Our french speaking representative is a lovely lady who is a native francophone so prefers french calls to English ones for the most part and it works out wonderfully....until she goes on her standard two week vacation. She, like all other employees, is entitled to her vacation time but for lingual reasons her absence is more prevalent than many others. French callers now call in expecting to speak to her and sound sorely disappointed when she is not on the other end of their line. During her absence it is an anglophone who probably only knows how to say bonjour, or even worse - gets to talk to me.
Now I have a minor in french and lived in Belgium for a year but let me tell you that just because you speak a language does not mean you can translate product descriptions and/or details in this field (distribution of medical supplies). Luckily enough, my early morning caller had everything she needed to place her order and thus the transaction went quite smoothly, however it only takes an instance like that to make you realize how badly it could have gone.
I am just learning the products, vendors, descriptions and processes in ENGLISH and it is taking considerable time - forget the bilingualism. So today I am thankful that we have a full time representative who speaks french, though i am also slightly grateful that she decided to take her vacation (most unknowingly) whilst I was here - as it was a cool opportunity to learn. Also, it gave me a much needed reassurance that I have not yet forgotten the beautiful french language.
On a more 'chic' note, I am wearing the same flats as I was during the last post, as our house is being painted and the shoe closet is quarantined via wet paint. Thus I chose not to risk my new clothes for the shoes...though I assure you it was an intense internal dilemma. So instead of my shoes, today I will feature something else of note I am wearing. It's a boatman's whistle that I found in a military accessories catalogue here at the office and ordered to be worn as a necklace. I think it completes my nautical nod of an outfit.
So I suppose here is to doing things differently, whether that be language or accessorizing......(though still)....In great shoes.
