scott wrote:
>> Or when I'm expected to help somebody who doesn't speak English.
> 
> It's a good skill to have, being able to communicate with people who 
> can't speak English that well.  Even though it just seems like common 
> sense that you need to speak slower and clearer, and try not to use any 
> unusual words or difficult sentence constructs, it's surprising how many 
> people just don't get it and carry on talking completely normally when 
> the other person obviously doesn't have a clue.

Well when the line keeps cutting out and the person at the other end is 
being hostile towards me, it doesn't make for a fun day, let's put it 
that way.

I'm not an interpretter, I'm a computer technition.

>> Sure. You try explaining these things in a way that doesn't sound like 
>> you're just inventing excuses.
> 
> Umm, "I agree completely 100% with you, I have proposed it to management 
> several times, but they said they just don't have the money".

And they walk off muttering "yeah, whatever, we believe you".

>> And our site manager is just a moron.
> 
> You said that a lot of people there have PhDs? They can't all be 
> completely stupid!

...did I?

Anyway, I'm sure the people in the lab aren't stupid. But our site 
manager... is. Nobody likes him. All he does is swagger around in that 
arrogant self-important way, and spend all day on Facebook. If you 
actually *ask* him something, he hasn't got a clue what you're talking 
about. But hey, he's only here because it'll look good on his CV.

>>> And what happened then after you explained to him the situation? And 
>>> what did he reply when you asked him why nobody consulted you first?
>>
>> He said "oh" and wandered off.
> 
> So you asked to meet with him later to discuss what to do with the 
> useless equipment he just ordered to be installed and how to make sure 
> it doesn't happen again?  Seems to me that's what the IT guy should be 
> doing.

Not a case of "just" ordered; this was about a month after they 
installed it. (Not that he *told* me or anything. I just "found out" 
when I went into the server room one day and an extra patch panel had 
appeared. But hey, I'm only the IT guy...) Presumably he just sort of 
mumbled "uh... data... uh... connection... thingy?" and the salesman 
said "fiber link?" and he said "oh, yeah, that sounds computery, we'll 
have six of those". [Why six? WTF?]

>> To this day, that room still isn't live. But then, it seems it's 
>> become a store room anyway, so...
> 
> So what are you planning to do with the stuff in that room?  What's the 
> plan IT guy?

The "stuff" consists of a cabinet (which was there when the builders 
built the place) and some fibers going into it. I have asked on several 
occasions what's going on with this room - the general response being 
"uh, dunno". [More like "I don't give a crap"...]

>> Certainly the idea of being stranded all alone in a country where I 
>> can't even tell what people are saying to me is rather intimidating.
> 
> "Sorry I don't understand" let's them know the situation, even if they 
> don't understand English.  It also helps to just learn a handful of 
> common words from the place you are visiting, just things like thanks, 
> please, hello, bye etc.  Also remember that most people are friendly are 
> are happy to see a foreign person, there's no need to be intimidated.  I 
> find it best to always print out the home page of the place you are 
> staying in the local language, so that you can just show that to the 
> taxi driver or someone at a train station etc.

In my experience, approximately nobody is ever happy to see me, for any 
reason.

It turns out most Swiss people speak English way better than I will ever 
speak French or German. But that doesn't make it much less disorienting 
or intimidating. [Face it, I went to *Liverpool* and couldn't understand 
people!]

But yeah, if I had to go somewhere by myself, your suggestions are the 
sort of thing I'd do.

[My mum actually bought me a little translater gizmo. She's most 
offended that I never take it with me. But... well, I asked it to say 
something in English, and *I* couldn't tell WTF it was saying. E.g., ask 
it to say "hotel" and it says "owa".]

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