Not able to understand customer's accent.

[Lingering Grin]

I felt really bad about this, but I just couldn't understand him.


Guy calls in on the phone and has a VERY heavy accent (and this is on top of the fact that our phones are HORRIBLE, and at times you can barely hear the person on the other end). I can't tell from where exactly, but it sounded kinda like a cross between a middle-eastern and creole accent (if that makes any sense).

I'm usually very good at picking out what people are saying through accents. I get people with very heavy Spanish, French, Asian, and German accents all day long, and have no problem... but this guy.

I had to have him repeat himself at least 5 times to make out just the first half of what he was saying. In the end, I was only able to make out about 60% of the sentence, and that was JUST enough to tell that he was calling the wrong number

All that hassle, and I wasn't even who the guy needed to be calling...


What do you do in a situation like this? I don't want to offend the guy, but there's not much I can do if I can't understand him. =\

[marasbaras]

I wonder what accent the guy did have. Or, maybe he had some kind of speech impediment.

At least it was a wrong number and you didn't have to gather large amounts of important information from him. That would've been a frustrating call for both you and him.

[PuckishOne]

I think you did all right here...you didn't get angry at him or blame him for the situation, and I think that's about the best outcome, really. Sometimes all you can do is say, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that, could you repeat, please?"

[marasbaras]

I'm still curious about what the accent really was ...

[Zombi]

I work in the ESOL department at a college (English for speakers of other languages), and reception drive us nuts by sending anyone with a foreign name or accent up to us, regardless of what they actually want. One day, they called up to say they were sending a student to us - "He must be one of yours, we can't understand him!" Turns out the guy was Welsh and wanted to enrol on a maths course.

[Sharsarannon]

I wonder what accent the guy did have. Or, maybe he had some kind of speech impediment.

Accents can get pretty amazing. I had a math tutor who was originally from Pakistan, and then he studied in Edinburgh before coming to America, so he spoke English with a Pakistani-Scots accent. Accents of English are a hobby of mine so I enjoyed listening to him talk. We had a fun conversation over that, he was a great guy.

[Horsetuna]

I had a guy call in today who breathed more than he spoke. Wheezing, etc (not the naughty kind. Just a very 'breathlss' type. Very faint and hard to understand.

I finally got what he wanted though thankfully, but sometimes I wish some people would get a S. HAwking type speaker. At least you can HEAR it

[Andara Bledin]

The worst accent I have ever dealt with was someone who had been born somewhere in eastern Asia, although not Japan (possibly Korea or Vietnam or China) who had a very heavy accent. She learned to speak English from someone with a very stereotypical Texas accent.

I got as far as "May I speak to" but the last word was impossible. I ended up having her spell it out. She was asking for "sales." Once I had that, I no longer had any trouble understanding her, as at that point I knew what the double accent was doing to the sounds and could "undo" it in my head.

I think the salesperson ended up having her fax her pricing request over.

^-.-^

[edible_hat]

We've got one regular whose Indian accent is so strong that he writes everything down. He said that I'm the only worker there who can understand his accent.

[Boochan]

No accents that are too strong in my store, even though my store gets most of its sales from working/lower class people and migrants. Most of them I'll understand within the 2nd or 3rd request to repeat themselves.. ironically its some of the older people who find it harder to speak that I have trouble understanding, or those that are using out of date lingo.

Regardless, I've had to work at other stores before (One mall in the middle of a ghetto, majority migrants with I think 25% or so with English as a Second Language) and I've really struggled. Guess it must be something to be learnt in working at those sorts of stores over time.