Speak English

In one of my old rants, I complained about fast food workers who couldn't understand me.  I thought... how dumb do you have to be to get my order wrong?   It's not rocket science; it's a burger, fries and a shake.   I'm not one of these "in America, we speak English" jerks, but it did bother me to come across those in a customer-facing role who couldn't grasp the basics.  "I ask for Taco, you give Taco", I wrote.  Well... I'm a little ashamed of myself now.  I'm the dumb one.

I watched a foreign film, Take Out.  It's a Chinese flick shot in New York about the immigrant experience.  It's not a masterpiece, but... it helped changed my way of thinking.  It focuses on the story of Ming... a delivery boy fresh off the boat.  He was smuggled here (something, I hear, that is quite common).  They work a few jobs to pay back those who brought them over.   They don't have the time to learn English and hang out at Borders.  They're slaves, essentially... working night and day.  The more I watched it, the more I realized how ignorant I've been.

They're busting their ass just to make it here... to survive.   I think it deserves respect.

Update on Saturday, January 16 by Buddha

I should also point out that my view on those in a customer-facing position speaking English really has nothing to do with English at all.  If a Russian business were to outsource its customer service to an office in So Cal with a bunch of surfer dudes, I would think Russian customers would be pissed off.    I just don't get the concept of using an offshore vendor for a service role.  Data entry or programming?  Ok.  I mean... people are already upset (hence the phone call); why make them even more angry by introducing accent/cultural issues.   You don't see too many call centers in South Boston.  We have teams in India, the Philippines and El Salvador.  It just doesn't make any sense.  You may save money, but at what cost?