New Pet Peeve

[Chris Daddy Cool]

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.

[ThaSaltCracka]

whoah, wtf.

[Case Closed]

Dude, gotta practicar somewhere.

[Adebisi]

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.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

[ 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.

[otnemem]

[ 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.

[NT!]

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.

[Lazy Meatball]

[ 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.

[NT!]

[ 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

[otnemem]

[ 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."