I realise that, with our joining the European Union, we opened our doors to foreign workers. I have nothing at all against them. I don’t expect them to communicate in Maltese as that takes time. But neither do I expect their knowledge of English to be nil.
Recently, my daughter boarded a bus which stopped her at the Park & Ride in Marsa. My daughter asked a very simple question to the driver in Maltese as she thought he was Maltese. He just shook his head.
She asked him the same question in English. Again, he shook his head. She tried Italian, then French and lastly German. She only got a shake of the head as an answer.
Rather disappointed, she turned on her heels and got off the bus, when an inspector approached her and asked her in English, very politely, if she needed anything.
“Thank heavens, there is someone who can speak English at last!” she said, and got a nice smile… and an answer, in return.
And here is another one: A young man waiting to be interviewed asked a receptionist where the gents’ toilets were located. Almost immediately, the young man was called for the interview but as he had absented himself, the receptionist replied: “He? On the toilet!”
I wonder sometimes how these people manage to get a job on being interviewed. They are not rendering the service required of them.