Smith’s School of English Soap Box

Just the other day I went to Starbucks (as I think every gaijin does) and I went to order my drink that is no longer on the menu. Here I was speaking my very minimal japanese and then the young lady behind the counter just outright said “Pardon?” I was very suprised and also slightly embarrassed that she couldn’t understand what I was asking, but I carried on ordering my drink in English which was way better for me, and probably her too.
I was telling my friend about this and he said to me that when he was learning and beginning to speak japanese, that no one heard the first two words that he was saying and found that if he said the first half of his sentence really slow, they would understand because they would be actually listening instead of being suprised that a gaijin can actually speak japanese.
I decided to keep this in mind for when I go to order my next starbucks.