TIFU by telling a trucker to call his asshole

Submitted by PoorRij t3_zxgg7d in tifu

I work in a warehouse with a lot of Mexicans. It just so happens that a lot of the truckers we service are also Spanish-speakers. There's a lot of code-switching in the warehouse, a lot of inside jokes, double-entendres, etc.

Anyways, the Mexicans call the boss "cabrón". I thought that it meant "boss/jefe". Anyways, there was a problem with a Spanish-speaking trucker's paperwork that prevented us from logging their load and charging them a lumper fee. After explaining the problem, I told him to "Call your cabrón and get the paperwork for the load."

Well, there was obviously a language-barrier and the trucker called his jefe to tell him to call my jefe about how I called him (the trucker) an asshole, and my boss who is Guatemalan-descendant had a word to speak to me before I explained the situation; funny enough when he told me to walk into his office I asked him, "What's wrong, cabrón?"

We all had a good laugh and I apologized to the trucker, and my boss explained the situation in Spanish to said trucker and his cabrón.

​

TL:DR Language barrier caused me to disrespect a trucker and his boss

55

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Sufficient-Ad451 t1_j20lsne wrote

May want to edit the title. “TIFU by telling a trucker to call his asshole” had me envisioning the trucker physically calling his asshole, instead of calling his BOSS asshole. Funny story though! Reminds me of “hermano” from arrested development…

17

ScarletteMayWest t1_j22xkqc wrote

Decades ago I went to Spanish camp. One of the American female counselors accused one of the male South American counselors of being a Latin Lover, only interested in flirting.

He vociferously denied that, stating that he was not a "cabrón" whose only aim was to chase women, he had come to the States to study.

My brain went "cabrón" = "stud/flirt".

Went back to school and the guy in front of me had heard I met a cute guy at camp and started giving me flack. Knowing of my classmate's reputation as a ladies' man, I responded by saying, "Ay, Miguel, qué cabrón eres!"

Spanish teacher was in front of us. Did an actual spit-take and yelled at me.

And that is the story of how I learned that words could have different meanings in different countries and that I had learned my first swear word in Spanish.

BTW, 'Miguel' was not a very bright boy and never did figure out what I had called him because the classroom dictionary had it listed as "buck".

7

I_Need_Leaded_GAS t1_j23j3te wrote

First time I’ve heard it translated that way. Cabrón = Goat. Old Goat. Stubborn Goat. Not asshole.

4