mistaken words

[Dee Sa]

Yesterday I went to our local Asain run supermarket and asked for Vindaloo paste, the guy behind the counter called his little "helper", I repeated slowly VINDALOO paste, he thought for a minute, his eyEs lit up and he ran and brough me back a bottle of WINDOLENE !!!!!!

[spudqueen]

I once went into a Spar in Wales and asked if they had soured cream, the lady reappeared with salad cream. Maybe they didn't understand my accent.

[Gef]

And the question is?

[Buenchico]

Many years ago, a friend of mine asked, in a small chemist's shop, whether they sold rubber gloves. The elderly lady assistant ushered him around to her side of the counter, opened a drawer and asked him to make his selection. The drawer was full of condoms. She thought that he'd asked for 'rubber goods'!

Last year, an American friend tried to purchase a can of Coke in London. He was completely confused when the shop assistant seemed to use an abbreviation unknown to him: 'ATP'. He said he didn't understand. The woman simply repeated 'ATP'. Once again, he said he couldn't understand her. Yet again, the woman (with increasing annoyance) said 'ATP'. My friend was also getting increasingly irate with her and the situation was getting very confrontational until someone stepped in and told him that the price of the drink was 80p!

I used to work at a railway station. A customer asked at the ticket office for details of how to get to Warsaw. My colleague carefully explained that he had to take a train to London, then the Underground to Waterloo, followed by Eurostar to Paris and so on. At each stage, the customer nodded to show that he understood but, at the end of the route description, he asked if that was the only route. My colleague then worked out an alternative route, involving a ferry from Harwich and onbound rail connections. Once again, the customer nodded to show his understanding of each stage of the route. It was only when he'd been given all of the details (and a massive queue had built up behind him) that he commented that he'd never had to take a ferry before. In fact, he didn't even know that there were any ferries in the West Midlands! (Yes, he wanted to go to Walsall!).

Chris

[Dee Sa]

there isnt one Gef. Just wondered if I was the only person
this has happened to ?
working in a London hotel on the night desk was one of the funniest times of my life------
I am "plumpicking" said one foreign visitor at check in and there we all were picking imaginary plums from a tree trying to comprehend, looked in his passport he was" from PEKING.".
Another visitor asked where he could buy tin foil, when we enquired why it was for the "lady asian" --- what lady asian he checked in for a single room, turned out he was scared of any RADIATION and covered his bed with it.

[amonty1144]

I worked in a clothing and haberdashers in a remote part of scotland, where the accent was difficult. A local guy came in and asked for tools, I told him we didn't sell tools only clothing etc. He said well you used to , you know bath tools, hand tools (towels). The shop fell about and I didn't last very long there.

[Alibobs]

I worked in London many years ago and we had a Scottish boss who said he was going on holiday to Torquay. We thought it was odd - he had a well paid job and we thought he would choose to go somewhere more exotic.
We laughed when we got a postcard from Marmaris (Turkey)!

[Emz26]

I made myself look silly at work. I have just moved to the Midlands from London and alot of people seem to comment on my pronounciation of certain words. I knocked on a door looking for someone and the lady said 'He doesn't live here, he lives in 'Skookland' Standing there with a blank look on my face, I turned to my colleague and said 'Is that local to here? He just fell about laughing. Turns out she meant Scotland. Note to self, invest in a better map and engage my brain before opening my mouth. And yes, I am in the uniformed services, which made it all the worse....