Thursday, December 06, 2007

So, there I was lined up at the bank in a certain neighbourhood, where there are lots of a certain nationality.

There was an elderly lady who was having trouble understanding the Teller, and the one Teller who was there that spoke her language was busy with another customer.
The elderly lady was getting frustrated because her Teller could only speak her language in a limited way.

There was a lady in line in front of me, who turned to me, shook her head, and said something to me in a language I can only assume was the language of the elderly lady.
I shrugged my shoulders, and didn't say anything.

When I got to the wicket, my Teller told me that the woman that spoke to me had been pissed off that there was only one person there who could speak the language.

Is it wrong of me to tell the Teller: "She's lucky anyone speaks her language in the bank...considering she's not banking in (the country of the language she spoke)"?

Listen, I'm all for multiculturalism, and making the effort to help those that don't speak the language...what I have a problem with is the expectation that everyone in that bank should speak it.

Back in the day, you had to make an effort to learn to speak English.
Apparently, you don't anymore.