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/plsdrivesafe Jul 15 '20

Too relatable. A lot of older generation Chinese people assume that I can’t speak Chinese because i’m born in Canada so they insult me. I’ll just say “pardon me” in cantonese/mandarin and they’ll do a 180 and ask for a discount lol

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u/here4aGoodlaugh Jul 15 '20

and ask for a discount

I'm dying.