Long story short, I'm from Spain currently living in Canada. I work at a store. My English is almost perfect at this point but I obviously have a fairly strong accent. Every day, depending on how busy it is, I get between 20 and 50 customers who ask me where I'm from. It's really annoying to have to answer the same question literally hundreds of times every month, but this one in particular is rather offensive. This is my take:
First, many idiots will not just ask me where I'm from, but rather "are you from X country?". They never guess the right one, obviously, because there are about 200 countries in the world, dozens of which produce accents similar to mine. People have asked if I'm from South Africa or Russia more times than Spain. Second, and this is what gets to me: you are meeting me for a minute or two in your entire life, and you decide to spend it asking this stranger a personal question. Not only that but, out of all personal things, this is the one that'll set us apart because you are Canadian and I'm not and that's what your question points out. The feeling that these people, almost always white old people, need to approve where I come from, decide if I'm one of the "good ones" is constantly there, their eyes sparkle when I say that I'm from Spain. I've tried saying that I'm from Mexico and the reaction usually has nothing to do with the one Spain gets. Something interesting is that I have a Vietnamese coworker, very strong accent too, and not even once have I seen anyone ask her where she's from. It feels as if with me there is a possible "right" answer whereas with her there isn't. It's not cool to have dozens of idiots trying to define you and label you every day based on your nationality, even if it's "a lovely country".
I want to remark that people always do this in a very friendly and polite manner. I want to be able to say something that'll prevent me from having to answer the question while pointing out how rude, racist, exclusive and aggressive it is, but I'm going to come off as rude and confrontational. Someone suggested "I'm from a loving family", I don't particularly like this answer, but that kind of formula is what I'm looking for.
PS1: if you're a white person without a foreign accent who's never worked retail, please take an extra minute to consider your suggestion before hitting submit. Chances are what'd be acceptable to say for you, wouldn't be for me.
PS2: 80 million people visit Spain every year, just because you meet a Spaniard doesn't mean you gotta explain to me your whole vacation. I hear about ten vacation stories every day. They are all literally the same, be a little more imaginative when planning your vacation, people!
PS3: also, just because you took Spanish in highschool doesn't mean I'm interested in correcting your pronunciation. Don't try to communicate with me in a language that you "hablo un poquito", it won't make our interaction any easier to switch to a language that only one of us speaks.
PS4: for the love of my cat, don't tell me how sorry you are about the "situation" in my country, you don't know more about Spain than I do, and you are about to be lectured about the many things I consider fucked up about Canada. I can't pretend to be polite and friendly with these ones.
First, many idiots will not just ask me where I'm from, but rather "are you from X country?". They never guess the right one, obviously, because there are about 200 countries in the world, dozens of which produce accents similar to mine. People have asked if I'm from South Africa or Russia more times than Spain. Second, and this is what gets to me: you are meeting me for a minute or two in your entire life, and you decide to spend it asking this stranger a personal question. Not only that but, out of all personal things, this is the one that'll set us apart because you are Canadian and I'm not and that's what your question points out. The feeling that these people, almost always white old people, need to approve where I come from, decide if I'm one of the "good ones" is constantly there, their eyes sparkle when I say that I'm from Spain. I've tried saying that I'm from Mexico and the reaction usually has nothing to do with the one Spain gets. Something interesting is that I have a Vietnamese coworker, very strong accent too, and not even once have I seen anyone ask her where she's from. It feels as if with me there is a possible "right" answer whereas with her there isn't. It's not cool to have dozens of idiots trying to define you and label you every day based on your nationality, even if it's "a lovely country".
I want to remark that people always do this in a very friendly and polite manner. I want to be able to say something that'll prevent me from having to answer the question while pointing out how rude, racist, exclusive and aggressive it is, but I'm going to come off as rude and confrontational. Someone suggested "I'm from a loving family", I don't particularly like this answer, but that kind of formula is what I'm looking for.
PS1: if you're a white person without a foreign accent who's never worked retail, please take an extra minute to consider your suggestion before hitting submit. Chances are what'd be acceptable to say for you, wouldn't be for me.
PS2: 80 million people visit Spain every year, just because you meet a Spaniard doesn't mean you gotta explain to me your whole vacation. I hear about ten vacation stories every day. They are all literally the same, be a little more imaginative when planning your vacation, people!
PS3: also, just because you took Spanish in highschool doesn't mean I'm interested in correcting your pronunciation. Don't try to communicate with me in a language that you "hablo un poquito", it won't make our interaction any easier to switch to a language that only one of us speaks.
PS4: for the love of my cat, don't tell me how sorry you are about the "situation" in my country, you don't know more about Spain than I do, and you are about to be lectured about the many things I consider fucked up about Canada. I can't pretend to be polite and friendly with these ones.
