HELP! Clever DUers! Need help with a response...

[grace0418]

A relative just posted the following on Facebook:

"So I needed to go to the bank today to make a deposit ( thank you God we are able to make one). I had to go inside since we were out of deposit slips. The F_____ slips are in English & Spanish. I live in America and I speak and read ENGLISH!"

I want to write a clever response that takes her to task without totally insulting her (she's family and a nice person generally, just sheltered in her white bread suburb). Got any clever comebacks?

[grace0418]

1. I was thinking something like this:

"I KNOW! Like the other day I went into Starbucks and asked for a coffee and they had the nerve to ask me if I wanted a grande or a venti. I told them I WANT A LARGE DAMMIT!"

[petronius]

3. This response is pretty funny - it made me laugh

I don't get the logic of her complaint - did the proximity of Spanish somehow interfere with her ability to read English? :shrug: Given how stupid the whine is (unless she herself is joking) any response I'd come up with would probably be too cruel...

[LaurenG]

2. Educated peole can speak and read more than one language.

she's a bit over the top huh.

[ElboRuum]

4. "So what's the problem? You said there was English on it..."

[elleng]

5. good

and if necessary, 'Banks and other businesses cater to their customers/depositors. That's the way businesses work, in order to succeed.'

[Aristus]

17. Yeah, and add to that:

"You want businesses to succeed right? If you don't want businesses to succeed, you must be a communist! IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE? HUH? A COMMUNIST?!?!?"

Hey, it's one of the right's favorite tactics; use it against them... B-)

[alphafemale]

6. How about this. "They do that as a courtesy. Something you wouldn't understand." nt

[siligut]

9. This one. nt

[suninvited]

18. good one

I am going to remember that, since I see the same rants on my facebook. Well, not so much anymore. Most of those people have been deleted.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. is that all she has to bitch about? sheesh.

[NV Whino]

8. She couldn't understand the English?

[enough already 2]

10. No hablo ingles?

best I can do

[demmiblue]

11. Switzerland, the approximate size of Ohio, has four offical languages...

and they seem to manage just fine. Besides, the USA does not even have an official language.


Edit: of course, mention something about Swiss banks as a tie in.


:hi:

[grace0418]

12. UPDATE. So my sister responded with a very thoughtful comment about

Spanish-speaking people and how we should be more compassionate so I didn't feel I could snark to my relative after that. HOWEVER, someone agreeing with my relative wrote "If you would like to deposit American currency, have the courtesy to do it in the language imprinted on it." So I couldn't resist replying to that with "You mean like in Latin? E pluribus unum and all that(which by the way means "Out of many, one")".

[struggle4progress]

13. I thought "E pluribus unum" meant "Throw em all under the bus"

[Chan790]

16. That generic "someone agreeing with your relative"...

is the bane of my life as the only obvious non-Hispanic employee at my bank of employment. Everyone I work with speaks fluent English and can serve them easily. Yet everyday, I've got 3-5 clients who will refuse to conduct their business with anybody but me. I'm a business banker, its not my job to process savings account withdrawals or balance inquiries.

84% of our clientele are Latino, Afro-Hispanic or Indio (Native Mexican or Salvadorian). Virtually all our clients are multilingual, I'm multilingual, all my coworkers are multilingual. We figured it out one day, we average fluency in 4 languages apiece, have 2 totally-common languages (Spanish and English) and between the 7 of us cover fluency in 13 languages.

All business is conducted in the language of preference of the client (with a translator if need be), not my language of preference. That's almost always Spanish in Adams Morgan, DC. We answer the phone in Spanish and English, then switch to the language of preference of the client. All public announcements are made in Spanish and English. If need be, they will also be made in French, German, Arabic, Korean and rarely Akan (Ghana)...or any other language we speak or can write.

We're a community bank, we service and represent our community. Our community is multicultural, multiethnic and overwhelmingly brown. If they want their bank to be staffed with blond, blue-eyed people who speak like they went to "Hahvahd" and nary a word of Spanish to be seen, go to Farragut Square (K St. Governmental lobby central) or New York & Massachusetts Avenues NW (DC's financial district)...those bankers are totally going to think they're a bigot too though if they talk to them about my coworkers or clients the way they talk to me...because most of those employees are also multilingual.

[cleveramerican]

14. What no Chinese?

[Kali]

15. my sympathies

just got back from Mexico - lots of small print in English. At the ATM you can get pesos or dollars (hefty fee). New visa forms, all in Spanish and English both (always were).

People like that act exactly the same even when they aren't home in the U.S. - expect the "furriners" to cater to them no matter what, but can't comprehend the courtesy (and frankly cost/time savings) of using multiple languages in communities that have people that speak them.

[Orrex]

19. Tell her you agree

You agree that it's terrible to live in a country in which Spanish-speakers are permitted to handle currency. What's this nation coming to?

[rurallib]

20. "do you think you had to fill it out in both languages

and you mentally incapable?"

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

21. What's worse is that they expect you to use Arabic numbers.