M’sian Recalls How a Waitress from a KL Restaurant Asked Her to Speak English When Ordering Food

A Malaysian woman is recounting an incident when a waitress at a chain restaurant in Kuala Lumpur allegedly told her to order her food in English as she didn’t understand Bahasa Malaysia (BM).

Taking to her Threads page, Fatin shared that the incident took place when she returned from overseas and went for dinner at the restaurant, where the alleged foreign waitress requested that Fatin speak in English as she didn’t understand BM.

She wrote, “We’re used to hearing about the type of people in the US who hear foreigners speaking their mother tongues and confronting them, saying ‘this is America, speak English!‘. So, there was this one time I came home to Malaysia, and we went to a restaurant in KL. I ordered in BM and got confronted by the waitress.”

“Is this the US or Malaysia?”

This image is for illustration purposes only.

The waitress apparently told her, “Can you speak English? I don’t understand you.”

Fatin added that the waitress’ tone of voice when asking her to speak in English wasn’t exactly pleasant. Nevertheless, Fatin highlighted how it’s a good thing Malaysians are generally bilingual, so ordering in English isn’t an issue.

“We Malaysians are predominantly multilingual and bilingual, and I’m guessing the waitress isn’t Malaysian, and maybe she had just arrived in Malaysia and had not yet picked up BM,”

“But, damn, her tone sounded like she wanted to fight. Even my husband was surprised.”

In the comment section of her post, she explained that the waitress may have been from the Philippines.

Fatin went on to share how she enjoyed watching her husband and a waiter from Kerala, India, interacting on a separate occasion, with her husband ordering his “Roti telur, dua. Kari ikan (2 roti telur with fish curry)” as they were both learning BM at that time.

What the locals had to say about this

Malaysians went on to share their belief that foreigners working in Malaysia should learn BM to interact with locals.

“Foreign waitress. I’d casually order in BM and let her squirm. Like I care. She chose to work here. She should be smart enough to carry herself.”

“I don’t like those who stay in Malaysia but don’t understand BM. If you want to work in Malaysia, you have to learn BM. This is the complete opposite, staying in Malaysia but speaking in a foreign language. Malaysia is truly weird.”

“A lot of restaurants and cafes are starting to hire foreigners, like waiters from the Philippines. And we have to order in English because they don’t understand (BM). If we go to work in a foreign country, we ourselves would put in the effort to study their language. But, why do outsiders not learn our language? BM is easy to learn.”

What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Also read: Penang Chendul Explains What Happened in Viral Video Involving Staff & Customer Who Didn’t Speak BM