Spanish Lessons as an Entry Wedge

Rob looked at Daniella and liked the eager expression on her face. It was a beautiful face, and he envied her husband this Mr. Bowen. Rob whispered to the doorman at the Mexican restaurant, and he ushered them to a table in the corner. He was known here as one of his workers was married to the owner of the restaurant and he was always treated well. Within a short time, steaming dishes were delivered to their table and they sampled their dishes with appreciation. Rob was curious about this woman and while they were finishing their meal, he saw her looking at her watch. She was making sure they’d make it to their next appointment a half hour away. Rob spoke.

“Relax our next client is not too far from this restaurant and I know the owner here, so he lets me park here and it’s only a five-minute walk. It looks a bit run down in this area, but I’ve never felt threatened walking around here and know how to deal with it if such an unusual occasion arose. I have a black belt and if it’s not a mob I could handle a few at a time without getting hurt so you’re safe with me. Now tell me about your family. What does your husband do.”

Daniella laughed.

“No husband Rob. What about you. Do you have a wife and children?”

“No Daniella it’s been work and night study for me up to the time of my master’s level graduation recently. But I’d like to get married and have a family.”

“With your personality, position and good looks Rob I think you’ll have no trouble finding women clamouring at your door and I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.”

Rob was about to tell her just how surprised he was to see she wasn’t married already as she was stunning to look at. But he thought that may give her the wrong impression about him. He wondered about the Spanish connection. She was obviously fluent in the language and felt ashamed of his attempts to converse then thought of a ploy to keep in contact with her. At the end of this week of orientation she’d be partnering with others, and he would be back to his administrative duties and partnering occasionally with new recruits for a week to complete their orientation and evaluation as continued employment was conditional on a good evaluation at the end of that first week.

The afternoon went well. Rob continued to let her take the lead and it was obvious she was well experienced in this line of work. He’d discuss this with HR and see if Daniella could be confirmed in employment before the week was up as her experience was obvious. As they were returning to the office at the end of this first day, he shared what was on his mind.

“Daniella you are very experienced, and I’d clear you for confirmed employment right away but it’s a HR call, so I’ll talk with them before we take up the work together again tomorrow morning. But I have a favour to ask of you and you can feel free to say no without it affecting your future here.  I’m very much aware of a need to improve my Spanish as this is an area where it’s important to have good fluency in that language. You are obviously very fluent, and you don’t seem to have a family to go home to in the evenings. If you can find time, would you be able to help me improve my conversational Spanish? I see some of the clients I meet smiling at my attempts, and this is a job were its best to have the clients confident in communication with me.

Danielly studied him as he negotiated the car through evening traffic back to the office. Was this a clever pick-up line this man was attempting. So far, she had a good impression of him but one could never been too careful and she’d had some hair-raising experiences with bosses in her previous employment. One of the reasons she left. But she didn’t want to offend him if he were innocent as he appeared to be and if he was trying to manipulate her, she could shut it down quickly. She shrugged. Why not?

“Here’s a start Rob. Estaré encantado de ayudarte con tu Rob español y podría darte una hora después del trabajo cada día.”

Rob smiled happily still looking ahead as traffic whizzed around them.

“Thank you, Daniella. That is very kind of you.

Next day after the morning staff meeting Daniella went to the front to meet Rob who was gathering up papers and making notes in his phone. She waited until he was finished and then spoke.

“I guess you have work to do in your office before we go out for the day. Where shall I wait for you?”

Rob looked at her in surprise.

“Come and sit comfortably in my office while I get a few things done and then we will go. Our first appointment is an hour from now and we have a heavy load today so may be a bit late back to the office this evening. Is that OK? If not, I could let you go just before the last appointment, but you’d have to take public transport back to the office.”

“Rob, it doesn’t matter to me if we are late back to the office of an evening as I have no family to come home to so no obligations. It’s just reading and TV time at home as well as some housework. Oh, and before I forget, thank you so much for working in my favour with HR they have given me confirmation of full-time employment and I didn’t even have to complete the usual week trial. I’d give you a hug for that but the policy on my phone tells me that’s inappropriate behaviour at the office or on the job. However, I could give you your first conversational lesson in Spanish tonight as a reward.”

Rob laughed.

“Then I hate policy but gratefully accept the lesson this evening.”

Rob continued to let Daniella lead in the client visits, and she shone at the job. The clients loved her. She exuded confidence, lavished attention on them and they were all loth to see her leave after the visit begging her to stay longer but each client was assigned a time and a list of things that had to be accomplished during a visit, and it was not up to them to go beyond those government guidelines.

Rob was sad when the week came to an end and Daniella was no longer his to take around to clients for the day, but his desk work always got behind when he had to orient a new social worker. But she kept her promise and stayed behind of an evening for an hour of conversational Spanish and had him reading Spanish newspapers and magazines to her to improve his reading skills in the language too. The progress was slow and after a couple of months Daniella began to wonder if Rob was deliberately not advancing in the language as quickly as she thought he should. She’d thought when first meeting him that his language was understandable even if accented and she’d reduced that accent by constantly stopping him and making him repeat sentences after her but with all the work she’d done with him in that couple of months she’d expected more improvement. Finally, it had to come out and she decided to tackle him after the lesson one evening.

“Rob are you deliberately holding back on improving your Spanish. I’m beginning to suspect you are and want to know why.”

Rob smiled. She was very perceptive.

“Daniella, I don’t think I’ll ever be as fluent as you are in Spanish, but I want to be honest with you. I don’t want these sessions to end as I like to be with you and am fearful that you won’t want to spend time with me if it’s not for improving my language skills.”

“That’s silly Rob, I thought you were more mature than that. I like your company as I go home to a lonely apartment and it’s nice to be doing something that’s not work or housework with someone. Do you wish to continue with the Spanish lessons? “

“Yes, your time spent has been valuable to my knowledge of and use of the language in my work and I’d like that to continue. I’m really interested in sports would you be interested in coming with me to some sporting events of a weekend?”

“Are you asking me out on a date? I haven’t been into that scene but am interested in sports. What sports do you play?”

“Bowling, squash, football, tennis, surfing, hiking, martial arts.  I’ll try almost anything.”

“If it’s just friendship I’d be interested Rob but now I’m not interested in a relationship. Would you be satisfied with that?”      

Too be continued.

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