I didn't even work during open hours and I still got an SC

[sylvier]

I'm Canadian, used to work in a call centre supporting an American client. We were supposed to pretend we were American and usually got away with it - "I love your accent, are you from Wisconsin?" Sure, you bet! Sometimes I was pegged right away because apparently I say "aboot" instead of "about" - but for the most part it was fine. Only one customer ever threatened to cancel because I was taking a job away from an American citizen. But, we were well trained, well-spoken and our customer satisfaction scores were high. Unfortunately, we're not cheap anymore, so a lot of our lines of business went elsewhere. Oh well ...

[MsCrankypants]

Maybe it's me, but I really don't understand why people always say that Canadians say "aboot." To me it sounds more like "aboat" (trying to approximate the sound here).

I guess I'm weird.

My work is purely phone-based, so I can't really get away with this at work. I am of Hispanic descent and I do speak fluent Spanish, but I've been mistaken for Greek, Persian (I still don't see this one, but OK), Israeli and all manner of nationalities, other than the one I actually am. Still, I get a little weirded out when total strangers come up to me while I'm out and about and start jabbering away at me in Spanish without stopping to ask if I actually speak it.

If I'm not feeling particularly bitchy cooperative, I'll usually say, "Sorry, I don't speak Spanish." Yeah, it's kind of mean, but I don't really like being accosted by total strangers, either.

[Pagan]

Me: Lo siento, no hablo engles.

Oh, that so wouldn't work here. Sometimes, that's the problem, I don't hablo espanol. (Well, I do understand a lot of it, can read a lot of it, and can get some basic thoughts across, but people don't need to know that.)

I think we should get a special thread going of easy to learn phrases from different languages to use when we don't want to deal with customers off the clock or at all for that matter.

Ask and ye shall receive---
* French: Je ne parle pas français (juh nuh pahr'l pah frohn-say)
* Gaelic: Chan eil gàidhlig agam

Yeah, but all of those say, "I don't speak blah language." I think what Nate wants is multi-lingual, "I don't speak English".

Je ne parle pas anglais.
No habla ingles.

[MsCrankypants]

No habla ingles.

actually, it's "no hablo ingles."

[Pagan]

actually, it's "no hablo ingles."

We use both. We're a little weird here....

[MsCrankypants]

Hee. Sorry...my parents were strict on drilling correct Spanish grammar into me. Old habits die hard.

My skillset on the phone system at work has me primarily answering Spanish calls, so when an English call rings through on my line, it's hard to switch gears. I've caught myself giving my standard greeting in Spanish a couple of times on the English line. It's fun to hear the more, erm, conservative among them get all, "What is this? Aren't we in America? SPEAKA DA ENGLISH?"

Then they get thrown for a loop when I answer them in perfectly fluent English. Although I got told off once for speaking "The Devil's Language." Ummmm...

[flutes_and_fabric]

actually, it's "no hablo ingles."

Hehe, yeah I figured that out. See, I'm a terrible speller when it comes to English and I never have any reason to write anything in Spanish.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

You're a frikkin' GENIUS.

[alowlypotato]

Suddenly I have 3 people asking me to show them where stuff is and why wouldn't we unlock the door if we were here...

Blarrrgh dontcha just love that line of logic? It's not like there's stuff to be done to prepare a store for opening or anything... *grumble*

I go to help, but PrepCW beats me to it. She walks over, picks it up with her bare hands, puts it in a little empty box and says "I can feed this to my tarantula!" giggle giggle smile nod. Other CW and I were just like lol! Can't judge a book by its cover, nope nope.

Oh man, she sounds cool -- and brave! I love a lot of creepy-crawly things, but a pet tarantula would be way too much for me to stomach.

[Geek King]

It's fun to hear the more, erm, conservative among them get all, "What is this? Aren't we in America? SPEAKA DA ENGLISH?"

That's not conservative, its asshole. Just to clarify.

[LillFilly]

That's a great idea with the language trick! I've had a few people who were hard to understand, but I got the gist of it. Usually, when I'm stuck in a pre-recorded menu without the options I need, I just hit 000000000... until it transfers me to a live person. Usually works.

Poor cricket! They've gotten in everywhere where I work, so I pick them up and put them in the potted plants. They're nice to listen to at night.

I did swat a fly into the fishbowl one day. I never knew a goldfish would eat a fly! My boyfriend said that they're a member of the carp family and so will eat anything. The beta fish wouldn't touch it!

[Andara Bledin]

Maybe it's me, but I really don't understand why people always say that Canadians say "aboot." To me it sounds more like "aboat" (trying to approximate the sound here).

It very much depends on what part of Canada they grew up in. Some barely have any accent, some have more of a long 'o' sound, and some have more of the 'u' sound. And then there's the Newfies.

I've never had opportunity or need to use a "sorry, I don't speak $language" excuse. Then again, if I can't help someone, I have carte blanche to hang up on them, too.

^-.-^

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once put on a confused face and said "Que?", much for the same reason; for some reason, the SCs were convinced altho my accent is pure English. XD

[bsaana]

I wonder how many companies are getting poor customer service marks because of this? When I called Canon, they were all American. A computer can cost easily as much as a camera, so why can't Dell and all those folks use American tech support? And seriously, how much of a financial drain is using Americans anyway?

That is because in the USA when you call Canon, you are calling to a call center in a large city in Virgina, and while I had been there they said they NEVER have plans to outsource. (The only reason I left there was I moved back to my home state to live in the middle of nowhere where rent isn't over a $1000 a month).
It is a great company to work for and they do take care of their employees. Just don't try to call in on a Sunday. The whole call center is closed.

[ShadowTiger]

Customers have this odd habit of making an attempt to squeeze information out of anything that moves if it will get them in and out faster, even if they're not supposed to be in yet. It's uncanny, but I don't blame them. Gotta have that sofa cushion cleaner first thing in the morning. >.>


I'm one of those kinds of people who doesn't like to take a break while working because of very many reasons:

• There's so much that needs to get done, and not enough time to do it all.
• Everyone else likes to take their half hour break in the middle of the day. I like to take mine near the end of my shift so that it doesn't intersect with anyone else's break, and leave the store a little short. (The Managers love this voluntary arrangement.)
• I find that when you stop moving and take a break, you lose all of your adrenaline, and you're just shot for the rest of the day, and work is that much harder.
• They've started to give me the nickname "The Machine."

While on a break, I like to keep working without a vest. It's just mostly shelf stocking and unpacking truck-related things, and key-cutting. The thing that perturbs me though, is that every customer seems to know that I work there even when I have a shopping cart full of throwbacks in my hands and I look like I'm a regular shopper. They just walk up to me and ask where things are. (Also, without a hello. Of course.)

The thing about this is, that they don't even bother to ask me if I work there. I've been asked so many times if I work there while in full staff garb; vest, radio, headset, shirt tucked in, nametag, boxes in hand, huffing and puffing from running everywhere, etc.

No. They don't even bother to ask me if I work there at all when I have my vest off and look like a civilian doing some shopping. I still haven't gotten up the courage to say "Oh I don't work here" and walk away. The best I can muster is "Oh, I think I saw that in aisle 27 about mid-way in on the right. Try looking there. ... now if only they'd give me a job; I know the store better than the staff, hehe." But they don't notice; they just shoot off in that direction without a thanks or a chuckle.