I have lived in many places across the world… enjoyed living amongst a variety of cultures. I love learning about people and history. Diversity is my friend.
All of that changed when I moved to Texas.
I am not a big fan of Texas. I don’t like living in Texas. I don’t much care for the weather in Texas. I especially hate the drivers in Texas. But more than that, I hate going to restaurants in Texas. Especially fast food places.
You see, in order to work as a waitress, or a cashier, or an order taker, where you deal with English speaking people, you are NOT required to know how to speak English.
Where Am I Going With All This?
Today, I went to Wendy’s to grab some lunch for myself and RoRo. It was a pretty simple order. I wanted a Big Bacon Classic Combo and she wanted something similar. I asked the young lady on the other side of the speaker box if the BBC came with one meat patty, or two. All I got was silence. So I asked again. More silence. She asked me to pull to the window.
When I pulled up she gave me my total, and since I wasn’t really done ordering I asked my very simple question for the third time. She answered me with a blank stare and then she said, “Meat patty? Next window.”
I pulled up to the next window and a different young lady begins to hand me my order. She hands me three drinks1 and when I tell her it’s wrong, she also gives me the dead deer stare. Someone else had to walk up and ask me what was wrong and then translate to the girl handing me the drinks. Next I ask which one is the Dr. Pepper2 and she proceeds to give me the death stare. So I say it again, this time much slower hoping maybe she might grasp it, but that doesn’t even work. She turns and speaks to the translator who comes to the window to help.
I made the mistake of saying to the translator, “Maybe you can stay here and help with my order. I really am getting frustrated with your co-workers just staring at me when I ask something.” I was expecting an “OK!” or even something slightly positive. Instead I get:
“Are you a racist or something?”
So I said, “Why yes!! I am one… and because of it, I like to speak to people who actually speak my language!”3
I guess the death stare is somewhat of an epidemic at this Wendy’s because now the translator was giving it to me. I take a glance in the rear view mirror and see a long line forming so I once again cover the questions I was trying to get solved.
The woman won’t even speak to me now. She proceeds to hand me the drinks again and tells me to have a good day. I was shocked.
How can you possibly work in that field and not even know how to answer a simple patty question??? Or even tell me what drink is which???
My grandmother came to this country from Puerto Rico. She knows how to say two things in English: Nestle Quik and stupid. They came in very handy when I was younger because she would just yell at me “STUPID! Tu queres Nestle Quik????” She is the only family member I have who does not know English, and if she were to try to get a job at anywhere other than some Spanish restaurant or factory, I would tell her the same thing…. LEARN ENGLISH!
And of course, we all know I speak Spanish. No shit. It’s my native tongue… I suppose I could4 speak to others in Spanish but I don’t. To me, it’s a cop out. What about the person behind me who might want to know which drink is their Dr. Pepper and instead get a death stare? Are we now required to know Spanish in order to be able to get our food the way we want? Am I forever doomed to get the death stare??
Maybe tomorrow I will try Burger King. They say I can get things my way, so maybe if I ask nicely to get an English speaking cashier, they will have one stowed away in the back waiting just for me.
A girl can dream can’t she?
- I ordered two [↩]
- which RoRo had ordered and I don’t much care for [↩]
- In truth, Spanish is my language. I speak it all day and night. I am Puerto Rican… it’s what I do. However, when I am ordering food, I speak English. I won’t change this for someone who decides to come to the US and tries to get by not even knowing how to communicate at their own job [↩]
- or should [↩]
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I live in Texas. Now you know why I don’t eat fast food.
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I live in South Carolina and thankfully, it’s not this bad here. Although a fair number of fast food workers are Hispanic, most seem to know English fairly well. Heck even in the local Mexican restaurant, they speak and understand English well enough to answer questions about an order!
I would have been frustrated with this experience myself, but probably would have lost my temper long before and driven off with no order.
I also have a huge issue with people who cannot count or figure out how much change to give you. — but that’s a rant for another day….
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The GREAT DEBATE goes on….. If you come to my country WELCOME. Follow the legalities and Learn English…… Nice post.
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@ Carol - I can see exactly why. It really is rather frustrating.
@ Margaret - LOL! I am surprised that I didn’t drive off, but by then I had given them my money and honestly, if they can’t tell me which drink was the Dr Pepper, I couldn’t see them being able to give me a refund.
@ Christina - Learn English IF you plan to interact mainly with people who are speaking it to you. If you plan to sit at home and do nothing all day then I don’t care what you learn.
That sounds like just another day in Austin, where I live. We’re moving to North Carolina in September but from what I can tell it’s getting almost just as bad.
When I go to a dive Mexican place I expect my server not to speak english. It’s pretty much part of the experience. When I go to a chain restaurant, I fully expect them to hire people that can speak good english. I shouldn’t have to bust out my Spanish-English translation book when ordering a Big Mac. Why is that something we have to deal with? I have no idea. Probably, the manager can’t speak english so when he interviews people he hire people he can communicate with. Forget about the customers.
As for Texas drivers, I thought when I moved to Texas there was a HUGE improvement over the east coast. The same goes for the overall attitude you get from people. People on the east coast seem to be so tightly wound up, more than the rest of us.
Good Post! Peace!
I, too, live in Texas and have more than once considered learning Spanish so I could communicate with some of the people who live in my city. I completely understand your issues, but did you ever think that the girl was new in the country and trying to learn the language? They say that immersion is the best way to learn, and maybe thats what she’s doing. Or perhaps she’s saving the money she makes at Wendy’s to purchase Rosetta Stone?
Realistically, the chances are slim but its what I try to imagine so I don’t lose my shit when trying to order a Big Mac at the local Micky D’s. Take Care!
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For whatever reason, your post cannot be dugg. It says the URL isn’t working.
Anyway, I HATE dealing with people who don’t speak English. It really ticks me off. And no, Ebonics doesn’t count as English. Not all people speak or understand it.
You took the words right out of my mouth! I totally agree with you and trust me it is like that everywhere these days. Write their corporate office.
@ Sir Robbie Rob - I agree so much!!! It had indeed crossed my mind that maybe the manager spoke spanish and just brought on a whole spanish crew. But for the love of all things sacred, they should at least be trained to know the English responses to questions about their food!
@ Athena - LOL. Love it. Well, I think I would have given a good bit of thought to that idea if I was maybe coming across one or two of them who were saving up to get Rosetta Stone. However, I have YET to go anywhere in McKinney or Frisco and not had the same issue. That’s a lot of people… maybe I should contact Rosetta Stone and see if they perhaps can do a community program and give away some free programs.
@ Angelika - Don’t even get me started on Ebonics… DO. NOT. DO. IT!!
@ DirtyLaundryDiva - I think I just might start complaining to corporate. It really is getting out of hand.
They put two people in customer-facing service positions when those two people don’t know the language well enough to answer simple job-related questions, then call you a racist for getting frustrated? Definitely sounds like a letter to corporate is called for. Make sure you include the URL to this post.
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Monique that is a true reflection on my life every day! And it never used to be like that before! I don’t mind people learning English but most that I deal with don’t even attempt it, I am many days the only customer in a store not speaking Spanish.
I’m going to be a little different here. That translator needs smacked. For real.
You were asking a question, which obviously couldn’t be answered by the Spanish speaker. You wanted the translator to help and she gets bitchy? WTF?
You should’ve just sent the order back and went inside. I know it’s a hassle, but you were treated horribly because you wanted to be able to communicate. You probably would’ve gotten a free meal out of it. As a matter of fact, you should call the store right now and speak to a manager. Then call corporate and mention this post. Maybe the translator can get an attitude adjustment. Hmmph.
P.S.
I see that you’ve gotten ahold of the footnotes plugin. That rocks!
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I am an immigrant myself, but I am not trying to learn how to speak English
This does not happen to me yet, it happened to my in-laws when they also went to Wendy’s here in MN . These Spanish speaking employees at Wendy ’s just stare at them and then laugh when they tried to order something and ask what comes with their order.
Amen! I live in Florida, so you can imagine how difficult it is here. When I go to Miami for work I feel like I’m in another country altogether!!!
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I lived on the border (Harlingen/Brownsville) which may be this side of the border but it is still very much predominantly hispanic so I had no choice but to learn Spanish. I was a paramedic and if you can’t speak to your patients, you’re screwed.
But now I live in Alabama…they (and I mean this for all non-english speaking peoples) are coming to my territory…speak English!!!
So, I guess I was going the long way around to say, I HEAR YA!!! You go girl! *smile*
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i feel you monique..that’s very frustrating indeed. and to think all you wanted was to clarify details about your order..it’s not like you’re asking for something too difficult..people who interact with americans or any other english-speaking person really should know how to speak english, ..at least the “daily” language basics..it’s the language that bridges all cultures. i wish you don’t get frustrated on your next order..
have a great day monique!
oh dang, this made me chuckle “Meat patty? Next window.”
speaking english would be too easy. i bet you they are paid less than the english speaking workers.
if you complain about it, all you will get is a free coupon back to the same establishment.
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I live in North Carolina, and we have the same problem. I like to watch for the sign with the franchise owner’s contact info and call them to complain. I’m not sure it makes any difference, but it makes me feel better.
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Come to Lexington, Kentucky. It’s beautiful and the people are great. I can guarantee you that would never happen here.
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Oh my goodness! If you move to another country, make sure that you learn the language and get familiar with their culture. Why a company would hire someone that doesn’t speak the language and would have actual contact with customers is beyond me. I would never go back to that place if that happened to me.
I’m a huge fan of diversity, too. I think everyone — EVERYONE — ought to be able to speak at least two language. But jeez louise! If you’re going to work in customer service, speak the language of the people you’ll be serving. Why is that such a hard concept to comprehend?
Oh wait. I’m sorry. You’re in Texas.
You have my condolences, by the way.
Greeting from London. None of you fuckers speak English so get over it eh!!
I wish that the United States would make English the official langauge!!!
And yes Marki, in America we do speak English. It may be a different dialect than people from London but it’s English.
That woman was an idiot. It doesn’t make you a racist to want answers to simple questions. It drives me batty when someone moves to a country and doesn’t try to learn the local language and then gets pissed off at YOU because you can’t understand them. BATTY!
I used to work in a health food store, and a lot of vitamins and supplements we carried could have adverse effects if taken improperly. One day, a woman came in and began telling me about a medical condition she had in Spanish.
I understood 70 percent of what she was saying. But you know what? That’s not enough. So I told her she would have to speak to me in English if I were to help her, because I didn’t want her getting hurt or sick from taking the herbal supplement she wanted. She got very angry with me and stormed out.
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Uh…Marki…we won. Get over it.
M…This cracks me up. Thankfully I’m a little north of the border (as far north as you can get without being Canadian) and don’t have this problem too often. Most of those who work in these establishments can speak English even if it’s with an accent. Although some of them still don’t really understand. *grin* But most are super nice.
If any of us moved to Japan and tried to get a job we’d be expected to know the language. I do not understand why it should be any different here. Want to work in America? SPEAK freaking ENGLISH!
Glad to know we’re racist pals. ROFL hahahahahaha =D
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