Work: Today, my boss is on the phone with a Russian customer, who keeps...

By Claudine - 30/06/2015 06:18 - Belgium - Liège

Today, my boss is on the phone with a Russian customer, who keeps saying, "Speak Russian please!" My boss asks me to translate, as he hired me for my knowledge of Russian. He says something, I translate in Russian, then the customer says, "Speak English please!" FML

I agree, your life sucks 26 359

You deserved it 2 088

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Same thing different taste

By PuddlePirate - 07/09/2012 16:23 - United States - Mountain Iron

Today, my co-worker and I were having a conversation in Russian. Our boss overheard us talking, shouted, "I know you're talking about me! I speak Spanish too!" and threatened to fire us. FML

I agree, your life sucks 30 647

You deserved it 3 435

Communication Breakdown

By rosie - 08/03/2021 13:59

Today, I was unable to communicate with a customer who only spoke French. As a result, my boss called me a "monolingual idiot." I speak Spanish, German, and Japanese. FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 128

You deserved it 72

By Salaryman - 15/02/2009 06:21 - Philippines

Today, I was instructed by my boss to welcome the 2 new foreign business partners since I am the only one who could speak their language. When they arrived I greeted them in their language. One of them scratched his head and asked his companion in plain and clear English, "What did he say?" FML

I agree, your life sucks 38 732

You deserved it 4 990

Cheating cheater

By anahira6 - 27/09/2013 19:41 - United States - Houston

Today, my boss's son is training to take over my job as head translator, after having convinced his dad that he's fluent in Spanish, and that my skills suck. I soon walked in on him using Google Translate on a legal document. My boss refuses to believe me. FML

I agree, your life sucks 49 702

You deserved it 3 033

Offended

By Anonymous - 04/09/2009 04:31 - Canada

Today, a customer came in who only spoke Spanish. I speak Spanish rather well so I helped the customer. She ended up buying $2300 worth of stuff. I got written up because not speaking English apparently "has the potential be offensive to other customers if they are not able to understand you." FML

I agree, your life sucks 60 177

You deserved it 3 520

By grammarnazi-forareason - 03/07/2013 06:48 - Sweden - Stockholm

Today, I had the questionable honor of explaining the difference between "your" and "you're" to my boss, and very diplomatically make her see why her poor grasp of language could affect our credibility as a communication agency. I'm Swedish, and English is my third language. She's American. FML

I agree, your life sucks 57 644

You deserved it 3 756

By Anonymous - 13/11/2008 08:42 - France

Today, my boss said to me: 'You know, our competitors are also hiring!' FML

I agree, your life sucks 31 328

You deserved it 3 049

You can talk, mate

By Anonymous - 30/07/2019 12:07 - United Kingdom - Bristol

Today, a customer asked me if I was English, because I was struggling to understand what he was saying. I said yes. He then called me a liar, and said I must be "one of them Polish immigrants." Oh, and he also had a thick Scottish accent. FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 666

You deserved it 165

By russianfail - 04/12/2013 16:24 - United States - Dallas

Today, I'm not getting paid 400$ per month because I failed my Russian language proficiency test. Russian is my first language. FML

I agree, your life sucks 41 446

You deserved it 16 708

Lost in translation

By Ariane - 03/12/2022 00:00

Today, I work as an executive assistant. My French boss wanted to do business with a big American customer, so he sent her an email suggesting a meeting. He copied me so that I could arrange said meeting. He had written, "Have your ass talk to my ass." FML

I agree, your life sucks 904

You deserved it 120

Airshock22 11

Tuesday 30 June 2015 12:13

I've heard of a language barrier before, but not a language revolving door.

DFMLharsh 20

Tuesday 30 June 2015 12:14

You Putin a lot of efforts but they went to waste.

Comments

MidnaLink 33

Tuesday 30 June 2015 15:31

The client shouldn't be allowed to say "Speak X-language please." It just makes it sound like we should know every language from the beginning. If only, though…

juturnaamo 29

Tuesday 30 June 2015 21:42

They're in Europe, so it's reasonable to believe this is an international company which works with people in Russia frequently.

VeganVampyre 26

Wednesday 1 July 2015 2:42

If the client is asking for a language that is generally accepted in that area then of course they should be allowed... I agree that it would be ridiculous for people to be able to demand any random language they wanted (which is what I really hope your point was supposed to be), but if you're in a bilingual country, or even just one that generally accepts/expects a certain other language to be spoken frequently, then it makes sense and is perfectly acceptable. I'm guessing OP is in a place where Russian is commonly spoken, so in that case it would make perfect sense for someone to request it. Just like here, French is our second language so it is perfectly acceptable to ask for someone who speaks French. If you were asking for someone to speak Japanese or something, then yeah, that would be a little crazy.