Lost in a Foreign Land
Computers are a complex and foreign concept for many people, so it’s not particularly unusual for my customers to come through the front door looking lost. That said, this customer looked out of place: the clothes were all wrong and the man definitely didn’t look like he was from around here.
“No speak English good.” He pointed at himself. “Brazil.”
Damn, he communicates with me and he doesn’t even speak English… he’s already miles ahead of my normal customers.
“No speak Portuguese,” I returned. Hey buddy, we’re in the same boat.
He pointed at his ears. “MP3?”
Well, if he wanted an MP3 player, I really don’t do that sort of thing. That said, if I’m going to send him somewhere else, I want to be sure. “iPod?”
“What iPod?” Oh boy… well, I’ve got one last option that I really don’t like to use.
“Hablo un poco de Español.” (I speak a little bit of Spanish.)
His eyes lit up, “Oh! Si! Necesito…” and he was off. My Spanish is actually relatively wretched; I took several years of it in high school and I could negotiate through a foreign country with it and hopefully not get shot or die of starvation, but no better than this guy apparently spoke English.
“Menos rapido! Menos rapido! Solamento comprendo un poco! Un POQUITO!”(Slow down! Slow down! I only understand a little… a VERY little.)
“MP3. Necesito un jugado de MP3 para escuchar musico.” (I need an MP3 player to listen to music.)
“Quiere un iPod. No vendo los iPods.” (You want an iPod. I don’t sell iPods.)
“Oh! Si! iPod…” and he was off again. Fortunately, I have a list of places that I send some business to. So rather than play Translator a little longer, I ran off a list and circled a couple of the places. When he realized that I was running him off a list and a map he trailed off and waited eagerly for the map.
After I showed him the map and pointed out the places that he would want to go, he eagerly bounded out the door, reverting back into Spanish or Portuguese or something. I guess I’m curious what he wanted with the iPod that he suddenly wanted one now that he was abroad, but my Spanish is so bad that I’ll probably never know.
I guarantee they’re a lot cheaper here than they are in Brazil, that’s why.