07 November 2007

I'm a Bitch :(

The language barrier bit me in the ass today, or rather, caused me to bite someone else in the ass, I suppose. I went to the market on the corner for meat for dinner and a couple other small things. I had baby Maggie strapped to me with the Moby. Several people stopped to ooh and aah over her - usually in German, so I just nodded and smiled a lot, since I'm sure they were going on and on about how adorable she is. Duh.

When I got to the register, I realized I forgot my bag, so I needed to buy a new one. No biggie. The people leaving the register ahead of me and the cashier did the German ooh and aah thing, so I smiled and nodded some more. Once my stuff was rung up and the cashier had put it in the bag for me (which doesn't usually happen) while still ooh-ing and aah-ing, she said the total. I looked at the screen and swore it said 12,02 (Germans use commas instead of decimals. No idea why.). I gave her 15 euros. Now here's where it gets dicey. She kept talking. In German, of course. I thought she wanted the two euro-cent, which I didn't have. I tried to tell her I had only one euro-cent. Finally, she just sort of shook her head and waved me off and put the money away. But she didn't give me any change. I didn't feel comfortable trying to argue with her, since I still knew no German.

On the way home, I was kind of annoyed that she had ripped me off. I felt like a dumb American who couldn't do anything to defend myself. Whatever.

When I got home and unpacked everything, I saw my receipt. The total was actually 15,02. I stole 2 euro-cent from the nice cashier. I'm the bitch :(

4 comments:

Steph said...

No, you're not. Can you go back tomorrow and give her the 2 cents. The language barrier must make things hard.

siteseer said...

She just got her 2 cents worth lol. You should take in a "give a penny leave a penny" cup and leave 2 cents in there and of course smile. The universal language.

Anonymous said...

Aah, the joys of living in a foreign country where you don't understand or speak the language.

I remember once in Japan I ordered what I thought was chicken, thought I said it right, but apparently with the inflection in my voice it meant something else and I got a squid, with tentacles still attached.

((HUGS)) Don't be so hard on yourself, this kind of stuff happens, really, it does.

Tiffany said...

I think you're doing a great job!! I can't imagine how hard it would be to live somewhere I don't know the language. Just visiting is tough enough!

You can do this lady!!

And of COURSE they were ooh'ing and ahh'ing at the babe. She's just that cute!