Need a pureblood?

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

OK, quick background: I manage a team that provides technical support for a popular gaming company.

Now, our support centre for North America is unfortunately situated right in Sandy's path. So of course they closed it, and us and our Japanese colleagues pitched in to support the North American customers.

Now, yesterday evening one of my (best) agents took a N.A. call, one of the several. I got to listen to the recording earlier today. Here's how it went:

AG: the agent. He definitely has a Scottish accent. Not overwhelming but pretty distinguishable
SC: you know it

AG: "Good afternoon, this is [company] support, AG speaking, how can I help you?"
SC: "It's morning, you know. And where are you from?"
AG: "Sorry, good morning. This is the European support centre, unfortunately our North American centre is closed today due to hurricane Sandy."
SC: "Of course, those lazy Newyorkers! [erm... not New York, actually] Anyway, I don't want to give you my details. You will steal them and immigrate illegally to the USA."
AG: "Sir?"
SC: "Yes, I know you, you European [racial slur based on skin colour that has very little to do with Europe - and AG is ginger, too]!"
Luckily he closed the call there and then. Before AG started laughing...

[Sapphire Silk]

Probably from North Carolina.

[depechemodefan]

I hate when people correct me about what part of the day is...since I don't correct people about that.

Huh, so there is no way a person with access to a database of users can look up info. on any user in the world and use that info. for notorious mean? Wow, I feel safe [/sarcasm]

[Mriswith]

This gaming company, does it start with a T and end in N? Or perhaps R and T? If so, I envy you soooo much. If not, well, I may still envy you. Just not as much

[Teefies2]

Probably from North Carolina.

Hey now! We're not ALL stupid in North Carolina!

(Just most of Them)

[Seshat]

I hate when people correct me about what part of the day is...since I don't correct people about that.

Oops. You might hate me if you meet me in realtime online, then. I sometimes playfully "correct" people on the time of day - or even the day of the week - to play with timezones.

There's a percentage of people for whom it really messes with their heads that I'm talking to them 'from tomorrow'.

And the rest of them either get a kick out of it, or .. have never told me it bothers them.

[KatherineB]

I once picked up a call in the office at exactly midday. The caller spent a full two minutes arguing with themselves about whether it had been morning or afternoon when we began our 'conversation'. Note that they were they one who started with 'Good morning - no wait, is it afternoon yet, etc?' while I just start with X department, this is Katherine' to avoid that very problem.

[Chromatix]

Try joining a conference call from Europe with participants from both North America and East Asia. *That* gets confusing fast as soon as anything time-related comes up, especially when Daylight Savings Time crops up, since America and Europe change on different dates and some Asian countries don't change at all. The only sensible solution is to insist everyone uses Zulu time - that is, GMT or UTC.

(The difference between GMT and UTC is defined to be less than one second. UTC is used for scientific purposes, has a fixed-period second, and has leap seconds; GMT is used for legal purposes and does not have leap seconds, but has slight variations in the length of a second as a result. The UK uses GMT during the winter, but changes to BST for the summer. Most computers actually synchronise to a derivative of UTC and don't bother with the fractional-second differences from legal local time.)

The good news is that from Europe during working hours, most other countries stay on the same date as you - they are just early in the morning or late in the evening.

[celticgrl]

Hey now! We're not ALL stupid in North Carolina!

(Just most of Them)

I second that. Some of us here in this backwards state have brains though we are spread out we do exist

[dalesys]

I second that. Some of us here in this backwards state have brains though we are spread out we do exist

And what do you spread your brains on? Fried grits?

[Juggler]

I've seen Trainspotting. I know what you Scots are like.

[Teefies2]

And what do you spread your brains on? Fried grits?

Dale I'm disappointed in you. Grits are NEVER fried

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

I hate when people correct me about what part of the day is...since I don't correct people about that.

If it is done as a joke, I'm fine with it. I tend to say "good morning" until I have had lunch, and as I usually eat at about 1.30pm...

This gaming company, does it start with a T and end in N? Or perhaps R and T? If so, I envy you soooo much. If not, well, I may still envy you. Just not as much

Neither of them, so your envy can decrease

Try joining a conference call from Europe with participants from both North America and East Asia. *That* gets confusing fast as soon as anything time-related comes up,

Usually in this company they work with "this time tomorrow", or "now it is 3pm here, in 18 hours, OK?".

I've seen Trainspotting. I know what you Scots are like.

I'm not actually a Scot, I only live here (although... aye, I am a Scot. Somehow).