Speak English, please

Since last Friday, our new boss decided that we should speak English for the whole day long... If you slip by speaking Indonesian, you will get fine amounting 500 Rupiahs ... However, you may deposit 10,000 Rupiahs to earn the right speaking Indonesian the whole day... It was funny...

The whole office, suddenly became so quiet... Everybody thinking hard before saying anything... We were not just speaking English for daily conversation. But we have to do that in terms with our works... Of course, if we were all feeling hesitated, feel free to speak Indonesian again and just pay the fine....

For me, it's not the speaking that become the problem. It's more the listening problem. Everytime I have to pick up my manager's phone when he was not around, I can only hope that the client who called speak English clearly. Often, I have no idea about what they were saying. When it comes to that, I asked them politely to send email to me so I will have time to investigate the problem.... We were not used to speak with foreigners let alone talking about our jobs. And plus, to listen very carefully for whatever they are saying... The pressure to get it right since related with our works, makes it even depressing...

If it only for small talk or joking around, my colleagues were happily to speak English... Like, they were asking have we seen RAINBOW SOLDIER (maksudnya Laskar Pelangi... ), or saying THERE IS SUGAR, THERE IS ANT (peribahasa : ADA GULA ADA SEMUT)... all the ridiculous words....

So today, is English speaking day again.... And we'll see how many chaos will my colleagues produces today....