Talking on the phone in French is just too hard.
Today, I needed to call the car dealership to change an appointment from tomorrow to a day in January. I’m just not going to deal with it this time… I’m making the new appointment for a day when Bill is here. Or at least, that’s what I’m trying to do.
So I called this morning, told the woman who answered what I need, and she told me to wait. Then she unsuccessfully tried three times to transfer me (I kept hearing her pushing the buttons), then she hung up on me. I called back. Repeated my rehearsed sentence. She told me to hold. Then the line rang and rang and rang and rang and rang…. five minutes later I was disconnected. Figuring I called too close to lunchtime (it was 11:45), I decided to just wait and try in the afternoon.
At 3:30, I figured everyone was back from their two hour lunch and able to use the phone. I called back, gave my line and was successfully transferred to someone who answered. I repeated my line and the woman responded with a question spoken at such rapid-fire I stood no chance to understanding. I told her I don’t speak French well, and the phone is especially difficult. So she repeated herself… and I swear to you… she did so even faster. I thought she was telling me to hang on when she said au revoir. Au revoir?
I called my French teacher. She called them and just called me back to say that the woman had been trying to tell me that their computer isn’t working so canceling is ok, but rescheduling just cannot be done right now. Well, why didn’t she just say so…. S-L-O-W-L-Y?
Everyone knows it is standard accepted procedure for persons speaking in a foreign language to be able to get their point across simply by (1) speaking louder (2) speaking faster. It also helps to be sure the listener can see your lips, although without a picture phone that can be hard to do. I relied heavily on charades, something you too have employed in the past. Again, lack of a picture phone makes that a less effective tool. And for C.A.R.O.L.’s benefit (whomever she is, who commented on my contributions in another blog entry) I’m not a humorous person (just ask my kids), I simply relay truth and wisdom.