I have a customer service question?

In my office it is just me and my boss. A young mexican girl came in who doesn't speak english and I don't speak spanish. I relize it is not my responsibility to provide and interpretor for her but I felt it important that she understand the terms of her rental. Therefore I made a phone call to a freind who does speak spanish. The girl was spending real dollors not pesos and I thought what I was doing was providing good customer service. My boss didn't see it that way and I got a butt chewing. He said if she is in america she should learn english, I agree with him but still her money was good. I did the right thing but I'm curious about what others out there would have done.

As far as customer service goes, you were nice and polite and got the money however you had to - even if that meant calling your friend. Sounds like you did fine. Nothing worth a butt chewing for.

However, if your boss could have told you nicely that if a customer can't speak English, then it's not your responsibility to cater to their needs. You were never told that.

So, next time a non-english speaking customer comes in, tell them the best you can to come back later with someone who can help interpret the legal documents needed.

"I speak no spanish. You. Friend? English? Come back. Okay!?"

Personally, I think that if we were to visit any other country, we would make it as easy as possible to know at least some key words... and if living in that country, where there is mainly just say "spanish or italian" spoken there.... we would be quickly learning the language.

We've become to relaxed in "adapting" to others, when THEY should be adapting to our culture and language!

I think your boss is a racist. Hes right in the sense that you called someone else when maybe you could have looked for someone close by to translate. I think you did the right thing. IF you get in trouble for helping a customer....I would quit.

boss was correct if it was me i would of booted her butt all the way home to Mexico , learn English then come here

It depends... Were you on the clock when you took the time to call your friend? or did you take the time to clock out and than take the time to call your friend to help out renter. If you were on the clock and your boss was paying for your time to call your friend then he is in the right. If you took the time to clock out, and were on your own time, and helping get your friend to help a Spanish gal I don't see where you boss has a problem with it.

You boss is correct. If a person is a renter and they do not speak or understand the language it is their responsibility to have someone who speaks and understands English to read things over before they sign anything. It is not your responsibility, especially if your on the clock.

Morally you did the right thing, but as we in America become more diverse we need to provide someone who can speak several different languages. I don't but I noticed that companies that are looking for employees now say speaking Spanish is recommended. Let it go your boss will get over it, but if he is interested in making his bottom line then he might consider hiring a Mexican.

On one hand, I agree that she needs to learn to speak English if she's going to live and conduct business in America. However you do have a job to do and that is serving your customers, whether they speak English or not.

Having said that, what the heck were you supposed to do exactly? Did your boss actually take the time to tell you how you are supposed to handle this the next time it happens again or did he just rant and rave about his racial prejudices?

I think you did the best you could, given the situation. I wouldn't have handled it any differently.

I agree with both you and your boss. If the young woman is living in this country and wants to function in American society, she should learn the language. But, she obviously was not going to learn English in the few minutes that you were spending with her, so she should have brought someone with her that could interpret for her. Irregardless of what the boss said, I think you did the right thing.

your boss is a jerk who does not appreciate his customers business. you did the nice thing to do. don't let him spoil your good spirit. always take the high road. and consider finding a new job, where you will be appreciated and your extra efforts will be rewarded. kudos to you.

Your friend, however well-meaning, could have used the wrong wording or phrasing for something resulting in the customer being confused about the terms of the rental agreement and you would not know it.

In the future, I would not bring in a third party who doesn't work for the company to interpret for you.

Have you seen this? http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/world/...
This is what comes of one country not being tolerant of other cultures. This man was killed because he didn't speak English or French, the two national languages of Canada, and the airport security did not get their interpreter to this man. Instead they called in the police, the RCMP, and they used tasers which killed him.
GOOD FOR YOU for being tolerant of other cultures!!! This is not about illegal immigrants or any garbage like that that so many Americans are up in arms about. This is about being a "melting pot," yeah, right, HA, in our country. You did the EXACT RIGHT THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

id tell her to kiss the dirtyest part of my assss

Your friend is not a representative of your company. If you can't adhere to your bosses company guidelines, he might find someone who can.

Told her that she was in America and therefor should learn the language of the country, and to come back when she did.