Ok, so I live in South Florida. I work in the heart of Miami, Little Havana. Granted 99.9% of the people who live here speak only or mostly Spanish, but my gawd!!! My job has mostly spanish speaking people and its so annoying that they speak spanish in front of the rest of the non-spanish speaking co-workers as if its polite. To top it off, the administration does not say anything to these people and they do it right in front of them!!! It clearly states in our manual that English must be spoken at all times unless at break or dealing with a spanish speaking customer. When I moved here, I thought I would be welcomed with open arms by these people who would be willing to teach me spanish so I can become more cultured, diverse. But no! I hate to say it but I have not received a warm welcome from the hispanic community here. From what I hear from people who have lived here all of their lives, is that they do not hold any regard for those who don't speak spanish. Case in point:
A co-worker and I went to eat lunch at the local McD's one day in little Havana. She speaks spanish so I keep her handy just in case. Soon after we got our food and sat down we heard a guy raising his voice at the counter. Turns out a spanish speaking man was upset that the girl taking his order didn't speak spanish. Can you believe this mofo!! I mean come on, McD's itself is an american restaraunt let alone we are in the U.S! Everyone speaks English. Just because there's a McD's in little Italy doesn't mean the person behind the counter has to speak Italian! That's the kind of thinking that exists down here. Another incident I heard about was of a different co-worker stating "I don't understand how people can live in miami and not know spanish!" When I heard this I was ready to knock off her head. She already is not a favorite coworker of mind but to hear this. Man was I ready to show her something new. But of course she never said it to or near me because she knew I would've said something not so nice back to her.
But you get my point? This is what I have to deal with everyday I come to work. Even when I decide to party, I have to deal with this mess. I don't know what I'm going to do and it's not fair. There are many other cultures who come here and had to learn english so why should it be different for the hispanics. Hell! My ancestors were robbed of their culture and enslaved to the point of no identity at all. What do you have to say about that?
