The British and the French

[Internet had been down for the week--much to blog about--read on]

One day a British customer came into the store, and asked for my help. He wanted to buy his son and daughter sweatshirts. You have to understand that we have (wait, let me count) 10 different womens' sweatshirts alone, each in several colors. For men's, we have more kinds, and then some unisex. He seemed pretty overwhelmed. I asked if his kids would be coming by to pick out one they liked, but he told me they were in France. Again, I didn't go into detail about how I was connected to France because I was tired and had plenty to do. Soooo, I suggested the online website. He called his kids overseas and had them do some browsing. All of this was in English.

Later he came back to the store and was sitting in our Tommy Hilfiger section, sweatshirt in one hand and cell phone in the other. I walked by with an armload of merchandise when he lifts the sweatshirt in trimph and says--in French--"My son just called me and chose his, now I'm just waiting on my daughter! Thanks again for your help!" I replied (in French of course, because he started, but I hesitated for a fraction of a second): "That's great! I'm happy they found something they liked!"

It was as if time froze, given the look on his face and how he held his shocked expression for so long. He exclaimed (in French): "Wait a minute! I just spoke to you in French, didn't I? And you just answered me in French! How is that?" So I explained and we had a good laugh.

It reminds me of when we were kids, learning both English and French at the same time. My Dad tells the story about how my little brother was watching cartoons one day and he asked: "Peter, was that in French or in English?" My little brother just shrugged. He couldn't distinguish which language that was, only that he understood it. I find that fascinating.