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Oxydosic ([info]oxydosic) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2005-11-02 14:57:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
English Wank from Bad_Service
EDIT: Sorry for dropping the wank ball. Here are some caps of the bahleeted wank, courtesy of [info]wallflower.

First big thread
Next Two Threads
Fourth Thread
Fifth and Sixth Threads
Seventh Thread
Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Threads
Final Thread

Over on the LJ comm [info]bad_service, [info]jesirose posts about an incident at Wendys, where she had to deal with an employee that didn't speak very good English. She also crossposts it to [info]mock_the_stupid The link to the bad service thread: here

Can you guess where this is going?



So, my fiance and I just moved, and we spent a few hours cleaning our old apartment. So we both had plenty of chemicals on our hands, bleach, amonia, random smelly things that disinfect. Unfortunately, we didn't wash our hands before going to eat, or we could have saved ourselves from this whole problem.

So we walk into a Wendy's, head for the restrooms, and I go to pump soap onto my hands. Alas, no soap. So I go tell the cashier, while waiting for my fiance to finish so I can get some soap from the men's room.

The cashier proceeds to walk to the restroom, turn the hand drier on, and say "is ok!".
Me: "No, the soap dispenser is out of soap."
Her: *looks at the toilet and then reaches over and hands me some toilet paper*
Me: "No. The soap. There." *points*.
Her: *tests it and walks away*

OMFG You're in America woman. I know this is Texas, but it's still America, and we speak English. Learn it.

So I go to the Men's and ask my fiance for some soap because I didn't want to go in, but he would have had to wash his hands again. I go in and turn on the faucet, which rebounds off the sink just as he says "NOOO" and water sprays all over my pants.
On the plus side, I had very clean hands AND pants by the time I was done.



Naturally, people are offended. The old 'Do YOU make sure you're fluent in the language of a country before you visit it?' Issue comes up. People argue that there's a big difference between visiting a country and living there permanently. People say this isn't bad service.

[info]emrldsword has had enough of the 'it's not bad service' crap.

I'm getting pretty sick of the OMGZ ITS NOT BAD SERVICE, DIE!! arguments in here. It's getting really old really quickly. People need to learn to READ. I rarely see any non bad service posts in here. It's usually people neglecting to read the entire post. If the MOD thinks it's not bad service, they'll take care of it. If you're not the mod, eat a dick already. Who are you to judge? Move on and find something more worthwhile to get angry over.

On another note, I think anyone who lives in a country and doesn't know the native language is pretty fucking ignorant. Not just America, but ANY country. It's one thing if you're visiting for a short time and don't really have time to master the language, but for chrissakes, if you LIVE in a country, LEARN THE LANGUAGE FIRST SO YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A MORON. Sure, English can be a difficult language to master if you're not from any English speaking countries, but you'd think people would at least ATTEMPT to learn. I've come across so many people who flat out REFUSE to learn.


My personal favorite though is user [info]thedoppelganger, who responds to the original post with this:

"So, my fiance and I have just moved, and spent a few hours cleaning our old apartment. So we both have plenty of chemicals on our hands, bleach, amonia, random smelly things that disinfect. Unfortunately, we didn't wash our hands before going to eat, or we could have saved ourselves from this whole problem."

You keep shifting from present to past tense. That's improper. "From" in the last sentence is unnecessary.

"Alas, no soap. So I go tell the cashier, while waiting for my fiance to finish so I can get some soap from the mens."

"Men's room".

"The cashier proceeds to walk to the restroom, turn the air hand dryer thingy on"

Stop right there. "Air hand dryer thingy"? So... she's from another country. What's your excuse?

"and say "is ok!".
Me: "No, the soap dispenser is out of soap."
Her: *looks at the toilet and then reaches over and hands me some toilet paper*
Me: "No. The soap. There." *points*.
Her: *tests it and walks away*"

Frankly, that's the fault of the manager on duty. She gets paid very little to deal with the indignant bull shit of self-satisfied customers.

"OMFG You're in America woman."

Even if we accept that abbreviation as acceptable, you need a comma. And "you're" shouldn't be capitalized.

"I know this is Texas, but it's still America,"

Alas.

"and we speak English. Learn it."

Excuse me? Who the dying fuck are you to assume she's not trying to learn English?

"So I go to the mens and ask my fiance for some soap cause I didn't want to go in, but he would have had to wash his again, so I go in and turn on the faucet, which rebounds off the sink just as he says "NOOO" and water sprays all over my pants."

Run on sentence. Men's. Men is all ready plural. The "s" denotes possession.

"On the plus side, I had very clean hands AND pants by the time I was done."



Maybe predictable, but i still liked it.


(Post a new comment)


[info]eilan
2005-11-02 09:42 pm UTC (link)
Run on sentence. Men's. Men is all ready plural. The "s" denotes possession.

No, an s without an apostrophe denotes plural. Also, as far as I know, it is called the 'mens' and the 'ladies'. Those are terms for the bathroom.

As for the wank, I am really shocked that there are so many people saying this isn't bad service. In general, many people in that community are quick to say 'but this wasn't bad service'.

Memo to them: If I ever move to the US and start working as a waitress or so there, I will make sure to talk to you in German. After all, the US has no national language. See how you like that.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]kadath
2005-11-02 09:52 pm UTC (link)
In US English, it's "men's room" and "women's (ladies') room." "Men" is one of those stupid irregular plurals.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 09:54 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-02 09:56 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 09:59 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-02 10:06 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:10 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-02 10:17 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-02 10:25 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:31 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-02 11:09 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]moonjaguar, 2005-11-03 04:50 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]ianthefira, 2005-11-02 11:28 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]moonjaguar, 2005-11-03 04:53 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-02 10:39 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-02 11:57 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-03 12:01 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-03 12:14 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]kadath, 2005-11-03 12:42 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-03 12:56 am UTC
(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-03 06:20 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-04 12:17 am UTC
(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-04 02:25 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]batsith, 2005-11-05 07:48 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-05 06:47 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]alpheratz, 2005-11-07 01:05 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-07 01:59 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]alpheratz, 2005-11-07 01:09 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]kookaburra, 2005-11-03 03:30 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 06:49 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]adora_spintriae, 2005-11-03 11:21 am UTC

[info]nekoneko
2005-11-02 09:58 pm UTC (link)
If I ever move to the US and start working as a waitress or so there, I will make sure to talk to you in German.

I'd be all for that, just to see if German 101 actually taught me anything. (Answer: Probably not.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:00 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]nekoneko, 2005-11-02 10:08 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:14 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]nekoneko, 2005-11-02 10:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:28 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]nekoneko, 2005-11-02 10:33 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-02 10:40 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]nekoneko, 2005-11-02 10:45 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-02 10:48 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]nekoneko, 2005-11-02 11:13 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-03 12:15 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:48 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-02 10:48 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:56 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-03 12:17 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]puipui, 2005-11-03 02:14 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]maev_connacht, 2005-11-03 04:16 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]kookaburra, 2005-11-03 03:34 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]visp, 2005-11-03 10:49 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 06:52 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]cairea, 2005-11-03 08:55 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]maev_connacht, 2005-11-03 04:18 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]cairea, 2005-11-03 08:06 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 09:29 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]cairea, 2005-11-03 10:25 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 11:01 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]also_not_a_pipe, 2005-11-03 10:22 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]smo, 2005-11-02 10:41 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]clover_elf_kin, 2005-11-06 05:15 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]renata_hpjc, 2005-11-03 12:31 am UTC

[info]dejla
2005-11-02 09:43 pm UTC (link)
Hmm. Of course, she did say 'speak' English, not 'write it and use correct grammar when you do so'.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]dejla
2005-11-02 09:45 pm UTC (link)
And, while I think of it... It's already, not all ready. I am a little unsure regarding Men's, though -- I think it would be Men's and Women's, or Mens' and Ladies'. I need to go wake up my friend the grammar cop.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]vigilanterodent, 2005-11-02 10:49 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]renata_hpjc, 2005-11-03 12:35 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]vigilanterodent, 2005-11-03 12:51 am UTC

[info]psychofangirl
2005-11-02 09:54 pm UTC (link)
It'd be nice if people moving to a country would learn the general language, but I know better than to assume that it'd be easy.

(Reply to this)


[info]wallflower
2005-11-02 09:54 pm UTC (link)
Bahleeted, but I still have it on my screen. I will screencap to the very best of my abilities!

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]oxydosic
2005-11-02 10:00 pm UTC (link)
Wow, i caught it just in time. Let me know when you get caps up and i'll post the link.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]wallflower, 2005-11-02 10:48 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]here4tehwank, 2005-11-04 05:58 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]oxydosic, 2005-11-04 06:25 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]here4tehwank, 2005-11-04 06:27 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]oxydosic, 2005-11-04 06:39 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]here4tehwank, 2005-11-04 06:46 pm UTC

[info]lurker32
2005-11-02 09:56 pm UTC (link)
Men is all ready plural.

Mmmm, irony.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]tangentialone
2005-11-02 11:54 pm UTC (link)
Shouldn't "Men" be in some kind of quote marks, since she's referring to the word and not actual men, too?

It's some kind of law of the universe that if you're going to comment to mock someone else's perfectly readable grammer, odds are you'll make a much dumber mistake in your comment.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]bangoskank, 2005-11-03 12:17 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]tangentialone, 2005-11-03 01:18 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]selenis, 2005-11-03 01:19 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]tangentialone, 2005-11-03 02:02 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]selenis, 2005-11-03 02:06 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]selenis, 2005-11-03 02:07 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]tangentialone, 2005-11-03 02:20 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]selenis, 2005-11-03 05:03 am UTC
(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-03 06:28 pm UTC

[info]radiotrash
2005-11-02 09:57 pm UTC (link)
See I would have just gone and asked another employee then. Although it is a bit weird that she can't speak/understand english all that well and yet is working in a place where one would assume you needed to. (Although it is Texas I suppose and she only really needs to know how to take orders and such. Humm..._)

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]platedlizard
2005-11-02 10:11 pm UTC (link)
Yeah. When I worked at Burger King they used the English-speakers as cashiers. Spanish-only speakers worked Kitchen, and most of the managers spoke both. But then I live in Oregon. Somewhere with a higher Spainish-to-English speaking ratio might be able to have Spainish-only cashiers.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]dandywolves, 2005-11-02 11:55 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]luxshine, 2005-11-03 02:05 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]platedlizard, 2005-11-03 03:37 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]kookaburra, 2005-11-03 03:39 am UTC

[info]teruhiko
2005-11-02 10:01 pm UTC (link)
While the grammar lesson wasn't really needed, I still think it was asshatty of the OP not to even consider the fact that the cashier might have been trying to learn English. It's an extremely difficult language, cut them some slack. She tried to help a little bit, at least.

Whenever I'm visiting a country where the main language isn't English, I try to learn a few phrases, of course. But I'm still going to have some difficulty. These things aren't instantaneous, people.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]eilan
2005-11-02 10:08 pm UTC (link)
Come on, the woman was working in a country where English is spoken by many people. She couldn't understand 'soap'?

It's an extremely difficult language

You know, everytime I read something like that, I go totally WTF? I can't think of more than 2 or 3 other languages that could be less difficult to learn. The grammar is actually pretty easy if you don't strive for perfectness. A basic vocabulary and a basic 'subject + verb + object' will get you a long way in spoken English.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]cmikhailovic, 2005-11-02 10:35 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]teruhiko, 2005-11-02 10:42 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:54 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]dandywolves, 2005-11-02 11:57 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]tangentialone, 2005-11-03 12:04 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:49 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]altoidsaddict, 2005-11-03 01:32 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]princessdot, 2005-11-04 10:10 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]altoidsaddict, 2005-11-04 06:07 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]ladysorka, 2005-11-03 01:52 am UTC
(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-03 06:45 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]chibikaijuu, 2005-11-03 07:00 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-03 10:21 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]teruhiko, 2005-11-02 10:38 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 10:51 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]teruhiko, 2005-11-02 11:01 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 11:05 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]wankprophet, 2005-11-03 10:31 am UTC
(no subject) - ealusaid, 2005-11-03 12:15 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]teruhiko, 2005-11-03 12:16 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]chibikaijuu, 2005-11-03 07:06 am UTC
(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-03 06:49 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]princessdot, 2005-11-04 10:14 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]felinephoenix, 2005-11-05 05:09 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]loopywafflehead, 2005-11-02 10:55 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]panthea, 2005-11-03 04:53 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]vigilanterodent, 2005-11-02 11:30 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]cleolinda, 2005-11-03 12:58 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]snacky, 2005-11-03 01:52 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]spleen, 2005-11-03 06:29 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]amasaglajax, 2005-11-03 06:12 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]spleen, 2005-11-03 07:01 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]batsith, 2005-11-05 07:58 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-03 10:07 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]the_wanlorn, 2005-11-03 05:10 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-03 05:23 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]the_wanlorn, 2005-11-03 05:27 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-03 05:30 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]the_wanlorn, 2005-11-03 07:40 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]clover_elf_kin, 2005-11-06 05:42 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]the_wanlorn, 2005-11-06 08:10 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]scootermcgaffin, 2005-11-03 08:35 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]the_wanlorn, 2005-11-03 08:40 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 05:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-03 05:27 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-04 03:47 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-04 07:59 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-04 10:47 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]monkeywrench, 2005-11-04 10:54 am UTC
(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-03 06:35 pm UTC
(no subject) - winterfox, 2005-11-03 09:39 pm UTC

[info]shoiryu
2005-11-02 10:17 pm UTC (link)
"I know this is Texas, but it's still America,"

But it's still /Texas/. Why the fuck don't you speak any Spanish, gringa?

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]cmikhailovic
2005-11-02 10:36 pm UTC (link)
For real. It's a fucking BORDER.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

(no subject) - [info]xero_sky, 2005-11-02 11:03 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 11:06 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]xero_sky, 2005-11-02 11:30 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2005-11-02 11:33 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]darkerthanpale, 2005-11-03 04:31 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]dandywolves, 2005-11-03 12:01 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]silrana, 2005-11-03 04:43 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-08 07:43 pm UTC

[info]miss_arel
2005-11-02 11:25 pm UTC (link)
This kind of wank always bugs me so much, for two reasons:

1) America doesn't HAVE an official language. Yes, English is the most widespread, but NO WHERE does it say that you MUST be fluent in English in order to live here. It does help to be proficient, but it's not illegal not to be.

2) It may be surprising to those who have been speaking English their whole lives, but English is widely regarded as being one of THE most difficult languages to master, second only to Mandarin Chinese (which is nicknamed 'The Devil's Tongue' for a reason.) So if you weren't brought up speaking it, English is a BITCH to learn. A person could live in America for years and still have trouble. So untwist your panties, sweetums, and chill the fuck out already.

[/rant]

(Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - ealusaid, 2005-11-03 12:16 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]vigilanterodent, 2005-11-03 12:47 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]annabelle_lee, 2005-11-03 01:36 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]miss_arel, 2005-11-03 01:50 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]annabelle_lee, 2005-11-03 02:28 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-08 08:13 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-04 08:11 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]atalantapendrag, 2005-11-03 03:40 am UTC
(no subject) - kroki_refur, 2005-11-03 10:38 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 09:20 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 09:50 pm UTC
(no subject) - kroki_refur, 2005-11-03 11:30 pm UTC
(no subject) - kroki_refur, 2005-11-03 11:31 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-04 06:35 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-04 12:03 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]belafarinrod, 2005-11-05 09:54 am UTC
(no subject) - kroki_refur, 2005-11-05 10:28 am UTC

(Anonymous)
2005-11-02 11:39 pm UTC (link)
Eh, if people don't know English even though they live in America, I won't blow my gasket. HOWEVER, do not jump on *me* for not knowing Spanish instead. Frickin' hypocritical morons.

Sorry for the bitterness, I am recalling many moments of gas station woe where people who spoke pretty much only Spanish got massively irritated with me for not understanding what the heck they were going on about...and I don't even live in a heavily Spanish-speaking neighborhood! We have lots of Asians instead.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]ourself, 2005-11-02 11:49 pm UTC
(no subject) - ealusaid, 2005-11-03 12:18 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 12:26 am UTC
(no subject) - ealusaid, 2005-11-03 12:37 am UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 12:38 am UTC

[info]mistal
2005-11-03 12:07 am UTC (link)
OMFG You're in America woman. I know this is Texas, but it's still America, and we speak English. Learn it.

That 'logic' give me a problem... You see, I live in Canada, Canada's official language are English and French. I've got the French masted, since it's my native tongue, but my english is shaky. Well for writing I'm 'fine' with the help of a spellcheck, reading I'm perfectly fine but speaking it? I'm crappy and I still say "ouse" and "happle" or anything else like that. People sometime dont understand me. So what should I do? Stay in Quebec only because I haven't 'mastered' all of the English language?

(Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - ealusaid, 2005-11-03 12:26 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]mistal, 2005-11-03 12:38 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]kelmendi, 2005-11-03 08:55 am UTC
a similar-but-not-quite experience - (Anonymous), 2005-11-03 09:43 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]caoilte, 2005-11-05 11:13 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]panthea, 2005-11-03 04:55 am UTC

[info]elanor_durall
2005-11-03 02:30 am UTC (link)
If you're not the mod, eat a dick already.

That is such good advice. Haaah.

(Reply to this)


[info]moonjaguar
2005-11-03 04:54 am UTC (link)
Why didn't they wash their hands before getting something to eat? Yech!!! Nothing like having harsh cleansers and dirt all over your hands and not stopping to wash first!

/allergic person and former longtime foodservice worker argggh.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]emlan, 2005-11-03 01:40 pm UTC

[info]papervolcano
2005-11-03 10:26 am UTC (link)
... Do people not move to the States and to learn English? Just thinking about the other people in my last two houseshares - 10 people in the building, and I'd often be the only native speaker. They'd all moved to England to learn English, and took whatever jobs they could get to support themselves while they did so. I'd wonder if it's a London thing, but I've seen similar things elsewhere in the country.

(Reply to this)


chief
2005-11-03 05:59 pm UTC (link)
The link to the "bad_service"-community appears to be deleted, but from the summary here, it seems to be pretty wanky on all sides.

First of all, as someone who has studied foreign languages since the age of ten, I do get pretty damn annoyed at people randomly throwing out "learn our language!", because dammit, you don't know how much time and effort that person is putting into learning your language already. You can speak a language fluently and still have a strong accent, and make fundamental grammatical mistakes. You can have studied the language, or even lived in the country for years and years, and still not had enough opportunities to actually practice it. Plus, of course, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, learn in different speed, etc. You can not judge a stranger's lack of knowledge, because you don't know how long they've been learning the language, or how much effort they've put into it, or what their, particular, conditions have been.

That said, if you're going to work in the service secot in another country, you need to have a pretty damn good knowledge of the language. Of course, I consider this to be the employer's responsibility, above all else. For instance, my knowledge in French and Spanish is lacking, but that doesn't stop me from applying jobs that demands knowledge in either of these, and nor should it. Because it is the employer's responsibility to decide whether or not my knowledge is sufficiant enough. In this case, it seemed it wasn't and that's bad service in itself, though I would blame the management for that, rather than the cashier, because supposedly the cashier needed a job, and just took the one she was offered.

However, the cashier gave bad service too, not because her English was lacking, but because she just walked away from the goddamned problem, once she realised what it was! What kind of service is that? I mean, the service-minded thing to do would be to either get the soap, or get someone who could fix it? And, from the story, it sounds like she did neither. That the OP isn't focusing on that, instead of the "OMG, we speak English here, you bloody foreigner", does put her in a pretty bad light.

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(no subject) - chief, 2005-11-03 06:01 pm UTC

[info]amasaglajax
2005-11-03 06:13 pm UTC (link)
I hate it when people assume that because someone speaks a language poorly, they aren't trying to learn it.

Don't you speak it poorly at first when you're trying your ass off to learn it? I know I must sound like a retarded first-grader in Japanese class the way my poor sensei tries not to laugh.

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[info]felinephoenix
2005-11-05 05:09 pm UTC (link)
Why must these people live in my state?

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