I work at a Marshalls megastore. The majority of customers are Hispanic. Initially I had no problem with that because I was from Northern California and this was a new experience. I quickly learned that the language gap between customers, co-workers, and I was wide. Juan, the janitor, is always friendly, greeting me. I used to try to talk to him, but he can't understand a sentence of English. I told him repeatedly that I had been on vacation in Paris and he kept interpreting it as Payless.

People who have English as a second language phase things choppy so I have to hear their question thrice. An example of this difficulty in communication is that I was waiting on the lightrail the other day, and this Hispanic homeless woman heckled me. She held a paper bag and asked for "plastic or balsa" I told that I didn't speak Spanish. She started looking through my bag and then moved on. She came back around a few minutes later and asked the same thing. I repeated myself (about not speaking her language), then my lightrail came and I went home.

Mexico is