Conforama and Jumbo

Yesterday I took Joe to Conforama, a store that sells everything from a TV to a noodle strainer. It's similar to IKEA in that it has just about everything you need to spiff up a house. However, it seriously differs from IKEA in the amount of English-speaking persons they employ. Joe tried to buy a chair. It was blue. It did not make it with us. Ordinarily you fill out a card, you write down the product number and the price, you give it to the cashier, then you go to a garage type place and pick up your chair that's in a million pieces that you have to put together. We had enough French to say "We dont' speak French" and then came the hand signals. We think the cashier may have said that we could take the display, but we have no idea. We were holding up the cashier lane, I was behind Joe buying a fan and a clock. I had to try to explain with slow English and hand signals that Joe and I were not paying together, she could ring me up. Joe came back after hunting for the chair with no chair. He decided the chair was not worth the humiliation he felt for the poor cashier that couldn't speak English.

Then we went to Jumbo. I'm not quite sure what the extent of their products are, but it's a cross between Lowe's and a place that sells pillows. I was equally confused. Here Joe found a chair. He got some help from an employee that understood the universal language...the point and grunt. He also bought a grill. That will require it's own posting since I'm still putting it together. I like to build things and hey I have nothing better to do!

Honestly, there is nothing like the sting of not being able to communicate a need in French. You immediately want to go home and start the Rosetta Stone...this was our initial thought even if it didn't translate into action.