Gud, how are those kids old enough to be taking that test?!

A question about immigrant populations and language:

As is typical around here, the janitorial staff in the office is pretty much all Hispanic. They primarily just talk amongst themselves, and I don't know how well any of them really speak English.

2nd point: there are a couple of big boxes in the break room that the Powers that Be want to have hauled off, so Trash is written on them. Those boxes haven't gone anywhere, so now Basura is written on them.

For some reason, this strikes me as a little insulting, like, "Hey, do your job and haul these away!" But it's quite possible that the janitorial staff doesn't know written English well enough to recognize the English word for garbage, so they may see those tonight and go "Oops, that's what they meant, let's get rid of this stuff." On the other hand, it makes me feel bad to assume they don't know that much English, and they haven't had the means to get big awkward boxes out of there. On the third hand, our people maybe should have noticed the population of the janitorial cadre and been more polylingual in their sign making.

In a weirdly amusing aside, the last time I saw my oldest sister, we were in a restaurant in our hometown in rural Southwest Pennsylvania. I was watching one of the waitresses clearing a table. She was a local girl, and I said "It's kind of weird to see that." Middle Sister gave me a baffled look, but Oldest Sister, who had been living in California for a couple of decades, smiled faintly and said, "Someone white clearing a table?" I nodded.

Just finished the campus tour. Husband is talking with HR, and they said he's the only finalist. Only concern now is salary.

Gud, how are those kids old enough to be taking that test?!

Em is heading into her last year of high school. It's crazy. Leif will be a sophomore.

he's the only finalist

Woot!

For some reason, this strikes me as a little insulting, like, "Hey, do your job and haul these away!"

Many cleaning agencies have stipulated that if it's not in a trash can, they won't take it unless it's marked as trash. If they're not sure, they don't take it. In my experience, many of the staff do not speak, read, or write English, so they're not going to understand what "trash" means, especially if they're new to the job. I've had conversations with janitorial staff, and I have been told they appreciate the translation if "trash" doesn't work. In my last office building they did not expect us to use Spanish in marking items to be thrown away, but it was appreciated, especially if they item remained after it was marked as trash in English.

Yay, Dana and DH! Much salary~ma headed your way!

Down here, trash is often labeled in Spanish as well.

At my old office, we had big orange stickers to put on large trash items, and they read "TRASH / BASURA".

Em is heading into her last year of high school. It's crazy. Leif will be a sophomore.

Impossible! I thought for sure you meant they were taking the ACT in that whole "kids in middle school sometimes take in order to get fancy summer college programs and stuff"!!!