Shaky Common Ground

You know what's super funny? Watching the Japanese businessmen who work in my office building, and speak only broken English, trying to order lunch from the Mexicans who run the building cafeteria and speak only broken English. It's like watching an old person trying to use a computer. I've started timing my lunch breaks so I can get downstairs in time to see it. And so I can order my own lunch before it happens. Trust me, you do not what to get stuck behind that little cultural exchange. It can take minutes of slow, deliberate shouting just to convey the concept of wheat bread.