I have commented already on this blog on the idiocy of the young lawyer who rants about people speaking languages other than English to each other.

“This is America!” he has bellowed to them. “Speak English!”

This goofball apparently misses the rich irony of that moronic statement, given that the United States has no official language, let alone that English is that language.

Having said that, I want to share a brief gripe I have about non-English speakers.

It presents itself when I go to the grocery store and I need help finding an item on the shelf. More than once — indeed, I’ve lost count of the times this has happened — I have approached a store employee who’s stocking shelves and asked, for instance, “Excuse me, could you please tell where I can find the pickles?” I get that look, and a shrug, and a silent affirmation that the person doesn’t understand what I’ve just asked of him or her.

That, right there, is what annoys me. It’s not so bad that I explode with an profanity-laced tirade. However, if a retail outlet — which is in the business of serving the customer — is going to put employees in contact with presumably English-speaking customers, it seems only right to ensure that those employees are able to communicate effectively.

English isn’t the official U.S. language, but — with all due love and respect to my many friends whose first language is something other than English — it is the language most Americans speak regularly.

Is that too much to ask?

Of course it isn’t!

Gripe session is over.