i'm pretty ambivalent about whether people speak English fluently or not.
i don't think to be in this country you should have to be an English all star, i just think you should be familiar with enough English words to perform your job function, which in general I find to be the case (except at the Dunkin Donuts on Newbury Street but that is a story for another time)
anyway i had to make what i thought would be a quick stop at Home Depot this morning to retutn the carpet cleaner that Adam and I rented last night (we gave our current living room set and kitchen set to our soon to be married friends Jeanne and Chris, and our new sets come tomorrow so this was a perfect opportunity to clean the living room carpet which was in pretty rough shape and no, ADAM it is not all my fault but yes, i found that nail polish does stain. the carpet looks much better now though. and judging by how the color and quality of the water we dumped out of that machine when we were done, either our landlord never cleaned the carpet before we moved in, or we really are dirt dogs)
i don't think to be in this country you should have to be an English all star, i just think you should be familiar with enough English words to perform your job function, which in general I find to be the case (except at the Dunkin Donuts on Newbury Street but that is a story for another time)
anyway i had to make what i thought would be a quick stop at Home Depot this morning to retutn the carpet cleaner that Adam and I rented last night (we gave our current living room set and kitchen set to our soon to be married friends Jeanne and Chris, and our new sets come tomorrow so this was a perfect opportunity to clean the living room carpet which was in pretty rough shape and no, ADAM it is not all my fault but yes, i found that nail polish does stain. the carpet looks much better now though. and judging by how the color and quality of the water we dumped out of that machine when we were done, either our landlord never cleaned the carpet before we moved in, or we really are dirt dogs)
anywho, the lovely folks at Home Depot let you rent an industrial carpet cleaner for the night for $30 as long as you pick it up after 5PM and return it before 9AM the next day. perfect! so i can pick it up after work and drop it off on my way back to work in the morning!
so i arrive at 6:59AM to return the cleaner and the man behind the counter asks what name our rental agreement is under and i give him Adam's name because we used his credit card to secure it. Adam's last name is Meuse, so when I saw him looking in the "A" section i mentioned that his last name begins with "M".
"A"? the clerk asked me
"No, it's "M". Meuse. That's his last name"
"His first name Meuse?"
"No!" i said again, and grabbed a pen from my purse and actually wrote his name on a piece of paper which i thought would end it all.
but still, he is looking in the A section and shaking his head "It not here" he said. and looks at me expectantly, like i know what happens next??
So i tell him again to look in the "M" section and after making the "MMMM" sound repeatedly, he finally gets me. sort of. and looks in the "N" section.
god.
finally i had to ask for a manager because we were getting nowhere. the manager came out, i gave Adam's name, and poof! A rental agreement appears. I pay. I leave.
i feel bad for that clerk, but to be honest i don't even think it bothered him. He probably still thinks I don't even know my boyfriend's own name.
next time i will just rent it under my name: Sarah Stewart. should make things a little easier.
(or maybe not if you judge by the client who i have been dealing with for months who sent a certificate of insurance in my name addressed to "Fara Stewart")
so i arrive at 6:59AM to return the cleaner and the man behind the counter asks what name our rental agreement is under and i give him Adam's name because we used his credit card to secure it. Adam's last name is Meuse, so when I saw him looking in the "A" section i mentioned that his last name begins with "M".
"A"? the clerk asked me
"No, it's "M". Meuse. That's his last name"
"His first name Meuse?"
"No!" i said again, and grabbed a pen from my purse and actually wrote his name on a piece of paper which i thought would end it all.
but still, he is looking in the A section and shaking his head "It not here" he said. and looks at me expectantly, like i know what happens next??
So i tell him again to look in the "M" section and after making the "MMMM" sound repeatedly, he finally gets me. sort of. and looks in the "N" section.
god.
finally i had to ask for a manager because we were getting nowhere. the manager came out, i gave Adam's name, and poof! A rental agreement appears. I pay. I leave.
i feel bad for that clerk, but to be honest i don't even think it bothered him. He probably still thinks I don't even know my boyfriend's own name.
next time i will just rent it under my name: Sarah Stewart. should make things a little easier.
(or maybe not if you judge by the client who i have been dealing with for months who sent a certificate of insurance in my name addressed to "Fara Stewart")
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2 comments:
I almost went buckwild once on the phone with Citibank because the customer service rep didn't speak English.
and THAT, honey, is why i finally had to quit there last week. i mean--i have a freakin' masters degree and i had to work with people like THAT--and your example was in mass....just think what it's like down here in ga--god!!!
-natalie
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