If you ever live abroad in a country where you don't really know the language, you will quickly lose any semblance of the pride or dignity you once possessed. If you don't give up your pride, you're subject to daily humiliation. When I first came here, I could barley introduce myself, let alone read German. Thus I walking into doors labeled "out," I was asked to move check-out lines because I had more than 5 items, etc. But even the past 9 months of letting go of shame did not prepare me for Sunday afternoon... when I got kicked out of a McDonald's.
How trashy do you have to be to get kicked out of a McDonald's? McDonald's, the one place in Europe where I could always count on fast service and the footwear-less presence of junkies. McDonald's is like my little American embassy: Visited rarely, in times of extreme desperation.
I was there Sunday using the t-mobile HotSpot WiFi. I had a Happy Meal, a speedy connection to cnn.com, and I was just youtubing some SNL clips when an angry manager approached me, hands waving.
"Geht Raus!"
I thought, "Hey! I understand this guy! :)" I know that means go away, or get outside, because that's what my student's say when there is a bee in the classroom. Then is hit me, he was shooing at me.. A man in Germany was shooing me, a paying AMERICAN customer out of his establishment. I felt the eyes of small children turn to me, and I was too embarrassed to respond. But if I had, I probably would have made a grammatical mistake.
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4 comments:
Have any idea why he tried to kick you out?
I tried to walk out the "in" door of a bookstore in France, much to the consternation of the guard. I was physically ushered out of a postcard store in Switzerland. Another time in France, I was refused an ice cream cone because my attempt at French was, apparently, an insult to that proud language.
So, you're in good company here, is what I am saying.
I walked into a pharamacy looking for bandaids. After asking for "what you need when you are cut and bleeding", a horrified looking pharamacist returned with a large package of gauze bandages.
Germany sucks. America rocks.
so did you ever figure out why?!
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