To be fair, yes, we have this problem in the US. I think it is universal repairman issue. However, I have never had someone simply not show up at all. Then just happen to show up two days later with no explanation and fully expecting that I would be there to let them in. This has happened on a few occasions here.
I was pleasantly impressed with this guy. He said he’d be here Tuesday around 4:00pm and showed up at 4:30pm. Then he said he’d be back the next morning at 9:00am and he showed up at 9:30am. He will definitely have our business again if we have problems around here.
I had the receipt for the parts he had given me laying on the kitchen table last night. My husband asked me if I had seen what was written on the top of the paper. (I know it is blurry. I tried like crazy to get a good shot.)
It says Americano. Among his other orders/repairs that day, we weren’t identified by my name or our address, which he knew, but by our nationality.
I find this so hilarious. The only thing funnier would have been if he had written “gringo”. I probably would have framed that.
5 comments:
That is hilarious!!
I guess it's a lot easier to remember you as an American than the person that lives at so-and-so address. I am surprised they use that term though since a lot of South Americans are like, "Hey, I'm American too!"
Yeah, a lot of times I'm surprised by that too. Before we moved here we became more sensitive to the issue that we shouldn't call ourselves Americans because everyone in South America is too. That is why I usually say USAmerican. However, everyone here calls us Americanos to define us so it really isn't an issue for the people we've met. Perhaps in different areas.
Haha, really funny! Yeah here, some people are sensitive about the Americano issue, but some people still refer to us as that. In Spanish the word Estadounidense means USAmerican so that works, but in English I always have to sto pand think for a minute.
It is funny how he wrote it down! This reminds me of when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in a small town of 3,000 people in Estonia. Kids at the grocery store would tug at their mother's pants and point, "Look, the American!" The Ukrainian electrician knew me only as "the American." I have to admit that my name is difficult for Estonians to remember, but I think it was just easier to refer to me as "the American."
Well, actually its not that we think you guys shouldnt be called Americanos (after all, there is no better word)... its more like "we live in America" too.
The word AMERICA, now, THAT one is hardly used to refer to the US around here.
For example... Copa Libertadores da América has its name in honor of the south american men responsible for the independece of several countries from Spain.
Lojas Americanas: not named like that in reference to US...
As for the guy remembering you as "Americano"... well, if you were french he would CERTAINLY have written "Francês"... if you were from Rio Grande do Sul he would have written "Gaúcho", from São Paulo, "Paulista".
Brazilians nickname everybody. For example, if there are two players with the same name in a soccer team, they will be nicknamed for example "Juninho Paulista" and "Juninho Pernambucano"...
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