Hacklog: Blogamundo — poking holes in the language barrier since approximately 1 month from now

And now another episode in the saga of me getting to know a Spanish-speaking automated checkout machine.

I can’t really tell you what possesses me to push that “Español” button rather than its equally prominent “English” button on the touch screen.

It’s just so there.

It’s so saying I DARE YOU.

And dagnabbit, I always take the dare.

Except today, there was a half-remembered recipe for Creamy Potato-Leek Soup in my mind (yours truly is a vegetarian), so I had a basket full of… produce.

And I mean full. And after sending through everything with a barcode, I saw to my dismay that half the basket was still full. And the guy behind me just sort of smiled and shook his head.

I think he spoke Spanish.

Clearly, he thought it was more amusing to watch me desperately page through all the tabs on the produce display than to tell me what was what. Hey, I did push the button.

Just like that.

Well, I managed somehow. The killer one, of course, was the leek.

And it wasn’t just that I had no clue how to say “leek” in Spanish, it was that when I finally found a picture by tabbing through *cough* every tab in the produce display, and discovered that a leek is a puerro, the little scanner thingie kept rejecting me.

What, was it actually a shallot in the little picture? Were they going to find out I was a FRAUD??

And that robot lady kept saying

“USTED NECESITA AYUDA?”

Oh, yeah, I needed help alright.

But see, those little twisty thingies that they wrap around the vegetables have a number you can punch in.

I WAS SAVED.

“POR FAVOR, MUEVA SU PUERRO A LA CINTA.”

At least I think that’s what she said. I was so nervous I’ve probably forgotten already.

And thus ends my tale.

(I think I’ll be spending a bit of quality time over at the ever-useful Quizlet.com…)