An opportunity to communicate in Spanish...ruined by a hotel manager
From time to time we discuss our experiences using Spanish/English in the real world. Who can forget Goyo's touching threadabout his conversation with a Spanish speaking woman on a recent fight. 
I have had several opportunities to use Spanish for very practical purposes over the past few months. However, on a recent trip to Virginia, I found that my joy in being able to communicate in Spanish was quickly dampened by an obnoxious hotel manager.
We were staying in a hotel for the weekend. While there, my younger daughter became extremely sick. My husband decided to seek out the hotel maids and politely request if they could clean our room immediately so that our daughter could rest undisturbed. We were also in need of extra towels, etc. He quickly returned and asked me to go back because they spoke no English. He was fairly certain they were Mexican though. I found the three, very kind Mexican women working together. I started speaking in English and they looked panic stricken. I quickly switched to Spanish and was greeted with huge smiles. You could see a sense of calmness come over them. I explained what we needed and why. I then told them our room number. They responded with empathy and said they would be very happy to help, but must ask their boss for permission, since they had to follow a strict routine.
Moments later, back in my room, a man knocks on the door and told me that the "bleepity bleep" Mexicans were trying to tell him something about my room. They had written the number #401 on paper and that was all he could understand. I explained the whole story to him, so he beckoned them to come down the hall to our room. I thanked them and also told them that their boss was very rude. When they laughed, the manager became indignant and replied "Hey, what are they all laughing about?" Not wanting these women to get into any trouble with their obnoxious boss, I told him I was telling them something about my husband.
Looking back on the whole thing, I wonder if I should have handled things differently. I feel like perhaps I should have said something to the manager or even reported him for his attitude towards his employees. These were extremely hard working women who had only been here since May. They are trying to learn English as quickly as possible but unfortunately, they do have to work in order to survive.
Have any of you come across people like this? Has learning a new language changed your perspective? How would you deal with this situation? I look forward to the discussion.
11 Answers
I think you did the best possible in the circumstances Nicole. That manager would not have reacted well to being told to be "nice" to his "ignorant slaves".
Nicole, I think you handled this situation perfectly.
Middle mangement people are often jerks who have no business being in their positions and many times the downfall of the business.
This hotel "mangler" should be fired.
I have always felt (and believed) that learning foreign languages does multiply the learner's perspective on life. To my mind, it goes pretty much like this: the more languages you know, the more perspectives you get. Not only do you become what is generally referred to as a 'polyglot', but you also become psychologically more complex. What I mean by that is that, once you've learnt a foreign language, apart from its purely linguistic structures, you've also acquired something unique to that language, its spirit, the inimitable way it understands and relates itself to life that only its native speakers can truly experience, but which can be grasped as cultural information by those non-native speakers as well. Learning foreign languages offers those interested in this a way to becoming aware of the (simple) fact that Reality is differently perceived by Language, once you've selected from its Base what language(s) you would like to know. Thus, if you (as all of us) hadn't learnt about ser and estar, you would never have known that the verb to be, which is, by all accounts, the most fundamental verb a language (any language) has to offer, has subtlety divided existence into a permanent and a temporary way of being. If you hadn't spoken any Spanish you could never have guessed that some people can indeed do such a hair's splitting (if you will) to something as solid and un-splittable as existence itself seemed at least to be.
The thing that strikes me about your post, Nicole, is the title. I don't see where anything was ruined! On the contrary, I think you did extremely well, and used your knowledge to the best possible advantage.
You got what you required, were able to create a rapport and obtain the goodwill of the hotel staff (jerk excepted, of course), and were able to very aptly defuse a sticky situation.
Frankly, I can't think of a better opportunity, or of one better used, than the one you're sharing with us here!
Great story!
Oh, that's awful! I think you should call immediately and find out who owns that particular hotel or hotel branch. You need to report to him/her the way that the manager treated, not only his hard-working employees, but you as a paying customer. Otherwise, how will the owner know what going on in his/her hotel?
If you cannot remember the name of the manager, simply put the date and time that the incident happened in your letter and the owner can figure it out based on the work schedules.
What a bummer for this to happen while enjoying your vacation!
Said manager either doesn't travel, or thinks that everyone else should speak English when he does. Unfortunately there are plenty of these people around. One can hope that he has a revelation one day.
In terms of your story, I also think you did really well, and if it were me I would be happy to have communicated so efficiently with the cleaning staff and probably made their day.
Creo que habría hecho lo mismo que tú hiciste Nicole, tratar de ayudar como intermediaria entre los dos idiomas. Tu paso por esa situación era efímero... ¿qué hubieras podido hacer? Si hablabas en contra de ese hombre, o lo denunciabas por malos tratos, lo más probable es que esas mujeres hubieran perdido su trabajo... yo creo que hiciste lo correcto
I explained what we needed and why. I then told them our room number. They responded with empathy and said they would be very happy to help, but must ask their boss for permission, since they had to follow a strict routine.
This may sound like Monday-morning quarterbacking (hindsight) but you could have then spoken to the manager and (again, for his benefit) explained the problem adding that you had already spoken with the chamber-maids. and that they understood what was desired but needed his permission.
In a better world, he would, of course, have been able to speak several languages (at the very least, those of his primary clients and his employees). Outside of the USA, I don't remember ever staying in a hotel (at least those with serious pretensions to being "international") where the manager was monolingual. Generally, when traveling, I prefer to stay in smaller establishments (bed-and-breakfasts, pensiones, hospedajes, etc. ) where one has to expect that the employees (and, even, the manager) may speak only the local language but these are cases in which the employees and almost all of the guests can be assumed to speak the local language.
The USA, however, has a long history of monolingualism (despite having had a greater influx of foreigners (with their attendant languages) than any other country (with the possible exception of ancient Rome). On the face of it, huge numbers of Americans actually take pride in their ignorance of other languages.
Very interesting situation, Nicole. I agree that you handled it quite well. There may have been additional ways that would have also been good, but the way you handled it seems to have been the kindest.
Regarding the hotel manager's attitude: God closes the books; we don't close the books. For whatever reason, he was having a bad day, maybe a bad week, or maybe a bad year (let's hope not a bad lifetime!)
Who knows, he may quietly be gnashing his teeth over how he handled the situation.
I hope your daughter is feeling better - no fun to be sick away from home. 
Gekko said:
I don't see where anything was ruined!
I agree that overall, the situation was positive. I was able to make the young women laugh and at least show them that all English speaking people are not as rude as their boss.
When I used the word "ruined" I meant that I was so excited to be able to communicate to these women in a way that two years ago, I would not have been able to do. That joy was (I guess you could say) temporarily ruined by yet another obnoxious person making fun of anyone who can not speak English. There are so many people like this.
My husband's grandparents struggled with this. They moved here from Italy when they were in their early twenties and started a family. They did their best, but didn't have the opportunity to go to language school or use a website like this. They couldn't even afford the English grammar books, so they did the best they could.
I just wish ignorant people like this hotel manager would stop to think how they would feel if they were in a similar situation.
Nicole, I am truly sorry to hear about your bad experiences with that jerk/obnoxious manager who incidentaly reminds me of Basil Fawlty's social incompetence in that comic T.V series 'Fawlty Towers', except in your case it wasn't funny!
I really think you did everything you possibly could have done for the maids/employees in that awkward situation, Nicole, and if you had made that complaint tempting as it must be - it could have resulted in that difficult manager firing those Lovely Mexican maids
What could have happened is that the bad manager having heard that he would be disciplined and possibly/definitely lose his job could have decided to fire the Mexican maids, who, if they were on a temporary contract may have little legal protection/redress and could ill afford to lose their jobs Alternatively if he had been disciplined without losing his job he might have made life hell for those maids in that hotel. So on reflection, I would have to agree with what Benz has said/written.
However, I think you have a good personal cause for complaint against the manager for the way you as a family were treated by him. He would appear to have a 'real attitude problem' which could prove an embarrassment to the hotel owners if he continues to treat customers the way
Why do they put people like him in charge of hotels if they can only speak English? In the Spanish hotels in which I have stayed many managers speak at least two languages and some of the reception staff speak 3 or 4 languages
