An English 
Horror Story 😱

I was absolutely thrilled!
I had just landed my first ever job in the UK and I was about to start working at a busy four-star hotel & golf club just outside Cambridge.
It was my 2nd week at the hotel. I was working the evening shift and it was around 9 pm.
One of the guests was getting his clothes ready for an early morning meeting the following day and he needed to iron his shirt.
He called the reception and I answered the phone:
– Good night reception. Isabel speaking, how can I help?
– Hi there, I was wondering if you could send an iron to room 224?
– Did you check the wardrobe? There should be an iron in the big drawer.
– Yes, I did check the drawer, but there wasn’t an iron in there.
– Oh sorry about that, sir. I’ll send an iron to your room straightway.
Gareth the reception manager, started giggling and said: Isabel, what do you call that object he was asking for?I said: Do you mean an iron?
Yes, well…we say “iyon”. And by the way, this (dijo mientras señalaba un cajón del escritorio) we pronounce it “draaaw”.
Oh my goodness, really? You must be pulling my leg. Have I been mispronouncing those words wrong my whole life?!
“I’m afraid so.”
Another thing I wanted to point out, you should only say good night when somebody is going to bed. If somebody calls reception after 6 pm, you should always say “Good evening”.
I don’t believe him I thought to myself. He’s must be joking.
Back in those days we didn’t have smartphones, so I had to wait till I got home and as I entered through the door I asked:
– “Phillip, ¿cómo se decía plancha en inglés?”
– “¿Plancha? Come on Isabel, that’s pretty basic, we say iron /aɪən/.”
I was mortified, I had been saying to hundreds of customers that they would find “airons” in their “drawers.”
But wait, that was nothing compared to what happened to me the following week…
One day I had a bunch of customers complaining about their invoices and there were about 7 of them talking to me all at the same time. They were upset because the invoice seemed to be totally wrong and they had been overcharged. They wanted me to sort it out ASAP and I was completely on my own that day as my colleague had called in sick.
I started to get really nervous. I wasn’t used to speaking English all day, it had been a really hectic day and I felt mentally exhausted.
My mind went completely blank and I really struggled to communicate fluently with them. I could see in their faces they were looking at me and thinking: “This woman doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing”.
– “Oh for goodness sake! I’d like to speak to one of your supervisors, please.”
The following day, the General Manager sent an email to all the hotel staff with the latest reviews from guests staying at the hotel. One of the reviews said: “The lady at the reception couldn’t even speak proper English!”
When I read that, I wanted the earth to swallow me up.