How much English do you have to learn to get a Cheese steak?
Edit: Well, the Geno's sign does say "Please." Let me explain myself. When I was working in Japan I tried to learn Japanese so I could do things like order fast food, ask where the bathroom was, how much are these soiled panties, etc. However, sometimes when I was trying to order in Japanese or whatever the clerks couldn't understand me. I would get frustrated and default to English and we could usually work it out. If I saw a sign in Japan that read, "This is Japan, speak Japanese when ordering." I would have felt like shit. I would have felt like there was some racial animosity being directed towards me. There is only two types of reactions a sign like this can produce to a non-native speaker: depression and anger.
The irony is that this guy's name is Vento and the stand is called Geno's. When my Grandma was a kid in Connecticut, she told me their neighborhood was almost exclusively Italian and Italian was spoken at many stores around town. Were these people any less American because the didn't speak English?
Was I providing any less of a service in Japan because I couldn't speak Japanese? I was still working hard at the job I was brought over to do.
