Speaking in tongues

I don't really have any patient contact (there's a reason that wound up happening, but it is a story for another post), and I feel fairly detached. Most of my work is done via phone or email, which gives me very little reason to leave my desk - so I usually welcome any face-to-face interactions (besides meetings, but who really likes those?).

And then sometimes I'm sorry I ever said hello. See, I'm a pretty easy-going person when it comes to conversation topics. I'll talk about pretty much anything that won't get me into trouble with HR or hospital administration (unless the door's shut, then all bets are off). But there are just some topics I hate discussing at work.

This afternoon, I ran into a delivery guy in the hall. As he was scanning packages to give to me, he said "uno momento" and then mentioned that was about the extent of his Spanish knowledge. He mentioned that he wished Haitian Creole was offered in the public schools since the Haitian population in this area has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 20 years. We chatted for a moment about how the area has changed (we were both born and raised in this area). He then said that it really bothered him that other hospital employees would do everything they could to keep from having to speak English at work. I let him know my feelings on the subject - that as long as I wasn't the subject of conversation, it wasn't an issue for me. While I feel that the policy that only English is be spoken in all patient care areas (unless you're communicating with a patient or their family in their native language) should be adhered to, if it happens in my lab (and it often does, where often means at least once every 20 minutes or so) I sort of tune it out as I would any of the other lab noises. He asked me why we were the ones who needed to adjust - shouldn't they learn English? Thankfully, that was the moment one of my coworkers called me away.

This topic is so very sticky. Is it better to have coworkers who are working legally and contributing to our economy that don't really have any kind of a grasp of the English language, or to have these folks out of work and adding themselves and their families to the public assistance rolls and clogging up the ED because they can't get insurance?