Suddenly forgot how to speak English

[Chanlin]

ah, the conveniently forgetting English customer... I love those. I get them all the time... they have flawless, accentless, english, until I try to explain that if they smoke in the room it's a $200 fine... all the sudden the only words they know in english are "no speak english" and "no understand".

I have a brilliant solution for this one. I used this when I used to work the front desk of a hotel myself.

Follow up with "I'm afraid I can't book the room for you then. You must agree to these terms and since you don't understand the terms I can't legally have you sign this document stating that you agree to them and by company policy if this document is not signed I can't let you stay in the room."

The best part is, this is the absolute truth. If you let someone who can't understand what they are signing sign a legally binding document (IE you will be fined $200 for smoking in the room please sign here to agree to this) then you could get in very big trouble and open yourself up to a lawsuit from the person in question.

[evilhomer]

ah, the conveniently forgetting English customer... I love those. I get them all the time... they have flawless, accentless, english, until I try to explain that if they smoke in the room it's a $200 fine... all the sudden the only words they know in english are "no speak english" and "no understand".

I damn near reached into a newspaper to strangle a (Chinese) writer recently. He was writing an article on haggling prices, techniques, why to do it, etc.. I utterly DESPISE hagglers so this got my blood boiling, but I've learnt that I have to share the world with these assclowns among others... anyways... fine, whatever, that was until I hit the last paragraph, where he advised anyone in a failing negotiation to throw on the stereotypical smile and suddenly stop speaking english... "no, no, 2 dolla?, 2 dolla?" I meant to write this dumbass, but let it slip my mind.

[BookstoreEscapee]

While I was at it, I broke New Jersey law too.

You pumped your own gas?!?!?!

[PepperElf]

But... if they can't speak english, they probably can't read it either....

That's why I suggested the drawings.
and even people who can't read the language can usually understand "200". Only countries I can think off off the top of my head that uses different numerals are ones like the UAE, Bahrain - but they actually use both styles.

and everyone understands handcuffs I hope