Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Customer of the Week: Old Man With Heavy Accent

Days at the bakery are pretty long, so when it's time to get the h*ll out, we all run for the door. The other day, however, I was taking my sweet time for no good reason at all, and I ended up serving this old man with a really heavy accent. Now, when I say old, I mean old. He literally looked like he was dragging his legs towards the bakery. As for the accent, I don't know what it was. German, Russian, Czech... Beats the heck out of me. What I do know is that I couldn't understand him.

Anyway, when he finally made it to the counter, he grabbed onto it with both hands, steadied himself as upright he possibly could, looked me straight in the eye and said...

OMWHA: I vant a vife zake.

Me: (holy frickin' accent, dude!!) I'm sorry, sir, you want a what?

OMWHA: I vant a vife zake!

Me: (hmm... a vife zake... a wife zake... a wife cake... A WHITE CAKE!!) Sir, would you like a white cake?

OMWHA: (annoyed) No, no, no! D'you no lizen me!

Me: (oh, I hear you, alright, I just can't understand you) I'm sorry, sir.

OMWHA: (tapping his tattered fingers on the display case) I van dis zake.

Me: (looking down & spotting a white birthday cake) Sir, you want a white birthday cake?

OMWHA: (annoyed, again) Dis vat I zay!

Me: (uh, not exactly, but OK) Right, that's what you said. Would you like me to write something on it for you?

OMWHA: You vite happy berth-day nine two.

Me: (wow, I actually understood that... guess he practiced saying it before he got here) OK, so you want Happy Birthday 92? What about a name?

OMWHA: (angry) No, no, no!!!

Me: (sh*t, this guy's gonna have a heart attack) I'm sorry, sir. Please tell me again.

OMWHA: No, I vite down, z'ok?

Me: (it's z'ok with me, but will I be able to read it?) Alright, sir, just a moment.

I quickly grabbed a pen & a piece of scrap paper and made my way back to the counter.

Me: (handing OMWHA the pen & paper) Here you go, sir.

Ever so carefully, OMWHA started writing down what he wanted on his cake. This is going to take a while, I thought to myself.

A couple of minutes later, OMWHA handed the piece of paper back to me with the words "Happy Berth-day 92 my wife" scrawled on it. OK, not only did he practice saying it, but he practiced writing it down too? Seriously, how can he write in English better than he can speak it?

Me: Sir, is this (pointing at "berth-day") how you want me to spell "birthday" for you?

OMWHA: (nothing, just shaking his head like he can't believe how dense I am)

Me: Sir?

OMWHA: (sighing) Vatz vong vid'you? Vite on zake like paper, z'ok?

Me: (z'ok, man, Z'OK!! Geez!!) Yes, sir, I'll be right back.

As I wrote OMWHA's birthday message on the cake, I thought about some other weird things people have asked me to write on cakes for them. Remember that redundant message Multiple Cake Guy wanted on his son's birthday cake?? Yeah, I think I'm going to make a list of strange cake messages for a future blog post.

Me: (returning to the counter) Here's your cake, sir. I hope your wife has a lovely birthday (and I hope you can walk & carry that cake at the same time).

OMWHA: (nothing, just a grunt and another shake of his head)

Yup, I'm pretty sure the old guy thought I was a complete idiot.

JB

11 comments:

  1. german? hmmm...i am not sure i would have handled that as well as you did, lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Corey, sometimes I surprise myself.

    huggs
    jb

    ReplyDelete
  3. I zinc du zer funny, I azo vant sum wife zake.,,

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glen....I zinc I vant a new life! Thanks for coming by and reading.

    huggs
    jb

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey love! :)

    This post is just priceless, I laughed myself away...

    I sure want to meet your job one day... and be part of this hall of fame! :D

    Love you and hope you're okay,

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello again - I couldn't find an email address for you and figured that because you moderate, you could choose not to publish this directly on your site...

    Essentially, I'm not just trying to add a link to my site - is my point.

    I have given you one of those pesky award thingys and would love for you to come and pick it up at http://www.glenslife.com/2010/11/more-awards-and-apology.html

    thanks and well done on your site

    ReplyDelete
  7. Another great post! Where do you find these people? Or how do they find you?

    BTW, I haven't forgotten about the award you gave me - thanks! I'll get to it, but the new job is sucking the life out of me.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Izzie....thanks love. Hope all is well with you also.

    huggs
    jb

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Glen...thanks for the award thingy very nice of you.

    huggs
    jb

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Travel...i don't know how these people find me but they always do. I think it's cause I'm always smiling..lol.

    Huggs
    jb

    ReplyDelete


Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment. Check back for my response and/or Eddy's. We love hearing from you! Peace, JB (blog owner) and Eddy ("super great cuz" & frequent guest blogger)

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