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Not Very Diplomatic Report: Albright Livid When Mistaken for Maid
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was not amused when some Albanian diplomats mistook her for a hotel cleaning lady. (Ivan Sekretarev/AP Photo)

By Eric Wagner

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 4

— When a bunch of Albanians mistook Madeleine Albright for a hotel cleaning lady, the secretary of state spewed a most-undiplomatic, and untranslatable, stream of invective, a newspaper reports.
     A State Department spokesman wouldn’t comment on the New York Daily News report that Albright was mistaken for a maid during last year’s peace negotiations for Kosovo in Rambouillet, France.
     Albright at first wasn’t recognized by the Albanian delegation when she walked into their room, it said.
     “One member of the delegation, who didn’t realize who she was, and probably thinking she was some cleaning lady because it was after midnight, simply said to her, ‘Give us five minutes and please go away,’” recalled Albanian diplomat Dugagjin Gorani in War on Europe, a British TV program.
     Instead, Albright exploded in rage, swearing at the group, according to the reports.
     “Mrs. Albright started using explicit language which the translators never could translate into Albanian,” says Veton Surroi, another member of the delegation.