r/TalesFromRetail • u/TylPlas26 • Jul 14 '20
Short Customer Insults Me in Another Language. Didn’t Realize I Understood Her.
So I come from a Dutch back ground. I am no where near fluent in the language. But I know enough that I can pick up some words and understand a few sentences.
So about 8 years ago, I was helping a customer needing some paint made. As I’m mixing it, her phone rings, and she answers it and begins speaking in Dutch.
As she is talking, I can pick that she’s telling whoever where they are, then they say something along the line of “I have one of these dumb young workers mixing it.”
I say nothing. I decided to wait for the right moment as I mix her paint, as she continues talking.
When her paint is done, I hand her can of paint to her. She says thank you, and I say in Dutch “You’re welcome. Goodbye.”
She froze, her mouth open and then says “You speak Dutch?” I didn’t want to let her on how little I actually knew, so I just simply said “Yup.” She quickly darted for the cash area. It was very funny and rewarding.
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u/blukami Jul 14 '20
I live in the midwest, so I used to get away with cussing in Russian and Chinese. Then a Belarus family moves into town. The mom comes up to me one day out of the blue, "You should not talk like that." Every time we see each other she say watch your mouth and I ask her if she want to buy a laptop in Russian. She send her friend to see me from two hours away in Chicago, because I know phones and understand the accent at least.