Saturday, September 21, 2013

Did I discriminate the H&R lady?

I recently went to an H&R Block to amend my 2011 taxes.  The first time I went to the H&R Block at Vanowen, I was met by two latinas.  One was older and another was younger.  I was telling them what I needed and somehow the older latina agent did not understand me completely.  Her reply was wrong.  It was obvious that she had rudimentary command of the English language.  I knew then that I would just be annoyed dealing with her when she can not fully understand what I wanted.  So I did my business with the younger latina (Luisa) who spoke better English.  The second time I went to the same H&R Block office, Luisa was not there and the other white woman was busy, so I was left with either waiting for another younger latina (Elizabeth) or working with the older latina who does not speak good English.  I decided to wait for Elizabeth cause I just did not want to deal with someone who can not speak good English specially if my taxes were involved.  I did not want any mistake on my Taxes because of language barrier.  It turned out that Elizabeth was completely fluent with both English and Spanish and it was a breeze working with her.  It was obvious to the older latina that I did not want to work with her.  I felt bad cause I did not want to appear racist in her eyes.  But the thing is, I don't think I was being a racist.  I just wanted to have dealings with someone I could communicate with properly.  At work I speak some Spanish and if a latino client decided to work with another who speak fluent Spanish, I would not be offended.  Or perhaps the reason why I felt a little guilty was because I was indeed discriminating another who can not speak good English?  If I am being honest, I think it did play some role...

1 comment:

Greg said...

I completely understand. I fight with some my feelings when dealing with people who don't speak "good" English. Am I speaking like the stupid American who only speaks English and doesn't want to learn another language, or am I demanding that I be serviced properly.