Tell me that you are going to be 4 hours late in delivering my furniture, or that you can't meet with me, or meet my ridiculous demands...please just tell me and if you do, I promise this will be much easier for the both of us!
So I know I have promised in a past post that I would work on not getting so mad when I cannot communicate with people, but I have failed...I think it might be impossible!
I hit a new low though today, trying to use a translator to delivery my angry message. Who does that?!?!? And even worse...this all went down at my Spanish school where I am trying to learn to be a better communicator! I am so embarrassing.
I was trying to sign up for my next round of classes and the cashier could not figure out how to use my tax exempt card. Finally, after a line of ten plus people had backed up behind me, he told me that the school is tax exempt itself and therefore there was nothing to take off.
Great, no problem, makes perfect sense, let's move forward, my mistake. But, he didn't want to tell me no, so then proceeded to tell me if I came back tomorrow, perhaps it would work. That tomorrow, magically, the school would not be tax exempt. Tomorrow, the system would be "fixed" and therefore would not let me pay...tomorrow, come back tomorrow.
OMG! I can only talk in the present tense about things I like and what the weather is like...do not make me try to explain to you how taxes works....let me pay! I am not coming back tomorrow, on a Saturday, because NOTHING is broken. Let me pay!
At this point a very brave student, not more than 15, learning english, stepped up to save the day (really to make the line go faster so he could take care of his own business, but none-the-less, a good samaritan). Little did he know that I am totally nuts. I proceeded to tell him in English that I wanted him to tell the cashier that I was very angry, this has nothing to do with a broken machine, he should take my card and let me pay so we can get this over and done with. TODAY! I am sorry I even tried to use my tax exempt card.
The poor kid looked me square in the eye and his lip trembled a little and then he apologized and said he could not deliver that message. It was too mean, the cashier was just trying to be helpful. Nothing like a little reality check from a 15 year old to remind you of your manners. I of course tried one more time to deliver a stern message, but the kid once again declined, said some niceties to the poor cashier and convinced him to let me pay.
I am such a disaster and should probably wear a shirt that warns people to be beware of me. But please, why can't you just say no and move forward. Don't worry about my feelings, it is really in your best interest, I swear.
Back to my spanish vocab and working on the patience....
P.S. Speaking of shirts...Guatemalans wear some of the funniest t-shirts, with the most ridiculous sayings in English. And they cannot know what they say, because if they did, there is NO way they would wear them! (Or at least I hope they wouldn't!)
Best two I have seem thus far:
1) "Crabaholic"
What does that even mean? I cannot decide if that is gross or funny.
2) "Heres to Swinging Single, Seeing Double, Sleeping Triple"
Are you serious?!?!? There is no way a very modest looking middle aged guy selling back scratchers in the middle of the road is wearing a shirt that says that, right?!?!?! And what is worse? Knowing what the shirt says and still wearing it? Or not knowing what it says and offending everyone than can read it?!?!?
This is definitely a topic to be revisited....so many bad t-shirts out there to be found!
Seriously, post lots and lots in the coming weeks. The laughs your wacky adventures give me are helping me make it through to the book manuscript deadline!
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