Hard-to-Talk-to Customers

[Moosenogger]

I'm sure everyone on these boards has had a customer who wasn't sucky, but was extremely hard to understand/talk to for one reason or another. I tend to feel frustrated in these situations, because I can't really help a customer if I have no idea what they're saying/asking.

There's one particular situation that happened in my store that I remember vividly. I had a family with two young girls come up to me asking about tickets to a theme park. The little girls had never been there before, so they had a bunch of questions. However, both girls seemed to have a particular speech impediment.

The youngest girl was almost impossible to understand, but I tried my best to answer her questions. I actually had to guess as to what she was talking about and try to answer her questions accordingly. (I was showing her maps and giving general information about the rides and shows, and she seemed happy with that. )

The older girl...oh my goodness. It was probably the most difficult conversation I've ever had, but not because I couldn't understand the girl - it was because of the way she spoke.

Stewie Griffin described it best.

This little girl literally ended all of her sentences like she was asking a question. It was nerve grating, but I tried to smile through it and act like it wasn't bothering me.

In the end the parents thanked me for answering their children's questions, and even told my coordinator that I did a great job. I'm glad that I was able to make everyone happy, but I don't think I'll ever forget that conversation.

[bhskittykatt]

I get a lot of tourists at the motel, both from other parts of the country and completely other countries. I've gotten pretty good at communicating with someone whose English isn't that good, replacing little things such as "checkout is at noon" with "checkout is at 12". Some people, though have accents that I just can't figure out.

They will repeat the same word over and over, and I just can't process it.
Guest: "You have a hoose?"
Me: "A house?"
Guest: "No. Hoose."
Me: "A horse?"
Guest: "HOOSE!"
Me: "I'm sorry I just don't...a hose?"
Guest: "YES!"

That's a really crappy example.

Or, they'll be a mumbler. I hate mumblers. They seem to get frustrated the easiest, too, when you ask them to repeat.

I remember one of the most amusing ones, though, I had to check in a couple Aussies. And I could understand them perfectly. It was great. The wife went out to check the license plate on the car, while the husband filled out the paperwork. The wife poked her head back into the lobby and said...something...to the husband, who said...something...back. I know it was English, but the words...the order made no sense! They spoke perfect "American" to me, though, so they weren't hard to talk to. Just when they spoke with each other...it collapsed my brain!

[Seshat]

I remember one of the most amusing ones, though, I had to check in a couple Aussies. And I could understand them perfectly. It was great. The wife went out to check the license plate on the car, while the husband filled out the paperwork. The wife poked her head back into the lobby and said...something...to the husband, who said...something...back. I know it was English, but the words...the order made no sense! They spoke perfect "American" to me, though, so they weren't hard to talk to. Just when they spoke with each other...it collapsed my brain!

We (Aussies) get plenty of exposure to conversational American, starting at early childhood (Sesame Street). So it's easy to switch to conversational American - or to British, for that matter. (Since we also get plenty of BBC TV.)

Among ourselves, there's no reason to.

[Pixilated]

Years ago I had a roommate who was from Newfoundland. She could be perfectly comprehensible ... or she could (deliberately) lapse into a broad Newfoundland accent and dialogue that left everybody else in the room going
She used to get a good laugh out of the looks on our faces.

I used to be sorry I almost never worked behing the counter at the They're Everywhere! doughnut shop in Niagara Falls, but in retrospect it was probably a good thing. The place is built so that all noises are magnified and echo like crazy, and of course you have tourists there from all around the world. I had a few times behind the counter but luckily not taking orders, just running and fetching. The people who actually took orders deserved a lot more money than they were getting.

[Seshat]

Bloody oath, mate. Strewth. Local yabber's the dingo's balls.


I have heard, anecdotally, that in WWII, certain units that needed to keep their movements and activities confidential used native speakers of rare First Nations (native american?) languages as their communications specialists.
To make it even more obscure, these people would speak in the slang forms of their language. So even if you had a phrasebook for that language, unless you managed to somehow have one for the current slang, you were screwed.

[Kristev]

Yes. Submarine units did that to prevent U-boats from finding them.

[AnaKhouri]

Yes, they were called code talkers. One of the languages used was Navajo, though I honeslty don't know much about it. If I remember right it was one of the few codes the Axis never managed to break.

[XCashier]

I have heard, anecdotally, that in WWII, certain units that needed to keep their movements and activities confidential used native speakers of rare First Nations (native american?) languages as their communications specialists.

Yes, they did, and they were very successful, too.

[KellyHabersham]

This guy wasn't really a customer, and I never spoke directly with him, but......


When I worked in the church office, we'd occasionally get voicemails from a guy whom I could NOT understand - he had a thick accent, spoke very quickly, and all I could make out was that his first name was Rudy. Needless to say, I have no idea what he was calling about or whom he wanted to speak to,and was not able to pass on his "message".

[Geek King]

Yes, they were called code talkers. One of the languages used was Navajo, though I honeslty don't know much about it. If I remember right it was one of the few codes the Axis never managed to break.

The hardest thing about the various Code Talker's languages is that there is no official written form of the languages. It also remains one of the smallest "living languages" groups, so there's not too many people that could even teach it. Add to it that they made up words to cover things not in the language ahead of being deployed (no native word for Tank or Submaries, for instance), and even a professonal linguist would have an almost impossible task translating without a guide of some sort. Look at how hieroglyphics were impossible for scientists to figure out until the Rosetta Stone was found, and that was written and mostly standardized.

[Sparky]

Yes, they were called code talkers. One of the languages used was Navajo, though I honeslty don't know much about it. If I remember right it was one of the few codes the Axis never managed to break.

Unfortunately for them, the program was so successful that the code talkers were not given the praise they deserved until many years after the war, when they were old men and many had passed on. The code worked so well that the government kept it classified in case they needed to use it again.

[taurinejunkie]

I can't blame them, of course, but some of my voice carry-over (hearing impaired, able to speak) customers are extremely hard to understand, mostly because they don't hear their own voice and can't "correct" their pronunciation, so to speak. For the vast majority of those who are 'harder to understand', that's usually not an issue because they'll type "416-555-1213, VCO PLS GA" to me, and then talk to whatever family member happens to pick up, and family members understand better than I do because they're used to the customer's speech. Some of them, on the other hand, don't seem to realize how badly their lack of hearing affects their speech, and blow up at me for making them repeat the number they want to call.

[Pagan]

http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/

I have heard, anecdotally, that in WWII, certain units that needed to keep their movements and activities confidential used native speakers of rare First Nations (native american?) languages as their communications specialists.
To make it even more obscure, these people would speak in the slang forms of their language. So even if you had a phrasebook for that language, unless you managed to somehow have one for the current slang, you were screwed.

The Navajo Code Talkers didn't use slang. They used terms for things that resembled what they were talking about and when that failed, they spelled it out.
For "dive-bomber", they used "gini" (chicken hawk). "Wo-La-Chee", which means "ant" for A.

I know just a few words here and there. I've tried several times to learn more, but, man, I thought Scots Gaelic was hard!

The hardest thing about the various Code Talker's languages is that there is no official written form of the languages. It also remains one of the smallest "living languages" groups, so there's not too many people that could even teach it. Add to it that they made up words to cover things not in the language ahead of being deployed (no native word for Tank or Submaries, for instance), and even a professonal linguist would have an almost impossible task translating without a guide of some sort. Look at how hieroglyphics were impossible for scientists to figure out until the Rosetta Stone was found, and that was written and mostly standardized.

They didn't make any words up, either. For "tank", they used "chay-da-gahi" (tortise). Submarine was "besh-lo" (iron fish).

Diné is being taught. There's a lot of schools in the Four Corners area on the Navajo Nation that teach it. They are writing it down so that it can be continue to be taught.

In 2007, there was over 170,000 speakers and that number's been increasing. There is a massive push to save it. I hear a lot of people in all age groups speaking it.

In fact, the Canoncito Indian Res just south-east of ABQ changed it's name back to it's Diné name of To'Hajiilee.

Unfortunately for them, the program was so successful that the code talkers were not given the praise they deserved until many years after the war, when they were old men and many had passed on. The code worked so well that the government kept it classified in case they needed to use it again.

It was de-classified in 1968. But, and your guess is as good as mine here, the Gov didn't award their Congressional Medals of Honor until 2001. And now there's only four of the original Code Talkers left.

Sorry on the threadjack. Between the Code Talkers and Bataan, we get a little weird here about the Pacific Theater of WWII.

[RealUnimportant]

For a more... dramatic take on how the code talkers were used in WWII, don't forget to check out Windtalkers.

I lived in the US for 3 years, and one time a New Zealander visited the family I was staying with at the time - it was fantastic! We could rattle away to eachother without the usually required slowing of speech necessary for USians to understand us, which annoyed them no end

[PastryGal]

Years ago I had a roommate who was from Newfoundland. She could be perfectly comprehensible ... or she could (deliberately) lapse into a broad Newfoundland accent and dialogue that left everybody else in the room going
She used to get a good laugh out of the looks on our faces.

My mom's side is from Newfoundland and a lot of my friends from college are from there and my hubby is from there and several months ago we moved there from New Brunswick. When I used to work at Irving in NB, one of my coworkers was from NL and we would stand there and have these fast conversations that everyone else at work would just stand there and be all huh? because they had no clue what we were talking about. Was good times! Sounds like your roomie would go into a baymen accent and lingo.