You see, I worked in a retail store at that time and because Hawaii has such a large volume of tourists from Japan, understanding the Japanese language is hugely helpful …. and necessary! So, over time I learned enough Japanese to get by in a retail environment and could actually hold my own (well, kind of) in a conversation.
Okay…now back to El Pollo Loco:
Unfortunately, what came out sounded more like Clark W. Griswold. You should have seen the look the woman behind the counter gave me as I tried to speak Spanish. Ouch.
Here is where it gets worse….she asked me a question I didn’t understand at first, so she had to repeat it again. When I finally understood what she said, I answered …. in JAPANESE! Let that sink in for a bit. I answered in Japanese. #BrainFart
Three Languages-One Major Fail
The good thing is I did acknowledge that there are different languages in the world and I made an honest attempt to speak a different language. Unfortunately, I had NO business trying to speak Spanish and when I tried to do so, it just made it one memorable moment, for all of the wrong reasons.
The same thing is true in our interactions with the people around us!
Even though we may not all speak languages other than the our primary one, there are other “languages” that we speak. As we continue on this journey to healthy, happy and meaningful relationships at work, at home and at play, we’re going to learn about the different relational and communication styles, because how we relate and communicate with others is the first window we offer to others of who we are, and is the window other people offer to us on who they are.
Over the next few weeks we’re going to talk about the following relational styles I’ve discovered (thanks to Karen Horney, John Eldredge, Craig McConnell, Dan Allender, Dave Mitchell, John Maxwell and other people whose work has strongly influenced my thoughts on this):
- Moving Against
- Moving Towards
- Moving Away
And the two main communication styles:
- Direct Communicators
- Indirect Communicators
Join me next week as we learn about Direct Communicators. Could this be you??