Quite a few years ago, my then boyfriend and I went to Culebra, Puerto Rico. We had friends who lived there, and friends up here that had gone for years. I started trying to refresh my lousy Spanish. Bob was irritatingly ignorant… “why would you bother ? They should speak English…”
I found this attitude so elitist.
On another trip, to an all inclusive resort in the Dominican, I mentioned to our friends that I wanted to try some local seafood, at a local restaurant. He reluctantly agreed, while a friend questioned why I wanted to do it!
Wonderful advice! Engaging with those close to you shows appreciation of others and that you are human as well. As you shared, my experience is that most people open up and appreciate being acknowledged. In the modern digital age, a human gesture of speaking to one another is needed even more. Thank you!
As usual….an uplifting and informative post. We’ve lost the art of conversation in the last 30 years. Things were better before cell phones and computers.
Fantastic. I agree wholeheartedly, it's amazing what you can learn when you engage in conversation. Enjoy trying the recommended spots you hadn't yet uncovered!
Awesome Hank. Thanks for sharing! Too many people complain or ignore people providing them a service. I go out of my way to compliment people (and tell their management) when they do a great job. Looking forward to your next book.
Respect is something that everyone deserves to be shown, then more earned thru your actions. Please and thank you go along way and are too often forgotten. Chivalry, common
courtesy, just plain kindness. even a simple smile can make your day and those around you so much better. Call it old school or old fashioned, but i am glad to have been raised in a time when my folks took the time to raise me right. Thanks Mom and Dad !
I don't miss much about my years of traveling for a corporate ladder, but I do miss talks like these ones. I cherished learning about the (much higher quality) high school curriculum in Cameroon. Or how to help children appreciate their parents' hard work without guilt-trips. And always, I appreciated the best recs for delicious dinner from a place so good it doesn't even have Yelp reviews.
Living in South Texas some Spanish is a must. It truly opens another world. Loved the article and I am in hearty agreement with the sentiments expressed
I always talk to cab drivers. Always have. And tip the best I can👍
My interest is always in their background, what they did professionally in their homeland, why they left, what is their take on USA? We often end up sharing stories from our respective professions and lives.
Service workers are the support for the US population in many ways - economically, agriculturally / food-wise, and family-wise-how many folks have house cleaners, gardeners and handymen that do these jobs so Americans can spend more time w family and personal pursuits?
IMO these working folks deserve not only our respect, but our gratitude and appreciation, alongside adequate payment — and good tips where appropriate, for jobs well done 👍
Totally agree. I embarked on a plan to learn Spanish for the same reason. I'm a long way from having a real conversation yet, but being able to converse with the huge number of people who speak only Spanish when I travel would open a whole new world for me.
Couldn't resonate more strongly with this. There's the plain human connection and general courtesy part, but also Dex & I have had literally life-changing conversations with taxi & Lyft drivers. You can learn things there that you can't learn anywhere else, from the intricacies of local politics to the best place to hear tango singers. (Not to mention what you can learn about food!) The conversations you can end up having are WILD. Once, in Chicago, as soon as our Lyft driver found out we were from SF, he asked us to help him understand his daughter's relationship with a trans person because he had no one else in his life to ask, and he ended up at the end of the ride wondering out loud if maybe he'd like to rethink some gender norms in his *own* marriage. That was a memorable one....
I love this and 100% agree! Thank you for sharing.
Quite a few years ago, my then boyfriend and I went to Culebra, Puerto Rico. We had friends who lived there, and friends up here that had gone for years. I started trying to refresh my lousy Spanish. Bob was irritatingly ignorant… “why would you bother ? They should speak English…”
I found this attitude so elitist.
On another trip, to an all inclusive resort in the Dominican, I mentioned to our friends that I wanted to try some local seafood, at a local restaurant. He reluctantly agreed, while a friend questioned why I wanted to do it!
Wonderful advice! Engaging with those close to you shows appreciation of others and that you are human as well. As you shared, my experience is that most people open up and appreciate being acknowledged. In the modern digital age, a human gesture of speaking to one another is needed even more. Thank you!
As usual….an uplifting and informative post. We’ve lost the art of conversation in the last 30 years. Things were better before cell phones and computers.
Fantastic. I agree wholeheartedly, it's amazing what you can learn when you engage in conversation. Enjoy trying the recommended spots you hadn't yet uncovered!
Awesome Hank. Thanks for sharing! Too many people complain or ignore people providing them a service. I go out of my way to compliment people (and tell their management) when they do a great job. Looking forward to your next book.
So weird. I was in San Diego last week (for the first time), and met a driver who was a US citizen who lived in T.J. but worked in S.D.
Respect is something that everyone deserves to be shown, then more earned thru your actions. Please and thank you go along way and are too often forgotten. Chivalry, common
courtesy, just plain kindness. even a simple smile can make your day and those around you so much better. Call it old school or old fashioned, but i am glad to have been raised in a time when my folks took the time to raise me right. Thanks Mom and Dad !
I don't miss much about my years of traveling for a corporate ladder, but I do miss talks like these ones. I cherished learning about the (much higher quality) high school curriculum in Cameroon. Or how to help children appreciate their parents' hard work without guilt-trips. And always, I appreciated the best recs for delicious dinner from a place so good it doesn't even have Yelp reviews.
Living in South Texas some Spanish is a must. It truly opens another world. Loved the article and I am in hearty agreement with the sentiments expressed
Yup
Wholeheartedly agree
I always talk to cab drivers. Always have. And tip the best I can👍
My interest is always in their background, what they did professionally in their homeland, why they left, what is their take on USA? We often end up sharing stories from our respective professions and lives.
Service workers are the support for the US population in many ways - economically, agriculturally / food-wise, and family-wise-how many folks have house cleaners, gardeners and handymen that do these jobs so Americans can spend more time w family and personal pursuits?
IMO these working folks deserve not only our respect, but our gratitude and appreciation, alongside adequate payment — and good tips where appropriate, for jobs well done 👍
Thank you! Such an important lesson!
Totally agree. I embarked on a plan to learn Spanish for the same reason. I'm a long way from having a real conversation yet, but being able to converse with the huge number of people who speak only Spanish when I travel would open a whole new world for me.
So many good layers in here. I, again, would like even more travelogue. Thank you.
Right!? I'm sorry I didn’t ask his name. I know all about his education and where he grew up, but not his name. So silly.
Couldn't resonate more strongly with this. There's the plain human connection and general courtesy part, but also Dex & I have had literally life-changing conversations with taxi & Lyft drivers. You can learn things there that you can't learn anywhere else, from the intricacies of local politics to the best place to hear tango singers. (Not to mention what you can learn about food!) The conversations you can end up having are WILD. Once, in Chicago, as soon as our Lyft driver found out we were from SF, he asked us to help him understand his daughter's relationship with a trans person because he had no one else in his life to ask, and he ended up at the end of the ride wondering out loud if maybe he'd like to rethink some gender norms in his *own* marriage. That was a memorable one....