They were speaking Spanish in the restaurant, and some guy overheard them...
So..in order to get a smile, this guy tried to speak Spanish too. He said something like ...I heard you say..
por favor, (which means "please" to the chef) and I...... pienso que esto fue "muy bueno"...(which means...I thought that was very good to say.."please" "esta moy importante" (is very important) ... (in Spanish)..The waitress, smiled..at the Spanish..& then the fellow said, "I took Spanish 45 years ago, and still remembered some"..... The fellow was applauding her saying..."please"..
...She smiled again, and the fellow gave her a very large tip...The fellow got up to leave and thanked the manager for the fine service...and he said please come again.....Seems everyone was happy....How do I know about all this?....It was me, who tried to speak Spanish yesterday...not so good, but she said, "you are doing fine."...in English...
...You know...when I think about this, I smile..Never been in that restaurant. Maybe try it again sometime...
Yes, this really happened....I think this was a positive story about someone trying to speak Spanish.
= new reply since forum marked as read
And I can tell you that native Spanish-speakers generally love it when you speak Spanish to them, even if just a little bit. In college, I took a Spanish class in Mexico through a university program, and in one of the largest markets, a vendor pulled out a chair and asked me to sit down and chat and asked me why I was studying Spanish, etc. The other day I related a story about Mom buying me some large portraits when I was in college to encourage me to keep studying Spanish - one was of a bullfighter in his traje de luces, and the other was of a Spanish dama, with the lacy mantilla in her hair and a fan, etc. It was one of those "Mom" gifts where just appreciate her doing something for her because she was a little clueless about your current interests. When I graduated and went to my first corporate job, a co-worker and I ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant owned by the parents of one of the HR people, and I saw they had paintings like mine in it so I asked the HR worker if her parents would like to buy my paintings. They told her to have me bring them in, and when I did, they started talking in Spanish between them - "What do you want to pay? This one's kind of damaged but not bad. $10 each? $20 each?" When they said 20, I told them in Spanish, "Twenty dollars each is fine." After the shock wore off, they peppered me with questions, "Did you understand everything we said? Where did you learn, etc." I left with $50 and a gift certificate for a free meal.
The only time I've seen it backfire was in college, and the Spanish Club went to Kansas City to attend a Spanish play and hopefully eat at an authentic Mexican restaurant. We went to one where you order at the counter, wait for your food then sit down. When they asked my professor what he wanted, he made a gesture of his finger and thumb just a few centimeters apart which means, "Momentito," or, "I need a moment." The woman taking the order furrowed her brow, turned to a fellow worker, and start mocking him. My professor thought that was hilarious though.
TlalocW
from Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. I love to try out my 25 or 30 words of "espanol" on them, and it makes all of us happy when they giggle and applaud at my efforts. I would like to be fluent in several languages, but of course it will never happen. As far as I'm concerned, diversity equals strength. Thanks, Stuart G, for sharing your story with us. We need all the positive stories we can get in these troublesome times.
I recall once trying to show two cable installers that I could speak Spanish - a count to 10. They laughed mainly because I was slow and still proud of being able to do that. 
Because fuck those people. 