g on this side of the counter chatting with my friends in the usual hinglish and he's on the other side yelling people's orders, cracking a 'sardar' joke or two with his colleagues.But the minute I face him across the counter he goes
" Hello ma'am, good afternoon, what can I get for you?"
Even if it's in the most unbelievable accent you have heard!!
Then I reply after a brief discussion with friends, " 2 Mac veggies, a coke, and a Mac puff please."
Him- "Of course ma'am.. yada yada yada.. please enjoy your meal ma'am and have a nice day!"
Oh I will, I just heard you struggle with a language, mispronounce it and sing in an accent.. My day just brightened up.. (Sigh!!)
Why this formality of over-the-counter English? When clearly the option of another language exists. We could have easily conversed in Hindi or Marathi (ask any Thakeray!).
But let me remind you its not just his job requirement, it becomes a compulsion for you to reply in english too, whether you can speak it or not.
I remember this one guy who was standing in front of me once in the line and was completely taken aback by the attack of english.
"Will this be a take away or would you be eating here sir?"
Now so far the conversation had no words that he couldn't understand, but suddenly there was 'take' and 'away' and an 'eating'? His face clearly said 'wasn't everybody eating??'
But he replies, ".. umm.. ya.. actually..."
"Here or takeaway sir?" the server continues sadistically.
"Here, here" the poor guy finally manages.
He gets an extra smile from the server for the two minute entertainment at that guys extra perspiration and discomfort. When the guy grabs his order and turns to leave, he sees me, his embarrassment increases, he goes pink and shoots.
I turned, sighed and watched as the server looked after the guy with a dejected shake of his head (probably for my benefit) as if not knowing english will kill the guy.
It probably might, but not here in a damn MacDonald's outlet. I mean Cm'on! Get real!
Knowing any language is good but knowing when to switch is even more important and appreciated. Let's cut those who don't know English some slack guys, its not a crime. Nor a compulsion. The language doesn't always matter it's more about 'what' is communicated.
wow..! i cant believe u r sayin that!! i know that having a good english always makes it to d top of ur list.. good mon! experiences teach!!!!
ReplyDeleten very well written..! short, apt, to d point..!
haha well its important for me, ofcourse it is, but in a different sense!! ;)
ReplyDeletelol u sayin all this..?? hmm...its gud though...
ReplyDeletevery well written mon...n indeed a very gud observation.... da best thing i like about ur wriying is dat u take such simple real examples of things n people around u..... something that cant be every writers inspiration....great work..!!
ReplyDeleteprashant- yea i m sayin it! eng is imp but it shudnt giv ppl a hard tym..
ReplyDeleterochu- thnx!!! :D
What are you complaining about! If you speak in English, people look up to you. If you speak in desi tongue...people treat you like a peasant. More so in offices. I bet you've noticed this too.
ReplyDeleteno actually i hav found dat if u spk in marathi d damn offices do ur work faster!! i m complaining bcoz eng is vry close 2 my heart n i dont like ppl screwing up d damn lang.. u dont know d lang y try so hard?? chod na.. spk in some odr lang or learn it properly..
ReplyDeleteI found a link to your blog on your fb status and ventured to check it out. Great job with the writing. I get the point you are trying to get across but I am hesitant to agree with you. Yes, English is a beautiful language, but the beauty of it lies within the words and not how it's spoken. English is so widely used that the accents vary all over the world, it is spoken differently in Canada and the US too (which are geographically and culturally close).
ReplyDeleteI think one of the best way of learning a language is by speaking it. How can one learn a language without trying hard? Doesn't one learn by practice?
- Sharanya
i do not have any prob in someone learning a lang.. my prob is with the over-rating of a lang and the compulsion to make ppl use it irrespective of their comfort esp when another languauge can be substituted.
ReplyDeletei cannot spk for canada or US and my prpb is not with the accent.. my point is here in India when there is another lang that can be used like Hindi maybe marathi then why force urself to use eng? why the formality? esp in places like hotels or malls where it's not actually a compulsion 2 know the lang. ppl assume it 2 b a status issue. i hv no idea y..
it's a diff issue at offices or maybe higher degree institutions n a totally other issue abroad.. but i m solely talking abt India esp in metros where the use of eng is misinterpretated..
what is most imp is the communication and not d lang. so spk in one that u r comfortable with, wen given an option, is all that i m saying. then ur expression n comprehension also automatically increases..
Ah I think I misunderstood your intentions. I apologise. I do see where you are coming from. I don't believe something like language (or anything as a matter of fact) should be used to define status. The ability to speak English tells us nothing regarding the person's intelligence, personality etc either.
ReplyDeleteIt might also be a part of globalization. Places like McDs are everywhere and they pride themselves in consistency; every burger is the same, every potato they buy are similar in size/weight etc. and therefore every joint all over the world has to be the same. Perhaps that's the reason they insist on using English?
Whatever the reason one must not be forced to speak a language when there are other options available.
Ditto abt the lang thng..
ReplyDeleteN yes i suppose that might b a factor considering it is a global establishment.
Keep reading my blog i do njoi ur comments. :)
yeah mon i kno how much u hate bad spoken english language but u kno in this era people want people to talk in english or they have a bad impression about the person. I had been to a hindi newspaper office and o thought i would rather speak in hindi rather than english. But guess what they wanted me to speak in English....i was totally blank for a moment to se my mind...Look there was no use of english der but still they wanted.
ReplyDeletestill i agree it feels weired to listen bad spoken english....
P.S Well written
Well, this is good. I've seen a thing bit like this but never thot of explaining it. Y dont u post it in McD's blog or sumthng. I bet they wont sue u for this :D
ReplyDelete'lets cut some slack guys' recently heard it from US prez, aint i?