The ones that insit on speaking slowly in English. Even though you understand when they were speaking in Chinese. I understand they maybe want to practice but I’m trying to get my stuff and go.
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I met a hybrid of some of the above today. I was at a 7-11 that I’ve never visited.
- The clerk sees me in her peripheral and asks me a question. I respond. She then looks at me and sees my foreign face. Total silence for a couple of awkward seconds.
- Then, she transforms into a mime. “Asking” (miming) me in total silence if I want a bag. I was a bit perplexed, as we had just been communicating in Mandarin a few seconds earlier. See video below for a laugh.
- I respond "袋子嗎？” She then returns to normalcy and we complete the transaction.
- She managed to squeeze in her best English “三Q” as I was leaving.
Takeaway: this kind of entry-level position has no linguistic demands beyond passable Mandarin and very basic 閩南語. (As an aside, I have seen a foreigner with nearly no local language skills working at a 7-11, communicating mostly in English, go figure). As others have mentioned, factors such as low wages and the demands of the job (ranging from monotony to making coffee + fetching packages + processing 40,000 credit card payments) doesn’t result in the recruitment of the “cream of the crop.” Live and let live, I guess.
Bonus: Taiwan’s unique “You want a bag?” Aka “Harlem Shake” mime.
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Used to have a Korean boss who would visit regularly, I would translate to whoever we spoke to, the reaction of most was to keep switching their head from looking at me to looking at the Korean boss, over and over. Very confused.
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We have enough content to make our own TGOP style YouTube video now 
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Back in the US for a bit, and I realized one thing that I miss is just simple friendly exchanges with random clerks and such.
Even as an introverted person who rarely talks to strangers otherwise.
Maybe if I knew Chinese…
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I remember feeling the same thing when I arrived at the airport in London after returning from Taiwan. I bought a bottle of water from an airport shop and the clerk made a bit of banter. When I was carrying my luggage down to the train platform, a very working-class woman joked and laughed with me about something I can’t remember. I thought at the time that people don’t consider English people to be especially friendly, but these kinds of little daily interactions never happen in “friendly” Taiwan. I really don’t think it’s a language thing.
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Do they happen amongst locals? I can’t tell ha. I feel like I’ve seen it a bit, but yeah not like in the US
I certainly have encountered all of these in the past but have noticed as my Mandarin has improved over the years, The Mute, and Blind, and even the Polyglot have basically disappeared, no matter where on the island I go. Curious if anyone else has had similar experiences.