I understand the issue of communication over the phone, but in person, I would write down the code I was asking about and show it to her. This gives her a more complete view than just a keyword, and allows you to ask a focused question based on that example. It also allows a third place to focus rather than looking at each other uncomprehendingly.
It shouldn’t, but it still might be. I used to go to a haircutting school to get cheap haircuts, and after a bad experience with a non-English speaker who cut six inches off my hair when I just wanted a trim because she didn’t understand what I was asking for, next time I went I politely asked for a student who spoke good English. You would have thought I asked them to all take a big smelly dump on the desk - they practically called the Hate Speech Police and had me arrested. It was a miserable experience for everyone, and I didn’t go back there again.
I’m older now, and if the same thing happened again, I’d probably have a chat with them about how if you’re going to train people to cut hair in Calgary, a requirement of speaking English well enough to take haircutting instruction is not optional or racist.
Well there’s your problem—you need to specify Alpine-Aryan and not Indic-Aryan! I mean, I know you can’t just expect to find Yamato or even Nordic-Aryans on demand, but you can’t just settle for a crude general identifier in your personnel request. That’s just nutty.
*Whew^!
I’m sure glad it lightened up in here a little!
It did, right?
Quasi
I shall, thanks!!!
hh
I know. Cracking on someone who has to go to community college in their 50s is so much worse than assuming a white person has more command of the English language than someone with darker skin and slanty eyes.
A friend of mine (a non-native Enlish speaker) told me about a class he took in economics. The TA’s accent made if impossible to determine if he was saying “micro” or “macro”. So a typical sentence would be “in *mecroeconomics *such and such, but in mecroeconomics something else”.
The difference is that the OP was being sarcastic. It was a joke, even if you didn’t get it.
Your comment, on the other hand, was just a rude, mean-spirited dig at the OP. Not funny, and clearly not intended to be funny.
That’s the real difference.
I love stuff like that. Like a when customer stands at my teller window, taking forever to fill out their transaction slips (or doesn’t have any at all) and then complains that they’re in a hurry, so I’d better go fast. The best was this: I had a customer at my window who had some overdraft fees and we were talking about why he was overdrawn, by how much, etc. I was helping him figure it out, so it took a little bit. When we were done, the customer waiting in line immediately tore into me about how long it was taking and how he didn’t have time to wait for people who don’t care about their money, etc. (He didn’t over hear the conversation, but he could tell I was explaining something because we were both bent over a sheet of paper, talking for a while, as I pointed things out.) Anyway, he was complaining about people who don’t care about their money… and whaddya know? He’s overdrawn and wants me to explain why he’s overdrawn… he doesn’t have time for people who don’t care about their money, unless it’s him.
Perhaps we could use a color wheel. 
I always feign a bad connection and communicate with my co-workers via IM instead. That’s not always an option for everyone, but I’m sure glad I have it!
When I finally got transferred from the guy in India or wherever who had never heard of iTunes, I was so glad to hear what was clearly an American Black Guy. We saved a lot of time by not going off track all the time, and he knew a lot more than the first level people.
Aw did I hurt someone’s feelings?
Reported. I’m getting tired of this.
Yeah, and is she hot?
I guess not as you wouldn’t be complaining about her lack of english skills otherwise (or at least I wouldn’t).
Or has someone already replied that those folks are just trying to make a living and it isn’t their fault we cannot understand them.
Again, hh was making a joke, and yes, it is tough dealing with someone who doesn’t speak perfect English, but things are as they are and we have to work around them sometimes.
My wife and I have both had to deal with “out-sourced” tech help, and although it’s frustrating (and time-consuming) we “deal with it”.
I wonder how people in the so-called “Third World” countries feel about our private contractors who don’t speak their language fluently?
And yes, I know many of them speak English.
Again, sorry if this has been discussed, but we need to see the other side of the coin too.
Q
The other side of the coin is that if your job requires you to be able to communicate clearly in English, if you can’t do that, you shouldn’t have that job. Somehow we have developed into a couple of nations where this very basic fact has been turned into racism.
Sounds like something a racist would say.
Then those folks need to be taught to enunciate which takes up even more time, because it slows the whole thing down.
I am sorry if anyone thinks it’s racism.
I just think it’s a language barrier, nothing more.
hh?
I for one thank you for this thread, light-hearted, satirical or not.
We have ALL faced this problem and been aggravated by it.
All you did was call it to our attention.
Again: We just have to deal with it. We’ve dealt with worse.
Q
Como say what ? :rolleyes: