Service Staff Who Can Only Speak Chinese
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Originally posted by Mymoja:
then who is going to pay for the expenses? for the training? increase food pricing?
That is feeble reasoning to increase pricing. They need to train their staff to speak English for their own benefit as well. -
Originally posted by hisoka:
first define chinese.
second please elaborate reason for sadness in not knowing to speak mandarin. If you're talking about origins of ancestors, then please feel sad about most people not being able to speak african.
africa is a continent
african is not a language -
hua ren hua yu
nothing wrong
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Hmm, on this note, it is not only the China people that they are hiring, some workers from Myanmar/Vietnam/Philippines also..
Then got one time, I want to order the food and ask this Myanmar(I think) waiter a question and he couldn't understand me. I asked him whether can I order tom yam kuey teow bcos menu only have tom yam soup at 8 bucks the kind that many people share one.. he dont understand because he expect to copy paste whats on the menu. So after 5 minutes of trying to explain, he say ok he go check first, so i say ok and then find out the price for me first. He came back he say got and I ask him how much. He say 1 dollar and keep insisting on it. I was damn shock and find it funny that the dish cost 1 buck LOL. Then after trying so hard trying to find out the price, the other waiter intervene and explain that it is 1 dollar extra for the kuey teow. No way am i going to eat a 9 bucks tom yam LOL.. but i remain patient lah, must be gracious mah, then ask him to change the order. He got shocked that I want to change order and rush to the back, maybe because he scared the chef cook orledi liao.. I neber ask him to order for me mah I say check for me..
See lah, one whole big troublesome order just because of language barrier.. Haiz.. Or maybe it's just me ordering the tom yam kuey teow which wasnt on the menu HAHAz.. But usually, I ask normal local waiter they understand lehx.. lols.. but its kinda irritating I order then the foreign people they dont understand.. =( testing my patience and graciousness lehx.. i feel like im no longer Home..
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Originally posted by rainee:
I recently noticed a lot of people in the service industry, especially restaurants, who expect you to speak Mandarin to them. If you can't, you wil get a glare or they might even refuse to serve you.
Does it mean that if I look Chinese I am assumed to be able to speak Mandarin automatically? Apparently it has also got to a point that they expect other races to be able to speak Mandarin as well, including Malays and Indians.
Is this place turning into China?? I don't have anything against speaking Mandarin, I am learning to speak it more fluently as well but I don't like the idea that if I can't speak it fluently, I can't order my food or something. What do you guys think?
I am Singaporean and tired of service staff who can only speak Mandarin
Which restaurant in particular?I wanna go and try out the power of their attitude.
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Originally posted by FireIce:
africa is a continent
african is not a language
I think hisoka was referring to afrikaans but he super lazy to go correct himself. -
Originally posted by Mymoja:
then who is going to pay for the expenses? for the training? increase food pricing?If you hire people for your business, you are supposed to make sure that they are able to interact with the customers without pissing them off.
This kinda thing you have to spend on it. Otherwise it is going to be penny wise pounds foolish.
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Originally posted by parn:
Which restaurant in particular?I wanna go and try out the power of their attitude.
From what I have gathered from the facebook thread:
cafe cartel(@siglap, tampines, Plaza Sing)
hong kong cafeat east coast park
Giant in Tampines
Soup restaurant in Serangoon
Raffles city MOS Burger
many more, read this thread to find out.
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Originally posted by NG QIBO AARON AUBREY:
hua ren hua yu
nothing wrong
nothing wrong with that.but something wrong when ur in a singapore restaurant and people expect you to speak chinese like ur in a restaurant in china.
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for chinese restoran, HK cafe, is understandable
but if it's a western, thai restorans, the bosses shd use some brains and common sense
wanna cut cost but end up losing customers
see who the one suffer at the end of the day -
Originally posted by SBS7484P:
nothing wrong with that.but something wrong when ur in a singapore restaurant and people expect you to speak chinese like ur in a restaurant in china.
if a chinese and another chinese meets, what language will they speak?
a) tamil?.....NO
b) Chinese?..... first thing to assume.
c) English?..... somewhere down the line, you are not fluent in your mother tongue anymore...
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Originally posted by FireIce:
for chinese restoran, HK cafe, is understandable
but if it's a western, thai restorans, the bosses shd use some brains and common sense
wanna cut cost but end up losing customers
see who the one suffer at the end of the day
It depends on which countries they opened their 'racist' restaurants.They not happy they can go Dubai and open their Causeway Bay restaurant and see if anyone there speaks their language or not.
Rich enough to open restaurant doesn't means they are smart enough to run it.
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Originally posted by FireIce:
for chinese restoran, HK cafe, is understandable
but if it's a western, thai restorans, the bosses shd use some brains and common sense
wanna cut cost but end up losing customers
see who the one suffer at the end of the day
ya, precisely. chinese in a western cafe is just ridiculous. of course, not sayin that it shd be strictly english speaking staff, but at least the majority language spoken shd be english -
Originally posted by skythewood:
if a chinese and another chinese meets, what language will they speak?
a) tamil?.....NO
b) Chinese?..... first thing to assume.
c) English?..... somewhere down the line, you are not fluent in your mother tongue anymore...
It cant be helped that English is the universal language that most people would know nowadays. It is a common language that is spoken by all the races in Singapore.Plus it is also the language that can be spoken by most tourists.
Mandarin is spoken by only certain percentage of Chinese so it is not right to assume that all of us Chinese are fluent in it. And customers do not come from just the Mandarin speaking group.
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Originally posted by skythewood:
if a chinese and another chinese meets, what language will they speak?
a) tamil?.....NO
b) Chinese?..... first thing to assume.
c) English?..... somewhere down the line, you are not fluent in your mother tongue anymore...
Depends. I will actually speak English first because thats my primary language. I went to school that educated us primarily in English, I grew up in a Singapore where all the road signs are in English, and the language of parliamentary discussion is, English.
I'm not a Chinese helicopter, so I communicate in English. Unfortunately, I find it annoying that I have to use chinese so often these days cos some farmduck Chinese from Mainland can't speak English. Talking to elders in Chinese I don't mind. But these are young people from China who should have learnt the language before coming here.
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If you can speak in mandarin, just do so lah. Dun need to make such a big fuss. But i think its reasonable to say that they should be trained in basic English to serve the needs of our non-chinese friends. And if you are in a business where your products need to be explained in English, please make sure your chinese staff know lah... I went to buy some chocolates and the Chocolates only have French words on it and I ask the staff what flavour it is, she tell she dun know...what the hell...
I think it is not necessary to speak excellent English but:
1. basic english to attend to the needs of non-chinese friends and customers.
2. Product knowledge is a must, its not a matter of English or Chinese. Its a matter of service.
I am fortunate that I am pretty ok with my languages (that saved me during my O levels, my maths and sciences sucked haha). So i can communicate in both english and mandarin or Hokkien and Teochew if I have to haha.
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I suggest when we encounter such service staff, we insist on speaking in English. If they fail to deliver good service due to communication barrier, lodge a complaint.
How will they feel if we go china to work and refuse to speak their language?
They simply think highly of themselves and do not see the need to spare a thought for non mandarin speaking singaporean. they just don't see the need to show singaporeans any respect.
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Originally posted by gasband:
If you can speak in mandarin, just do so lah. Dun need to make such a big fuss. But i think its reasonable to say that they should be trained in basic English to serve the needs of our non-chinese friends. And if you are in a business where your products need to be explained in English, please make sure your chinese staff know lah... I went to buy some chocolates and the Chocolates only have French words on it and I ask the staff what flavour it is, she tell she dun know...what the hell...
I think it is not necessary to speak excellent English but:
1. basic english to attend to the needs of non-chinese friends and customers.
2. Product knowledge is a must, its not a matter of English or Chinese. Its a matter of service.
I am fortunate that I am pretty ok with my languages (that saved me during my O levels, my maths and sciences sucked haha). So i can communicate in both english and mandarin or Hokkien and Teochew if I have to haha.
Actually, No. I will not entertain them especially if they are in the service industry.
They are here to work, and they will assimilate themselves to our society, not the other way round. If they are unwilling to assimilate, then they should pack up and leave.
Problem is, most of them are so rude that they don't even apologise in mandarin for being unable to communicate. That really gets on my nerves!
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Originally posted by Honeybunz:
I suggest when we encounter such service staff, we insist on speaking in English. If they fail to deliver good service due to communication barrier, lodge a complaint.
How will they feel if we go china to work and refuse to speak their language?
They simply think highly of themselves and do not see the need to spare a thought for non mandarin speaking singaporean. they just don't see the need to show singaporeans any respect.
What if the staff is sincerely apologetic about her/his language inadequacy? And what if you really can speak mandarin? Why make things difficult for that person? What if that person just wanna earn some extra cash? What if he/she is in the midst of taking English lessons to brush up her/his English?
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yes, sometimes i perpersly speak all the way in english, and cheem english so that they 知难而退 and find me a senior who can attend to me more professionally
or i simply go to elsewhere -
Originally posted by Shotgun:
Actually, No. I will not entertain them especially if they are in the service industry.
They are here to work, and they will assimilate themselves to our society, not the other way round. If they are unwilling to assimilate, then they should pack up and leave.
Problem is, most of them are so rude that they don't even apologise in mandarin for being unable to communicate. That really gets on my nerves!
I accept what you said. Its true some of these Chinese staff from China are rude about it. They seem to suggest sometimes through their expressions that we owe them a living instead of giving us a smile for buying things from them. Those are no longer the issue of language, that is the problem of attitude which is not contained to just China chinese or non-chinese staff.
But not all are like that. I do have good experiences for Chinese staff who make an effort to speak in English or apologise if they do not understand me and try to get someone else to help. And if there is no one else, I can speak in Mandarin, no issues with me.
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Originally posted by gasband:
What if the staff is sincerely apologetic about her/his language inadequacy? And what if you really can speak mandarin? Why make things difficult for that person? What if that person just wanna earn some extra cash? What if he/she is in the midst of taking English lessons to brush up her/his English?
Those who are apologetic are tolerable. I will eventually feel sorry for him/her and will speak to them in broken Mandarin to help them to understand, otherwise I will get my husband to translate for me (if he is there).
It is those rude ones that I can't stand. Like take for granted everyone must speak the way they do. And made sarcastic comments like."Wa, you chinese oso dunno how to speak chinese ah...". What right do you have to judge me who is your customer??
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singapore is famous for bad or no customer service
but now we know it's not singaporeans' fault -
Originally posted by rainee:
Those who are apologetic are tolerable. I will eventually feel sorry for him/her and will speak to them in broken Mandarin to help them to understand, otherwise I will get my husband to translate for me (if he is there).
It is those rude ones that I can't stand. Like take for granted everyone must speak the way they do. And made sarcastic comments like."Wa, you chinese oso dunno how to speak chinese ah...". What right do you have to judge me who is your customer??
Agree. Sometimes, depending on my mood, I will tell them that they have to learn the language because we are a multi-racial society. Just like how Mandarin is the common language in China, English is our common language here.
If I had to go China to work, I will have to suck thumb and brush up on my mandarin man.
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Originally posted by rainee:
Those who are apologetic are tolerable. I will eventually feel sorry for him/her and will speak to them in broken Mandarin to help them to understand, otherwise I will get my husband to translate for me (if he is there).
It is those rude ones that I can't stand. Like take for granted everyone must speak the way they do. And made sarcastic comments like."Wa, you chinese oso dunno how to speak chinese ah...". What right do you have to judge me who is your customer??
Yeah then those are not language issues, those are attitude issues like I said. And I encounter them everywhere. Asia also have. Australia also kena. Go Europe the Ang Moh also like that haha.