’t think I’m predjudice anymore. I just want good customer service. I shouldn’t be all stressed out when I’m about to spend my money at your establishment whatever it may be…the gas station, the car wash (oh don’t get me started), the cell phone company (who transfers many of their calls to India), a restaurant! Do you really think that I could go to another country and have them hire me in a customer service position without speaking their language. I don’t think so. France won’t have me serving biscuits instead of croissants...
So, I go to Mac Donalds, and, I already know that I will not achieve complete satisfaction by feasting there..ever, yet I go anyway with a friend of mine. So he and I are in the ever so convienent drive thru, when finally it’s our turn. The person says over an already shitty intercom… “ Amay Iumatake ayourauma aorder” What the? Luckily there was not but one thing she could have said , so I responded. Now mind you, my slight predjudices have started to arise but I clearly remember thinking to myself…”musicgirl, don’t be like that” so we carry on. “zumbersi?” No…number 6. “zithjeans?” NO with Cheese…goddamn. After about 30mins of trying to break the communication barrier, we approach the window. Now, the salad I ordered did not come with a drink, so I get to the window and ask if she would add a “Coke with no ice, please” to the order…From the look on her face you would have thought that I just asked her to strip and run around naked. Her face did this twisty,turny, ripply thing and she said “Cuk? Zi New? Eeece? Then my face did this twisty,turny, ripply thing and I said “C-O-K-E W-I-T-H-N-O-I-C-E-P-L-E-A-S-E.” Then right on the beautiful African lady’s forehead appeared the words “Help me. I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. Don’t you know I just got here from another country yesterday.” And as we sat there looking eye to eye with perplexed expressions, the manager walks up behind her. I then repeat myself and the manager had to show her “coke” and “ice”. COME ON!!!! You mean to tell me that you are working at Mac Donalds and you don’t know at LEAST the words on the menu. That’s just ridiculous….
So, I pay for the meal and as my friend and I drive off (he’s driving) I tell him about my feelings on the subject at hand. As I spoke to him I was thinking, I should write about this in my blog…and then I thought that instead of being predjudice, I should feel honored that I live in a city like Washington, DC where all types of people can live, learn,work and, grow together…by golly… I had my predjudice under control, I replaced the negative thinking with positive thinking, and my salad was only half wilted. Life was looking good…
…until I looked at my receipt and that non-English speaking bitch put $19.00 on my card instead of &7!!!!!! GODDAMN IT! Stupid bitch!
Needless to say we had to turn around and drive all the way back. Not only did I tell the manager that I was way overcharged, I brought it to her attention that the lady at the drive through window could not understand the words coming out of my mouth because she DOESN”T SPEAK ENGLISH! Her response…oh, “she just got here.” What the?
I don’t think I’m predjudice anymore. I just want good customer service. I shouldn’t be all stressed out when I’m about to spend my money at your establishment whatever it may be…the gas station, the car wash (oh don’t get me started), the cell phone company (who transfers many of their calls to India), a restaurant! Do you really think that I could go to another country and have them hire me in a customer service position without speaking their language. I don’t think so. France won’t have me serving biscuits instead of croissants...
seriously, it's MD's what do you expect? There's bad service despite the language.
Posted by
ldbug |
4:10 PM
although mostly true, that is very much against the point.
Posted by
Musicgirl |
5:43 PM
No, I think it's still on point. Their inability to communicate effectively in English adds to the bad service
Posted by
tideliar |
4:48 PM
I guess that depends on whether her point was the bad service or the lack of English. I work with two Chinese, one Indian and a Scot. They're all scientists, mostly Ph.D.'s in fact, a serious step up from MD's. The ability to speak to these people is, well, challenging, but really, they know more English than I know Chinese, or Hindi. Of course the accent of the Scot is a whole other issue:) So if her point was bad service, well, it's MD's, not exactly a 5 star establishment, if the point was speaking the language of the country..well I've learned a lot of tolerence here at St. Jude, and in return learned a lot about cloning and protein purification I wouldn't have had I stopped listening just because it was hard.
Posted by
ldbug |
5:29 PM
It’s not about bad service at Mac Donalds…it about bad service in general due to one’s inability to communicate or rather speak the language of the country they are working in. The incident at MD’s was not the first time it’s happened. Once I went to a car wash and I asked a Spanish speaking man if they had a vacuum on the premises that I could use to vacuum my car. He had no idea what I was asking. He just kept nodding and directing me towards the people who clean the car for you before it goes through automatically. I never once asked about a wash, I asked about a vacuum that I could use. The more I tried to get across what I was looking for the more evident it became that he didn’t have a clue. I ended up having to back out of the wash line. Meanwhile he’s looking at me like “Where are you going?” It was a disaster and a waste of time.
I’m all for tolerance, but I think it’s completely ridiculous to not know the words “coke” and “no ice” if you work at MD’s or “vacuum” if you work at a car wash…
Posted by
Musicgirl |
6:04 PM
And I do agree with that. I'm saying we go as far as some German highschools, and forbid kids speaking their native language even at home; however, the fact that some places actually need Englsih as a foreign language classes in highscool shows what a problem there is. How can you exepct proper service, let a lone full integration into society if you can't speak the language. More to the point, how did the job in the first place!!
I know that's all abit mixed up, but I'm hoping to do a post on it soon...
Posted by
tideliar |
12:47 PM
Bugger...that's meant to say..."I'm NOT saying we go as far as far as some German schools..."
Posted by
tideliar |
12:47 PM
"give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free."
Although I am against those who refuse to integrate into our society, I do believe that everyone has a chance to come here and try to have a new, hopefully better, life. Most of those people did not have an education to speak of before migrating here, and they work the shit jobs in order to try and give their children, who will speak very good English, a better life.
I aggree with Tidy, when he brings up the point that it is wrong to have places in the U.S. where it is accepted that English is not a first language. But, there are many more legal immigrants, and I stress legal, who don't know English when they arrive but are still doing their best to learn, to work, to integrate in time..and maybe the employer should take the responsibility to teach the pertinant words such as "no ice" since they hired the cheapest labor, the most ignorant, the ones who don't know where to go for the quickest English class..I don't know, but I do know that in my experiences out of the country, everyone knew a few words of English at least, in order to give me the best service even when I didn't even know a single word of their language. Maybe we, as a country of immigrants, who have become so selfish to expect other countries to bow to our language should strive a little harder at not just tollerence, but also to help in teaching our language and culture to those who wish to become a part of our society.
Posted by
ldbug |
2:25 PM
wow, that sort of became a blog entry, sorry..
Posted by
ldbug |
2:26 PM
It goes BOTH ways. We should be learning each other’s languages and practices if we expect to become integrated. I welcome the idea of new people coming to our country for a better opportunity…but they need to have respect for the society they are coming to be a part of. It really bothers me when I notice people obviously not from this country, breaking rules that we have developed to keep our citizens safe. I hate to say it, but Hispanics/ Latinos around the DC area jaywalk more than any group of people I have ever seen, and unfortunately most of the time the news reports about a pedestrian being struck, they have a Spanish or African name(they make up a large portion of DC immigrant population). The big fat red hand means DO NOT CROSS. I wouldn’t dare go to another country and ignore the rules or not make an attempt to learn at least the words in my place of work.
Posted by
Musicgirl |
2:49 PM
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