@TuxedoCartman On the flip side of that is how things were at the store I worked at. I mentioned that most of the Mexicans coming over to shop were wealthy? Well, I'd say at least half of them were proficient or fluent in English, but they'd refuse to speak it until you made it clear that you spoke very little Spanish; at which point they'd sigh, roll their eyes, and make a show of being annoyed at having to speak English. If they were annoyed at tourists who expected people to speak English in a non-English speaking country, I could understand that; but they were expecting people to speak THEIR native language in a country they were only visiting.
Now, a disclaimer: I realize that the vast majority of Mexicans are not like this. As I mentioned before, I was dealing with the entitled upper crust (much like people here in the US who travel abroad and expect everyone to speak English and use American currency). Middle-class Mexicans were nearly always super polite and happy if employees made an effort to communicate in Spanish. What working retail there taught me is that assholes are pretty much the same all over the world.
0
@TuxedoCartman On the flip side of that is how things were at the store I worked at. I mentioned that most of the Mexicans coming over to shop were wealthy? Well, I'd say at least half of them were proficient or fluent in English, but they'd refuse to speak it until you made it clear that you spoke very little Spanish; at which point they'd sigh, roll their eyes, and make a show of being annoyed at having to speak English. If they were annoyed at tourists who expected people to speak English in a non-English speaking country, I could understand that; but they were expecting people to speak THEIR native language in a country they were only visiting.
Now, a disclaimer: I realize that the vast majority of Mexicans are not like this. As I mentioned before, I was dealing with the entitled upper crust (much like people here in the US who travel abroad and expect everyone to speak English and use American currency). Middle-class Mexicans were nearly always super polite and happy if employees made an effort to communicate in Spanish. What working retail there taught me is that assholes are pretty much the same all over the world.