Posted by cerrynn1 on Tue 9 Dec 03, 1:37 AM to cerrynn1's blog.
I really wish that whoever created the (now apparently departed) "blackowner" persona had not chosen to make her (him?) an American. I already have more than sufficient reasons to be embarrassed by my nationality. First and foremost among those reasons is the astounding *ignorance* of so many Americans. Not all of them; I know many bright, intelligent, well- informed Americans as well ... of course, most of them have sensibly taken up residence in other countries. As for those with which I currently find myself surrounded, let me describe for you two recent encounters:
Several weeks ago I had *tried* to transfer funds from my American bank to my Barclays current account. The first attempt was disastrous ... not only was the staff ignorant, but also arrogant and rude. The result? I lost my temper in a major way and stomped out. Upon reflection I decided I ought to go to a different branch to continue the transaction, as I was afraid that the staff of the original branch might well call security if they saw me darken their door again.
So ... I went to another branch. Having had a talk with myself and reminding myself that little would be served by my assaulting a bank clerk and ending up in prison -- worse yet, in an American prison -- I resolved to be calm and nice and smile a lot and not to let anything get to me. I *did* succeed in this, I am pleased to report.
At this other bank branch, things did go much more smoothly. I was helped by a woman in her late 30s, pleasant enough, but obviously relatively new in the job and quite insecure about handling something as exotic as an international electronic transfer of funds. She went trotting off with all my already- completed forms to ask her superior what she should do. The superior was involved with something and wasn't able to come help me herself, but she instructed this woman in what to do. She came back with all my forms, having been told to get photo ID from me and to go over the forms to make sure that everything was filled out. This she did.
Except ... I watched her as she went over the form. She had to trace under every item (with a *very* slowly moving finger) and I think, although I wouldn't swear, that I could see her lips moving. All right, at least she wasn't being arrogant. She got as far as the line which contained the address of the destination bank, which happened to be the Cardigan Group of Barclays Bank (the address being that of the first account I set up when I arrived in the UK, when I was based in Mid- Wales).
Anyway, she got as far as the line which read "Cardigan,Cardiganshire, [post code], UK". The slowly moving finger stopped at the "UK". She looked up at me with an absolutely horrified expression, and said,
"You want to send money to, to ... the *Ukraine*!?!?"
I was kind. I can put up with ignorance pretty well (as a former teacher I'm used to it!), as long as it's not coupled with arrogance.
Then, later the same day, I was in a big consumer electronics retail store called BestBuy. BestBuy has, in the years since I last spent any time in the US, apparently become a bit of an institution here. My purpose for being in BestBuy was to buy a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go phone (pay-as-you-go and top-up plans have *just* been introduced here, within the past three months). I went to the mobile phone department, found the model I wanted, asked a couple of final questions (I had already researched the available models and plans on the internet), then took the phone to the check-out at the front of the store.
The register was being attended by a very young and quite pretty girl -- she was probably 17 or 18. Big smile, very perky voice and personality. In fact, you have to picture the rest of this conversation with her part done in *extremely* perky -- nearly chipmunk-like - - vocal tones.
BestBuy Girl: Hi!!! [taking phone] Is this all for you today?!?!
Me: Yes.
BBG: Ok!!! Can I have your phone number? [this seems to be a new and common thing at a lot of US retailers ... they take your phone number, then collect your name, address, etc. so that they can first-name you the next time you come in. Sigh.]
Me: [I give the phone number for my mother's house, where I am staying. My mother and my brother buy stuff at BestBuy, so guess whose name comes up on the computer?]
BBG: Nice to see you again, Margaret!!!
Me: [resigned by now to terminal first-naming]. I'm not Margaret, I'm Margaret's daughter, Karen.
BBG: Oh! Hi, Karen!!! Would you like me to add your name to our records here?
Me: There's not much point. I don't live here, I'm just visiting.
BBG: Oh! You don't live here?!? Where are you visiting from?!?
Me: Well, actually, I live in England [having learned not to say "the UK" in case people think I live in the Ukraine].
BBG: Oh!!! [looks momentarily thoughtful]. Do they have BestBuy stores there?
Me: No, not that I've noticed.
BBG: [mournfully and with great sympathy] Oooohhhhhh, that's too bad.
Me: Well, England has a few things that aren't here, too.
BBG: They *DO*?!?
Me: So I guess it all evens out.
BBG: Oh!!! [looks thoughtful again] Does anyone speak English there?
[I swear on my collar that I am *not* making this, or any of what follows, up.]
Me: [after swallowing my astonishment] I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be patronising or anything, but...are you joking with me and I'm just not getting it?
BBG: Huh? No...???
Me: Well, yes, most people do speak English in England. That's where English *comes* from.
BBG: Really!?!?! England's in Europe, isn't it?
Me: Yes.
BBG: I thought everyone in Europe spoke French!!!
At that point, I again had to enquire as to whether she was serious. She was. I then told her, as briefly as I was able to do so, that English has its origin in England, that's why the first three letters are the same in "England" and "English", that they spoke French in France, but that the other countries in Europe spoke a variety of different languages, and that the reason why English was spoken in America was because of people from England who had come to America roughly four hundred years ago as colonists.
She was fascinated. She had never heard any of this before.
I didn't lose my temper or anything ... again, she was certainly not arrogant about her ignorance. But for that matter, she wasn't embarrassed either. She was interested and thought all this was certainly a lot of fun to know, but her response was about the same as you might expect when you share some bit of particularly arcane trivia related to an unusual and obscure professional or academic specialty.
I came home and related this incident to my brother who, before he got thoroughly fed up and went into the computer/IT field, was briefly a secondary-level teacher in the local state schools. I asked him if BestBuy Girl was an anomaly in her ignorance, or...???
He sighed wearily and said, "No, that's a pretty standard level of ignorance these days."
If I click the heels of my ruby slippers together three times and say "There's No Place Like Home!" as sincerely as I possibly can, does anyone know a kindly wizard who will transport me home to Coventry?
No? Oh well.
Last but very definitely not least ... ai shiteru, Sensei, itsumo. And I miss you like crazy.
your cerrynn{M}
Edited Wed 31 Dec 03, 10:14 PM by cerrynn1
