How to Get Screamed Upon in French-English
Ce matin un client c'est approche du comptoir et m'a demande sa facture, puis il lit mon prénom sur mon uniforme et me demande:
"Quel est votre nom de famille?"
Ça me semblait bizarre et du coup j'ai répondu "Je ne suis pas a discrétion de le donner". Ce qui n'est pas entièrement faux puisque seul les responsables ont leur nom de famille visible sur leur uniforme.
Et la le client s’énerve, me dit qu'il n'aime pas qu'on lui mente, qu'il a bien que les employés ce matin avaient leur nom dessus (des responsables justement), que j'avais qu'a dire que je ne veux pas donner mon nom, qu'il essayait de voir si j’étais franco-canadienne.
"Non monsieur, juste Française". Après ce je l'ai laisse continuer a se plaindre (en québecois ce coup ci) et je me suis contentée de lui donner sa facture. Mes collègues dans leur bureau et le bellman dehors l'on entendu me crier dessus.
Mais je peux vous assurer qu'il m'a fallu aller me calmer derrière quand il est partis, j’étais un peu secouée. Oh je lui aurait bien dit ce que je pensais mais je suis au travail et je ne peux pas. Autant quand on me demande d’où je viens cela ne me pose pas problème, autant me demander mon nom de famille non, et pourquoi pas mon adresse tant qu'on y est? Sans compter que je porte le nom de mon mari qui est bien anglais comme il faut.
Enfin la prochaine fois je répondrais Smith en disant que c'est le nom de mon mari.
This morning a client comes by to ask for his bill, he reads my first name on my uniform and asks:
"What's your last name?"
It seemed out of place so I said : "I'm not at discretion to give my last name." Which isn't completely false since only managers have their last name on their uniform.
But the client flipped, telling me that he doesn't like to be lied to, that he had seen staff that morning with their last name (managers), that I should just say I didn't want to say my name, that he was trying to see if I was French-Canadian.
"No sir, I'm just French". After that I let him continue to complain (in Canadian-French this time)and just gave him his bill. My colleagues in the back heard him scream at me, so did the bellman outside.
I had to go breathe in the back after that, I felt shaky. Oh I had some things I wanted to tell him, but I can't, not at work. While I have no problem when people ask me where I'm from, asking me my last name no, why not my address while we're at it? Not to mention that I use my husband's name which is very English anyway. I think next time I'll say Smith and that it's my husband's name.
Pas cool quand meme de se faire gueuler dessus pour un truc aussi debile.
RépondreSupprimerQu'est ce que ca peut lui foutre que tu veuilles pas lui donner ton nom???
T'as vraiment des mecs qui aiment se prendre la tete pour rien...
I have a very unique German last name, and so I really try to avoid using it - because unlike the last name Smith, there are less than 100 people with my last name, and ALL of them are related to me directly. After a while I would tell people my last name was Smith if it was not an important contact. Or else I would just say my name very quickly so that they wouldn't be able to understand it.
RépondreSupprimerPerhaps he thought that asking your last name would be easier than trying to guess where you are from. Perhaps he is predujice, I'm sure you've seen/heard this already, but a lot of Americans are not very fond of the French (or Canadians) - but not every one is like that.
I'm sorry you had to experience that.
@Le Piou: Ah oui ça c'est sur. Je n'ai pas apprécié. Ce qui est bizarre c'est qu'il n'y a eu aucun problème avec le reste du personnel. Il n'a pas du aimer la façon dont je lui ait répondu va savoir.
RépondreSupprimer@Jessica: Yes, same here (it's a unique English spelling for his name), well there is probably more than 100 people with it though. :)
A name doesn't say much, I know people with French name who don't even know their name is French, and especially being a woman (and I had my wedding ring on), we often change name as we get married. We I'm pretty sure he is French-Canadian himself or the child of one given his accent when he spoke French so I don't think it was prejudice. He screamed at me way before he knew I was French. I'm just thinking he was a little bit crazy and will leave it at that, it makes for a crazy story too which is why I posted it.