Does anybody read these?

You never know who's listening ...

I wanted to share an interesting story from work last night. I am glad that I saw the humor in it, because I probably should've been really pissed.

I rushed off to the Land of Misfit Toys only to find out that I was training the new guy in electronics last night. I've been over there a lot lately, and I've been training all the new people. I don't mind though; I'd rather do it than have them not learn what they need to know.

Anyhow, I think I've mentioned to all of you that the Land of Misfit Toys does not have any Nintendo Wii game systems. Please don't call. Please don't wait outside in line. We don't have any. Sorry. Sometimes we do have them, but most likely by the time you get there they will be gone. It is not a conspiracy; it is called supply and demand.

So, it's just another night at the Land of Misfit Toys. The new guy is a hoot, and we're having a blast.

This nice family comes in. Now, I don't know if I've ever told you all this before, but Nashville has a large Hispanic community, so very often we have shoppers in the store who speak very little English. Well, after 8 years of Spanish classes and spending quality time with my sister-in-law-to-be, Senorita Benitez, I can do well enough to understand them and speak a little bit. The other day I said Happy Birthday in Spanish to a little boy named Javier who stopped in to get his birthday balloon.

So, this nice family comes in and only the husband speaks English, and he's not very good at it. I am listening to him in Spanish and doing my best to make him understand my English. His son wants a Nintendo Wii for Christmas.

I tell him we don't have any in English. He points at a GameBoy Advance, which is apparently his plan B. We're out of those too. So, I'm telling him that I don't know when we'll get more (which is true) and giving him some pointers on getting one of these Christmas gifts. I was being very helpful, and I was as knowledgeable as any other person in the store.

The wife asks him in Spanish what's going on and if we have what they are looking for. He answers her in Spanish. She asked him when we'd be getting more Wiis.

He says to her: "No sabe," which translates to "She doesn't know."
She asked him something else, which I can't remember right now. And he gets very snotty and says "No sabe nada." That means "She (meaning me) doesn't know anything."

I got the vibe that he thought I was stupid. He definitely sounded patronizing.

Apparently he was counting on me not knowing Spanish. But I did know Spanish, and I was a little pissed.

I thought for a second about what to do.

So, I looked at them very sincerely and said in English "I'm sorry." And then I said the same phrase again in Spanish, "Lo siento."

I'm pretty sure all the oxygen left the room at that point.

So, just remember: Just because you're speaking in a foreign language doesn't mean that the person you're talking about doesn't understand.

posted by Laura at 4:06 PM