Or am I just mean?????

I am now working as a receptionist for a company in Chesapeake, Va., so not quite a bustling metropolis. At least 10X times a day, I get someone calling that speaks Spanish or Russian. I do speak a little Spanish and will meet someone halfway if they are struggling to speak English. If they won't try, then I won't either, unless it is an emergency situation. As far as the Russian goes-wow, that is a tought one-I can't help at all. But, what really annoys me, is that they call, and are mad at me that I don't speak their language. And then they have the audacity to ask me, why I don't speak Spanish/Russian.. And my reply is, "Because I live in the United States of America, I speak ENGLISH." Yeah, perhaps my customer service skills could stand to be more refined, but I just don't have the patience for someone not even trying to speak English in this country. I did have a Russian caller last week, who could not even answer the questions, "What is your name?" and "What is your phone #?"

IMO you have a right to be annoyed.

please press 1 for English!................now that gets my goat!................ but you do have the right to be upset!

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"Madison AnnMarie " 6/13/2008

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We should all be upset by this and worried at the same time!

I think you have every right to be annoyed.....I have some people in our FRG who get mad at me for not speaking German....I have never been to Germany, I am American, live in America, I speak English....I do feel if you go to another country even for a visit you should make some attempt to learn the basics and feel people should do the same when they come here....

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O-H-I-O

That annoys the living crap out of me.....as does Press 1 for English, multilingual cereal boxes, hotel maids that can't respond to a basic housekeeping request, etc. We are headed in the wrong direction.....imnsho. If you are mean, then so am I!

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

ROFL!!! I totally agree with you, and have been saying the same thing for years! Geesh, we live in America, we shouldn't need to learn another language!!

I agree and will share what I think is a good example of why.

One of my clients was in a nursing home with a hip replacement. There was a sign clearly posted over her bed that her Dr. had ordered 'Hip Precautions'. (Hip patients are not allowed to do certain movements until they have healed sufficiently to avoid damage). The nurse's aid that day was jerking my client around in bed and certainly not complying with the Dr. ordered Hip Precautions. When I tried to speak to her and ask her why she was not following the Dr.'s instructions, it became quite clear that she was unable to follow the instructions because she did not understand or speak much English.

I live in a city that has many immigrants and I do not have a problem with it. However, in matters of health care, it seems to me that someone in a postion to do harm to a patient should be fluent enough in English to understand how the patient is to be cared for.

Try living in South Florida....

I agree with all of you totally. What I find interesting and fascinating is that so many people around the world speak at least some English. You see people from Africa, the Middle East, Europe -- everywhere -- on television and they all know some English.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

We get customers who don't speak any English, but have managed to buy something on our site. I'm really not sure how that works, since the site's completely in English. I'm also not sure why they'd expect non-English support when it's never even hinted at. Still, those who make an effort can be lovely, and talking to flirty Norwegians is sort of fun.

I'm used to bilingual cereal boxes (flocons de mais! avec sucre!), but know very little Spanish. Husband is reasonably fluent, and uses it often at work, but doesn't like to. I'd like to know a bit more than I do now.

Me too! Me too!!!

This is America, learn the language, or hibernate and never speak outside of your house or
GO HOME!

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Square dancing is friendship set to music!

You should have my Job! You go to a new clients home and NOONE will speak english. After going there for a few weeksm you find out that EVERYONE there speaks english! THey just dont want to till they know me. That is a big pain in the butt!

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Me too! Me too!!!

This is America, learn the language, or hibernate and never speak outside of your house or
GO HOME!

I'm not sure if you know this - but do you realize that the United States has NO official language?

Since there is no official language, and since our country was established as the "melting pot" - it's hard to make a case for why people should be required to learn English.

I figure that if people don't speak English in our country, it is really more of a burden on them than on me, but they are entitled to live here and get by however they can. It's America - we were founded on being the place for ANY people to come for a better life. And until we decide that we are a country with an official language, then how can we demand that people learn "our" language?

We were at Home Depot this weekend and were looking at paint sprayer attachments for DH's air compressor. They had a stack of pamphlets on the shelf that explained each attachment and what it did (which would have helped us pick what we needed). However, the whole pamphlet was in Spanish and there were no similar pamphlets in English <ugh>.

Sarah.........mom to Jason & Devin

I agree - I always pass stores and other businesses and LOTS of the "for hire" signs say "must be russian speaking"........what the heck??????

I live in NYC and yes, there are MANY russians, but some of them don't even have the desire to learn our language - and I have nothing against them, as I do have a few russian friends.

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I'm just as annoyed as the rest of you by those who refuse to speak English and the Press 1 for English, etc. However, since we have no official language, can we really say that they are in the wrong for refusing to learn English?

Well . . . yes. If I moved to Mexico I'd need to learn to speak Spanish. If I ended up in Quebec I'd have to remember the bit of French I know. As much as we talk about the US being a melting pot, people tend to stay in isolated groups, rather than integrating. I've seen multiculturalism, and it doesn't look like two groups of people living next to each other while ignoring the other's ways. It has to be a mutual effort, and learning the local language, and sharing your own culture, is really the only way to get there.

I was going to add that you'd be surprised at how many Hispanics that are here do actually speak English, they just don't want you to know they can understand the language as well as they do (NOT all of them of course). I used to work in a position that tested this theory daily. I do speak some Spanish, therefore I can usually get around who is toying with me, ha ha. I live in an area that has been bombarded by Mexican immigrants also and I do have to say I get very annoyed with all of the flyers and directions/marketing that is all in Spanish! Pretty sad day when you can't read the words in your own country!

Well, I'm thinking that the first language was NOT English. The "white man" came and didn't bother to learn our language( yes, I'm part Native American)....

Now, I agree that common sense and common courtesy would dictate that if you move to another country, you should make an effort to learn not only the local language but also the local laws, customs and such. I also agree that it is very frustrating to have to deal w/ people who do not speak English. I also know that a lot of those who claim to not understand/speak English in fact are fluent in the language--and that is just RUDE!

But really folks--let's be honest. When the Europeans (white man) came to the US they certainly didn't care to learn the Indian's language(s) and the pretty much took over and forced the Indians onto tiny reservations. Sometimes, the white man even herded the Indians like cattle and killed them. Oh, and let's not forget that the white man thought it would be a wonderful idea to REMOVE young Indian children from their parents and "Anglocize" them (cutting their hair, giving them "Christian" names, not allowing them the very freedoms that they professed to have "founded" the country on...). So, it seems to me that we have a history of expecting other races/cultures to bend to our will. Just a thought.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Well, I think it would depend on what business you are in. Is the company you work for in the shipping industry or something like that, where you could be dealing with people of many different languages??? Also, I think "customer service" should be exercised in your position. Not to say it might not bother me, but, I would do my best to try and figure out what they are calling for, and always be polite and respectful, even if they are not.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

OOh, point well taken. I had not even thought of this. That certainly puts things in a new perspective. I will try to be more patient....

Yep right up on the annoy list for me too. I really like it when you open up something and you see spanish as the first language and you have to flip it over to find the english version. What happend to english being the primary language of america??? I hate when ya go to the grocery store and need assistance and they said no speak english! UMMMMM excuse me why do you work in america then?!?!?!?!?!?! GO BACK!!!!

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