"How Important Learning English Is" by Elsa Adame

When I had just come to this country, I met a person. Like me, she was from Mexico. She helped me get a job at a fast food restaurant. When I started to work there, I didn't know one word of English. Little by little, I started to learn some words like:
"ketchup", "mustard", "onion", "french fries", "Good morning", and "Hi, how are you?"

But once, a customer and I had a very embarrassing experience. This customer, an African American, was ordering at the front counter, and suddenly he said, "I want a small pop."

I had never heard that word and neither had my co-worker. Pop??
So, I showed him a spoon, a straw, a fork, and he was just looking at us with an angry face. He said again, "I said, a small pop!!"

Finally, I had to call the manager. She asked him, "May I help you?"

And he said, kind of shrugging his shoulders, "I just want a small pop, for Chris' sakes." She says, "Okay."

She turned around and told us, "He wants a small soda."

This experience taught me that learning English is very important!