Lost in Translation

My Chinese has developed to a pretty decent level. I can communicate with the people I encounter in my daily life. I can't talk politics, but I can survive, get where I need to go and shop fairly well. However, sometimes I find myself with "a failure to communicate."

A few weeks ago I took some fabric to the tailor to have pjs made for the boys. I told her I wanted pj pants for each of the boys and if there was enough left over, I'd like pj shorts for Tom. She had all the measurements. I went to pick them up this week (first time they weren't ready, but that's another issue). She started to explain something to me and then left the room. When she returned, she had a pile of pjs. She had made pj pants for each of the boys and pj shorts for each of the boys AND pj shorts for Tom. So, we have a plethora of pjs in our house now!

I also had the tailor make tuxedos for the boys for my sister's wedding. I took a photograph of a nice tux and took the ayi with me to help me explain what we want. The ayi and I both explained clearly (she more than I, of course) what we wanted, I even pointed out the silk/satin fabric and showed her on the picture where it should go. BUT the tuxes came out as black suits. There's no embellishment on them, so I had to take them back to her to fix. I was very gentle in my explanation of why I'd brought them back and was polite. The ayi, though, was pretty firm and rough, basically saying "We told you, why didn't you do it right?" I felt bad.

Finally, my ayi called our clubhouse to ask them to come out to do a repair. They asked her for her name. She goes by Xing, which means star and is pronounced "shing". She had to repeat her name at least 15 times and finally explain it with a definition of the character. UNBELIEVABLE. If two native speakers cannot communicate, how can we be expected to communicate???