Saturday, February 18, 2006
Hola! Me no Comprende!!
Self reminder: Gotta learn an extra language, fast.
Any language will do, Japanese, Spanish or even Mandarin. As a concierge i believe an extra foreign language would really be beneficial not only to me career-wise but also to enrich myself. In fact I have learnt some Japanese and even had 4 semesters of basic French in my Uni days, but due to lack of practice, it all went down the drain...
Recently, a cute middle-aged couple from Spain, Mr and Mrs Agreda approached the desk and they spoke very little English. We malays called the situation,literally translated: "like a duck speaking to a chicken" We had to communicate by using hand gestures, facial expressions and even drawings and a spatter of English here and there. Finally after a while (at this time there was already a queue at my desk behind this Spanish couple, as at that moment I was alone on duty, as my colleague was off on his dinner break)I finally got it, they wanted to know what's interesting to see in Kuala Lumpur! So I arranged for a Spanish-speaking tour guide to take them on a tour around the city for the next day. Mr Agreda was pleased that my guess was right, so they left smiling, and me a with a small tip in my hand, "to buy some beer" said Mr Agreda in his broken English.
The next day, I met them again, but this time Mr and Mrs Agreda was not smiling. He was complaining about something. After a few guesses, I concluded that they were not happy with the tour. From their gestures, he was saying that the tour guide's Spanish was so-so and his vehicle was run down. (Self note: not to use that tour guide again, unless in emergency) Mr Agreda was also complaining that they both just got back from the KL tower's restaurant, and had to wait 1 hour even though a booking was made through one of my colleagues. And they got fed up waiting so they just came back to the hotel - HUNGRY. So I apologized in the many foreign languages I know, (except Spanish) and quickly suggested our coffee house for dinner. They waved a big NO and gestured that they wanted somewhere classier, so i quickly escorted them to our award-winning french fine-dining restaurant. With the help of the maitre'd, I arranged for them to have a quick serviced meal, but not complimentary. On my way out I assured them that I shall personally talk to the Tower's restaurant manager and resolve the issue.
What was going on? Everything seemed not right for the couple. Had to do something..it was bad enough that I could not communicate smoothly with them, I could sense their frustration when I kept saying "No comprende" which i guessed and hoped meant "I don't understand". But finally, after a smooth Malacca tour, and a quick recovery through some quick simple Spanish words that I hastily copied off the Internet, they seemed more happy and the smiles flowed back.
The night before they were to fly back to Spain, they dropped by the desk again to say good bye and thanked me for everything. From what I can see, they were very appreciative of my efforts to help them throughout their stay. If only I knew a bit more Spanish...things might have been a lot smoother...
Now to watch more of those Spanish soap operas and to try undertand the language, instead of just staring at the gorgeous looking actresses...heheheh
Any language will do, Japanese, Spanish or even Mandarin. As a concierge i believe an extra foreign language would really be beneficial not only to me career-wise but also to enrich myself. In fact I have learnt some Japanese and even had 4 semesters of basic French in my Uni days, but due to lack of practice, it all went down the drain...
Recently, a cute middle-aged couple from Spain, Mr and Mrs Agreda approached the desk and they spoke very little English. We malays called the situation,literally translated: "like a duck speaking to a chicken" We had to communicate by using hand gestures, facial expressions and even drawings and a spatter of English here and there. Finally after a while (at this time there was already a queue at my desk behind this Spanish couple, as at that moment I was alone on duty, as my colleague was off on his dinner break)I finally got it, they wanted to know what's interesting to see in Kuala Lumpur! So I arranged for a Spanish-speaking tour guide to take them on a tour around the city for the next day. Mr Agreda was pleased that my guess was right, so they left smiling, and me a with a small tip in my hand, "to buy some beer" said Mr Agreda in his broken English.
The next day, I met them again, but this time Mr and Mrs Agreda was not smiling. He was complaining about something. After a few guesses, I concluded that they were not happy with the tour. From their gestures, he was saying that the tour guide's Spanish was so-so and his vehicle was run down. (Self note: not to use that tour guide again, unless in emergency) Mr Agreda was also complaining that they both just got back from the KL tower's restaurant, and had to wait 1 hour even though a booking was made through one of my colleagues. And they got fed up waiting so they just came back to the hotel - HUNGRY. So I apologized in the many foreign languages I know, (except Spanish) and quickly suggested our coffee house for dinner. They waved a big NO and gestured that they wanted somewhere classier, so i quickly escorted them to our award-winning french fine-dining restaurant. With the help of the maitre'd, I arranged for them to have a quick serviced meal, but not complimentary. On my way out I assured them that I shall personally talk to the Tower's restaurant manager and resolve the issue.
What was going on? Everything seemed not right for the couple. Had to do something..it was bad enough that I could not communicate smoothly with them, I could sense their frustration when I kept saying "No comprende" which i guessed and hoped meant "I don't understand". But finally, after a smooth Malacca tour, and a quick recovery through some quick simple Spanish words that I hastily copied off the Internet, they seemed more happy and the smiles flowed back.
The night before they were to fly back to Spain, they dropped by the desk again to say good bye and thanked me for everything. From what I can see, they were very appreciative of my efforts to help them throughout their stay. If only I knew a bit more Spanish...things might have been a lot smoother...
Now to watch more of those Spanish soap operas and to try undertand the language, instead of just staring at the gorgeous looking actresses...heheheh
# posted by sharezal @ 1:36 PM 
