The Discount Hunters (With bonus irritants)

[Teskeria]

When people comment on my accent (Boston. apparently very obvious since even during the times I had been away 20 years I still got asked if they were talking to Boston) I tell them (with a straight face) 'I do NOT have an accent. YOU are listening with one.' 8 times out of 10 they laugh and that's the last I hear of that from them. the other 2 look so puzzled and often never do figure it out.

[wagegoth]

The language thing that really bugs me is No. 4. I don't normally have to deal with it, but I was involved in an accident, and the other driver, seeing a very Irish looking highway patrolman, assumed he didn't speak Spanish. She got very upset when he immediately started questioning her in Spanish.

And No. 3, I don't even bother with the Spanish I know. If you speak a few phrases in another language, the other person often immediately launches into that language, and then you both feel dumb. My first husband had to travel to Taiwan for one company and he quickly learned to not answer the phone, "Wei."

A friend of mine does speak Spanish (she was born in Mexico and grew up with her Spanish-speaking grandmother), although not as well as she used to, and she runs into the situation when she goes out that busboys and waiters will just start talking to her in Spanish and ignore the rest of the party. I've seen it when we've gone out to lunch. She hates it. And she often drops the amount of the tip when it happens with a waiter.



And regarding the discount hunters, you need to be able to tell them to get the hell out when they start that crap. You don't need their business. If you're giving them discounts on perfectly good merchandise, the company is losing money, so they're not the customers you want.

[EricKei]

I can think of a perfect discount to offer those guys -- however much it would cost to fix the problem on their own. Scratch on a dresser? 50 cents worth of sealant/stain. Missing bit of cardboard on a brush? 5 cents. Item clearly broken and unusable? Seize it and send it back to vendor. Plastic wrap missing from a video game? a couple bucks.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I admit to a fascination with languages, to a point where I know at least primary phrases in about several. Now, back in the day I was MUCH better in sign language than I am now (head injuries are a bitch, kids), knew basic signs, and worked in Little Rock which has a pretty significant deaf population, so I had lots of practice. Now, like I said, it was a fairly large number of deaf folks in Little Rock, but whenever we'd get those customers, they would be downright SHOCKED if I'd start signing with them, because apparently almost no one in the area knew ASL. But they were always prepared otherwise, they had notebooks to write in, or traveled with a translator, etc., so forth, they were accustomed to having to make the effort themselves. It was just funny to me because so many of them were pleased as punch that a hearing person with no real ties to the deaf community was trying to "learn their language".

(I asked a guy one time if he'd ever had any problems, and he told me that yes, he'd once tried to deal with what seemed like a regular cashier who apparently REFUSED to read anything, even an order off paper. I think managers got involved there but I don't recall what he told me.)

[Fudgethatkay]

OP, Are you in a town that has a spanish name that means "ash tree"? Cause that happens a lot there. Home sweet home

ETA: When my sister went to Japan, she said the people there would single the tour group out and practice their English on them. She thought it was amusing.

People did that too me in Japan too...Made me umcomfortable

[IamEmancipated]

People did that too me in Japan too...Made me umcomfortable

She thought it was amusing because of the consistency. It seemed like every last person was trying out the same phrases over and over. And they were pretty cool with her testing out her Japanese on them. I guess it's a matter of personal preference.

Re the accents: I never thought of it that way---that we listen with an accent not speak one. It makes a weird sort of sense to me. I must remember to start using my Kentuckian accent some more and try that theory out on people!

[Fudgethatkay]

She thought it was amusing because of the consistency. It seemed like every last person was trying out the same phrases over and over. And they were pretty cool with her testing out her Japanese on them. I guess it's a matter of personal preference.

Re the accents: I never thought of it that way---that we listen with an accent not speak one. It makes a weird sort of sense to me. I must remember to start using my Kentuckian accent some more and try that theory out on people!

I just felt weird...I got approached by the drunk fools often since I went during the time of many summer festivals. x_X

[Zenova]

Hehe I love it when they come up with items with missing packaging, or very slight cosmetic damage.
As soon as they point out that it's damaged i say "sorry about that, im going to have to return that to the manufacturer. I'll have someone grab you an undamaged one!"
Most of the time they either say nothing, or decide they dont want it, but I have had customers say they want the damaged item for cheaper than its normal price.
I tell them that we have to send damaged items back, so we get a full credit for them. They look so mad when you do that!

[Jetfire]

It's times like these that makes me wish I spoke French (or , preferably, Cajun French) -- if someone pulled the "Why don't you speak ____" card on me, I could simply reply -- in French -- "This is southern Louisiana. Why don't YOU speak French?"

This is just my poor French Emersion French speaking (Plus decades spent growing up in a bilingual province) but I believe the phrase you want more or less is:

"Ici est le sud de Louisiana. Pourquois vous ne parlez pas le Francais?"

Not a perfect translation of course, since I'm rusty, but my Acadian French is probably fairly close to the Cajun French down there, since they do have the same origins (as in they both come from my province. )

[Clover]

OP, Are you in a town that has a spanish name that means "ash tree"? Cause that happens a lot there. Home sweet home

No-Santa Maria, CA.

[XCashier]

If someone spoke English, I considered it a definite plus, and was very appreciative, but if not, I apologized for not speaking their language (via the phrasebook). The fact that I tried, and that realized it was my place, not theirs, to figure out how to communicate seemed to do wonders for how we were treated (even by the French, who by tradition hate foreigners in general, LOL).

You were polite and genuinely made an effort. People the world over appreciate good manners and sincerity, and are more willing to help someone like you over someone who is rude and demanding. Attitude makes all the difference, and I wish more people would realize that.

[Jay 2K Winger]

The fact that I tried, and that realized it was my place, not theirs, to figure out how to communicate seemed to do wonders for how we were treated (even by the French, who by tradition hate foreigners in general, LOL).

Going back to this post, this is something I've heard about the French. They do hate foreigners, but they do appreciate and are a bit more polite to people that are making an effort to speak the language.

[Eireann]

Living where I do, things are a bit different. Czech is a very difficult language to learn, and quite a few foreigners have made no effort to learn it. Some speak it fluently. Most of us (including me) are in the Twilight Zone between no Czech and fluent Czech. I have had more than one Czech person tell me there's no point in learning the language, because I can't use it anywhere else. It's so difficult, even some native speakers don't speak it correctly.

Then there are the foreigners who think that all Czechs speak English. Now, this is somewhat understandable; quite a few of them do, especially the younger ones, who learn it as children. However, there are many Czechs who don't speak it, and get pissed off when someone starts babbling to them. I once knew a woman, a former member of the armed forces (Air Force, I think), who told me she had lived in 28 different countries. It didn't do her any good; her way of approaching Czechs was to SPEAK ENGLISH VERY LOUDLY AND REPEAT WHAT SHE WANTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT HERE AND SHE WAS TOLD THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT HERE BUT SHE WOULDN'T STOP REPEATING HERSELF.

Italy is a great place when you don't know the language. You end up with a complete stranger holding your hand.

[EricKei]

Jetfire -- Merci beaux coup ^_^

Fireann -- I have seen people do that as well, on occasion. They honestly don't seem to comprehend that there is a difference between "They don't understand you because they don't speak English" and "They don't understand you because you're not speaking clearly/loudly" x.x It's these sort of people that tend to be the cause of any real or imagined dislike towards tourists/furriners...

Heck, I'm the first to admit that people from my town have a pronounced tendency towards xenophobia, even though (...or maybe BECAUSE...) we're a major tourist destination, and our economy is largely dependent upon tourism. Don't take it personally, though. Our definition of "they're not from around here" essentially applies to anyone more than a half-hour car ride away.

It's worse when someone who doesn't speak (local lingo) very well tries to USE that as an excuse to get discounts, following the classic SC trick of "If they get sick of dealing with me, I'll win one way or another" >_<

[Ironclad Alibi]

Italy is a great place when you don't know the language. You end up with a complete stranger holding your hand.

Mrs. IA and I were touring Tuscany a few years ago. She stopped in a small clothing store, but the clerk did not speak English, and Mrs. IA doesn't speak Italian. She does speak French and for some reason expressed her frustration in French. Turned out the clerk also spoke French, and they had a short, delightful conversation in French.