Service Staff Who Can Only Speak Chinese
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Please also think of the Japanese, the Koreans and other foreign-born Chinese people, especially the Indonesians. Aren't service staff (local or otherwise) who tut at them equally insensitive and chauvanistic?
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Originally posted by Meat Pao:Hmm....actually if you are a Chinese person, it is not unreasonable when they communicate to you in Mandarin. Communication malfunction is regrettable, but perhaps the fault is not entirely on one party, them, but could be you..? You should have basic Mandarin knowledge, or even a rather sophisticated one. And yes, Mandarin is one of the 4 official languages and one of the 2 main languages in Singapore. Why dont you blame yourself for being even more inept than a semi-skilled worker.
Ah, the usual assumption that if you are Chinese, your Mandarin knowledge is a given.
For the record, there are many Chinese consumers who do not speak Mandarin as fluently as their dialect. Go ask your grandparents' generation if they are more fluent in Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese etc, as opposed to Mandarin.
I have witnessed our elderly, heck, our middle-aged folk, speaking in what we generally understand as Singaporean Mandarin to some of these service staff, only to be met with a haughty or blur look.
Twice, in one afternoon, have I seen a regular Tan Ah Seng speak to a PRC bus driver in Mandarin, and be greeted with a "I don't know what the hell you are talking about", and the poor chap was merely asking whether the bus goes to Plaza Singapura, and Suntec City, for the other case.
However, the regular Tan Ah Seng can speak Singlish, or throw a few English phrases here and there, and everyone seems to be able to understand each other. You desire efficiency in communication, English, or Singlish even, is a far more efficient mode of communicating what you need in a quick way, and everyone goes about their business happily.
Blaming the impasse on Chinese consumers (who can be from various places, nations, cultural background that impact on their knowledge of Mandarin as it is spoken in China) is simply a strawman's argument.
We're not here to please the linguistic capabilities of our guest workers. For those who can speak fluent Mandarin (regardless of race), fine and well. Good, and maybe you might get a good discount at a Shanghainese restaurant. However, never mistake one's own competency for the language skill of the rest of your fellow people. We are Singapore, and we have our way of communication, and our overarching working language called English.
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Originally posted by LazerLordz:
Ah, the usual assumption that if you are Chinese, your Mandarin knowledge is a given.
For the record, there are many Chinese consumers who do not speak Mandarin as fluently as their dialect. Go ask your grandparents' generation if they are more fluent in Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese etc, as opposed to Mandarin.
I have witnessed our elderly, heck, our middle-aged folk, speaking in what we generally understand as Singaporean Mandarin to some of these service staff, only to be met with a haughty or blur look.
Twice, in one afternoon, have I seen a regular Tan Ah Seng speak to a PRC bus driver in Mandarin, and be greeted with a "I don't know what the hell you are talking about", and the poor chap was merely asking whether the bus goes to Plaza Singapura, and Suntec City, for the other case.
However, the regular Tan Ah Seng can speak Singlish, or throw a few English phrases here and there, and everyone seems to be able to understand each other. You desire efficiency in communication, English, or Singlish even, is a far more efficient mode of communicating what you need in a quick way, and everyone goes about their business happily.
Blaming the impasse on Chinese consumers (who can be from various places, nations, cultural background that impact on their knowledge of Mandarin as it is spoken in China) is simply a strawman's argument.
We're not here to please the linguistic capabilities of our guest workers. For those who can speak fluent Mandarin (regardless of race), fine and well. Good, and maybe you might get a good discount at a Shanghainese restaurant. However, never mistake one's own competency for the language skill of the rest of your fellow people. We are Singapore, and we have our way of communication, and our overarching working language called English.
I always thought everyone had a common language: Money.
Anyway, even if they are not capable of speaking English, the bare minimum requirement is not to show displeasure and refer to a colleague who is capable of attending to the needs. Of course, the HR is to be blamed for hiring people who is having communication problems.
WHERE IS THE QC!!!! (I'm in the service industry so I'm pissed with my boss for hiring my colleagues who cannot even articulate properly in English and I'm having the job as a cleaner to clear the mess they left behind and try to make my customers happy.... zzz) If not for the common language (Money), I would have shown my bosses how long my longest finger is.
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wa lau... budget terminal uses china ppl leh... damn la... the CEO knows how to reuse their employees... You see them at the luggage send in counter and you even see them at the Gate again and you might even see them in the plane...
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Originally posted by OneWithTheForce:
This is a good point. The shop gets the employee that the boss wants to hire.What I suspect is that quite often, the employer simply wants a pretty young girl at the shop to attract business, at a low rate of pay.
The thing is, is that there's probably enough Mandarin speaking Singaporeans to get by without an English speaking staff member.
Do you think it's possible the boss (I'm guessing is Chinese Singaporean) may even not want business from Malays and Indians?
I don't know about you. If you wanna make an enemy out of ringgit, baht, peso or dollar, go ahead and worry about the skin color.
If the company thinks having the Chinese Yuan may be good enough then maybe he/she should set up office in China eh?
I believe any sound-minded business owner will want to make every Cent count, regardless of the skin colour, the gender.
I'm not sure what you're implying with the "pretty young girl syndrome" since I don't see most of these Mainland, downtown, off-shore island, city-dweller, village bumpkin, whatsoever Chinese from China are really that attractive to start with. You might wanna look ahead with those plying their trade in Geylang.
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I once witnessed this Ah Tiong @ 1 of the ChainStores attending to 2 Ang Mohs..She have problems communicating with them (as I can see her fustrated look & frantic hand gestures)..After awhile, she walked off from the 2 Ang Mos (who looks pissed) & got another colleague to attend to the customers instead..
This is all right..UNTIL I overheard her conversation with another Tiong colleague of hers (can hear from their unique accent) "
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i was in the high-class giordano yday and there was a chinese national lady trying to explain to me that the 30% off is for members only and not applicable to sale items
despite speaking slowly and in broken grammar, she was able to convey the message
she deserve a pat on the back but too bad i no like giordano stuff -
I was in swensen's last weekend. Here's the conversation:
Me: Hi, do you have lime?
Her: lime?
Me: yes, lime
Her: lime?
Me: yes lime..u know the...... small small lemon
Her: err, you want lime?
Me: uh huh? then?
Only later, did it dawn on me she cannot really speak english. If cannot speak, then ask me in chinese la....still say lime somemore. Anyway, she didnt give me the pissed look like some of u mentioned....so....i was still happy.
