Well, you could learn Spanish, for starters...

The BBQ Pit
1

I work in sales/customer service for a company that serves many transnationals and other assorted foreign customers in our country. I meet lots of people, some don’t speak Spanish (the official language here I must add), so speaking English is a must in my position.

Today in the course of visiting a prospective customer I met what must be the most obnoxious person I’ve had the displeasure to meet in 7 years working here. He was transfered to the local office of a transnational about 5 years ago. I don’t know how he’s made it this far.

When I entered his office I greeted him in Spanish (seemed the obvious thing to me). He replied with no-friends face “I don’t speak Spanish”. No problema amigo, I start speaking the language of Shakespear. I go along explaining what my company does and the usual bullshit they pay me for telling customers. Deep inside I am still wondering if I am making a good impression after what seemed a less than augurious start.

Once we agree that I will come back next week with a bid and I am about to say goodbye his telephone rings, from what I gathered someone in Human Resources. He was complaining about an employee that had been hired before he came here and that didn’t speak English, he ordered said employee fired because he (boss) have problems communicating with him.

When he hung up he felt the need to share with me his views of the “locals”. “They don’t speak English”, he said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them, I have been here almost five years and they haven’t made the effort to learn. They must be stupid or something”.

At this point I am very unconfortable, apparently he hasn’t made the connection that although I speak English I am one of those “locals”. I re-start my goodbye routine and he interrupts me to start his rant again. “I don’t see how these people will get anywhere if they refuse to learn, they are too lazy and will never get anywhere in life”. He looks at me like he expects me to agree with him.

Alright at this point I am Mightily Pissed Off. I am weighing my options:

a) Slap him: No good, I am trying to find a new job and that won’t look good in my curriculum.

b) Fight ignorance and explain to him that his attitude come across as bigoted and is offensive to us “locals”: He might not be thrilled, I won’t get the business and as much as I want to leave this company they still pay me to get business and not get my personal feelings involved.

c) Explain to him that in this country Spanish is the official language and that in 5 years he could have learned any language, Spanish included. Maybe tell him that he has a pot-calling-kettle attitude.: Not a good idea,

d) Kick him in the nuts: Won’t work, he’s behind the desk.

I just put on a smile and said goobye and that I will see him next week. So… I am left with coming here and annoy you with a tale of a dimwit customer. Life is unfair. :frowning:

2

Holy Jumping Jesus! What happened to my post?! I fixed the mispellings and there they are again. Friggingfuckityfuck! Us locals can’t spell either! :rolleyes:

3

Ah, the joy of obnoxious expats. I’m not one of the locals, but I’ve seen your pain, Mighty_Girl, I really have. Since he’s a customer and not a co-worker or neighbor (and hasn’t gotten a clue after this long), I’d recommend just gritting your teeth and letting it roll off your back as much as possible and being thankful for the non-obnoxious customers (they exist somewhere, don’t they?).

BTW, which country are you in?

4

Dominican Republic, IIRC.

That’s unbelievable. It’s like when people go to Europe and complain about the “foreigners.”

5

Yes, Green Bean is correct.

What I love the most is when they call us “natives” and I have this lovely mental image of myself running naked through the jungle, maybe with a bone-piercing in my nose. :rolleyes:

Fortunately most of the ex-pats that I know (and I know A LOT of them) are not like that. In this case it pissed me off more than usual because I didn’t have the recourse of doing something, maybe spitting on his face or something.

Non-obnoxious customers, an oxymoron if I’ve ever seen one. :slight_smile:

6

Had a buddy who encountered similar folks in P.R.

Makes me feel goooood to be a 'Merkun, lemmee tellya.

Hay idiotas todas partes, M_G. FWIW, pienso hice la opción correcta. Pero qué sé yo, eh? Hablo solamente Spanglish anyway.

7

So, when this prize moves to another country, he expects the locals to learn his language? What a putz! How sad and restrcited a life he must have lived for the past 5 years, never being able to shop for himself, to order a meal in a restaurant, to woo a pretty guirl (or handsome man) in one of the world’s most beautiful languges. Que lastima! (Sorry, but I don’t have the ASCII code to insert the inverted exclamtion point that should come before Que.)

8

I live in a multi-cultural neighborhood – with immigrants from Mexico, India, Cambodia and Kurdistan. I am an Ango-American. I am particularly interested in knowing our Spanish speaking citizens and I have tried to learn Spanish. Short term memory problems seem to make that impossible.

Before too many years, the States will have Euro-Americans in the minority. I love change and look forward to seeing what happens next!:slight_smile:

Sorry this customer was so rude. What a butt-hole!

9

Yeah, I’m curious what country you’re in as well. I’m guessing Mexico, since it’s the only place I can think of that would have the combination of factors that you describe.

I think (recognizing that nobody ASKED what I thought, but what the hell) that you could’ve stuck up for your people simply by politely pointing out that Spanish is the national language, and leave it at that. I too am surprised though this guy still has such an attitude after FIVE years. Hey, if you want to do business in a foreign land using local labor, you damn well better adapt, not expect THEM to. Maybe this prick is single-handedly running his company’s local office into the ground.

No me gusta personas con disposiciones mentales nocivos. Estan turbado.

10

Lizard, as Green Bean said I am in the Dominican Rep.

About sticking up for my people, well, it would have made me feel a whole lot better but that is pretty much business suicide, as much as I’d like to give him a piece of my mind my boss wouldn’t appreciate it if I ruin an almost-sure deal.

I know… I know… just when I find someone that needs smitten I can’t use the Migthy Bigot Fighting Stick.

11

Wait. You don’t do that? What about getting in touch with nature and your wild side? Sounds fun to me.

12

Dude, I don’t speak English. :wink:

I really don’t, but I was just funnin’ ya.

I agree- how awful Mighty_Girl. I could not have your job. I wish I could get a job where I could hunt down ignorance and prejudice and tell people off for being so incredibly insensitive and moronic. Wouldn’t that be the coolest job?

13

What can I say? Some people don’t learn anything they don’t want to know.

And after being “in charge” for a while, some people get to thinking that the natural laws of the universe ought to have a little consideration and adapt for their convenience…

14

I am all amazement. This guy is a major dick. And I’ll be he bitches when there are people in the USA that have not learned English yet. I have a feeling that he figures that everyone, no matter where he goes, should be obligated to learn English.

This is an ironic flipside to a coin, actually. On many occasions, people in the USA are “urged” to learn Spanish (I’d love to learn it, BTW, just for my own edification) so they could accomodate the Spanish-speaking people here. But there are some Spanish-speaking people who have been in the USA a long time and haven’t bothered to learn English. Hey—that’s fine, no skin off anyone’s nose as far as I’m concerned. They can not learn if they don’t want to (but from what I gather, most want to, which is why “English as a Second Language” classes are always filled to the brim) but those few who “expect” the rest of us to learn Spanish for their benefit are barking up the same lame tree as this obnoxious assholish ex-pat is.

(My dad, a postal worker, once encountered one of these types—when my dad could not understand what the guy was saying in Spanish, the guy told my dad that he was guilty of “racial discrimination”.)

15

Jesus, I run into this shit all the time. Especially when there is a big old business meeting and there is one person, who usually is not all that relevant to the matter at hand nor the key decision maker, who can’t hang in Chinese. Rather than trying to keep up with scribbled notes and a recap where appropriate, these fucknuts insist that the meeting be held in English. Arghhhhhh.

16

It’s a simple rule, really. When you go to live abroad , you learn the lingo that the locals speak.

17

Oh but of course! Some of my customers think that I actually am in the miracle business. This is one of the reasons why I am in desperate need of a new job. 7 years of being asked to do things that, well, I couldn’t do even if I had a magic wand has left me with this weird desire of hitting someone with my handbag.

Expecting the whole country to learn English to his convenience is not a biggy. I’ve seen worse. This one only seemed stupid enough to expect me to agree with him.

18

There are people in this city who regard not speaking French as a point of pride. That’s right, folks, there are people who specifically pride themselves on not knowing something. “That’s the Devil’s talk!”

Haven’t personally met the same attitude in reverse (currently living with a sovereignist who is trying very hard to learn English) but wouldn’t be surprised to; il y a des cons partout.

Considering I’m scared to even visit a country whose language I don’t speak fluently, I find all such attitudes inexplicable.

19

I am an Ugly American twice over.

Altough I live in Panama, I have never taken a Spanish lesson, and my Spanish still causes giggles. An easy and bueatiful language, but I have no talent for language.

Now I work in Saudi Arabia. Frankly, my lack of interest in Arabic is a political statement. It is a tough language, different group and all that, but in truth, I simply don’t like the Saudis as a group.

Sorry, I am a jerk I guess, but it is the simple truth.

“To thy ownself and the SDMB be true.” Polonis (Hamlet)

I could start another thread on why I don’t like the locals, but that is for another day.

20

What you need to do, for future use, is put together a sentence, in the beautiful rolling syllables of your Local Tongue, of all the best dirty words you can think of, and practice it, so the next time Mr. Dick comes around and complains that “those people can’t speak English good”, you can rattle it off for him, with a huge smile. Then when he says suspiciously, “Huh?” you tell him, with a HUGE smile, “In my native language, that is a proverb that means it is useless to cast pearls before swine.”

And keep smiling.