Politically INcorrect

WARNING: This blog contains subject matter which may make you think of less of me. Read at your own risk!

I loved Patrick Mead's blog recently where he talked about being honest on a blog (http://tentpegs.blogspot.com/2006/06/truth-or-not-truth.html). So here I go, being honest.

It drives me crazy when you go into a store in America or call a business in America and you are greeted and "served" by someone who barely speaks English. I love that people come to America to build a life for themselves and their children. I get that most of the first Americans did not speak English. And some of my favorite people are from other countries who are either permanently or temporarily living in the states (Juliana? Esteban?)

The difference? Our forefathers learned English. They knew they had to learn to make it. And most of the people I know, in the years I have known them (both examples I have known about four years) are improving their English.

I remember Jimmy and I taking my dad's cousin, Terry, and his wife, Katherine, into Manhattan several years ago. Terry and Katherine are chicken-farmers in Alabama, and before you go thinking they are back-woods red-necks, know this - they make more money than most people I know. Anyway, we got into The City and Katherine needed a watch battery. We went into a multi-story K-Mart (in and of itself an interesting experience) and once we found the jewelry counter, could find not a single employee who could help us because none of them spoke clear enough English. And I don't mean Alabama English. I mean good ole' English.

Yesterday I was on the phone with a major satellite television provider (it's much cheaper here than cable!) The first two people I spoke with I had to ask for someone I could understand. I did it politely. I wasn't rude about it. But the first lady, each time I would say, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" YELLED at me, as if volume was the problem. If you own a business, please expect your employees to communicate in the language this country has chosen, especially on the telephone.

When Jimmy and I visited Brazil two years ago, we got by on minimal Portuguese (pregnant=gravida, which I was) but we were only there for two weeks. If you're going to live in another country, learn their language, their customs and their laws. It's the only way to make it ... at least it should be. Learning the language is a big part of a missionary's training for the field.

And if English isn't your native tongue and you are trying to learn it now that you live here - AWESOME!! Welcome to America. If we moved to your country, I would hope you would expect the same from me!