Telcel in Laguna Centro

Had an interesting experience at the Telcel center in Laguna Centro the other day. Just wondered how usual this was.

When I walked in the front door, I was greeted by a woman sitting at the kiosk just inside the door. I explained to her in my limited Spanish that I wanted to talk to someone about the advertising on my phone. I further explained that it would be easiest and best if that person spoke English. She asked me to sit down on the bench and wait.

And wait I did - for about 25 minutes. In the meanwhile, several people whom I guessed to be locals, came in and approached the woman at the kiosk. They were all escorted to one of the people behind the windows who were helping customers. I decided it was because they all spoke Spanish and did not require a speaker of English.

When at last I was escorted to a window by the greeter, I was greeted in English by a woman who had been there all along and had attended to three other people who walked in the door after me. Admittedly I was already angry and was struggling to be “respectful” as I explained that I wanted the advertising on my phone stopped. She looked straight at me and said there was nothing she could do and that I would have to call the advertisers. I know that is not true. I was there because friends who had the same problem with advertising had told me they had gone to Telcel and successfully requested an end to the advertising on their phone.

Maybe I offended the greeter with my broken Spanish. Maybe I was there on a bad day. Maybe I wasn’t holding my nose just right. Or maybe I was just too obviously Anglo. I don’t know. What I do know is that I will be so happy when AT&T cell phone service becomes available. Because as much as I thought AT&T was disgusting service north of the border, I now realize how lucky I was to have it.

My question is how usual this experience was. Was it just me - or have others had a similar experience in the Telcel Service Center in Laguna Centro? Just curious.