What Would You Have Done?? - Topeka,KS

I would have asked what it was he wasn't understanding. I have so many friends who have English as a second language, and it really can get annoying when other people treat them unfairly. I can understand asking someone to repeat what they said, but not to insult them like that. Maybe by stepping in it would have made the other person realize that they were in the wrong by their actions. You did the best you could though given that situation. I think you handled it well. Some people are just ignorant, and need things pointed out to them a little more then others.

I guess I would have asked the customer "what is it that you don't understand?" If you act as a translator for the English speaking customer and the English with an accent speaking clerk, it lets the customer see that the clerk IS speaking English and YOU are perfectly capable of understanding the clerk.

I think you approached the problem very well. You can't knock sense into some people. They're just rude beyond rude. I lived in Italy for 8 years. One time I dressed "comfortable" to go to the butcher, meaning I didn't get "decked" out in a fur coat, or stelletos, like most Italian women do even when they go to the supermarket. The woman who owned the butcher shop was so rude to me, she thought I was the maid, and asked me, if I were there to pick up someones order.
I treat everyone with respect no matter what cultural, ethnic background they are. I also believe in what goes around, comes around. Be careful how we treat others.
Like I said, you definitely approached it very well. Be well

I cant count the times i have been told 'You just don't understand, because of your English.' So many times. I used to just excuse myself or apologize until I had my kids and the comments were made to me in front of my kids, whose first language is English. Now, I usually turn around and say 'if you don't understand my English, how about you pick one of the four languages I also speak. Ah, you don't speak any other language do you.' and walk away. One time, a lady, said under her breath, but loud enough for me to hear, 'wish these damn immigrants would leave this country.' I am am American with an accent. Butt I do not carry my naturalization certificate nor my US passport with me wherever I go. Unless a government official asks me to show it to them I would never offer to a civilian.

When I lived in Belgium and Germany - we encountered people talking LOUDER - yes, those darned ignorant Americans who think that if they talk LOUDER the person can understand them better.

How did we handle it? We were polite, went up to them and asked them if they needed help in ordering. French or German are easy languages if you take the time to learn the basics. Told them that getting louder or rude wasn't the answer and helped them order.

You were polite in helping him..you helped him by REDIRECTING him to another place. It sucks that people are rude and ignorant like that. I'm not sure there is much more that you could do. The other employee saw your sympathetic look and hopefully appreciated it. The man, in his ignorance, appreciated your helping him. Sometimes, there is no helping ignorant people.

So how would I have handled it? Probably just as you did.

Some people really cant understand foreign accents, it's a real thing.
That customer was being an a-hole tho. I do believe if you do have a thick accent that if you feel the customer cant understand you, you should have insight enough to pull someone up that speaks better english.... for customer service purposes. I'm sure the employee was keen to the customer not "getting it".
I probably would have said something to that customer. I doubt we have very many chinese illegals in our country, they are much better at following our rules than we are even...

I think you did the right thing. As a grownup, I absolutely hate it when somebody takes it upon themselves to lecture me. Not that I don't always have more to learn, not that I don't make mistakes. But I notice that a lecture simply leaves me feeling angry, defensive and frustrated.

One example: recently in a morning discussion group, one participant brought donuts, a very rare treat for me. Because I have diabetes, I can't eat a whole one, but I took one on a napkin, broke off 1/4 to eat, and offered the rest to my husband, who shook his head, and then to a new guy on the other side of me. He muttered, "Don't want it all; don't take it!" and I was instantly feeling outrage and hurt. He doesn't know I have diabetes, he doesn't know how carefully I eat, he doesn't know that I've lost 18 pounds in the last few months, he doesn't know that my husband is a dependable food vacuum, except this time. I've forgiven his righteous comment, because he's young and slim and still thinks he knows everything. But a polite "No thanks" would have done the job.

The man you describe was genuinely rude, probably unnecessarily so. And I can understand his wish to not face the frustration of trying to communicate with a person with a strong accent. I may be verbally stupid, but I sometimes have trouble conversing with U.S. citizens from the deep south, and with inner-city blacks, and with folks with strong Latino accents. I have actually given up on a few phone conversations with call centers in India, simply because no amount of repeating gives me a clue about what they are saying. On the other hand, I am willing to at least try. But it does leave me feeling like the dumb one if it doesn't go well. Perhaps that customer had been in the same uncomfortable position a few times too often. You can't possibly know what all was behind his request. He could simply be a demanding and privileged SOB, or he could be a guy who felt intimidated by the possibility of failure. Some people, particularly men, are not willing or able to go there.

So, I notice that this response can easily be interpreted as a lecture to you, KansasMom. I hope you'll understand that's not my intent. I just want to give a feeling-sense of what else might be going on when somebody appears to be just rude.

I think you did the right thing by getting the rude guy out of the employee's face. Now, you could have said something to the customer, but I don't think it would have helped. You helped by de-escalating the situation. If it comes up with the managers, you can tell them the customer was out of line and the employee did nothing wrong. You can also go talk to the employee later and say, "Wow, that guy was rude! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that yesterday. I didn't tell him to go to the deli to offend you. I just wanted him out of your face. Some people!"

You did exactly the right thing! As much as you would have liked to call the customer out on his rudeness, you handled the situation in a professional manner. I pity people like that customer because they have no idea how uneducated they are and make themselves look like fools on a regular basis.
I know that my Spanish and Russian are very rusty, but I remember feeling bad when people would make fun or get angry with my attempts to communicate.
I wish our country would have a better emphasis on learning other languages!

The man is a prejudiced person. He likes the food but not the people. Nothing you say will do any good. If you own the store you can decide to tell him he isn't nice. But if you just work there, the only thing you can do is to help him get his stuff and go. That is the nicest thing to do for the workers and won't make your boss mad that he might lose business.

The exact same thing you did. You handled the situation in a professioanal manner.

However, you only saw the last part of the transaction. How do you know that before you came up that the kitchen employee didn't make some type of mistake and now the customer was irritated.

Is it possible you're the one making assumptions?

I have a very difficult time understanding people with a strong accent. I occassionally need to work with a man who has a phd. He's educated, very nice and polite, but I don't like working with him because it's very difficult to communicate as he doesn't speak English fluently and I often have to say the same thing 2 different ways before he fully understands.

I agree that speaking to the customer would probably not help anything.
It might have been good to address the employee directly, which would both show the customer how easy it is to communicate, and showing your support.
"How's it going? What does this customer need? Can I help you?"

I think you handled it pretty well. The customer was frustrated and probably wouldn't have listened if you said something. I can see both sides here--the customer wasn't being very nice but you found him a way to get what he needed so that made sense from a customer service point of view. I don't mind where people are from but it can be hard to understand accents sometimes even if you make an effort to try. I don't appreciate it when businesses put people who don't speak English well into jobs where they deal with the public constantly. It causes a lot of unnecessary frustration all around.

What a dickwad. He obviously understood the Chinese man and the man understood him since he was able to order and get his food.
"Oh! No worries. Sam here (or whatever his name is) speaks English just fine." Then a mighty fine glare. But then the question becomes, is it fare to subject "Sam" to the jerk that insulted him?
L.

Unfortunately, he's the customer, and as an employee, you probably did the right thing by just directing him to the checkout. If I were another customer who overheard, however....

Oh, I don't know, that's a tough one...and a sore spot, with me, because most of my friends are illegal immigrants.

What I have learned is...
Just because someone speaks English, does not mean they completely understand it, or are able to communicate effectively with it. This makes it even harder when dealing with different accents, different American accents (like southern vs. east coast vs. west coast), how fast someone talks, and words with multiple meanings.
Some people are easily frazzled by not being able to communicate with those who have accents. It would be like you losing your hearing in a split second and having to try to read lips. Its hard. Some can do it, others are totally lost, and in turn they get frustrated. Things get even more heated when money is involved, health, or assumptions are made.
Certain things factor in as well. Age...some older people have not been as exposed to people from other countries while others have been over exposed (I have found its usually been due to military service and travel to foreign countries). Geographic area...some areas don't see as many foreigners as others. And it goes on.
My point is....when you see a situation like this sometimes theres way more that goes into it. You just never know. But you wanting to indicate your displeasure is assuming this man is meaning more then what he actually said, and that could have gotten you in trouble. I can't fault someone for not being able to understand others with accents...just like I can't fault someone from another country for not pronouncing things exactly like I do. There is a break down in communication, plain and simple. I do put fault on people who are not tactful about it (like the customer). If you can't understand someone then just move on, be polite, ask for someone else, etc.
This is coming from someone who has been in the medical field for 9 yrs, and has heard just about every accent, I have also taught people who were ESL students, and was raised in an all Hispanic community. It's super easy for me to understand people from just about anywhere because of my background...but I know it's not as easy for others. So if I were you I would have pointed out 2 registers and let the customer go to whichever one he wanted, I probably would have also told the cook that I am, sorry the customer was rude and I hope he has a better day with customers.

My parents are just like that guy you are talking about. It bothers me tremendously when they make rude remarks when I used to go out to eat or anywhere with them. Now I try to avoid going out in public where I know there will be a lot of people. I've told my mom how do you think your grandma and grandpa came here from Poland or when the white men came to this country and took her ancestors land. I've told my dad the same with the Swedish and Irish for his grandparents. I've gotten no where with them they were raised in a different time era, and think everyone in this country needs to speak English only once they live here. My FIL is from Germany has a strong german accent and was speaking his language at my wedding reception, my parents let me know the next day how angry and hurt they were that my new FIL didn't speak english. He can, but it's not as clear is what I've always told them.

Accents can be hard to understand. My Husband has an accent. And to him I have an accent too. I speak English and it is my 1st language.... but per my region, we speak a certain way. As it is in ANY region. Dialect.

But if it is an accent of a person with darker skin or Asian skin or Indian skin... versus say, someone who has a French accent or Italian accent and white skin... will that be looked upon, better?
Immigrant or not or citizen.

Now, in other parts of the world, people are MULTI-lingual.
In the USA... we don't grow up that way as a norm. It is not the norm to know and be, multi-lingual.

Some people just don't like anyone, with an accent.

You handled the situation... nicely.

***Just as an FYI: Objects are referred to as "Oriental." The people are referred to as "Asian."
I know... I live in Hawaii. Many Asians and cultures, here.