Non-English Speaking Employees

The BBQ Pit
1

Ok before anyone jumps on me, let me just start out by saying that I’m not one of those people who believes that if you can’t speak the language, you should get out of the country, or anything along those lines. I’ve developed a healthy tolerance for “English As A Second Language”, because, really, Danbury, Connecticut has got to be one of the most ethnically diverse places around. Seriously, caucasians are the minority here. So, I learn to accept others as they are, and their many different tongues. (And, FWIW, my mother is Thai, and English is indeed her second language.)

That being said…

I go to Dunkin Donuts tonight, the one thing that I look forward to after my 2.5 hour trek out of the city. I go to the drive thru, as is my wont. Normally, there’s this really sweet woman there, who (because of careful conditioning that would have made Pavlov drool) sees my car when I pull in to the lot, and generally has my coffee ready for me, which is really very cool. Of course, she’s not always there, but the service there in general is pretty decent.

But I digress. Tonight I pull into line - one other car sitting in front of the speaker waiting to place her order. She does so, and I pull up. Recently, they got one of those new speaker systems where a recording plays for you (encouraging you to “try one of our new iced lattes!” and then says “Someone will be right with you.” So I wait. And I wait. And I wait. The front of my car is visible to the drive up window, so I know that it isn’t that they haven’t seen me. The car that placed the order in front of me is still sitting at the window, so clearly there’s some issue of some sort. So I patiently wait some more.

For 5 minutes. Not a single “Sorry, we’ll be right with you.” Not a peep, other than Robotic Upsell Chick that greeted me to begin with. I wait 2 more minutes, watching the line behind me starting to grow rather long. Finally, I decide the best course of action is probably just to go inside, since something appears to be holding up the drive thru.

I go inside, there is one customer standing in line. The girl behind the counter gives him a nice smile, and he tells her what she wants. Smile frozen in place, she turns to a girl standing on my side of the counter (dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I’d assumed before then that she was a friend of an employee). Shorts girl proceeds to repeat the order in Greek. Cashier girl walks over to the carafes, at which point Shorts Girl points out the correct carafe. They chat amiably in Greek, Cashier girl finally realizes that the cup of coffee is still sitting on the counter, sticks it under the cream dispenser, and resumes her chat. She hands the cup to the customer, and then looks at me. I tell her my order, and the process repeats itself, at which point I realize that herein lies the problem. Then Drive Thru Boy comes over, and says to Shorts Girl “Large Coffee, Light, Sweet” in the manner of someone desperately trying to say something before he forgets what it is. She tells him something in Greek, directs him to a carafe, and he makes the coffee.

3 people working in the store (another appeared to be a manager who made a brief appearance from the back to ask Shorts Girl a question). 3. Not one of them spoke English. I don’t mean “They didn’t have a grasp on the language.” I mean, they were completely unable to even say “Thank you” without guidance from Shorts Girl. Coffee in hand, I go out to my car, and out of curiosity, I check the drive thru lane as I leave. It hadn’t moved an inch. Shorts Girl was headed out the door when I left.

What the HELL are these people going to do??

I’m sorry, but if you’re in a customer service role, you should at least be able to communicate with your customers. Failing that, if you’re going to run a Dunkin Donuts franchise, at least one person in the store should be able to speak at least a modicum of English. I mean, it’s not a lot to ask, is it? It’s not too much to expect? I’m not suggesting English as the national language. I’m not saying give people a test before you give them a work permit. All I’m saying is, I want my Great One Hazelnut, Light and Sweet, and I don’t want it to take (literally) half an hour.

Sheesh.

2

So, is this a language thing, or a shitty customer service thing?

3

It wasn’t shitty customer service, in that they weren’t rude - they just couldn’t function very well because they couldn’t understand the orders as they were coming in. During the time I was there, every employee needed to talk to Shorts Girl to get a translation of the order they had just received.

4

But…they gotta start somewhere, dude. This is what America’s all about, after all, ain’t it? The Land of Opportunity, “I started at minimum wage at a Dunkin’ Donuts speaking no English at all, and today, twenty years later, I am the Donut King of Danbury, Connecticut”.

Give 'em a chance.

I feel your customer service pain, but…eh, pretty lame rant. :smiley:

5

I mean to say, you can’t expect them to spend X number of months learning to speak “franchise English” before they start working. How are they supposed to support themselves while they’re learning English? No government subsidies there.

6

Apologies if you’re trying to whoosh me, but if they don’t speak English well enough to support themselves, perhaps they shouldn’t have immigrated. Also, the government subsidizes ESL classes all over the place.

7

This rant should not be directed (and I really don’t think that it is) toward the employees. It isn’t their fault that they don’t speak English and need to support themselves (and possibly families). However it is utterly reprehensible that the owner and senior manager of the establishment could even dream of scheduling three non-English speaking employees on one shift without a single English speaker to assist them. Not only is it not fair to the customers who cannot be assured of getting good service because of the language barrier, it’s not fair to the employees. They’re going to be treated badly by some frustrated customers, they’re going to be frustrated because of their lack of ability to effectively communicate and heaven forbid there should be an accident (like with one of those big ovens or deep fat friers which are commonplace in donut shops) which seriously injures one of them because they were unable to understand the directions on how to use them or how to use the fire extinguisher or other emergency equipment in the case of accident or injury.

I’d find out who owns the shop, and I’d call them up and ream them out. That’s not how you treat new immigrants to this country. They need support. They’re not getting it. I would also wonder if they’re legally employed and being properly paid. (Can you get a work permit, as a non-citizen, without basic English ability?) Thinking on it more, I might consider bypassing the shop owner altogether and calling the state department of labor and recommending a little investigation. This is just not a proper way to do business.

8

Hyperelastic,
Why should they not be able to immigrate because they do not speak English?
It’s also really important to note that, in the case of many Central American immigrants, they are actively recruited by American companies (or at least, to work on American soil). Drive through Mexico and you will find billboards advertising meetings that bring American companies together with Mexican laborers - IBP depends so much on this source of labor they actually have buses specifically for bringing them to the US. Oftentimes, the company makes promises that they cannot fulfill (better education, health care, etc) and then shoves the responsibility off onto the town.
While this is not the case with the Greek workers, I still think it’s important to recognize that so much of our consumption is based off the cheap labor or immigrants - from restaurants to citrus fruits to menial labor of all sorts.
My point is, nobody really cares (be it the company, the underground intentured labor market) whether they speak English - just that they can do their jobs. It seems like the only complaint, then, is a customer service one; as what was lacking at the store was not labor, but the English-speaker to tell the others what to do. I agree
with TeaElle; there should of course always be someone there that can interact effectively with the customers…it just saddens me, that in so many of the restaurants I’ve worked in, such an environment rather segregates people into the born-in-the-US-Americans who work the front and the not-born-in-the-US people who work the back.

9

And what would you do when you find that their uncle the Greek guy owns the place and gave his nieces the job?

There’s a long history in the US of ethnic immigrants running cabs and small groceries and stop ‘n’ robs. I suppose it was just a matter of time before a particular group got up enough cash to purchase a franchise in a more mainstream company.

10

Actually, what I said was that they should not have immigrated if their lack of English was preventing them from making a living. The law says that if you are likely to become a “public charge”, you are not allowed to immigrate, and that if you are a resident alien, you are not allowed to receive public assistance. (Of course, like almost all immigration laws, these are hardly ever enforced.)

I think that in many areas, it’s possible to earn a living without ever speaking a word of English. My great-grandparents came over in the early 1900s and made an excellent living in the Italian food business, but never really got the hang of English. That’s really too bad, and the government ought to do everything it can to persuade immigrants to learn English, especially these days, when there are more or less permanent, large enclaves of non-English-speaking immigrants. People who stay in those enclaves are outside the mainstream of American society, which is bad for both them and us.

It is the law that you have to be able to speak English (with a few exceptions) to become a citizen. But many immigrants in the U.S. these days have neither the desire nor the need to become citizens.

11

Also…

Are you implying that immigrants are being exploited?

12

I agree the blame shouldn’t be placed on the non-english speaking employees. Being in a position of communicating with customers who speak a language you’ve got zero proficiency in (in a fast food environment no less!) is the stuff nightmares are made of.

I would, however, place the full blame squarely on the shoulders of the store management. What is an employees responsibilities when they’re working the front counter and drive through window? To take customer orders. You cannot do that if you can’t understand a word the customer is saying. How are they supposed to do their job?

And with the fear of spouting an unpopular viewpoint, I have to add: how is this at all fair to the customers? You know, the ones giving money to the store? I don’t think the expectation that a person will be able to walk into a Dunkin Doughnuts and place an order consisting of items on a posted menu and have that order understood is not an unreasonable one.

The best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it, of course, but to stick a non-english speaker in a position where they are rendered pretty much completely disabled with no support system in place is crazy. How do the owners and management of this place expect their customers and employees to be able to communicate? Charades? Why should they be expected to do this?

13

Please excuse the slightly incoherent post above. It’s been a really long day.

I think you can all get the gist of what I was trying to say.

14

The only thing I thought of after reading that was “there’s no way I’d sit at a drive-through speakerbox for 5 minutes”. At the most, I wait maybe 30 seconds before I initiate the conversation.

15

Ditto on the whole “management is at fault” thing. You should maybe go to another Dunkin Donuts store, give them your dollars. (assuming they have english speaking counter-persons)

16

Many of which have long waiting lists, though. And how do you know they aren’t taking these ESL classes? You don’t start becoming fluent or even comfortable in a language the instant you start studying it.

Cite?

17

I definitely don’t blame the employees - which is why I didn’t launch into a “What a bunch of fucking morons” tirade - and agree that this is a case of really bad management. However, as **chique ** suggested, I definitely get the impression that the store is basically being run by one big family. Possibly someone English speaking was scheduled to work last night (the lady who memorizes my order, for example) and didn’t make it in.

And yeah, I know it was bizarre to sit and wait for five minutes, but honestly, I’m a fairly patient person, which might explain why I didn’t rant and rave the minute I walked inside the store. But then again, I would have felt pretty terrible making Shorts Girl translate my lunatic ramblings :wink:

18

Not all of them, perhaps most of them aren’t, but haven’t you heard or read in the news instances of explotion?

Prostitution rings, selling cheap trinkets, abandoned in freight cars (or boats, or apartments), made to work at less than minimum wage, etc. Are you telling me you have never heard or read about these?

It happens not only in the US, but all over the world, and it is not restricted to one immigrant group, though those that lack knowledge in the major language of the country are obviously the most exploited.

19

Along the same lines:

Them: Thank you for calling MBNA. My name is Vince Smith, how may help you?

Me: Dude. The MBNA callcenter is outsourced in India. Your name is Gupta Somethingerothera. Maybe something else. But I will bet my precious testicles that your fucking name is not Vince Smith.

Sigh

20

I daresay if you’re the order-taker in a drive-thru, at an American franchise, and you’re unable to speak a single syllable of English, you erm…well, apparently can’t do the job as entailed…since it mostly involves communicating with a probable-majority of English-speaking clientele.

I feel bad for the employees, but the manager who put no English speakers on shift deserves a severe reaming.