A lot of things are better for women now, but unfortunately a lot of men still talk about us or to us like we’re pieces of meat.
The customers in this story thought they were being discreet about it.
But this time they were wrong.
Keep reading to see why.
You think no one is listening while you cat call my colleagues? guess again
One day I was working at the counter of my department of a branded car dealership in Germany, the parts service, when 2 guys in the mid 30s walk in.
They were greeted by our receptionist but walked right past her, without uttering a word, and went straight to me.
They immediately explained their situation to me.
It’s not the usual situation.
One of them only speaks some broken German, and the other, who is also the car owner, does not.
So one is the constant translator.
It seems that the reason they went straight past the front desk is that they know that no one speaks English, and they don’t want to waste time talking to anyone.
None of my colleagues speak any English, but I have grown up with the internet and am pretty decent at it.
I can understand everything the car owner says, wait for his colleagues to translate and then answer in German his questions ,so that he can translate back.
They just assume that I also don’t speak any English, and that I, as a shy guy, am not going to correct them.
They hand me a pretty long and detailed list of which car they have and what they need, so, despite a few details, I thankfully don’t really need to talk to them.
I tell the interpreter that this will take some time, and I start creating a price list.
While I do this, they talk a little bit about our decorations, our displayed cars and our merchandise.
Here is where things get aggravating.
After they exhaust small talk topics, they reveal that they are jerks. They start talking about my female colleagues.
The discuss who they like the most, what they would rate them, what they want them to do, etc. All presuming I don’t understand them.
At this point, it would be far too awkward for my shy teenage self to tell them that I can understand everything, so for now, I try to ignore them and finish my task.
For some reason, the interpreter struggles to find the German word Mehrwertsteuer so, without missing a beat, I look at the car owner and tell him “Yes, it’s the final price, the taxes are already included.”
They turn red, quickly thank me for my help and then hurry for the exit.
As far as I know, they never came back.
So while this is not the great revenge I hoped for, I’m sure he hopes no one remembers the time he completely embarrassed himself.
But I will always remember.
Check out what folks are saying.
Very professional. I wish he would have spoken out for his colleagues, though.
Why do people assume they know someone’s nationality? It’s so weird to me.
Good! I’m glad.
Better safe than sorry. But let’s not give misogynists advice.
Poised is a good word for it. But sometimes being bold is a good idea.
See? The customer is not always right.
I bet they couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.