Don’t You Speak Asian?, Part 2

Me: “Thank you for calling [Store]. This is [My Name] speaking. How may I help you today?”

Caller: “Hi. I would like to speak with an associate who can speak Chinese, please.”

The caller says this with an unusually high degree of certainty. His English sounds adequate to me, and I have no reason to doubt his ability to converse. And my store is located in a city that isn’t exactly known for its Chinese population.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but none of our staff speaks Chinese.”

Caller: “Yes, you do! I saw one when I was in your store the other day!”

My store has a surprisingly small staff for a chain retailer, and I happen to know everyone who works here on some personal level. Again, we do not have any Chinese-speaking employees.

Me: “Sir, are you talking about the heavy-set Asian male in his early twenties?”

Caller: “Yes! Him! Put me on the phone with him!”

Me: “Sir, that’s me, and I speak Korean.”

The caller shouted something unintelligible before hanging up. Welcome to Canada, buddy.

Related:
Don’t You Speak Asian?