communication

I feel that communication is a essential part of our world. With the amount of travel I do and the time I spend in hotels, I have to deal with this a LOT. Today as I came back to my hotel room after an AMAZING work out, the maid stopped me and asked if I wanted service. I told her that I just needed my trash emptied, she looked at me very blank and said "you need service?" not sure what language she spoke I again said "I only need my trash emptied" and then again in spanish hoping that since I am so close to cuba that would be the choice. This did absolutely no good and I went into my room and got my trash bins out and said "trash please".
I understand that none of us would be here without our ancestors coming from another country. I understand coming to another country to pursue a happier life, but for hells sake, if you are going to work in a profession that requires you to communicate with another person, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have at least a working knowledge of the language. I don't expect anyone to come here having a perfect knowledge of the language, but when you ask someone a question you should be able to understand the answer!! I say this sort of feeling sheepish, knowing that I went to South and Central America with such little ability to carry on a conversation that it was juvenile at best. I am still working on that and hopefully getting better little by little. So I really have very little right to say much, but it still kind of angers me!