At a shop recently, an employee serving me started talking to a colleague next to them in a language other than English. It was disconcerting and got me thinking what I would like. I think it is important any conversation among staff in a retail business is in the language of the country in which the business transacts.
from a customers point of view you would think that the staff were talking about you, or at the least saying something they don’t want the customer to hear, even if it is harmless it is not going to make a positive experience for the customer, unless too they speak the other language.
Exactly what I felt Barbara.
If you go to France and staff communicate in french do you feel offended? As they speak their nation language which you do not understand, or do you think they should speak in English so that you could understand?
Kk in France I would expect them to speak French.
There is a nearby newsagency that has changed owners not long ago, customers complain that they seem to be more interested in Bollywood movies and background music blaring as well as communicating with relatives back in India on Skype and ignoring customers. I have said it before that there has been too many new owners in our industry who are lacking three important skills, these are;
Language skills
People skills and
Retail skills
I am not surprised at the number of Newsagents that have gone out of business because of this, unfortunately this also effects Newsagencies who do not lack these deficiencies.
In terms of staff to staff communication, if in Australia and in the company of customers, it should definitely be in English. If staff want to communicate with each other in their cultural language, it should be in the back office or at lunch time, somewhere so that customers cannot hear.
What I’m interested in hearing is, if a customer is of a particular cultural background that is the same as yours and they know you speak the same language as them, and they know you do to, do you speak to them back in your traditional language or do you keep your responses in English?
Mark, I gave up being bothered by it donkey’s years ago. Them relying on their mother tongue can be bit insulting, maybe they talk dirty to each other, who knows?
More concerned with the New Australians behind counters that ‘know’ what they’re saying/convey, it’s just the heavy lilt in their accent can make for some confusion.
Think it’s more of a confidence issue combined with fast speaking that gets in the way.
Don’t get me started on call centres… Kiwi’s don’t speak English. See, started myself off.
Have you guys imagine you and your husband/wife running a business in France and you have to speak french which you are not very good with? Have you guys realized they spoke the language other than English is simply because English is not their mother language and it’s hard for them to communicate properly especially between husband and wife team? It’s very unfortunate that a lot of people in this country are lack of the sense of multi-culture, and are always pipe-thinking.