My Kiwi accent got me into trouble ... again ...
I stopped in at my local fast food joint, at lunch time, to get something to eat.
The ensuring conversation, between me and the counter person (CP) went something like this...
Me ... ' I'll have a Caesar Salad with FF French dressing and a bottle of water,
please'
CP ... ' That will be $2.80, thank you. '
Simple. Right?
Then I noticed that he was filling one of their drink cups up with ice.
Me ... ' No, I didn't want it in a cup. I want bottled water. '
CP ... ' You want what? '
Me ... ' I want bottled water. '
CP ... ' Sorry, Ma'am I don't understand you. '
Me ... ' I want a bottle of water. '
At this point, one of his co-workers came over and asked me what I wanted ..
Me ... (feeling mildly frustrated) ' I want a bottle of water. '
They both looked at me blankly as though I was speaking a foreign language..
Me ... (very slowly and clearly) ' A__ B_O_T_T_L_E__ O_F __W_A_T_E_R .'
They both looked at each other..
CP2 ... 'You want the bathroom ?'
Me ... (wondering how I could pantomime a bottle of water) ' No, I want a bottle with water in it. '
More blank looks from both of them ...
Then I had a minor brain wave ..
Me ... (pointing at menu board) 'Look, Dasani bottled water - $1.49. '
Big smiles from CP 1 & 2 ...
CP ... ' You want a bottle of water. '
Sheeeesh ...Isn't that what I've been trying to tell you for the last five minutes!!
Mind you, it didn't end there. I phoned the hubby to tell him about the conversation and he thought I was saying 'Mushrooms and water' ...
Sighhhhh ... though I'll put that one down to cellphone reception and give him the benefit of the doubt...
Honestly, I don't think my accent is all that pronounced. This link takes you to a previous post of mine, where I was trying to tell a 911 operator where a DV incident was taking place.
It has a little video on it, where you can hear the sound of my voice. Admittedly, am speaking slowly and precisely...but .. well, you be the judge :-)
18 hours ago
6 comments:
LOl - actually that was something I was going to ask you....do yous till have your kiwi accent?
That made me LOL!! I'm glad you finally got your water!
I'd love to hear an audio of that...just so I can judge fairly :0)
How frustrating, Karen! Of course, is it possible that the problem was that English wasn't THEIR first language? Seems that's more and more common. Glad you had ordered a salad. A burger would have been stone cold by the time you got them to understand what you wanted to drink with it! :)
I popped over from Add Humor and Faith and just couldn't resist adding my own story. We went through a McDonald's drive-thru one time, and my husband ordered a coffee with cream.
The voice from inside said, "How many creams?"
My husband said, "One."
The Voice said, "HOW MANY CREAMS?"
My husband, leaning closer to the microphone, said, "ONE."
The Voice said, "H.O.W. M.A.N.Y. C.R.E.A.M.S.?"
My husband, now with his entire upper body leaning out of the window, said, "O.N.E.!!!"
When we drove up to the window, the young man who was the Voice was laughing. He said, "I thought you were saying 'what?'."
If it makes you feel any better, many people in the South of the US don't understand me when I talk because of my Boston accent, which I barely have! And they think I simply talk too fast.
Kiwi accents are so cute!
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