I had a lady come into today who did not speak english well at all. I do not know what her ethnicity was, maybe South American.
I speak English, some french and a bit of spanish, but that's it. She tried to describe what she wanted in very broken English but I couldn't figure it out. I at least got the "Xbox" part of it so I took over to the Xbox section and tried to get her to at least point or indicate to me what she was looking for but she kept talking quickly in her native tongue and using english words every now and then.
Eventually I told her slowly and plainly "I can not understand you well enough to help you". I also kind of threw my hands up (though not rudely) to indicate "I don't know what you want". She left in a bit of huff, obviously frustrated (I was too by this point).
I understand people have to learn english and I understand there comes a time when they have to test out those skills in the real world but this woman had to have known her english was not good and that she should have brought someone with her either to translate or interact with me to get done whatever it is she wanted to do.
This is not the only time this has happened to me either, some folks just seem kind of oblivious to language barriers and get needlessly frustrated despite my best efforts to help them.
NOTE: I realize this thread is a potential fratching bomb, so before the mods even comment on it, let me state directly it is NOT intended for derogatory discussion of any ethnic or racial group, rather general comments about SCs with communication issues.
I speak English, some french and a bit of spanish, but that's it. She tried to describe what she wanted in very broken English but I couldn't figure it out. I at least got the "Xbox" part of it so I took over to the Xbox section and tried to get her to at least point or indicate to me what she was looking for but she kept talking quickly in her native tongue and using english words every now and then.
Eventually I told her slowly and plainly "I can not understand you well enough to help you". I also kind of threw my hands up (though not rudely) to indicate "I don't know what you want". She left in a bit of huff, obviously frustrated (I was too by this point).
I understand people have to learn english and I understand there comes a time when they have to test out those skills in the real world but this woman had to have known her english was not good and that she should have brought someone with her either to translate or interact with me to get done whatever it is she wanted to do.
This is not the only time this has happened to me either, some folks just seem kind of oblivious to language barriers and get needlessly frustrated despite my best efforts to help them.
NOTE: I realize this thread is a potential fratching bomb, so before the mods even comment on it, let me state directly it is NOT intended for derogatory discussion of any ethnic or racial group, rather general comments about SCs with communication issues.
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