Communication with Non-English speakers

[TKLaundry]

Let me pose this to you and maybe you can advise me on what to do. I have a number of customers who are Brazilian and do not speak English. One night last week one customer came in just under the wire with her laundry but stayed 45 minutes after closing time. (yep, had to pay for the extra time) My attendant says she turned off the radio, vaccumed and did all the other closing things that most customers take as a hint but nothing worked. How do I diplomatically get the message across that we are closed and please take your clothes home? My only thought is to go onto the Altavista Bablefish web site and translate something to Portugeuese (sp). Any thoughts?
Thanks Dave

[PeterH]

I wonder if Portugeuse speakers understand Spanish?

Using hand gestures to point to the washers and then to the dryers, and then to the folding tables with a shake of my head and something negative looking, I tell them they can wash and dry, but can't stay to fold. Since my store is a one-man operation, I don't mind anyone folding after the official closing time, as I can work around them. I'm going to assume that if and when I hire someone to clean, that they won't really start until closing time when the store is mostly empty and still be there working for about an hour after. So if people need to stay a little longer, it's no real problem.

When you say closing time, do you mean lights off, doors locked, alarms on?

-ph

[TKLaundry]

Portuguese speakers can understand some Spanish. Yes, if someone is folding and will run a few minutes over time no problem we usually let them and explain that we close at a certain time and there is usually no problem after that, my problem is when the customer speaks no English at all. I was thinking of posting something that reads "We are open from _ in the morning through _ in the evening, please plan your laundry day so you are finished washing, drying and folding by _pm" and then translating it into Spanish and Portuguese. What I don't want to do is chase a new customer away because an attendant seems to be more interested in getting out of here if you know what I mean. Plus, I have to pay the attendant for the extra time they stay waiting for someone to finish folding.

Dave

[petefritz]

I had one l'mat that seems everynite I had laggers. I would sit for an hour watching them fold clothes. I finanly put up a sign, it says last wash 10:00 PM, last dry 10;30
Please plan ahead, folding takes 15 mins. Putting an extra quarter in the dryer does not obligate us to remain open after 11:00
A couple times I would wait till a couple mins after 11;00, then just simply tell these people I had a prior commitment and had to close, would they mind folding thier stuff at home.
I lost a few customers doing this, but they were all dry only, as the apartment down the street shut the laundryroom at 10:30 so the people would come to my place to dry and end up staying late. It does not happen much anymore, and biz is back to normal. I have some spanish speaking people, and have had to point to the clock, then to the door and show them my key. They got the idea. Just try to be diplomatic if you can. I don't sit and watch anyone fold clothes anymore.