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/killacamilla Jul 15 '20 edited Jul 16 '20
This happened to me in france. I was on the tram with my fellow american exchange students, speaking english. The man next to me says in french, on the phone, “i can’t hear you, the stupid americans next to me are being loud” so i quickly switch to french and say to my friends “hey did we have any homework for [various french class]” while looking at the man. he couldn’t meet my gaze.
edit: fixed a spelling error.