By Jason Moore
OVER recent weeks we´ve had plenty of telephone calls about the Gas and Electricity Board, GESA´s, billing fiasco. What can we do, the worried caller asks, go to their offices and complain, is our answer. But do they speak English, asks the caller... I sincerely doubt it, is our reply. Now there are two schools of thought on this issue. The first is that GESA, because they have a large number of foreign clients, should have staff who speak English but the second is that non-Spaniards should make an effort to speak the language so if they do have to make a complaint they have the necessary skills to do so. It is a difficult one and I do think that is six of one and half a dozen of the other. No, I am not sitting on the fence! You can get by living in Majorca without speaking a word of Spanish. In most cases you don´t have to. The only time when language skills are needed is when you have to do something rather unpleasant like complain about your bill. Now, I know I am not going to change the habit of a life-time with some expatriates who will never learn the language and there is a simple solution, let your gestor or legal representative deal with it. It saves a lot of trouble but unfortunately even complaining when you are in the right costs money!
Speaking your language