Spanish-speaking Taco Bell in Florida refused service for speaking English.

[Quid est Veritas?]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45535948

Odd. Granted everyone there only spoke Spanish reportedly, as does 90% of the community. One would think people would learn some English, it is the global lingua franca after all. Or at least gotten through with good ol' fashioned hand-gestures and speaking louder and condescendingly slowly.

I am a second language English speaker, and I really cannot see how it can be tolerated not to speak English in a largely anglophone country - or in general for that matter. My personal opinion is that everyone should be taught English anyway, in addition to any other language. Then again, it was a Taco Bell - cultural appropriation and all those horrors...

 

[Brightmoon]

I live in NYC. As a Puerto Rican friend quipped to me . You live in America learn the language - Spanish! Decided he was right. My oldest son is now fluent and I understand very ( very ,very ) basic Spanish. Yeah I bump into the I-don’t-speak-English store clerk occasionally ( I like trying new food) and it doesn’t bother me much as I’ve got google translate in a pinch. The New York City information service has over 150languages available.

 

[dqhall]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45535948

Odd. Granted everyone there only spoke Spanish reportedly, as does 90% of the community. One would think people would learn some English, it is the global lingua franca after all. Or at least gotten through with good ol' fashioned hand-gestures and speaking louder and condescendingly slowly.

I am a second language English speaker, and I really cannot see how it can be tolerated not to speak English in a largely anglophone country - or in general for that matter. My personal opinion is that everyone should be taught English anyway, in addition to any other language. Then again, it was a Taco Bell - cultural appropriation and all those horrors...

Taco Bell should have put someone in the drive through who was bilingual. The customer should have learned to push buttons to get her order. There is a "Little Havana" neighborhood in Miami. There are Puerto Ricans in the Orlando area.

I studied Spanish awhile. I almost never use it and forgot most of my vocabulary and grammar. I remember Paul writing that speaking in tongues is of no use unless you have someone who understands the language (tongue) you speak.

 

[tampasteve]

It is actually not that uncommon in Florida, particularly in Miami metro area. I have been to a Burger King in Miami that no-one spoke English at either. The entire state of Florida has a very high population of people that only speak Spanish, or speak it as a primary language. We have millions of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Colombians, and others that come here and find that they do not need to speak English so long as they primarily work, live, and shop in areas that have large concentrations of Spanish speaking people - which honestly is most of the state. Almost all State documents are in English and Spanish, and posted notices for workers comp. etc. have to be in both languages. I do not have an issue if someone does not learn English, but they should probably not be in a public facing job like a fast food restaurant where they will have to interact with people they will not be able to communicate with in order to do their job.

 

[RDKirk]

Bad management decision to have nobody on shift who knew how to take orders in English.

Taking a Taco Bell order in English doesn't even require knowing how to speak English.

In fact, I don't even believe that was the situation. I suspect the manager on duty simply didn't intend to take an order from an English speaker that night.

 

[dqhall]

It is actually not that uncommon in Florida, particularly in Miami metro area. I have been to a Burger King in Miami that no-one spoke English at either. The entire state of Florida has a very high population of people that only speak Spanish, or speak it as a primary language. We have millions of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Colombians, and others that come here and find that they do not need to speak English so long as they primarily work, live, and shop in areas that have large concentrations of Spanish speaking people - which honestly is most of the state. Almost all State documents are in English and Spanish, and posted notices for workers comp. etc. have to be in both languages. I do not have an issue if someone does not learn English, but they should probably not be in a public facing job like a fast food restaurant where they will have to interact with people they will not be able to communicate with in order to do their job.

I live in an area of Florida that is about 95% English speaking. Florida is more Hispanic than most states. States from Texas to California are more Hispanic. In California there are more Hispanics than any other group. Not all of them are voting age yet. New Mexico has a Hispanic majority. The way things are going, Hispanics will eventually become the largest ethnic group in Texas.

 

[wing2000]

Then again, it was a Taco Bell - cultural appropriation and all those horrors...

...the horror of Taco Bell food.

 

[RDKirk]

I live in an area of Florida that is about 95% English speaking. Florida is more Hispanic than most states. States from Texas to California are more Hispanic. In California there are more Hispanics than any other group. Not all of them are voting age yet. New Mexico has a Hispanic majority. The way things are going, Hispanics will eventually become the largest ethnic group in Texas.

My son-in-law is Hispanic. His ancestors were in Texas before it was Texas.

But he speaks no Spanish at all.

But I made my daughter start taking Spanish in the 7th grade through high school, and she continued through college. She speaks it fluently (including the high-faluting "vosotros" Spanish, and does a good Castilian accent), reads it and writes it at the college level. Most Spanish-speaking folk around here in Texas figure she's Cubana when she's speaking Spanish (I can pick up that much from the conversation around us), because her accent isn't Mexican and she's clearly afro-something.

She was rather surprised at first, when she first started dating the guy, that he didn't speak Spanish. But when she did the tour meeting his family, she promised his grandmother that she'd teach him Spanish and that she'd teach the children Spanish.

As far as I'm concerned, the boy needs to learn Spanish. Heck, I can even work my way through television listings on Univision.

My daughter also salsas, and he doesn't. Sheesh.

 

[dgiharris]

It is actually not that uncommon in Florida, particularly in Miami metro area. I have been to a Burger King in Miami that no-one spoke English at either. The entire state of Florida has a very high population of people that only speak Spanish, or speak it as a primary language. We have millions of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Colombians, and others that come here and find that they do not need to speak English so long as they primarily work, live, and shop in areas that have large concentrations of Spanish speaking people - which honestly is most of the state. Almost all State documents are in English and Spanish, and posted notices for workers comp. etc. have to be in both languages. I do not have an issue if someone does not learn English, but they should probably not be in a public facing job like a fast food restaurant where they will have to interact with people they will not be able to communicate with in order to do their job.

My son-in-law is Hispanic. His ancestors were in Texas before it was Texas.

But he speaks no Spanish at all.

But I made my daughter start taking Spanish in the 7th grade through high school, and she continued through college. She speaks it fluently (including the high-faluting "vosotros" Spanish, and does a good Castilian accent), reads it and writes it at the college level. Most Spanish-speaking folk around here in Texas figure she's Cubana when she's speaking Spanish (I can pick up that much from the conversation around us), because her accent isn't Mexican and she's clearly afro-something.

She was rather surprised at first, when she first started dating the guy, that he didn't speak Spanish. But when she did the tour meeting his family, she promised his grandmother that she'd teach him Spanish and that she'd teach the children Spanish.

As far as I'm concerned, the boy needs to learn Spanish. Heck, I can even work my way through television listings on Univision.

My daughter also salsas, and he doesn't. Sheesh.

When I worked as a teen in Texas, I knew "enough" Spanish to take orders from customers and I had a vocabulary that encompassed everything work related.

I do believe that everyone in the US -- especially the border States -- should learn Spanish

But on the flip side, to me, it is INSANE that people live in this country and don't speak basic English.

I remember when my friends and I graduated college and were planning on taking a Trip to Hawaii then Japan.

We were going to just spend 4 days and Japan and all of us memorized around 20 phrases in Japanese and around 50 words just so we could do some basic communicating. And we were only going to be there for a few days.

I can not conceive of actually living in a country and not speaking the language.

 

[wing2000]

I can not conceive of actually living in a country and not speaking the language.

...there are few urban "gateway areas" where one can get by with out knowing English....Miami, Houston, LA etc...but in the end, if someone wants to work beyond entry level service jobs, that person will have to learn English.

 

[usexpat97]

I probably would not have deemed this newsworthy, if I was newspaper editor. Obviously if someone refuses to serve a customer for not speaking Spanish, they should be fired.

 

[RDKirk]

I probably would not have deemed this newsworthy, if I was newspaper editor. Obviously if someone refuses to serve a customer for not speaking Spanish, they should be fired.

'Way back in the late 80s, I was chatting with one of the producers of a new 24/7 news channel. I asked her how she expected to have enough important news to air on a 24/7 basis.

She said, "BS is better than static."

 

[iluvatar5150]

The brick mason I use is white and his crew is hispanic (typical for contractors around here). They all do great work, but there's something really amusing about watching a guy who could pass for a younger, Irish ginger version of Santa Claus fumble his way through some of the worst Spanish I've ever heard.

 

[Chesterton]

I think it's the customer's fault. Every American knows that in order to speak to a Spanish speaker you simply add an "o" to the end of a word. All she had to do was ask for a "taco-o" or a "burrito-o".

Anyway, do you really need to order at a Taco Bell? Every menu item is pretty much the same meat, cheese and tortilla arranged in different shapes. Couldn't you just hand them $5 and they could give you $5 worth of "stuff". I once got a large order from Taco Bell, went home and enjoyed it. Next time I was there the manager apologized to me. "I'm so sorry we got your order completely wrong last time you were here." I was like "You did? I didn't notice."

 

[Chesterton]

'Way back in the late 80s, I was chatting with one of the producers of a new 24/7 news channel. I asked her how she expected to have enough important news to air on a 24/7 basis.

She said, "BS is better than static."

This comedian Norm MacDonald has this bit about how when we were kids there was only "the evening news" - one half hour of TV news each day. Then you subtract commercials and you've got about 22 minutes. And within the 22 minutes they still found time to tack on a humorous fluff piece about a moose or something. So yeah, 22 minutes is more than enough to learn about all the stuff which in no way affects your life 99% of the time.

 

[Ana the Ist]

What I don't understand is...this is Taco Bell. Taco in English is taco in Spanish. The same goes for "chalupa" or "nachos".

What exactly did this guy order?

 

[Ana the Ist]

I think it's the customer's fault. Every American knows that in order to speak to a Spanish speaker you simply add an "o" to the end of a word. All she had to do was ask for a "taco-o" or a "burrito-o".

Anyway, do you really need to order at a Taco Bell? Every menu item is pretty much the same meat, cheese and tortilla arranged in different shapes. Couldn't you just hand them $5 and they could give you $5 worth of "stuff". I once got a large order from Taco Bell, went home and enjoyed it. Next time I was there the manager apologized to me. "I'm so sorry we got your order completely wrong last time you were here." I was like "You did? I didn't notice."

It all comes out the same after all.

 

[usexpat97]

I wonder...could it have been payback? I have personally eyewitnessed a black cop abusing a white guy, which I'm sure had something to do with him being upset that it happened the other way around so often. And I am 100% positive Spanish-speaking people have been refused service before for not speaking English.

Doesn't justify the behavior, and the worker should still be fired. But at least there is some ill will we could work to defuse there, if we knew that to be the reason. Ill will is NOT something we should pay forward.

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm a gringo that lives in an area that's 3/4 hispanic, the rest are black with only a few white people. Most of the hispanic people around me do speak some English. They typically will mix English and Spanish in their conversations.

I speak enough Spanish to get by if I have to and read the labels at the local grocery and order food at the deli. In Florida it's not very smart to move here and not know at least some Spanish.

Our church even has a Lutheran service on Saturday's occasionally where a retired pastor will lead worship in Spanish. Our church has several Puerto Rican families. Puerto Ricans are US citizens and English is usually taught there and used in government to some extent, but most people speak Spanish as the first language.

 

[mmksparbud]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45535948

Odd. Granted everyone there only spoke Spanish reportedly, as does 90% of the community. One would think people would learn some English, it is the global lingua franca after all. Or at least gotten through with good ol' fashioned hand-gestures and speaking louder and condescendingly slowly.

I am a second language English speaker, and I really cannot see how it can be tolerated not to speak English in a largely anglophone country - or in general for that matter. My personal opinion is that everyone should be taught English anyway, in addition to any other language. Then again, it was a Taco Bell - cultural appropriation and all those horrors...

It is one of my pet peeves---makes me nuts. I was 9 when I came to this country and spoke only Spanish. I learned. You go to my country, Costa Rica--you learn the language! You have to prove you can read and understand Spanish in order to become a citizen there--as it should be required to know English here. It is horribly arrogant and disrespectful to go to someone else's country and expect them to learn your language instead of you learning theirs! At 81 my grandmother visited here for 3 weeks---she learned more English by the time she left then some of these people know after over 30 years here! Totally outrageous!