# Customers who don't speak English.



## LEAD INGOT (Jul 15, 2009)

I just sat thru a 55 minute marital arguement in chinese. The customers water heater took a crap on him and he is planning to re- open on Friday. It was 1:30 I had until 2:30 to get the heater ordered so it would be here by tomorrow afternoon so they can get their resturant open by Friday. I gave them the price, their eyes actually went round, and then somebody pulled the string on their mouth motors. If you own a business in America and don't speak english please provide a translator. It would have shaved an hour off of my day.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*kill more cats*

they will just have to kill a few more cats in the
neighbor hood for the.... 
"sweet and sour chicken" to pay the bill


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## LEAD INGOT (Jul 15, 2009)

Master Mark said:


> they will just have to kill a few more cats in the
> neighbor hood for the....
> "sweet and sour chicken" to pay the bill


 thats funny you say that. They have been gone for 2 months and just got back. My wifes cousin runs the pound and said they had a large influx of cats over the last couple of months. Hmmmmmm.


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## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

Money is universal. I try to convey time is money, they will pay to waste time. Thankfully, we don't have to deal with it to much. I just learned the most spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. 1 billion, give or take a few million.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

I repaired a water service for a Chinese restaurant today and they paid in $10.00 bills?


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## ESPinc (Jul 18, 2009)

Master Mark said:


> they will just have to kill a few more cats in the
> neighbor hood for the....
> "sweet and sour chicken" to pay the bill


:laughing:

Those chinese places have to be some of the worst. The last one I looked at just got shut down by the county, you should have seen the pit they used to clean the hood filters


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

LEAD INGOT said:


> I just sat thru a 55 minute marital arguement in chinese. The customers water heater took a crap on him and he is planning to re- open on Friday. It was 1:30 I had until 2:30 to get the heater ordered so it would be here by tomorrow afternoon so they can get their resturant open by Friday. I gave them the price, their eyes actually went round, and then somebody pulled the string on their mouth motors. If you own a business in America and don't speak english please provide a translator. It would have shaved an hour off of my day.


Draw pictures of work to be done with arrows pointing to money next time
Water heater = much money you chop chop make payment now
Stick figures work great too.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Ive seen mexicans, all of sudden, learn english really quick, when the cops arrive that is.


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## plumb4fun (Feb 18, 2009)

I have gone into spanish speaking homes where the translators are young children. Trying to explain plumbing diagnosis to a 5 year old so that they could in turn tell their parents what the plumber needs to replace. Amazing how smart some kids can be at that age. The families always paid cash.


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## Ashleymc (Nov 14, 2009)

*Dont even waste my time...*

I dont do business with any non english speaking caller..:no:


Although a real Scotsman/woman (McAnything) top them all..

I have competitors numbers memorized and I give them their numbers!!

hahahh


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

Ashleymc said:


> I dont do business with any non english speaking caller..:no:
> 
> 
> Although a real Scotsman/woman (McAnything) top them all..
> ...


A bit prejudiced are we?


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## plumb4fun (Feb 18, 2009)

Wwjd?


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

"Drain not work. Drain make water go down for $200"

"I fix drain for $200, k? I take off $10 for shimp fied wice, but you give extra eggroll."

"Oooooo drain not work and need fix. Fix drain for $200. You not pay bill I shut water off, you pay." 

"You pay I turn water back on."


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## LEAD INGOT (Jul 15, 2009)

DUNBAR PLUMBING said:


> "Drain not work. Drain make water go down for $200"
> 
> "I fix drain for $200, k? I take off $10 for shimp fied wice, but you give extra eggroll."
> 
> ...


 I"m not sure, but I think that's racist. WWWD?


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Hrmmm...


What Would Wong Do? 


Probably shop vac it all up, cooking grease and all and dump it in his lake behind his house like they did in my community...and got *caught*. :laughing:


The EPA made an example out of them as well. That whole family spent 2 months serving chinese fo fwee to pay that one off! :thumbsup:


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## LEAD INGOT (Jul 15, 2009)

Actually, I was going for What Would Wang Do? Never the less. If you are a business owner, In these United States, learn the language, or have someone gainfully employed that can precisely exchange the information. Deck the Harrs Rith Bowrs of Howrey FaRA RA RA RA, RA RA RA RA.


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## Tankless (Jun 12, 2008)

plumb4fun said:


> I have gone into spanish speaking homes where the translators are young children. Trying to explain plumbing diagnosis to a 5 year old so that they could in turn tell their parents what the plumber needs to replace. Amazing how smart some kids can be at that age. The families always paid cash.


 
People in the rest of the country have no idea just how accurate your post is. 5-12 yr olds are amazing translators....and it's funny to me when they start to argue on my behalf. They don't understand the how water will be off for a few hours, so it will work better from now on. The kids get it...good ol' silver teeth don't.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

The biggest problem I have is them trying to use thier lack of english to get out of paying the full bill. An example of this is I went to a Frenchmans house one time to clear out his sewer line. It was a simple job was done within an hour. When I went to collect he started acting stupid. Every time I would try to collect he would converse in french to his wife. Little did he know with by being born and raised across from the canadian border that I spoke french. What he was telling his wife in short was that if he could stall me long enough I would get tired and leave. You should have seen the look on this guys face when I started talking to him in french. Talk about a jaw hitting the floor. he went into the other room and his wife paid me with a smile. Think she liked seeing him get his. I told her never to call me again and left.


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## LEAD INGOT (Jul 15, 2009)

Bollinger plumber said:


> The biggest problem I have is them trying to use thier lack of english to get out of paying the full bill. An example of this is I went to a Frenchmans house one time to clear out his sewer line. It was a simple job was done within an hour. When I went to collect he started acting stupid. Every time I would try to collect he would converse in french to his wife. Little did he know with by being born and raised across from the canadian border that I spoke french. What he was telling his wife in short was that if he could stall me long enough I would get tired and leave. You should have seen the look on this guys face when I started talking to him in french. Talk about a jaw hitting the floor. he went into the other room and his wife paid me with a smile. Think she liked seeing him get his. I told her never to call me again and left.


 Typical Frenchman, surrendering when the fight gets tough.


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## TheSkinnyGuy (Sep 15, 2009)

Never had THAT privilege to work at a chinese resataurant... But if they spoke mandarin then it'd be a piece of cake for me (I lived in Taiwan for 10 years and learned some mandarin there). Put it this way though, if you can build up a good relationship with them then you'll get some good deals on their food, or they'll give you extra food when you order.


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## TheSkinnyGuy (Sep 15, 2009)

ESPinc said:


> :laughing:
> 
> Those chinese places have to be some of the worst. The last one I looked at just got shut down by the county, you should have seen the pit they used to clean the hood filters


 
you should see how they do it in china... what they do here is clean


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

Please watch the name slinging or I will close this thread.


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## Ashleymc (Nov 14, 2009)

*re*



slickrick said:


> A bit prejudiced are we?


 More than a bit..


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## ILPlumber (Jun 17, 2008)

Ashleymc said:


> More than a bit..


I don't care if you are prejudice. Keep it to yourself. There is NO place for that here. MKay.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

I'd tell them you are working hourly.



LEAD INGOT said:


> I just sat thru a 55 minute marital arguement in chinese. The customers water heater took a crap on him and he is planning to re- open on Friday. It was 1:30 I had until 2:30 to get the heater ordered so it would be here by tomorrow afternoon so they can get their resturant open by Friday. I gave them the price, their eyes actually went round, and then somebody pulled the string on their mouth motors. If you own a business in America and don't speak english please provide a translator. It would have shaved an hour off of my day.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

Bollinger plumber said:


> The biggest problem I have is them trying to use thier lack of english to get out of paying the full bill. An example of this is I went to a Frenchmans house one time to clear out his sewer line. It was a simple job was done within an hour. When I went to collect he started acting stupid. Every time I would try to collect he would converse in french to his wife. Little did he know with by being born and raised across from the canadian border that I spoke french. What he was telling his wife in short was that if he could stall me long enough I would get tired and leave. You should have seen the look on this guys face when I started talking to him in french. Talk about a jaw hitting the floor. he went into the other room and his wife paid me with a smile. Think she liked seeing him get his. I told her never to call me again and left.


This post made my entire day. Wish I could've been there.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

gear junkie said:


> This post made my entire day. Wish I could've been there.


Was kind of like when you watch cops. They pull over an nonenglish speaking driver but as soon as a translator gets there they speak perfect english.  ITS A MIRACLE!!!:laughing:


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## hulihan (Aug 11, 2009)

Here in LA, you have alot of Spanish, and I took french in high school, had I known back then we would get invaded with spanish speaking people , I would of taken spanish, but here there are plumbers for every language spoken, and they all stay true to there place of orgin , the Jewish use the jewish plumbers etc...............


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## Plumber Jim (Jun 19, 2008)

A friend of mine was working for another company and he needed to collect after doing some plumbing at a Mexican restaurant. when collection time came the people forgot how to speak English, so he called me and i put my wife on the phone and she told them that he was charging by the hour and the bill was getting larger, as he waited to get paid. they paid him very quickly. hehe Before our child was born my wife was a interpreter in the courts.


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## BROOKLYN\PLUMB (May 21, 2010)

hulihan said:


> Here in LA, you have alot of Spanish, and I took french in high school, had I known back then we would get invaded with spanish speaking people , I would of taken spanish, but here there are plumbers for every language spoken, and they all stay true to there place of orgin , the Jewish use the jewish plumbers etc...............


Here in the big Apple melting pot you get everything I have interpreters (on speed dial) for every language you can imagine from creole to yiddish to say that people stick to there own for plumbing is crazy people want good honest plumbing that's all and here at least my experience is the opposite it can be hard to deal with your own race (whatever it is) some of my plumbing buddies will rather me deal with there race and vice versa (there seems to be mistrust within races) or they think you should discount them because we have slightly closer genetic makeup (I think not everyone pays the same)

Sent from my EVO 4G using Plumbing Zone


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## greenscoutII (Aug 27, 2008)

I think haggling and bartering are part of the culture in Asia. It is especially frustrating when I'm the employee doing the work and attempting to collect the bill. I knew I had a little latitude if it was a veteran or an elderly person I was dealing with, but I had none if it was anybody else. The boss would not be happy if I were to capitulate and lower the bill. Talk about an awkward situation. Truthfully, I despise conflict, particularly with paying customers, but I would stand my ground.

The Mexican immigrants are pretty easy to deal with for the most part. If a guy can speak a little Spanish it seems to make them a bit more comfortable. They always pay cash.

Same deal with the trailer park. Some guys hate working on trailers and have some bias against the people who live there, but in my experience, they were often the easiest people to work for. They tend to pay in cash too.


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## breid1903 (Feb 8, 2009)

plumb4fun is right. most of my non english customers make sure that the kids are around. in fact the kids usually make the appointments. most don't trust banks. or cops for that matter. me neither. they cash their check and pay all their bills with cash or money orders. works for me. tea beggars and people that act religious are the worst in my experience. that is not a scientific study. if you are a tea beggar or act religious this is not directed at you unless you have tried to screw me. breid.................:rockon:


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

breid1903 said:


> plumb4fun is right. most of my non english customers make sure that the kids are around. in fact the kids usually make the appointments. most don't trust banks. or cops for that matter. me neither. they cash their check and pay all their bills with cash or money orders. works for me. tea beggars and people that act religious are the worst in my experience. that is not a scientific study. if you are a tea beggar or act religious this is not directed at you unless you have tried to screw me. breid.................:rockon:


 



What is a tea bagger? I have heard the term, but don't know what it refers to.


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## RW Plumbing (Aug 16, 2010)

Tommy plumber said:


> What is a tea bagger? I have heard the term, but don't know what it refers to.


That's what a liberal calls a member of the Tea party. It's easier to call them names than it is to face the truth in what they're trying to say....


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

breid1903 said:


> plumb4fun is right. most of my non english customers make sure that the kids are around. in fact the kids usually make the appointments. most don't trust banks. or cops for that matter. me neither. they cash their check and pay all their bills with cash or money orders. works for me. tea beggars and people that act religious are the worst in my experience. that is not a scientific study. if you are a tea beggar or act religious this is not directed at you unless you have tried to screw me. breid.................:rockon:


Wow you just insulted the majority of people in the United States. How is that working for you in business?

Mark


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## Plumbdog (Jan 27, 2009)

ToUtahNow said:


> Wow you just insulted the majority of people in the United States. How is that working for you in business?
> 
> Mark


 
Why do you think that the majority of the people in the US has tried to screw him?


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