It's a tough one to get around.

To come down on someone because you have trouble understanding them, it's thin ice.

But at the risk of upsetting somebody, I am going to use my little forum to air out a grievance.

I went to the pharmacy to pick up some allergy medicine for the Mrs. and I expected that it would be ready to pick up, since it had been called in by her the doctor the day before.

I talked to one of those guys in the lab coats who gets to stand ten inches above everybody else in the store, I guess because, he's the pharmacist and you're not. Mr. Lab Coat could not find Mrs. Anthony's name in his computer. He had no explanation and neither did I, so I left.

The next day I called the doctor and she said that the lady that took the prescription "sounded foreign" and had trouble with the spelling of Mrs. Anthony's name.

She said she'd call the pharmacy back and make sure they had it right. Ok, good.

I went back up the next afternoon and spoke with Mr. Lab Coat.

Working along side him was a foreign lady.

I put two and two together and figured it was just a simple miscommunication and then began "the wait."

Why does it take so long to fill a prescription when the prescription was phoned hours or even days before you come to pick it up?

I didn't see twelve people in front of me, just one guy, and Mr. Lab Coat was on the phone, tapping at his computer for at least ten minutes.

Finally, I walk up to the raised counter and peered over.

"Ahh...is it gonna be a while?" I asked.

The pharmacist looked over at me with the phone still pinched in his neck "Hang on, Tom...aaaa, Mr. Anthony, this is going to take about ten more minutes..do you want to..."

I interrupted him, saying, I'd be back.

I came back in twenty minutes and the same scene was still in play. Mr. Lab Coat on the phone, still pecking away at his keyboard.

I approached the window again and he finally came over and apologized for the wait.

We finished the transaction and he told me that his assistant would explain about the type of medicine and the dosage and then he went back to his phone.

The foreign lady came over, took the medicine out of the bag and began to speak.

I strained, I leaned in, but I could not understand what she was saying.

I am a reasonable guy.

I took a couple of years of French in school, grew up listening to my Mom speak German in the house, and I worked at learning some Russian just so I could impress Mrs. Anthony's Dad.

I even studied Japanese phrases on tape because I like the culture.

But though I tried, I could not make out what this lady was saying. I shrugged and just nodded my head, then took the bag and left. I figured I could read the instructions for myself, but after I was in the van, I thought, "What if I missed some important information?"

I would never blame anyone for coming to this country legally, to live and work and enjoy our way of life.

And I understand the difficulties in learning new languages.

But I have to take some issue with a situation where the imparting of information could affect someone's well being in a detrimental way.

In retrospect, I should have told the lady that I didn't understand her and maybe ask for someone else to come help us.

But if this is an ongoing situation at that pharmacy, it has the potential to be a serious issue.

There's more to this story. I drove off and decided that I was hungry, so I pulled into a fast food place nearby.

At the window, a voice came on to take my order, "baaxxa grsit gpahe berblaba?' What?!

I laughed out loud, thinking I was caught in a Candid Camera bit.

"Bearzit, gebwa, tadoder," the voice crackled.

I just pulled around towards the window. I figured the squawk box was haywire, but when I got there, a chunky white kid with a wispy moustache leaned out and said, "Cana getta soz for yer wa dat, Surr?"

This time I could nearly tell what he was saying, but I still had to rattle my head around to make sure.

My point here is, it doesn't seem to matter where you come from or who you are, the English language is suffering.

And though I'm no bastion of proper speech, I feel compelled to say something to my readers.

"SPEAK ENGLISH PLEASE" ...it's the language I understand the best.