Tuesday, March 06, 2007

No hablo espanol

I learned two things today at work (which are totally unrelated, by the way).

1. I need to learn Spanish.

2. Men from under-developed countries need a reality check.

I've realized that I have a natural tendency to (attempt to) speak in Spanish when I am helping a customer that speaks about as much of my language as I do his. Today, I had an extremely pointless conversation with a gentleman looking for two X-Boxes.

"No tengo dos," I said. "Yo tengo uno."

Naturally, the man thought I was fluent in Spanish, so he started saying all this stuff I didn't understand. Then I had to explain in English that I didn't speak all that much Spanish. And of course, the girl I work with that speaks Spanish as her native language was off today. A conversation that should have lasted five minutes lasted about a half hour.

So Mom, Dad, anyone. For my birthday (or Saint Patrick's Day, or Easter, or whatever holiday you can justify spending this much money), I would like this.

I've also noticed that men from a certain region of the world (although I can't pinpoint a specific country) are cavemen.

Just for the record, I'm not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination. I just don't like being treated like a herd of cattle.

These cavemen I'm referring to come to this country and expect women to cower when they enter the room. Like I said - a reality check is in order.

Today, a caveman came to my register and had me quote a broken gold bracelet. I told him I would buy it from him for $20. I can't even describe the look on his face - he looked at me as if I was out of my freakin' mind.

"Twenty dollars," he said, "You can't give me more than twenty dollars?"

I gave it my new "take-it-or-leave-it" look that I've quickly learned works much better than the explanation of how we price gold, how the point of most businesses (including this one) is to turn a profit, and how he probably got ripped off because he bought it from an expensive jeweler. He didn't like being told no.

He then walked over to a case where we display some of our digital cameras. He looked at me and snapped his fingers. I looked at my boss and said, "That man is out of his damn mind if he thinks I'm going to respond politely to that."

So that was my day in a nutshell. Man, you guys wouldn't believe some of the other stories I've come home with.

More:

After I finished writing this post, I turned off all the lights and headed for bed. Scout was happily humming (some song I couldn't distinguish) in his sleep and I couldn't help but smile. Dang, he is so freakin' cute.

6 comments:

Only $19.95 said...

I wish you would write every day!

Anonymous said...

Actually, you don't need to learn Spanish. THEY need to learn English!

Dad

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with your Dad!!! We get it here in the office too. You came here to this country that speaks English. Learn our language!!!
I have a sign on my desk: Why the HELL should I have to press '1' for ENGLISH!!??
Hang in there!!
Love ya' & miss you both tons ~ Heather

sharona said...

Ahh, just what we need, Erin able to argue in more than one language....... : )

Cindy said...

Is that the cheapest way you can find to learn Spanish? I let you have a spanish speaking exchange student!!! You need to call her now that she lives in Georgia and has Verizon!!!! I think that's free. I love you. Mom

Sarah said...

I think soldiers are allowed to download Rosetta Stones for free. (We heard about this after Russ bought the Arabic one.) Have Mark call the MOS library or the ed center and ask about it. And then "he" can learn Spanish.