Over the past two months, I’ve recently started working as a sales associate at a retail store on State Street. This being said, I didn’t realize how huge of a role literacy would play in the workplace. Being that the State Street shops are quite a tourist attraction, I encounter a wide variety of customers daily that come from varying backgrounds. Many of the customers are not able to speak fluent English, which means that I, as an employee, must try to understand what they are looking for and communicate with them efficiently to find it. While this task seemed intimidating at first, it has already broadened my communication skills a lot. If I am not able to understand what they are saying, I have learned to pick up non-verbal cues as to what they like and what they don’t. I have also learned to not assume that one can speak fluent English when they walk in the store, rather approaching them with a simple “hello”, “welcome”, or “what are you shopping for today” to figure out their needs. Overall, I think that this experience has helped me further expand my understanding of other cultures and the various forms of literacy that they use. It has also made me realize how universal phrases like “hey”, “hi”, or “bye, have a good day” are among cultures, along with non-verbal cues.
I am curious if the prevalence of the English language has impacted what phrases people know. Or is it someone implied in a person’s tone or it is just what a person expects to hear at a certain part of the conversation? Like, I know you’re probably saying hello if you just walked up to me. I am also curious to know if people who trying to communicate without understanding the other’s language are more aware/attune to body language than people who can communicate with language.