History knows a lot of awkward, ridiculous and completely hilarious situations related to language - especially when a few people, for some reason, assume that someone does not speak their language, and indulge in gossip without being particularly shy in expressions.
Indeed, there have already been many books, films and TV shows where such uncomfortable situations were sorted out literally under a microscope... and still, people get into trouble over and over again, especially at work. For example, as happened to the heroine of this story - the user u/FastManner8680.
The author of the post is Peruvian, yet people often consider her to be American, mainly due to her fluent English
Image credits: alyssa BLACK. (not the actual photo)
At the author's current workplace, there were many employees of Mexican origin and they didn't mince words, badmouthing other staff members in Spanish
Image credits: FastManner8680
They even insulted the author several times, probably not realizing she actually understands them
Image credits: Edgars Kisuro (not the actual photo)
Image credits: FastManner8680
While talking with the owner, the woman told him about this gossip, resulting in some employees and the store manager on the verge of getting fired
Image credits: jenniferforjoy (not the actual photo)
Image credits: FastManner8680
It turned out that the owner introduced the author as Brazilian, so colleagues really thought she didn't speak Spanish
The Original Poster (OP) says that she is originally from Peru and her native language is, of course, Spanish. However, she has been living in America for many years and speaks perfect English. Moreover, according to the author of the post, she has very light skin, so even other Hispanic people who do not know her think she's American. And the Peruvian accent is not very well known in the US either.
The OP's Mexican colleagues obviously thought the same thing, so they were not at all embarrassed to discuss other employees in front of her, and they didn't mince words at all. Moreover, coworkers sometimes even badmouthed the original poster - so when the owner once asked the OP how she was doing in the new job, she honestly told him about this gossip.
A serious scandal broke out, and the manager of the store, as well as several other employees, were literally on the verge of being fired. As it turned out, the colleagues simply did not know that the OP understood them - largely due to the fact that the boss, for some reason, told them that the author of the post was from Brazil, and not from Peru. And in Brazil, as you know, everyone speaks Portuguese...
In general, now the team has turned against the author of the post, considering her a sneak, and the woman has even heard various Spanish insults addressed to her several times. What's even more weird, when the author called her family in anticipation of support, the relatives said that she herself was to blame because she eavesdropped on conversations not intended for her ears. To put it mildly, a slightly unfair reaction, according to the original poster.
Image credits: medium photoclub (not the actual photo)
Of course, gossip in the workplace is absolutely inappropriate, yet in fact, of course, it is difficult to find a person who has not at least once gossiped about colleagues. And for sure, higher-ups need to somehow cope with this in order to maintain a healthy atmosphere among the team.
"We spend most of our adult lives working. We should be able to trust our colleagues, supervisors and subordinates. How we react to betrayal of our trust demonstrates our expectations of others and teaches others how to treat us in the future," Mary Wright, a California employment law advice and counsel, writes on her LinkedIn blog, and it's hard to disagree here.
However, in this situation, as it seems to us, it is hardly possible to reproach the original poster for anything - after all, her colleagues, firstly, were badmouthing her as well, and secondly, it was the boss who wrongly introduced her as Brazilian. By the way, it probably was the owner who tried to make the OP their unwitting spy among the staff, in which case, of course, their act does not seem appropriate.
The people in the comments to the original post massively agree with this, not getting why the relatives did not side with the OP at all. "Eavesdropping isn't right but you literally can't not listen if they're doing it right in front of you. That's on them," some commenters noted. And also, according to folks in the comments, Portuguese and Spanish are related languages, so seriously assuming that the new employee does not understand anything in Spanish was pretty reckless of the gossiping coworkers.
However, some awkward cases with colleagues at work have always been quite a common thing. For example, this woman used to spend her lunchtime at the desk on her phone as the office had no kitchen or balcony, and yet colleagues reported her to HR. There, however, the situation worked out completely differently... You can read this post as well, and we are already looking forward to your comments on all the characters' behavior in this particular tale.
People in the comments, unlike, by the way, her own family, sided with the author, dubbing her coworkers rude and pretty reckless
