So I call the Sucky Customer into my room when it's her turn and I write down her name and try to get started :
Me : Have you been here before ? (To find out whether she'll already have a file)
SC : "I don't speak English" - said perfectly, looks at me with a look of sadness and disappointment
Me : (carrying on assuming she just means she doesn't speak good English) I just need to know if you've ever seen anyone here before ?
SC : "I don't speak English" - gazes at me sadly
Me : I can't really advise you if we can't understand each other...
SC : "I don't speak English"
Me : You'd need to bring someone in to help you talk to us
SC : "I don't speak English"
At this point the two great mysteries are (a) why the hell she's so sad and disappointed when it seems pretty inevitable she was going to get nowhere, and (b) that she hasn't at any point even mentioned her language or try to find out if anyone speaks her language.
Eventually she sadly mutters something about Portuguese. We have no Portuguese speakers, and it really wasn't reasonable to think we might. It's not a common language in the area we serve. I brightly suggest Spanish (which the last Portuguese speaker I ran into understood much better than English). She just looks sad and shakes her head.
Then she brightens up and makes a call on her mobile phone.
Me : (pointlessly) I cannot advise people using someone over the phone to interpret
SC - looks baffled
So I think she's going to make me speak to some friend of hers on the phone, and I think that at least I'll be able to try and explain to them why that isn't going to work. She doesn't (for a change) just stick the phone into my hand.
SC (putting phone away) 1o minutes
Me - You're friend will be here in 10 minutes ?
SC - looks hopeful, says nothing
I go and speak to my supervisor. I'm not happy to wait as this is the last person I have to see and otherwise I can go and have lunch. I don't believe 10 minutes will be 10 minutes. The general rule is that if you aren't here and ready to be seen by 12.30 when our doors close you're out of luck, it's already past that.
My supervisor suggests I see someone else as my last client, and the women can wait. If her friend arrives by the time the slowest of the people working calls their last client then she can still be seen. If they get here later we can at least tell them she needs to come back at the right time with someone...
I finish up seeing my last person, and half an hour has past. I walk out into our waiting room and find our receptionist is being made to talk to her friend over the phone. The friend isn't on her way (and seems to have no idea they were expected), but at least we make the friend tell her that she'll need to come back with someone.
*Sigh* I just can't imagine how she thought it would go.
I'm normally fairly sympathetic to people who struggle to speak English. If someone comes in and asks if we have someone who can speak X, I'll feel bad if we don't. I had another person who spoke a language that was very common in the community and asked if someone could talk to her in that language, no one was available so she tried her best (and understood basic questions) but then went and got a friend to help out - I'm fine with that. I'm fine with people who are trying.
Victoria J
Me : Have you been here before ? (To find out whether she'll already have a file)
SC : "I don't speak English" - said perfectly, looks at me with a look of sadness and disappointment
Me : (carrying on assuming she just means she doesn't speak good English) I just need to know if you've ever seen anyone here before ?
SC : "I don't speak English" - gazes at me sadly
Me : I can't really advise you if we can't understand each other...
SC : "I don't speak English"
Me : You'd need to bring someone in to help you talk to us
SC : "I don't speak English"
At this point the two great mysteries are (a) why the hell she's so sad and disappointed when it seems pretty inevitable she was going to get nowhere, and (b) that she hasn't at any point even mentioned her language or try to find out if anyone speaks her language.
Eventually she sadly mutters something about Portuguese. We have no Portuguese speakers, and it really wasn't reasonable to think we might. It's not a common language in the area we serve. I brightly suggest Spanish (which the last Portuguese speaker I ran into understood much better than English). She just looks sad and shakes her head.
Then she brightens up and makes a call on her mobile phone.
Me : (pointlessly) I cannot advise people using someone over the phone to interpret
SC - looks baffled
So I think she's going to make me speak to some friend of hers on the phone, and I think that at least I'll be able to try and explain to them why that isn't going to work. She doesn't (for a change) just stick the phone into my hand.
SC (putting phone away) 1o minutes
Me - You're friend will be here in 10 minutes ?
SC - looks hopeful, says nothing
I go and speak to my supervisor. I'm not happy to wait as this is the last person I have to see and otherwise I can go and have lunch. I don't believe 10 minutes will be 10 minutes. The general rule is that if you aren't here and ready to be seen by 12.30 when our doors close you're out of luck, it's already past that.
My supervisor suggests I see someone else as my last client, and the women can wait. If her friend arrives by the time the slowest of the people working calls their last client then she can still be seen. If they get here later we can at least tell them she needs to come back at the right time with someone...
I finish up seeing my last person, and half an hour has past. I walk out into our waiting room and find our receptionist is being made to talk to her friend over the phone. The friend isn't on her way (and seems to have no idea they were expected), but at least we make the friend tell her that she'll need to come back with someone.
*Sigh* I just can't imagine how she thought it would go.
I'm normally fairly sympathetic to people who struggle to speak English. If someone comes in and asks if we have someone who can speak X, I'll feel bad if we don't. I had another person who spoke a language that was very common in the community and asked if someone could talk to her in that language, no one was available so she tried her best (and understood basic questions) but then went and got a friend to help out - I'm fine with that. I'm fine with people who are trying.
Victoria J
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