Among other things I’ve done this week, I helped Susi apply for a job online. It’s just a simple job, retail associate they call it now, at one of the large chain stores America specializes in. I had to explain what a retail associate was to her. “It’s a very American thing, making a simple job sound complex and important,” I told her.
It was quite the lesson in American culture for the poor woman. I had to stress the importance of time and time management—not that she doesn’t do that anyway, she is organized and her apartment is always spotless, but because it would not occur to her to play up that aspect of her personality.
The application was a new experience for both of us. Last time I applied for this sort of job, I filled out a two-page application with 3 references and a list of work experience and my name, address, and SSN. This time, we started with that, but then we went on to a 90-question “test.”
We had to choose from a range of “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” for most of the questions, which were obviously written not only to discover an applicant’s personality (Sample: Sometimes I misplace things. Or: Sometimes I get impatient) but an applicant’s knowledge of English. (Sample: I don’t always misplace things. Even I had to think about that one) A lot of the questions were after the same information, just reworded to trap the unwary. The most popular question had to do with how self-motivated you were. Do you have to be told to do everything or do you look around and see what needs to be done? This question, in various guises, was asked nearly 10 times.
Then came the word problems. These presented a situation and 5 potential responses; you had to choose which was the best and which was the worst. 2 employees are rude to each other. Do you intervene? Tell a supervisor? Talk to them privately? Ignore them? I had no idea. I would personally ignore them, and Susi would too. I suspect we were wrong and we were supposed to talk to them privately. But since when do you have to be an expert in managing humans to work retail?
Say you’ve been working at the store for a while and you know the ropes. There’s a new guy who doesn’t know the ropes. Do you teach him the ropes? During your shift or after hours? Or do you tell your supervisor?
This, naturally, brought up the simple question: Ropes? What ropes? There were lots of idiomatic expressions used. Susi’s English is at a solid intermediate level, I would say, and has plenty of gaps. I explained what it means to “know the ropes” and “teach someone the ropes” and also other expressions, like “to see something through.”
I also brought up the importance of saying what you mean—i.e. to not promise something that you have no intention of doing just to be polite. “This is hard for Arabs; you will feel you are being rude if you tell someone no,” I explained. “But it is worse, in our culture, if you say you will be somewhere and you don’t come.” Crossing cultures is so difficult. There are so many unspoken things, taken for granted by members of one culture, so basic that they can’t even explain them to someone new.
I hope she gets the job. One of the hardest things refugees face is money problems. They are given enough money to cover rent, plus food stamps, for their first 8 months, and by the end of that time they’re expected to know English, be working and self-sufficient, and have somehow managed to pay electric and utility bills, purchase a car and pay for insurance, etc, from the approximately $20/month left over after paying rent. Seem impossible? It is, actually. The more we learn of their situations, the bleaker things look.
But Susi is optimistic. We hit “send” and smiled at each other. I hope she gets the job, because even though her English is not yet perfect, she would be a hard worker and yet kind. I’m worried that when they call her and talk to her on the phone (always more difficult than face-to-face communication for language learners), they will know she had help with the application and will automatically dismiss her, without taking the time to see all that she has to offer.
8 comments
February 5, 2011 at 12:31 pm
LIB
English speakers( (and test writers) don’t even realize they’re using words (or phrases) that are not easy to understand.
My English husband found an incidence of this when he was new to the country. He knew English (obviously) very well, but not American.
One of the questions on the SAT test dealt with ‘nickels’ and ‘dimes’. He could have answered the question if ‘5 cent’ and ’10 cent’ pieces were discussed-but because ‘nickel’ and ‘dime’ was used, his math score really suffered.
February 6, 2011 at 5:06 am
Steph
All of my experiences with refugees makes me wonder if we could do the same as they do…be fluent in the local language and ready to work in another country in 8 months. With no real other choice! No money to say, “wow, this was a mistake-let’s go home.” No money from our job in the States. For all of my cross-cultural experiences, I am not sure I would make it. The life of a refugee is amazingly difficult to navigate. I am glad Susi has you to be there for her.
February 6, 2011 at 8:40 am
Tonggu Momma
I don’t think I could survive the cultural shift so rapidly. I have great respect for immigrants to this country. And it makes me realize – yet again – how much I asked of our daughter. Granted, she was just one when we adopted her, but it was a tremendously huge change for her.
February 6, 2011 at 11:53 am
MaryWitzl
My heart goes out to Susi! Applications like that are daunting even for native speakers of English. I don’t think I’d make it as an immigrant if I had to hope for a retail job.
Those tricky questions won’t catch out the slackers and the unmotivated unless they’re really stupid.
February 7, 2011 at 12:47 am
Kit
Forms like that are hard enough for anyone to navigate let alone a non-native speaker. Well done you for giving so much time and care to helping Susi adjust. I have no idea how others manage without that guidance. I hope she gets the job!
February 7, 2011 at 7:50 am
jeanne A
having sons with some learning disabilities…….pretty much the same thing on applications. Finally one got a job because of “who he knew.” The other still only works up to 9 hours per week, and he got that job because of an agency placing disabled people.
Not easy.
February 9, 2011 at 6:37 am
Linda
At least once a week I have to explain a word or phrase to my husband and he lived in the States for a total of ten years. What a lot of words are used in a strange way. Let’s not talk about the French language.
March 18, 2011 at 11:56 am
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