New Pet Peeve
 

I'm waiting in line at a deli for lunch. I order my meal. The guy taking my order is a middle aged Hispanic man, probably Mexican. The guy behind me, a 20 something white college boy is next. The guy behind the counter asks "Can I help you?" and the white boy then orders his meal in broken high school level Spanish.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

whoah, wtf.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

Dude, gotta practicar somewhere.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

I've never seen what you describe, but on the other end of the spectrum: Same Hispanic guy behind the counter (can understand peoples orders, but is obviously not fluent in English), middle-aged to older white man or woman in front of me in a longish line:

"Is your grilled chicken sandwich 100% organic?"

or

"I see the value meal is $4.99, how much would it be for the meal without the chips?"

or

"Whatever happened to the other Quiznos over on South Main?"

or

"Can I get a small roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese on one half, cheddar on the other half, and mayo just on the half the swiss"

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

So first off, the guy is behind you.

Unless the guy was talking to him like this:

http://www.afrobella.com/wp-content/...images/jlo.jpg I fail to see the major annoyance or offensive behavior.

You're being a nit.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

cdc,

i get this the other way around. when i walk into an asian restaurant, the first thing they do is speak to me in whatever language they speak. then they immediately followup with an english translation.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

I love this post.

I suck at Spanish, but I have to pass two more semesters and have no where to practice it.

I've been debating lately about trying to talk to my deli peeps in Spanish to learn it, but thought as you, it'd be a pain in the butt annoyance.

I don't know man? My deli is kinda a chatting atmosphere so I want to try it out, but at the same time I don't know if I'd feel like you in your shoes.

My pet peeves are groups of people that stop at the top of stairs/escalators/doors. Learn situational awareness moron's.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

i hate when ppl call my cell phone and i ignore them and they dont leave a message WHY DID YOU CALL THEN [censored] YOU

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

what's wrong w/him trying to practice his spanish

[ QUOTE ]
i hate when ppl call my cell phone and i ignore them and they dont leave a message WHY DID YOU CALL THEN [censored] YOU

[/ QUOTE ]

interesting; people generally don't leave me messages b/c i never check my voice mail

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

op,
the point of your post is what?
that a normal american should not know how to speak spanish?
i agree but this may be the stupidest thread that i have ever seen, i really hope no one else responds to this.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

yeota,
leveling?
i find it difficult to find anything of relevance that u posted about

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
yeota,
leveling?
i find it difficult to find anything of relevance that u posted about

[/ QUOTE ]

no not leveling that just pisses me off... and i usually dont post in oot

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

ok,
so how does your response about someone calling you and not leaving a message have anything!! to do with a mexican that only responds to orders in his native language as far as we know it may have been a mexican restaurant.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
op,
the point of your post is what?
that a normal american should not know how to speak spanish?
i agree but this may be the stupidest thread that i have ever seen, i really hope no one else responds to this.

[/ QUOTE ]

not that he shouldn't know how to speak spanish but he clearly was not proficient in it while the mexican guy clearly could speak and understand english. why did this guy go out of his way to speak spanish with this guy? it was a forced and embarrassing attempt to look cultured and it is insulting to the mexican guy.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

English speaking people do this all the time when they go to France/Italy wherever. The locals usually humour them for a little while and then reply in good English. Nothing new about this atall.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
English speaking people do this all the time when they go to France/Italy wherever. The locals usually humour them for a little while and then reply in good English. Nothing new about this atall.

[/ QUOTE ]

At least they don't go expecting everyone to speak and understand their language without even bothering to learn or try to speak the language of the country they are in. I don't understand how I've seen some people in Mexico say things like "hole-ahh, i would like some...how do you say water in spanish again. ummm, do you have W-A-T-E-R?"

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
op,
the point of your post is what?
that a normal american should not know how to speak spanish?
i agree but this may be the stupidest thread that i have ever seen, i really hope no one else responds to this.

[/ QUOTE ]



not that he shouldn't know how to speak spanish but he clearly was not proficient in it while the mexican guy clearly could speak and understand english. why did this guy go out of his way to speak spanish with this guy? it was a forced and embarrassing attempt to look cultured and it is insulting to the mexican guy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Whether it's insulting depends on how bad the guy behind the counter speaks English. When I am in a foreign country I am so bad at languages and am relieved when people suddenly break into (broken) English. Also, if the customer has seen him speaking Spanish to some other customer or somebody else in the restaurant, he is fair game. For the customer to be the first in the room to use Spanish is rude, in essence it says, "your English sucks, I can tell you are different".

But like lots of people in this thread have said, the motivation is to practice. Anybody who is traveling to a Spanish speaking country and wants to get out would be a fool not to take any opportunity to practice in everyday situations with native speakers here.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]
i see this all time the traveling. retards.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
I've never seen what you describe, but on the other end of the spectrum: Same Hispanic guy behind the counter (can understand peoples orders, but is obviously not fluent in English), middle-aged to older white man or woman in front of me in a longish line:

"Is your grilled chicken sandwich 100% organic?"

or

"I see the value meal is $4.99, how much would it be for the meal without the chips?"

or

"Whatever happened to the other Quiznos over on South Main?"

or

"Can I get a small roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese on one half, cheddar on the other half, and mayo just on the half the swiss"

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]
If your major annoyance here ISN'T the fact that the guy behind the counter doesn't speak enough English to answer simple questions or write down a picky order, then there's something wrong with this post.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

i would agree that this could be mildly annoying for the mexican guy who is here in the states and speaks english. i think it's a little different if you are in someone else's country and try to speak the native language (even if they probably speak english), that shows some respect / desire to learn local ways, etc.

one strange permutation of this that i have encountered is when there are several employees with different levels of english proficiency. for instance, i have been to a couple places here in NYC where there is a guy making sandwiches who has minimal or no english (maybe just enough to take orders, maybe none at all), and the cashier will be fluent.

(my spanish is pretty decent and my accent is good, although i speak much better than i understand).

if i need to make a request or ask a simple question i will ask the guy in spanish, or sometimes ask in english first and then translate if he doesn't understand. sometimes, rather than respond in spanish, the guy will actually tell the counter guy what to say, and the counter guy will translate it into english for me, even though i asked in spanish.

this is also something that some guys will do if you ask a question in spanish without being prompted. they will answer in english because they assume you won't understand. this makes sense because a lot of people can actually piece together a question ok but native speakers are too fast for them or they don't get the dialect at all.

anyway, at first glance this new pet peeve is kinda silly, but when you think about it, it actually makes sense that this would be irritating, because experience tells the cashier that if he answers the kid in spanish the conversation will take twice as long. he's not there to give language classes, he's trying to sell some [censored] sandwiches.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]

Also annoying - parents with kids who wait until they get to the front of the line to ask their kids what they want.

Please, you just stood in line for five minutes. You could have had all this determined already.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

An assignment in my high school spanish class was to do this very thing. We had to go to a restaurant and order in spanish. If I remember correctly I think the prof told us which restaurants to go to and told the stores first.

It was definitely much more embarrassing for me than for the guy taking my order.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
English speaking people do this all the time when they go to France/Italy wherever. The locals usually humour them for a little while and then reply in good English. Nothing new about this atall.

[/ QUOTE ]

You see the difference, right?

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

maybe he is trying to learn better spanish...the best way to do this is practice. This is a very nitty pet peeve IMO.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

Did you notice if the guy was wearing a still damp expensive watch from his morning swim at the gym?

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
maybe he is trying to learn better spanish...the best way to do this is practice. This is a very nitty pet peeve IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

It would be best to practice this in a different context. IMO.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

MCGRIDDLES NOMNOMNOMIMO

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]
If your major annoyance here ISN'T the fact that the guy behind the counter doesn't speak enough English to answer simple questions or write down a picky order, then there's something wrong with this post.

[/ QUOTE ]

While in principle I agree that having non proficient enlgish speakers is annoying. But it's more annoying when I see people who don't realise that low level service employees are only capeable of (or interested in) performing the simplest of tasks, and that complaining to them is useless and you have to go to management if you have any expectation of getting an answer.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

Why have a cell where people can get a hold of you and then ignore it?

[ QUOTE ]
i hate when ppl call my cell phone and i ignore them and they dont leave a message WHY DID YOU CALL THEN [censored] YOU

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]


While in principle I agree that having non proficient enlgish speakers is annoying. But it's more annoying when I see people who don't realise that low level service employees are only capeable of (or interested in) performing the simplest of tasks, and that complaining to them is useless and you have to go to management if you have any expectation of getting an answer.

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly. and in many cases that non-fluent person is doing a job that some white kid didn't want, or doing it for less money.

anyway, it's not like you can't order your burger without pickles, you just can't ask them about whether the cow was given benzodiazapams to make it feel better before it got butchered. it's not like some dumb high school kid in the same spot is going to give you a great answer anyway, even if it's easier to understand.

i know this sounds crazy to some of you, but you could also try learning to speak spanish, since people in most developed countries around the world are able to speak at LEAST two languages, except for here. the whole idea of 'i live in the USA, i don't need to learn any other language' is lame IMO

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

When I was in Cuba, I ordered "cervezas" for the first day or two then stopped when I realized that I sounded like a huge tool. I wasn't impressing anyone obviously.

Your story is similar, so your guy is a tool also.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

my dad tries to get me to order in spanish every time we go to the local joint owned by first generation mexican americans. i feel the same way about it the op does, i'd never do it because i'd feel like a tool.

edit - i do pronounce spanish words on the menu "properly" (ie, pollo with a y sound) i don't feel like a tool doing that

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

i used to wonder if this was rude myself but I have come to the conclusion it is not.

I have a friend that took a very fast paced course in Spanish (in Mexico actually) and he would do this when we would go out to eat. To be fair, I believe he actually asked the person in English first if they would mind, but from what I remembered the worker usually reacted with encouragement.

This was also in KY where a white guy with blonde hair speaking Spanish is very uncommon.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've never seen what you describe, but on the other end of the spectrum: Same Hispanic guy behind the counter (can understand peoples orders, but is obviously not fluent in English), middle-aged to older white man or woman in front of me in a longish line:

"Is your grilled chicken sandwich 100% organic?"

or

"I see the value meal is $4.99, how much would it be for the meal without the chips?"

or

"Whatever happened to the other Quiznos over on South Main?"

or

"Can I get a small roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese on one half, cheddar on the other half, and mayo just on the half the swiss"

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]
If your major annoyance here ISN'T the fact that the guy behind the counter doesn't speak enough English to answer simple questions or write down a picky order, then there's something wrong with this post.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah that's the first thing i thought of when i read this. "uh oh, the guy working the counter looks like he doesn't really understand english! i guess i'll just order as simply as possible and not get what i actually want!"

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


While in principle I agree that having non proficient enlgish speakers is annoying. But it's more annoying when I see people who don't realise that low level service employees are only capeable of (or interested in) performing the simplest of tasks, and that complaining to them is useless and you have to go to management if you have any expectation of getting an answer.

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly. and in many cases that non-fluent person is doing a job that some white kid didn't want, or doing it for less money.

anyway, it's not like you can't order your burger without pickles, you just can't ask them about whether the cow was given benzodiazapams to make it feel better before it got butchered. it's not like some dumb high school kid in the same spot is going to give you a great answer anyway, even if it's easier to understand.

[/ QUOTE ]
Tell me where this lands on the scale of important request/basic grasp of the English language:

A few years ago, I was having a lot of gastrointestinal problems, and my doctor thought I might be gluten-intolerant (can't even trace amounts of wheat, rye, barley or oats). I used to always go to Chipotle to get the crunchy tacos, and I'd always ask the guy preparing it to change his gloves (because they handle wheat tortillas). Chipotle (in a corporate sense) is very good about food intolerances and allergies, and the workers would always be happy to change the gloves (takes two seconds). I was in DC once, went to Chipotle and asked the woman behind the counter if she could change her gloves because of my "allergy" (easier to say that intolerance). She had no idea what I meant. I just kept mimicking taking off of gloves and asking her if she could change her gloves, because I can't eat wheat, etc. Another woman came over (presumably a manager of some kind), and neither of them had ANY idea of what I was trying to say. They just started laughing uncomfortably, and I got really [censored] annoyed. I ended up just leaving because I was steaming so badly at that point.

I feel like someone who's working in a consumer-oriented industry should understand "can you please change your gloves."

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

My pet peeve for restaurants

Me: Can I have a table?

Smiling waitress/waiter: No.

How does anyone think this is funny?

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
My pet peeve for restaurants

Me: Can I have a table?

Smiling waitress/waiter: No.

How does anyone think this is funny?

[/ QUOTE ]
This is truly irritating, unfunny, mind-boggling etc. I'm assuming this person has used this joke over and over and over and still thinks it's hilarious.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
yeah that's the first thing i thought of when i read this. "uh oh, the guy working the counter looks like he doesn't really understand english! i guess i'll just order as simply as possible and not get what i actually want!"


[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking of situations when it is totally obvious that the guy behind the counter won't be able to answer your question or understand your request, yet you persist on asking anyways (repeatedly), often holding up the line for several minutes.

Like someone mentioned earlier, I'm not talking about ordering a burger with no pickles or extra cheese. I'm talking about making complex requests that fall well outside what's listed on the menu, or asking a stupid question like whether the Italian salad dressing is heavier on the oil or the vinegar and whether has a lot of celery in it.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
An assignment in my high school spanish class was to do this very thing. We had to go to a restaurant and order in spanish. If I remember correctly I think the prof told us which restaurants to go to and told the stores first.

It was definitely much more embarrassing for me than for the guy taking my order.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was a victim of this in college too. I think Spanish profs do this for kicks.

Re: New Pet Peeve
 

[ QUOTE ]
op,
the point of your post is what?
that a normal american should not know how to speak spanish?
i agree but this may be the stupidest thread that i have ever seen, i really hope no one else responds to this.

[/ QUOTE ]

i don't see the what the big deal was? you hate mexicans or something? as a hispanic-american, i don't mind hearing spanish from caucasians, show they understand more about the world then most americans