joycem137
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- Sep 28, 2011
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I was disappointed with the behavior of the coffee house staff at the local Deaf Coffee this past Friday.
While I was standing in line to buy coffee, the man in front of me was asking the clerk for something. I couldn't make out what he asked her, but she's bringing him, like, everything in the world, from a pot of milk to a cup. She clearly doesn't understand his request, and he's becoming visibly upset by her inability to understand him.
Finally, he points at the receipt machine, so the clerk figures that he wants a copy of the receipt. But there's some sort of problem with the computer, and she's having trouble bringing up the receipt on the computer. After a few minutes of standing there, without explanation or comment, they give up and tell the guy that they can't give him a receipt, without any clarification or explanation. He leaves in frustration, saying something else that I didn't catch, but it seemed upset and frustrated.
I step forward in line, and the woman, thinking that I'm not attending the Deaf Coffee night, apologizes to me about the delay saying, "Sorry about that. He's deaf."
I sort of stared, agape, thinking, "You're apologizing *for him* when you were the one barely making any effort to understand what he was asking for?! What?! " I really didn't know how to react, and my coffee arrived shortly thereafter, so I just walked away.
I was also surprised towards the end of the night when they thought the best way to get everyone's attention to let them know that the store was closing was to shout such at the top of their lungs. It really seemed not the best way to get the message across as I imagine many of the people there would not have noticed him yelling.
I'm thinking about stopping in and saying something to their management about it, as it really seems like they need some help understanding how to be respectful with deaf customers. More than that, I'm just really upset that the clerk blamed her communication problems on the guy in front of me, and felt it necessary to apologize on his behalf.
While I was standing in line to buy coffee, the man in front of me was asking the clerk for something. I couldn't make out what he asked her, but she's bringing him, like, everything in the world, from a pot of milk to a cup. She clearly doesn't understand his request, and he's becoming visibly upset by her inability to understand him.
Finally, he points at the receipt machine, so the clerk figures that he wants a copy of the receipt. But there's some sort of problem with the computer, and she's having trouble bringing up the receipt on the computer. After a few minutes of standing there, without explanation or comment, they give up and tell the guy that they can't give him a receipt, without any clarification or explanation. He leaves in frustration, saying something else that I didn't catch, but it seemed upset and frustrated.
I step forward in line, and the woman, thinking that I'm not attending the Deaf Coffee night, apologizes to me about the delay saying, "Sorry about that. He's deaf."
I sort of stared, agape, thinking, "You're apologizing *for him* when you were the one barely making any effort to understand what he was asking for?! What?! " I really didn't know how to react, and my coffee arrived shortly thereafter, so I just walked away.
I was also surprised towards the end of the night when they thought the best way to get everyone's attention to let them know that the store was closing was to shout such at the top of their lungs. It really seemed not the best way to get the message across as I imagine many of the people there would not have noticed him yelling.
I'm thinking about stopping in and saying something to their management about it, as it really seems like they need some help understanding how to be respectful with deaf customers. More than that, I'm just really upset that the clerk blamed her communication problems on the guy in front of me, and felt it necessary to apologize on his behalf.