Worse in black and white

I fired Vodafone. They blow. Their stores are always closed and then when they're open they're too crowded and the people who work there are never helpful and their website blows and their operators blow and I hate them. I wasn't that invested in my old phone number -- I never even really learned it -- and I was out of credit anyway. Take that, Vodafone. So I went to the Movistar store and asked for a prepaid SIM card and the woman told me they're having a promotion now where you get two little phones and two prepay SIM cards for 19 euros.

Me: "But I only want one SIM card, and I already have a phone."

Her: "It's a promotion, this is how we're selling them now."

Me: "Why would I want two cards and two phones?"

Her: "Well, you can use one until the credit runs out and then use the other one."

Me: "Is it the same at all the Movistar stores?"

Her: "Yes, I think so. It's a promotion. It's a very good price."

Whatever, I thought, this is still better than Vodafone.

Me: "Ok, I'll take it."

And at that point, after I had gotten through all that confusing absurd ridiculous stuff in Spanish, the woman behind the counter started saying things like "This is yours" and "Sign here, please" in English. That's cheating! You're not allowed to change the language when the conversation gets easy! I earned the easy part of that conversation in Spanish.

I realize it's not the woman behind the Movistar counter's job to practice Spanish with me, and I try not to get all bent out of shape if someone who speaks better English than I speak Spanish switches to English on me. Or even if they don't speak better English than I speak Spanish, whatever. Maybe they just want to practice English or maybe they think they're being helpful, maybe they're not trying to tell me that I speak Spanish horribly and that I sound like a blithering idiot and that I'll never be anything more than a tourist here. But when you think you're rolling along smoothly enough through a conversation and then suddenly you hit the English wall, it's hard not to take it a little personally.