Want to speak spanish all the time?
GO F'ing BACK TO YOUR 'HOME' COUNTRY!Thanks for your heartfelt comments.
Next time don't hold it in so much!
Posted on 08/24/2013 4:41:24 AM PDT by Iron Munro
Verizon executives in Tampa Bay are informally telling employees that they should be speaking English only when on the job.
Not because Verizon has an English-only policy at work — it doesn’t — but because speaking Spanish at work when not absolutely necessary can make nearby English-only speakers feel excluded.
This topic came to a head recently in Tampa when three employees of a Verizon dispatch center were speaking Spanish together, and another employee made a complaint because she felt excluded. The tri-lingual newspaper La Gaceta first reported on the incident this week, telling the story of Margaret Hess, a Verizon employee of 33 years who was asked to speak only English with her co-workers.
Verizon spokesman Bob Elek confirmed the incident, and described the company language policy this way.
“Generally, we tell employees they can speak Spanish (or any other language) on break, lunch or any time away from the work area,” he wrote in an official statement. However, when employees are on the dispatch center floor or other work setting, they should speak English, he said. This promotes “positive employee relations” because it’s courteous to co-workers, and employees should be “mindful” of making others feel uncomfortable, Elek said, “not because they’re speaking Spanish’, but because for some it can create a feeling of separation versus inclusion.”
Elek said that Verizon absolutely encourages employees to speak Spanish as part of their jobs – when it’s necessary to communicate with customers or for other business reasons.
This issue “pops up all the time because there’s friction between cultures,” said Tony Morejon, a cultural affairs liaison for Hillsborough County. “I encourage people to learn English ... but some employees are going to resent this kind of rule. Some will say they won’t speak Spanish for business purposes unless they’re required to, because they feel used. Like ‘Oh when you want me to speak Spanish you say do that, but not other times.’”
Guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allow a company to have a narrowly tailored policy requiring English in the workplace, so long as the policy is not adopted with an intent to discriminate, said Reed Russell, a partner with the law firm of Phelps Dunbar and a former legal counsel to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Companies can require English in many places and times for reasons like workplace safety, efficiency and “harmony,” or official communications.
“Where employers get into difficulty with the EEOC is if the rule is overbroad,” he said, for instance an English-only rule on all company grounds at all times. “This is one of those issues that gets a lot of discussion, but there are not that many EEOC charges or lawsuits filed. It gets a lot of people agitated on both sides of the issue. Some say such a policy is racist or mean-spirited. Others say you should only speak English in America.”
Speaking a language not understood by everyone in earshot used to be considered rude.
My older brother lived in Brazil for some years. I went to visit him many yrs. ago.
When talking to the locals and between locals in my presence they insisted he translate the conversations for my benefit.
Growing up in Miami and living through Castro’s takeover and the subsequent influx of Cubans, I saw first hand that was/is not the case.
One of my hot points today. It’s rude!
Sounds like a good time to comment:
"Hey bastards...This is the United States. If you can't speak English, you can't have our money." and walk out.
I ran a large call, multi lingual call center.
English on the floor. Your “assigned” language on the phone. You were paid more for being bilingual.
I did not give a hoot what you spoke in the break room or parking lot. Here is a clue: They are not talking about you.
People need to lighten up.
Thanks! Have the recorder going and can their butts.
My sentiments exactly. I demand English in my dealings with companies. Likewise, we can turn their exclusionary sensibilities right back on them. Payback is a b!tch Jose.
>>They don’t want you to know
¿Quién comió los Anasazi.
This is America. Why should they speak any other language? If they want to speak Spanish, they can move to Mexico.
Excluded?? No, it's rude, ignorant behavior and it pisses me off. This is 'Merica dammit, we speak ENGLISH.
Want to speak spanish all the time? GO F'ing BACK TO YOUR 'HOME' COUNTRY!
http://www.google.com/#q=anasazi+cannibalism
Kinda takes the air out of LaRaza’s “Cultural Pride” balloon when certain FACTS are brought to light.
Para español, presione uno.
I tend to respond to Spanish being thrown at me ... with Chinese! That usually leads to a conversation about being courteous and not excluding people.
But then again, I speak four languages so I have a lot of opportunity to create havoc among people who "just don't get it".
“I used to live in Tampa Fl. and was born there. I have watched my old neighborhood and city transformed into a 3rd world country over the past 53 yrs.”
My town only took about 30 years to transform from American-American to North Quito. It isn’t unsafe, just completely foreign.
Good, I don’t want to speak Hindi when talking to the phone service reps!
Oh, they’re sure to back down from this, now that the story is in the papers. I have 10 bucks that says Verizon caves within a week.
Want to speak spanish all the time?
GO F'ing BACK TO YOUR 'HOME' COUNTRY!Thanks for your heartfelt comments.
Next time don't hold it in so much!
Really?
Just how long were you in charge of running that call center?
You are so wrong. I have run them for twenty years. The paranoid whites/Anglos also think we were always talking about them in our staff meetings too.
Telling someone they cannot speak their native language on their own time is an idiot.
"Hola, me llamo, 'Peggy'"
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