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Old 04-09-2019, 10:34 AM
 
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
13,562 posts, read 10,316,598 times
Reputation: 8252

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldglory View Post
The cashier who flipped out should have told her fellow cashier who was speaking in Spanish to a customer that knew English that she was being rude and inconsiderate on the job. Many companies require their employees to speak English on the job and this customer knew how to speak English.
I hope you're not in business serving the public, because frankly, you have pretty poor business sense about customer service.

On second thought, I'd love to be your competitor - I'll eat your lunch because you'll likely alienate your customer base and suffer staff turnover due to your prejudices.

Ever heard of Pizza Patron? You'll get a meltdown over their business model because they openly address and go after the Latino/Hispanic market. They even take payments in pesos! And being bilingual in English/Spanish is a bona fide job requirement!

Last edited by silverkris; 04-09-2019 at 10:42 AM..
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:17 PM
 
62,727 posts, read 28,935,937 times
Reputation: 18489
Quote:
Originally Posted by remsleep View Post
If I owned this business I would fire a cashier that tried to do something like that. If a customer wants to speak Spanish and I have an employee onsite that can speak to them in their preferred language why would I want to discourage them from doing so? You have a very weird idea of customer service, the customer obviously can speak any language they want and take their cash to the business that will best accommodate their needs. A customer's ability to speak English is moot, they have chosen to speak Spanish and a smart business owner is going to do everything they can to take care of them in Spanish, lest they take their cash to someone else that will.
Preferred language? My how cute. Many employers have rules about employees speaking foreign languages on the clock for safety reasons and other reasons. If I were the Spanish speaking employee I would ask if the customer knew how to speak English if so I would cite the rule.

Yeah, we know anything for a buck. Unless the customer doesn't know English your point is moot, IMO.
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:21 PM
 
62,727 posts, read 28,935,937 times
Reputation: 18489
Quote:
Originally Posted by NomadicDrifter View Post
No you wouldn't, because we would gladly speak English with you, even though it's not our first language/mother tongue (in my case, it's the third language I learned).

I bet if oldglory got his fat butt over into Europe, it would be nonstop English with him, with no effort to communicate in the native language. Sometimes the loudest complainers are the biggest hypocrites.
Fat butt? So now you're going to resort to personal attacks? Whatever country I would visit I would not expect to be catered to in my native language. I would learn enough of theirs to get by. If I moved there I would certainly learn their language and speak it out in public. I'm no hypocrite!
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:22 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,346 posts, read 80,658,912 times
Reputation: 57351
Having an employee that speaks another language is a benefit to the employer, to provide better customer service to non-English speaking customers. In fact, I remember when working in Oakland, CA in the late 1970s that people were paid an additional percentage if they spoke another language that was in demand such as Spanish, Chinese or Vietnamese.
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:22 PM
 
17,273 posts, read 9,526,371 times
Reputation: 16468
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldglory View Post
Preferred language? My how cute. Many employers have rules about employees speaking foreign languages on the clock for safety reasons and other reasons. If I were the Spanish speaking employee I would ask if the customer knew how to speak English if so I would cite the rule.

Yeah, we know anything for a buck. Unless the customer doesn't know English your point is moot, IMO.
Money is money. Get over yourself.
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:22 PM
 
62,727 posts, read 28,935,937 times
Reputation: 18489
Quote:
Originally Posted by WMak70 View Post
Just yesterday, I assisted a couple who live in France 6 months and here 6 months. They speak very broken English, but I spent time with them, figured out what they wanted and were saying, and I learned a few new words in the process. We parted as friends.

There are some people who hate people from other places, and who may not speak our language well, but if we went to Europe, we would be the ones struggling to communicate. I am glad that clerk was fired.
That wasn't the case here. The customer was very adept at English.
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:25 PM
 
62,727 posts, read 28,935,937 times
Reputation: 18489
Quote:
Originally Posted by NomadicDrifter View Post
The customer is always right. She prefers speaking in Spanish, there is someone onsite who can speak Spanish - it's not rude, if you feel left out, learn another language and stop bellyaching.
Re-read my posts you're missing the point. I can bellyache all I want. Is there a law against it? Why would I want to learn another language when there are so many minority languages spoken in this country and if you rarely use it you lose it. Should I learn them all? If you live here you adapt to our language not expect Americans to adapt to yours.
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:29 PM
 
62,727 posts, read 28,935,937 times
Reputation: 18489
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140 View Post
Having an employee that speaks another language is a benefit to the employer, to provide better customer service to non-English speaking customers. In fact, I remember when working in Oakland, CA in the late 1970s that people were paid an additional percentage if they spoke another language that was in demand such as Spanish, Chinese or Vietnamese.
If you're dealing with tourists then of course but we are talking about a customer who knew how to speak English but wanted to feel all warm and fuzzy by communicating in her native tongue instead. This is how native English speakers get discriminated against in hiring practices.
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:29 PM
 
5,315 posts, read 2,103,905 times
Reputation: 2571
I dont think I have ever seen anything like "Must speak English only while working" as a rule by an employer in the sense it's trying to be argued, especially. If it matters to the company, that can be part of the hiring process where they make sure the person can speak it enough.

So if there is somehow some safety thing or whatever excuse OG is going to say, the employee can speak it still in that instance. Otherwise they can help make money for the company by helping people who come in/call/whatever in whatever language.

Last edited by latimeria; 04-09-2019 at 12:38 PM..
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Old 04-09-2019, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Texas
37,937 posts, read 17,805,641 times
Reputation: 10366
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140 View Post
Having an employee that speaks another language is a benefit to the employer, to provide better customer service to non-English speaking customers. In fact, I remember when working in Oakland, CA in the late 1970s that people were paid an additional percentage if they spoke another language that was in demand such as Spanish, Chinese or Vietnamese.
Agreed. It comes in handy. The problem arises when employees don't speak english to english speaking employees. That employee is being rude and that isn't a benefit. Not that you're saying otherwise.
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