No service if you can't speak English

[HBK-aholic]

A few weeks ago it came to light that a Post Office had signs outside saying you wouldn't be served if you couldn't speak English. The owner; Deva Kumarasiri came to Britain from Sri Lanka 18 years ago, and has since worked hard to fit into British society, including becoming fluent in the language. He felt others should do the same. He has now been forced to leave his job in the Post Office.

I loved this guy, he dared to say what everyone else was thinking. Make it harder for the lazy people who won't learn the language; very much the way forward .

Was he right to do this? Was he right to be sacked? Would it have been different if a person born in Britain had done this?

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

No i doubt it would make any difference if a English born person had done it. They still would have been sacked due to political correctness and discrimination laws.

Fair play to the guy. I whole heartedly support him. Working in retail myself i get a LOT of groups of foreign people come in to my store, only one of which speaks the bare minimum of english, and when you work in electrical retail which is difficult to explain anyway, you're pretty much fucked from the word go. You'll spend 15 minutes over a 30 second issue because these people living in a English house, with a English job CAN'T SPEAK FUCKIN' ENGLISH!

I wouldn't go and work in a country where i couldn't speak the language. I'd learn as i went or made sure someone fluent in the language was with me.

Didn't the Queen herself make a statement saying she wants everyone to be fluent in England if we're going to let them live/work here? This guy does exactly what he should have done, and even takes steps to encourage these rules (though perhaps not by the right means) and gets penalised for it.

Justice is dead my friends

 

[klunderbunker]

I'm not sure what the guy said, but here in America there are similar issues with immigrants from Mexico or other Latin American countries, many here illegally. I have no issue with the language law. However, I might tweak it a bit. If someone was working there already when this law was passed, find a way to teach him/her, byt other than that, yes they should have to be able to speak the language. How can you not pick up on the language in 18 years? Here in America, there is little more frustrating than trying to communicate with an employee that simply can't speak English. This is frustrating when it's things like customer service etc. There's a difference between speaking English and having a thick accent and not being able to speak the language at all. How can you get a job where you're primarily going to be dealing with English speaking people when you can't speak that language? Makes little to no sense.

 

[wolvdog316]

Shit yes he was right. Look, I'm in Houston. I'm tired of having to listen to Press 1 for English Press 2 for Spanish. It's getting really bad. And it is people being lazy. As long as there are options for them, why learn our language. If I go to live in Mexico you can bet I'm going to learn Spanish. But thats me. I'd hate to be dependent on someone else to help explain what's going on. But that's how the world works. Nevermind the guy busted his ass to learn the language, never mind HE tired hard to fit in. No no. Lets keep babying the ones who doesn't want to learn. Sends a bad signal, has been for years. Why work hard, when you ALWAYS have something to fall back on