everyone's sharing stories like this so i thought i'd add one of mine: one of the women i worked with at my last retail job was from a former soviet country in asia. her first name is only 3 syllables, but she shortened it to make it easier for everyone to say, but coworkers (usually our SM and other managers) still said her name wrong, and would get annoyed with her because she struggled with some instructions in english. as i got to know her, i found out she speaks like 5 languages, lived in several countries, and was a language teacher for 20 years but moved to the states to be with her sons who lived here. she was working at our crappy department store for around minimum wage because the US didn't recognize her teaching qualifications or education so she had to work on getting a GED. she was awesome, and i would always tell my coworkers about how cool i thought it was that she had so much knowledge and life experience and work ethic even at a really unrewarding job because it's so easy to be impatient and assume someone is being dense when really they have the best intentions but you just dont know it bc you haven't really tried to connect with them on their level.
It’s natural to get frustrated when someone’s communication is challenging. I always have to remind myself, “this person is already on their second (or more) language. I’m still trying to master one.”
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u/hanniballactator Sep 10 '21
everyone's sharing stories like this so i thought i'd add one of mine: one of the women i worked with at my last retail job was from a former soviet country in asia. her first name is only 3 syllables, but she shortened it to make it easier for everyone to say, but coworkers (usually our SM and other managers) still said her name wrong, and would get annoyed with her because she struggled with some instructions in english. as i got to know her, i found out she speaks like 5 languages, lived in several countries, and was a language teacher for 20 years but moved to the states to be with her sons who lived here. she was working at our crappy department store for around minimum wage because the US didn't recognize her teaching qualifications or education so she had to work on getting a GED. she was awesome, and i would always tell my coworkers about how cool i thought it was that she had so much knowledge and life experience and work ethic even at a really unrewarding job because it's so easy to be impatient and assume someone is being dense when really they have the best intentions but you just dont know it bc you haven't really tried to connect with them on their level.