March 31, 2006
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I wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of anyone from India, but I really hate it when I call a company.....Delta, for instance....and get connected to a help desk obviously located in that country.
Truth be told, I've always had a hard time understanding East Indian accents. Had a hard time when I was in retail, and have a hard time now, especially when it's over the telephone and I'm straining to hear.
[plaintively] It was rough enough when the help desks were located in New Jersey or Boston, for crying out loud. But India?
Comments (7)
I feel your pain, Anne. It's so difficult over the phone when you don't have the advantage of seeing lips move. I have a friend who doesn't hesitate to ask for someone with a better grasp of English when this sort of thing happens to her. I think I'll start doing that. We can be too darn polite. Perhaps we should also notify the company's president when we're inconvenienced in this way. No more Ms Nice Person. Cranky Middle Aged and Old Ladies, unite!
From the other side of the telephone, when I used to work at an airline and got a call from someone that I simply could not understand, I would ask them to repeat something twice. After that I would say something like, "I'm sorry we have a bad line and I'm having trouble understanding you. I may have to ask you to repeat things so I can be sure I have it right". A little white lie, but I wanted to save face for them and for me not to be embarassed either for having to ask them to repeat things.
What a wonderful way to "save face"! Thanks for the advice!
Why should we save face? If companies put people for whom English is a second language in customer service jobs and we tolerate it, what will ever get companies to change that policy? Is customer service meant to serve customers or is it meant to give foreigners jobs and good self-esteem?
(The previous doesn't refer to how customer service people deal with people who can't speak clearly, but to customer service people themselves who can't speak clearly and are put in jobs where they must serve the public.)
Oh my. LOL. Everyone politely talking about your real problem, and ignoring the fact that you've shot an arrow over the bow of yet another chapter of the North & South thing. Glad it's you and not me!
An arrow over the bow? You are nuts, Bradley. That was nothin' and no one cares. In my part of THE NORTH, we can't understand people from New Jersey, either.
Sheesh.
Go find someone else to rile up.
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