Thought My Customer was Deaf

[WoodenSunshine]

So, I used to work for this large electronics store where we wore headsets to keep in communication with each other (ha, more for management to have more of an excuse to yell at us ).

One day, I was called up front as there was a customer with a question and was looking for a part. Standard situation. I get up front and ask the customer how I can help her. The lady SHOVES a piece of paper at me. Now, we have a large deaf community in the area, so I'm used to be handed pieces of paper. I look at what she's looking for and it's a computer part that I've never even heard of. So, I made eye contact with her and speak slowly and tell her that I'm going to have to check with the guys who fix computers, because I'm not sure what this is. This lady flips her lid on me. I'll spare you the details, but apparently her son told her that he needed this particular part. The computer guys said that it was a very specialty part and she would have to go to X store to get something like that. She yells a bit more at me and stomps out.

She definitely wasn't deaf, just rude.

As a side note, I'm okay with ASL, so I always got called to deal with deaf and hard of hearing customers as I had the patience to speak/sign with them. It was usually the best part of my day

[Rosco the Iroc]

I know the sign language you could use for her and the horse she came in on.

[MoonCat]

I know the sign language you could use for her and the horse she came in on.

I bet I know that one too!

[wolfie]

I believe it's showing "4" in binary using your fingers.

[sirwired]

Somewhat OT: But I bemoan the now near-absence of computer parts stores these days. If the local Big Yellow doesn't have it (and for a reasonable price), I can't get it without an order to Brazillian River or Fresh Egg.

CompUSA and Tiger Direct are both gone, and we don't have Skillet's or Tiny Center around here.

[Dreamstalker]

We have a few customers who are deaf, but make nearly zero effort to indicate this to a cashier/attendant...choosing instead to get huffy and nasty when the poor cashier can't understand what they want immediately and only then does it come to light they're deaf (we don't have anyone who knows sign language well enough to communicate).

[WoodenSunshine]

We have a few customers who are deaf, but make nearly zero effort to indicate this to a cashier/attendant...choosing instead to get huffy and nasty when the poor cashier can't understand what they want immediately and only then does it come to light they're deaf (we don't have anyone who knows sign language well enough to communicate).

I'm really lucky that all the deaf customers I've had either communicate through writing or are pretty decent at lip reading and understand that we're entirely outside of their culture. A few of them would bring in a translator which was kind of awesome, because it helped me learn signs I didn't know.

Otoh, I stopped at a store to get my morning energy drink and there was a customer who had locked his keys in his car and was signing rapidly at the poor cashier who was sooooooo confused. I felt bad actually, because I could tell the customer was frustrated and the cashier was trying to communicate that it would be about forty five minutes for the truck to come and rescue the customer. I just signed 45 to the guy, he thanked me and walked out and the cashier was amazed pre energy drink Woodensunshine isn't a people person.

[otter]

Just the other day I saw an entire line of Chipotle workers signing to a deaf customer. I was impressed

[Monterey Jack]

We have a few customers who are deaf, but make nearly zero effort to indicate this to a cashier/attendant...choosing instead to get huffy and nasty when the poor cashier can't understand what they want immediately and only then does it come to light they're deaf (we don't have anyone who knows sign language well enough to communicate).

This always irritates me when it comes to language barriers between customers and employees...if you want to actually communicate with us, bring someone to translate! At least with deaf/mute people, they have the ability to write what they want to say (and should, indeed, carry around a little notepad for such eventualities), but when someone gets increasingly flustered and angry when trying to ask us something in Spanish/German/French/what-have-you, it's like, you brought this on yourself. Someone in your family or immediate circle of friends must be able to speak and understand English better than you, so next time, bring them.

[Nunavut Pants]

I figure it's the same tourist mindset as: "Everyone speaks English, as long as you say it REAL LOUD and reeeeeeeeaaaaaallllllll sssssllllllooooooooowwww"...

[Ironclad Alibi]

I know the sign language you could use for her and the horse she came in on.

I believe it's showing "4" in binary using your fingers.

The one I know is 9 in binary: 1001.

The binary 4 is without the horse.

[manybellsdown]

I had a deaf guest at the museum last week. She was drinking from a water bottle, which is not allowed in the galleries, so I went up to ask her to put it away. She clearly couldn't hear my "Excuse me ma'am", and didn't even realize I was standing there. At that point she'd put the drink away so I decided not to press matters.

Then I saw her struggling with the gallery map (which is VERY poorly designed and makes it look like you're on the second floor when you're actually on the first) so I went up and tapped her and asked in ASL if she signed. I don't know if she did or not, because she spoke to ask me for directions (and I am really bad at giving directions in ASL anyway, so I hope I got her to the right place).

Apparently there was a group of deaf guests and they were all supposed to have interpreters with them but she was by herself.

[notalwaysright]

The few times I've helped a deaf person they either had a tablet they could write on with a stylus, or they mimed paper and pencil. No big deal.

There was one lady who was a regular who also must have had some other issues in addition to not being able to hear. She would take a number but would never hear it called, or look at the screen which shows the "now serving" number. If I was calling the number I would walk into her eye line (she was often turned slightly away from the counter) and gesture until she saw.

If I wasn't calling the number, she got skipped, and later would just come up to a cutter randomly. It was not always pleasant because the other customer (and cutter) didn't immediately understand why the lady did this. Plus she was a bit pushy and didn't seem to understand that the cutter was already helping someone else. I could deal with her just fine, but at some point she must have gotten aggressive because I heard she's banned unless she has a carer present. And it takes quite a lot for this to happen.

[Nashida]

I remember once working at Blamco I had a customer call the store using teletypewriter. The process took 30 minutes for a few questions about a couple pools we'd had on offer, but I remember remarking at the end that this had been one of the coolest things I'd ever done.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

I've been the shopper without the translator - English speaker with minimal/no German, in Austria and Germany. In one shop the shop keeper spoke minimal/no English. It was interesting! But a combination of bad English and German, lots of gestures and lots and lots of laughs, I managed to select something in the correct size for the recipient (not me), get directions to the nearest ATM (she didn't take cards) and come back and buy it.

It can be done but both sides need patience and a sense of humour.