"I don't speak english!" aka treating the poor bus driver like an idiot

[depechemodefan]

What drives me nuts is people will call, only speaking Spanish. A co-worker will ask if they speak any English, and the caller says "no." So the co-woker gets a spanish speaker, usually me. So I get on the phone. Now my Spanish is serviceable. No way will I pass as a native speaker in any Spanish-speaking country. So I'll speak Spanish, or else I'll say "Yo hablo un pucito" then they start speaking English. It's most annoying when I'm busy doing something and get interrupted and I get on the phone then I have the convo. in English.

Sometimes a person will call and ask for a Spanish speaker. My co-worker will get me, then the caller asks in perfect English (ie, person is no a Spanish speaker) "how do you say 'dog' in Spanish" or "What's the word for "please" in Spanish?" Which is annoying since anyone could just pick up the Spanish dictionary and tell them.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I still ride the bus to town to go fun shopping, even tho I can drive; the one way system is dire and I prefer to face it safely on a bus rather than riding a motorbike. XD I've seen quite a bit of suckiness; tho it's usually teenagers who cause most of it rather than "no speaky English" people. XD Once tho, a mum had a huge verbal fight with the bus driver, cuz she wanted her three kids to get on the bus for free. All of them were over five years old; last time I checked, you had to pay for school age kids. In the end, he told her to pay up or get off.

[NightWatch]

Tip: When someone is technically committing a crime (not paying bus fare), a simple, "Would you like me to call the police?" seems to jog their memory on the language issue.
If it's a coworker using language barriers to avoid work, "Would you like to find a new job?" seems to work just fine. *cough*

[Jay 2K Winger]

I don't get many "No speaky English" kinds of things at my job. Yeah, there's plenty of shoppers who don't speak the language very well (or at all), but they aren't generally being sucky about it. The most common is a few Hispanic guys coming through my line to buy their cases of beer and snacks... "[wholesale store] card?" "No." And just the way they said it made it pretty clear they didn't speak English very well. So I sigh, pack their stuff back into their cart, and explain, as simply and as clearly as I can, they need to go to the membership desk to get a pass or a card.

I know a LITTLE bit of Spanish, so I can wish them "buenas tardes" or "buenas noches" while saying "Adios!"

One time, though, I had this Hispanic woman in line, and she'd forgotten her card at home or something (so I understood from her daughter, who spoke a little bit of English). I looked to the woman and said, "Usted no tiene su tarjeta?" (You don't have your card?) She launches into a rapid explanation in Spanish, but stops when I make the "time out" gesture and explain, "Yo sé un poQUIto de español." (I know a LITTLE bit of Spanish.) She looks embarrassed. "Lo siento." (I'm sorry.) I then called over one of my many coworkers who speak Spanish fluently, and translate through her.

Really, the sucky people in regards to the "no speaky English" thing tend to be the bigoted jerks in line behind them, who will comment to me after the others leave, "You should learn the damn language if you're gonna live in the damn country." I just offer a noncommittal, monosyllabic response and get on with my work.

[mattm04]

At my school, the local transit authority has a deal where when the bus stops by any of the stops on campus it is free. Say you park in the off campus lot and the bus comes thru, you can ride to the campus for free. If you want to ride that line farther you have to pay a student fare. I normally avoid the bus, due to the length of the ride to get to the most common places, it is usually quicker to drive.

last winter we had really bad cold spell for about 4 days. I forgot to start my car, 4 days of 15-20 for highs and -5 for lows did not help the battery keep a charge. I rode the bus to the supermarket to get some food and when I barded i showed school ID and paid student fare. On the return trip I show student ID and pay fare. Crazy front passenger sees me had over less money than she pays and starts yelling at the drive in English how he stole her money. The driver tries to respond but all of a sudden she claims she does't speak English. eventually she calmed down and we were able to get on our way.

[Eric the Grey]

I would love to take the bus to and from work. but none leaves around the time. And plus if it did, I would still be late. I will have to check into it now.

I would take the bus to and from work if it didn't add between 1.5 and 2 hours to my already 12.5 hour day....

Screw that. I'll drive.



Eric the Grey

[powerboy]

I would love to take the bus to and from work. but none leaves around the time. And plus if it did, I would still be late. I will have to check into it now.

[bloodrose]

Everybody's stories in response to the OP reminds me of a funny/terrible story about my dad. My dad could be a bit of a d*&k sometimes. He worked outdoors a lot and we tend to tan well if we go outdoors (I avoid the evil day star). He also had some serious thick black hair. I should also mention he had been a spy photographer during the vietnam war and had spent a bunch of his enlisted time in Germany for some reason (training, maybe?).

Well, he was a tow truck driver in an area with many mexican migrant farm workers. A lot of these workers didn't speak english and quite a few of them didn't have driver's lisences. So, the highway patrol would pull them over and then impound their car for driving without a lisence or registration.

My dad looked pretty Mexican. So when he showed up to tow the car, the poor guys getting their car towed would go up to him to appeal their case. They would make their case in spanish. My father would nod and feign interest until there was a pause in their speaking. Then he would answer them in German. And watch as their faces fell.

Told ya he could be a bit of a d*%k.

[depechemodefan]

Actually, he said, "No, I don't speak Italian, I'm from Bulgaria" in Italian and walked out. Had me scratching my head for some time after that...

Yeah, that was weird.

Oh, that reminds me. Me and mom went to Venice and walked into a McDs (mostly because other people in our same tour had bad experiences with restaurants they went into) and we started to talk in English, so the girl behind the counter went to get the manager, who spoke English. My mom, though, has a habit of starting to speak her native language, Spanish (a lot of times I have to stop my mom and point out what language she's speaking in), so she started to tak in Spanish and the Italian guy said (in Spanish) I don't speak Spanish. So mom gets back in English. Though I can see how people working in a tourist town would learn to say some simple phrases in diff. languages, esp. "I don's speak..." Though he said it in a really snotty tone.

[Dilorenzo]

So what did he say?

Actually, he said, "No, I don't speak Italian, I'm from Bulgaria" in Italian and walked out. Had me scratching my head for some time after that...

[depechemodefan]

Someone tried that sort of thing on me once, when I started asking for ID for an over 18 movie someone who very much looked under 18 was trying to rent. He started with "No parlo ... English..."

Maybe he didn't, but it didn't help that I could then say, "Ah, ma parli Italiano! Quanti ani hai?" (Ah, you speak Italian! How old are you... badly spelled and probably gramatically incorrect, I learned to speak for 3 months a year for 15 years spending time near Rome, never learned to spell much).

So what did he say?

The bus I take is a direct bus. It leaves downtown and gets to the P&R, no stops. It's more expensive then the local buses, that leave downtown and stops every 2 streets, and the direct is much faster. So, ie, poor people don't use that bus.
It's not a language barrier, but this crazy man gets on the bus, and somehow finagles not paying. Even if he did pay, he shouldn't been allowed on the bus since he REEKED During the ride he keeps on getting up and walking around. One time he tried to sit next to a guy that might be Indian or Pakistani, and the guy moved his bag to block the empty seat, to keep him away. Finally, another guy got up and told him to sit (in a specific seat) and stop walking around, he was making people nervous.
OH, and he muttered a lot. ONe point he sat in front of me and oh gag!

[Dilorenzo]

Someone tried that sort of thing on me once, when I started asking for ID for an over 18 movie someone who very much looked under 18 was trying to rent. He started with "No parlo ... English..."

Maybe he didn't, but it didn't help that I could then say, "Ah, ma parli Italiano! Quanti ani hai?" (Ah, you speak Italian! How old are you... badly spelled and probably gramatically incorrect, I learned to speak for 3 months a year for 15 years spending time near Rome, never learned to spell much).

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The cleaning people at my store are the same way. You'll ask them to do something they're supposed to do anyway, like throw their garbage into the compactor you've just unloacked for them, or dust mop the floors before scrubbing them, or scrub the floors before burnishing them, and they'll start gibbering and making with the whole "No Speak English" garbage.

And then, they'll show they really are capable of understanding English. Like for example, one morning one of the cleaning guys paged over the PA "Is it okay to open the door?" in perfect English.

[portia911]

God the sights I used to see on the 417 bus in London. It was like the twilight zone

[Golden Phoenix]

I adore public transport.

I'm one of those kinds ofpeople who just loves to people-watch, and there are some intriguing people on the bus or train. Me for a start...

With piercings, tattoos and bright purple hair i certainly get some stares. Combine that with the fact that i'm usually carrying copies of my court notes for various murder/rape/burglary/wahtever cases, complete with a front cover stating what it's about and i get some wierd looks and some very fun conversations.

You can practically hear every passenger going "Oh! That's why she has those..." if i end up explaining myself. I think i scare some people, heh.

I have to confess thouhg i've done the no-speak-english bit before....but i was walking down the street with a friend and some panhandler came up to me, rambled bait about how he'd found god and the wonders of christian charity, then tried to get me to give him some money....(Damn my frined who was giggling at me behind her hand) so i looked confused rambled off that i dind't understand him in Welsh then wandered off having an animated Welsh conversation with my friend.

Not really very nice of me i'll be the first to admit....but the guy creeped me out.