At Least Thank Me In English, Walmart!

Maybe it's just me and my non-redneckishness, but in my lifetime, I
personally would like to be thanked in as many languages as is humanly
possible. I'll extend the same courtesy to you.

Dankie. Faleminderit. Sukran. Shukran Gazillan. Shur-nur-ah-gah-lem.
Thoinks, Eskerrik asko. Dhannyabad. Blagodaria. Hvala. Jae Zu Din Pa
De. Na som. Na som djita. M'goy. Do jey. Gràcies. Moltes gràcies.
Merci. Wado. Skee. Xie_Xie. Mh goi. Do jeh. Kia Manuia. Hvala
Dekuji. Tak. Dank U wel. Bedankt. Dank U zeer. Hartelijk dank. Dankon.
Dankegon. Aitäh. Akpé. Apké na wo. Vinaka. Vinaka vaka levu. Kiitos.
Kpè nu wé. Merci. Hvala. Abarka. Madlobt. Didi madloba. Danke. Vielen
Dank. Efharisto. Efkaristo poly. Aguije. Abarka. Aabar.
Mahalo. Toda. Dhanyavaad. Shukriyaa. Köszönöm. Þakka þér fyrir. Takk.
Terima kasih. Moteshakeram. Go raibh maith agat. Grazie. Grazie tanto.
Mille Grazie. Arigato. Matur nuwun. Dhan-ya-vaadaa. Dev boren koru.
Kamsa hamaida. Paldies. Achu. Waybale. Waybale Nyo. Nandi. Nani.
Terima Kasih. Abarka. Kia Manuia. Dhan-ya-vaad. Cheers. Kiaora Koe.
Kiaora Korua. Kiaora Koto. Kiaora Tatou. Na gode. Takk. Shakkran.
Soolong. Aguije. Mam'noon. Mo'teshake'ram. Salamat. Dziekuje.
Obrigado. Bhala Hove. Shakkran. Multumesc. Va multumim frumos.
Spasiba. Blagodaryu. Premnogo blagodaren. Spasibo balshoye. Fa'afetai.
Talofa. Miigwech. Tapadh Leat. Moran Taing. Abarka. Dakujem. Dankie.
Gracias. Te pasastes. Nahun. Ahsante. Tack. Maururu. Nandri. Manjuthe.
Khob Khun Krab. Thuk Ji Chhe. Tesekkurler. Saðol. Tesekkurler. Thank
You. Dyakuyu. Shukria
Bahut Bahut Shukriyaa. Maherbani. Shukria. Rahmat. Kam ouen. Diloch yn
fawr. Nkosi. Shakkran. A dank. Yasher Koach. Modupe. Hvala.
Ngiyabonga.

A "thank you" means no less than a "gracias". It wouldn't hurt you to
learn a little español given the region you live in. In fact, you may
even enjoy getting to know other cultures. I do agree that immigrants
should learn English, however, but I wouldn't have been offended as
you were. One of my favorite things is to arrive at the Miami airport
and hear español over the speakers... makes me feel at home (and yes,
I was born in the US to Cuban refugees, who incidentally are the most
highly educated and successful hispanic immigrant group in the U.S. )

i think i deserve to be treated the way i treat others. when i am at
wal mart, i smile at the cashier, i say "hi, how are you?" i take the
bags from the wheel as she/he fills them and put them in my cart. i
say "thank you." if they don't treat me as nicely as i treat them, i
ask if there is a problem. if i still am not being treated nicely, i
ask for a manager. this has only happened once, most people are nice.
and i totally agree with this one tenet: if you are going to live in
a country, learn the language. i would not dream of living in france
without learning french. france is under no obligation to adjust to
me, i am under obligation to adjust to them, as it is their country.

I cashiered at Wal-Mart, and felt compelled to add my 2 cents.
Cashiering is really, really awful work. "Customers" feel that it is
completely acceptable to treat you like a personal body servant. They
throw items at you, toss money at you, complain to you about the lack
of an item in a specific size, complain your work is too slow, and
then the next person says your going too fast. I'm a naturally happy,
outgoing person, and would greet my customers and be snipped at
because they are having a bad day. "Hi, how're you?" gets, "shitty, no
thanks to this place" or other such negativity. I have also found that
those who behaived the worst were those who may not have had a job in
the service industry in their life, and don't understand how their
behavior affects others or how poorly it reflects on them. OP, give
the cashier a break! Or, novelty idea, speak kindly to her, it may be
the only pleasantry she gets all day.

I live in San Antonio. I have had the very same experiences as the
letter writer. The worst one was when the Walmart on Jones
Maltzburger was selling my brand of shampoo and conditioner labled
only in Spanish. I tend to buy different types of the same brand
depending on what kind of mood I am in. I couldnt read the label and
I am in Texas. I was little put off. I lived in Europe for a long
time and I dont recall one instance that labels were in English.
Unless the product was an English or American. Recently I was in
Mexico, guess what? NO ENGLISH labels in the stores I went to. Did I
expect them...why no. I am in Mexico, therefore I should be able to
speak enough Spanish to get by.

What makes me mad is that if we are going to have text in Spanish why
not other languages as well? Why not French, Urdu, Hindi or German?
Those natioanalities are pervelanat in Texas as well. Houston and SA
have a very large Hindu and Pakistani populations. Why must they
learn the language but its not politicaly correct for us to expect the
Spanish speakers to learn English. We have been tip toeing around
this issue for years. I am tired of tip toeing. I have several
friends who had to learn to speak/read English to be able to get a TX
DL but the Spanish speakers are handed a test in Spanish. You can get
a job application in Spanish but not in Urdu. You can get a better
paying job if you speak Spanish but not German. My best friends
husband speaks Urdu, Arabic, French, and is learning English. He is
joining the Army, but must pass a test in English. But if he spoke
Spanish he could take it in Spanish...how fair is that?

My daughter worked at the local HEB, she looks Hispanic - she is not -
she is French decent and a customer was speaking to her in Spanish, my
daughter told the customer that she didnot understand Spanish, the
customer got upset and yelled at her to "learn it"!

When I lived in Europe I learned to speak German and French. When I
went to Mexico I learned Spanish first. I dont expect anyone to cater
to me and my language in their country and I dont expect to do so in
mine. Shoot me if folks find it racist.

Wow, hope you were just venting. Maybe someone else had just been
mean to that clerk, and she was trying to keep it in, do her job & not
cry! Maybe your anger at having to hear Spanish was showing, and she
was afraid of YOU! I had a similar clerk checking out my stuff
recently at a Walmart Neighborhood store, and I made it a point to say
something nice to the clerk while she silently checked out my items,
and low-and-behold, by the time I took my little plastic sacks off the
rotating holders, she actually wished me a good day. Humans often
respond to being treated like humans, and also to being treated like
they're not. She doesn't deserve to be fired. And like someone else
said, anyone can have a bad day, maybe someone in her family was sick
or dead, who knows, but clerks are human too. I think Spanish is a
wonderful, lyrical language that doesn't bother me to hear, but the US
does have a problem with too many illegals here. Not the clerk's
fault!

Sorry that part makes me giggle.

So um... if she'd abused you it would be OK then?

>:)



I'd say... see if she's like that everyday first.

I know we want everyone to be bright chipper and "hi thank you" but,
everyone has a bad day. And sure, I know a lot of people will say
"well don't bring it to work" but... not everyone who says that lives
by it either. Unless it's a robot saying it.

Also... another thing to think about...
CAN she talk? One thing I'll say about walmart is that I have seen
them hire a good number of disabled employees. Perhaps she wasn't
speaking due to the fact that she had no ability. It's a possibility.

What is so wrong with learning another language? It opens the door to
other cultures.

In a world that is so divisive as it is, why continue to build up the
walls in between those that are different when it's much easier to
break the walls down?

That's all I have for my soapbox rant.

This letter has two complaints. The first: Ron was never thanked. In
fact, he was barely acknowledged. This seems a perfectly valid
complaint.

The second is that he doesn't like to hear Spanish. The complaint is
NOT that he was spoken to in Spanish or that an employee was unable to
speak enough English to understand him.

It's perfectly reasonable to expect that people that are working with
customers speak the language of the customers. Unless this is in a
completely Spanish-speaking area, it's reasonable to expect English to
be spoken and understood.

But Ron isn't complaining about in inability to transact business due
to language differences. He's complaining about having to hear people
speak Spanish.

I have to wonder what he was hearing over the speakers. I wonder if
it was "Hablemos en español de modo que los no-locutores no sepan que
lo estamos poniendo en ridículo."

Thank you, OP! I completely agree.

I live in a suburb outside of Houston where the population is over 80%
white. Our local Popeye's restaurant hung all of their signs in
Spanish with no translating captions in English.

I completed to the corporate office for Popeye's as well.

If someone wants to come here, then they need to learn how to speak
the language. Can you imagine what would happen if you went to Mexico
and insisted they SPEAK ENGLISH?

Living so close to the border one would think that Walmart would have
enough intelligence to know that their clientel are bi-lingual and
make annoucements in both English and Spanish.

The clerk was rude...this should have been brought to the attention of
the manager or asst manager before you left the store. It does not
matter what language she speaks or even if she cannot speak at
all...any type of acknowledgement of a customer is required.

As for the other issues with "them" taking over our country...its
already begun. Even up north in Ohio they have both languages on
recorded messages when calling utility companies or other places of
business. It's here to stay...its not going away and not to be rude by
any means, when in other countries they rarely if ever cater to other
ethnic groups as the U.S. does. Some in these countries feel that its
their homeland...come visit, give the bucks for tourism and then we
will go back home. They learn as little of our language as needed to
get by when we are spending money in their country.

In this case she didn't even say gracias.

Regardless of how much English she knows...to not utter a Thank You or
Gracias is unacceptable....to me.

I ended up in Paris a few years ago.....unplanned trip.....had to get
my luggage out of customs.....and boy did I wish someone spoke
English. But I managed to get to my destination in London. Point here
is being in another country where you don't speak the native language
can be very overwhelming! I had to get from the airport on two
different trains to reach London.

I also have a good friend that I met in NYC that came to visit me. He
spoke very broken English and actually learned most of his English
watching American TV. It is always a challenge (especially talking on
the phone), but we managed to communicate with each other. I ended up
watching the Spanish/Latin channel after his visits and picked up on a
little Spanish.

Anyway OP is wrong for requesting the cashier be fired. I am sure
Walmart is aware how much English she speaks. They should make sure
the cashier thanks the customers.

As someone else said Southern Florida....has for many years catered to
Cubans...even with dual language signs in many stores and businesses.


I personally prefer signs in English and people to speak English...but
it is just because I don't know enough Spanish to communicate with
them for the most part!

I could almost see your argument if you DIDN'T live in a community
that BORDERS MEXICO.

But you do and you knew that when you chose to live there, so
complaining about people speaking Spanish near Mexico is like
complaining that water is wet!

See my post below to the gentleman that thinks speaking English needs
to be a requirement for citizenship. Apparently a refresher course in
AMERICAN history is desperately needed.

Why would you want to be abused?


Good Day

There are a few issues here. First, Houston has a high population of
Mexican immigrants. Is it possible this particular Walmart is located
in a part of town that has a concentrated immigrant population? If
this is the case, it would explain why Spanish was being played over
the speakers.

Second, I don't think Walmart is catering to Mexicans so much as they
are catering to their customer. If that location's customer tends to
be Hispanic, it would make sense that Spanish would be the dominating
language in this store. By the way, I have no problem with making
English the official language of the US, but I don't see why it should
be English-only-all-the-time. There are plenty of countries that have
an official language (while still acknowledging the high populations
of other nationalities either visiting or living in their country) and
even some countries that have multiple official languages.

Third, English is a very hard language to learn, one of the hardest in
the world from what I understand. It's unfair to make the leap that
because someone of Mexican descent isn't speaking it fluently that
they don't want to learn how.

However, I do agree that if they have a problem with English they
shouldn't be working with the public. I don't know if this was the
case with this particular cashier, but if it is, high Hispanic
population or not, she shouldn't be in the position she's in.

I am a natural born citizen of 63 years of Native American descent. I
believe if you want to live in and work in the United States, you need
to learn English and use it if you are working in a place like Wal
Mart or any other US company.
People come to the US for the opportunities. Along with the
opportunities come responsibilities, and one of those responsibilities
should be to learn english and speak it so that you can effectively
communicate with people.
I believe learning english should be a requirement of citizenship.

but I can't speak it. I rented an apartment from an Italian family
for 14 years and spent a lot of time with them and their relatives.
They understood English but didn't speak it well and I learned to
understand Italian but didn't speak it well. They would speak Italian
to me and I would answer in English, it was so funny.

My stepdaughter and I speak Spanish to each other a lot (much to her
father's chagrin). She wasn't doing well in Spanish and I did very
well in it in HS so we got into the habit of speaking it to each
other. Her Spanish grade improved because of it. She even writes in
Spanish on the grocery list. I did get a big kick out of "syrupo de
chocolate"!

I don't expect customer service when I go to Wal-Mart. When I'm
checking out there, all I expect the cashier to do is tell me my total
and give me correct change.
As for the Spanish over the speakers, a large percentage of Wal-Mart
customers are Spanish speaking. They are merely catering to their
customers.

Asking her to be fired seems kind of mean.

I'm going to go out on a limb here... the employee probably didn't say
a word to you because she either speaks very little English or lacks
confidence in her language skills to practice on the general public.

I don't reply a lot to letters, but this issue particularly bothers
me.

It was rude that the cashier didn't speak to you, but I really don't
understand what else was wrong with your visit. You don't explain in
what ways the other employees were rude to you.

You complain that you "had to listen to Spanish." Um, oh no? Further,
you don't know the circumstances of those employees. I really doubt
they're bent on "taking over." They're probably decent people who are
just trying to make a living. If they even are from Mexico, they are
entitled to try and lead a better life in America if they immigrate
legally (And you have no evidence to contradict that they have moved
here legally). I'm American, but I'm not so condescending that I think
that makes me a higher class of human being than someone from another
country.

When I lived in Orlando I lived in an area with alot of Cubans. I had
learned spanish in school - but it's sooo not the same. Anyway - I'm
of Italian decent and with a few trips to the beach a week makes me
completely "blend in" with my surroundings. So many people would
address me in Spanish!! I took it all in good stride tho... No
hablamos espanol! Yo soy Itliano

It's frustrating, I know.

It's possible the first employee didn't say anything because she knew
you would be annoyed by her lack of English speaking skills. Maybe
she felt it was better to say nothing at all.

I'd also like to say, however, that my son works in a place where most
of the employees speak Spanish. Not only has he found ways to
communicate, but I have gotten to know them and communicate, as well.
With a little patience and cooperation, it's really not that hard.
There are things a lot worse than this.

I agree that you received poor service from the cashier, and I
semi-agree with you on the Mexicans.

If they are speaking Spanish over the loudspeaker, so be it. If they
speak to you in Spanish, then that is a problem. WalMart is an English
speaking company, and customers expect to conduct business in English.
I think WalMart only hires those legally eligible to work in the USA,
so your beef should be with immigration for allowing the Mexicans in
our country in the first place. Once they are legally eligible to
work, then they cannot be legally discriminated against.

*was* in Mexico. Maybe they felt they were at home. Also, if she
can't speak Spanish she shouldn't go home to Mexico.
Would you still want her fired if she abused you?

To start off, I'm Canadian and therefore am used to hearing two
different languages. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the
USA start out as belonging to the Native American Indians? Doesn't
that mean that all Americans should really be speaking Cree, Ojibiway,
etc? And if they don't want to learn the new language, they should go
back to Europe if they can't speak the language? Perhaps they expect
to be thanked in their own language as well. I guess it won't happen
though seeing as how Anglo-saxons took over...
The point I'm trying to make is that the world is changing everday.
You have the choice to make, you can either change along with it, or
try to stand in the middle and get run over by it.