Miscommunication

I just had a perfect example of why I think global business is really challenging. It is also a great example of how it can be really hard to learn all the idioms that come with a language if you just learn it from a textbook and not real life. Today I have been trying to get in touch with someone here in Brussels that does not have a cell phone. Here is how the conversation went with this man's secretary:

Emily: So when Chris calls in to check with you would you mind asking him to call me?
Luca: No.
Emily: Oh, umm, so you can't ask him to call me?
Luca: No.
Emily: Umm, ok, well, should I just give you a message then and you can pass it on to him?
Luca: No.
Emily: Well, what should I do then?
Luca: Give me your cell phone number and I will have him call you.
Emily: But I just thought you said he couldn't call me.
Luca: No, it's not a problem.
Emily: So now it is ok for you to ask him to call me?
Luca: No, it will not be a problem to have him call you.

What I finally realized is that Luca just forgot to add on the "it is not a problem" part to her sentence the first few times. She got the "no" part of how the sentence starts, but forgot the rest. Thank goodness I wasn't working on a multi-million dollar deal!