Difficult situation at work

[pani.serwusowa]

Imagine you work in Poland for Polish company and you speak Polish fluently. Also, imagine you have British people coming into the office quite often. They do not speak Polish at all or their Polish is VERY basic. They realise you are British and keep talking English in the front of your Polish boss, who does not speak English AT ALL. Obviously, you boss in not very happy about it and honestly - he should not be blamed for this. Therefore you have been asked do not talk in English at work, even it is you native language. You are OK with this, but on the other hand you still have Brits coming into the office and keep talking English. What would you do? Listen to your boss unconditionally and at the same time being called names for not talking in your native language with your countrymen? :|

[seth.destructor]

The boss is stupid. He must not forbid you to use any language you
want to speak. He should ask you for the translation. However, it is
better to translate before being asked to do it.

[ann_a30]

In the company I used to work for, we (Polish) spoke English in front of English
speaking people because speaking Polish would have been rude. But of course
nobody was asked not to speak Polish or any other language while on a break.
However it seemed normal to start speaking English at dinner time when an
English speaking person sat at our table.
We were not allowed to speak Polish while at work but they had good reasons for
that.

[jonathan.oakley]

LOL!!! I would ask my British customers to tell my "boss" that they
want to speak English and in other Polish companies they are allowed
to. They could also request your "boss" to learn English!!

[pani.serwusowa]

It is bl..dy joke, isn't? Shall I suggest my 69 year old boss to
learn Polish so that he can understand what Poles are talking about
in his own office??? Rotfl!

I am the only one Pole working in this office (in England!), but
there are some Polish builders coming and asking i.e. for jobs.
Don't you think they should do it in English?

[jonathan.oakley]

The boss sets the rules...if he wants them to speak English then so
be it...and yes...I was pulling yr leg :-)

[pani.serwusowa]

"Pulling your leg" - another interesting. :)

[jaleo]

The least I would do in this situation is to say "excuse me" to the boss, and
"do you mind - I have to switch to English because these guys do not speak
Polish". Switching to another language in the presence of a person who doesn't
understand that language is not normal polite behaviour, hence the need for a
polite "excuse me".

Any boss who is customer-care orientated would understand your motives and go
along with it. If your place of work was a Mercedes garage and the guys turned
up with a suitcase full of cash, I bet your boss would be extatic that you can
communicate with them. However if you are a recruitment agency who in the
current climate has twenty people chasing each job, then people doorstepping you
about a job, without any knowledge of the local language, might be considered
more a "nuisance" than a "customer".

[pani.serwusowa]

We are NOT a recruitment agency, but chartered surveyors and estate
agents. People come and ask about houses to let and take advantage
of the fact that my boss do not speak Polish. How? They tell me some
things i.e. that they are on benefits but ask me not to tell my
boss, because the chances of getting house are smaller when you are
unemployed. Don't you think this is stupid? They would be asked for
written references anyway, so why do they lie and try to involve me
in this stupid situation? Honelsy, I prefer don't admit I am Pole in
the front of Poles, until somebody from the office asks me for an
interpretation.

[10iwonka10]

I think that you should try to speak in English. It is not
professional that they tell you about benefits and not telling your
boss about it.It puts you in awkward situation.

[funkenschlag]

I've had similar situations at work like yours. Just say to your manager, "I'm sorry, can we speak X language, it'll make it easier. Is that OK?", and after talking to customer I would explain to the manager what we were talking about.