[Mudder]

This morning I was in a nail salon trying to improve my appearance before a trip. A thought occurred to me.....I think I find it a bit rude of the workers to be speaking in their native language, laughing out loud, etc... It's a constant chatter going on. However I respect and admire them because they can speak two languages, I can only speak one. So am just wondering how others feel about it. I've been thinking about it all day, can't decide if it is truely rude or am I being to sensitive?
I love their work, the salon is always very clean, everyone is friendly but for some reason this bothered me today. What do you think?

[Sandtrap328]

No, it is not rude at all. They speak to you in English but enjoy conversing among themselves in their native language.

I am sure our grandparents did the same when they first came to America from Germany, Russia, or wherever.

Give them props for knowing English when they speak with you.

[spring_chicken]

I always found it a touch on the rude side. Mainly because I have a friend who can speak Vietnamese who went with me and knew that they were talking about the very customers sitting in front of them.

[rdhdleo]

Again we shouldn't generalize. That doesn't mean they do that everywhere. Love the people at the salon I go to.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Mudder

..... I find it a bit rude of the workers to be speaking in their native language, laughing out loud, etc. I love their work, the salon is always very clean, everyone is friendly but for some reason this bothered me today. What do you think?

I think the Salon employees have really boring jobs.
If they're able to converse among themselves in their native language to pass time, that doesn't bother me one bit.

[HimandMe]

If the customers are given most of the attention, I have no problem but I have been in stores like Sears and others where they throw things in a bag while laughing and talking among themselves and don't even look at the customer. In these cases, I've felt like I'm a bother to them especially when they don't respond to a thank you afterwards. Times have changed but I don't think politeness has gone out of style. It has nothing to do with language or ethnicity. When I see this I remind myself that it all starts with one and pay attention to ways I may annoy others and try to self correct.

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by spring_chicken

I always found it a touch on the rude side. Mainly because I have a friend who can speak Vietnamese who went with me and knew that they were talking about the very customers sitting in front of them.

There was a Seinfeld episode where Elaine thought the Japanese nail techs were talking about her and she had George's dad go with her to her appt and sure enough they were. It was hilarious!

[firebiker]

Had that happen to me yesterday. They were conversing and laughing and since I had been going there for a while, I felt comfortable saying, "OK, what's so funny?" They all giggled and said they were talking about one of the nail techs problems with his girlfriend. They continued their conversation in English, and it was funny.

[jblum315]

I imagine they have more interesting things to talk about among themselves (boyfriends, children) than talk about old ladies with ugly feet.