Transfer me to America...NOW!

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Important note: I DO NOT have any issue with accents so long as the CSR is competent and can understand me. If the accent makes it impossible for me to communicate easily, then there's a problem.

We all know that over the phone customer service and accents go hand in hand. I too have cringed when I've called a company and heard a thick accent I can barely understand on the other end of the line.

That being the case, when I worked at a call center I most of the time had customers who were relieved to be speaking to a Canadian who had virtually no accent. Considering the amount of overseas support we used at the time, it was a rare feat to actually end up in our queue.

Despite the vast majority of callers loving us for speaking clear English and being competent at our jobs, there were always a few "hardcores". Like this guy...

CC: Thank you for calling XYZ wireless, this is CC, how may I help you?
SC: Where are you located?

(Sidenote: You might be surprised how often this was the FIRST question customers asked us.)

CC: I'm in Southern Canada sir.
SC: Then transfer me to the United States please.
CC: Um...excuse me?
SC: Are you deaf or something? Transfer me to America!
CC: I'm not deaf sir, but I am kind of confused at the moment. I may be Canadian but I assure you I am perfectly capable of handling any issue you may have.
SC: I don't care. I am an AMERICAN. I want to speak to AMERICANS.

(At this point I was strongly resisting the urge to go on a lengthy diatribe about how lucky the guy was to not end up speaking to someone in the Phillipines...)

CC: I have no way to transfer you to America sir. I can transfer your call, but where it goes is determined by our routing system. There's just as good a chance of you ending up in India or Idaho.
SC: TRANSFER ME TO AMERICA!
CC: Sir, like I said earlier I'm reasonably certain I can resolve your issue today, if you'll just...
SC: NO! I WILL NOT TALK TO INDIANS, ARABS OR CANADIANS. GET ME AN AMERICAN!
CC: Hold one moment please.

At this point I call my supervisor over. Like I told the guy, if I do transfer him, I have no control over where the call gets sent. So I have no way to do what he wants, but if I just go ahead and transfer him I risk failing the call if it happens to be pulled for QA analysis...which since it can get me fired I really don't want to do.

We briefly flirted with the idea of my sup taking the call and *pretending* to be an American but eventually decided against it.

My sup ended up getting on the call, trying to help the guy like I had, failing and eventually transferring him.

I hope he ended up in India.

[Sapphire Silk]

Would serve him right.

I'm really embarrassed by the asshattery of some of my countrymen, sometimes

[Sarthor]

When calling customer support or being called by a company, it's very rare for me to get someone with a British accent. Usually the accent is Indian and is not too much of a problem to understand. However very occasionally you get someone with a very thick accent and it's a nightmare trying to talk to them.

Just a few times I have gotten someone with a strong accent, and yet they speak very clearly, are not difficult to understand in the slightest and are actually a pleasure to listen to. The last was a girl taking my pizza order over the phone. After the order was finished I asked her where she was from and I think she said Romania. I said she had a beautiful accent, she thanked me and we ended the call. Could have sat and listened to her talk about anything for hours.

[Brojekk]

I like India....why would you wish an asshat like that on them? What did they ever do to you?

[Tama]

They hang onto the outside of trains to get to work, they must be stupid.

Just a note, I'm perfectly fond of the Indian people and think your SC is an asshat.

[Grrrrrrr]

Would serve him right.

I'm really embarrassed by the asshattery of some of my countrymen, sometimes

Agreed. I cannot stand it when some over-the-top Americans cannot comprehend why people from other countries do not have any respect for us.

There really should be some sort of social treat others as you would like to be treated rule or something...

[Tama]

I agree. In Japan there are places that us Americans can't get into -- because, I am told, of things like drunk soldiers and overly American Americans such as you mentioned.

[shopgirl15]

What an ass.

[Andara Bledin]

Alas, it's too late now, but he got an American. A North American, even.

Sure, we all know the guy meant he wanted someone from the US, but that's not what he actually said.

^-.-^

[Teefies2]

I'm sorry you had to talk to my husband

[wraiths_crono]

Eh, I can say I have dealt with that, AND I AM IN THE USA.... So instead my boss took the call as a transfer 'in his best Indian tech support accent he could muster." ahhhh.

[Seshat]

Like Andara said, he GOT an American. What else did he want?

I love most of the Indian-from-India accents. Admittedly, some are too thick for me to understand, but they're beautiful and sort of musical, with a natural rhythm to them.

[PepperElf]

I agree. In Japan there are places that us Americans can't get into -- because, I am told, of things like drunk soldiers and overly American Americans such as you mentioned.

It's two-fold really.

Sometimes, yes... sailors can fuck things up. But in other cases it's also because of embarrassment if the establishment doesn't have any staff that can speak English - or at least speak it fluently.

The latter happened to one of my shipmates. He went into a restaurant and was told "No gaijin" (no outsiders) but he replied, "What are you talking about?" in Japanese. After it was clear that he could speak Japanese, he was more than welcome inside the establishment.

[Spork4pedro]

What an ass.

It's funny. The only time that I've had any issues with accents have all been AMERICAN accents (and yes, I'm in the US).

[Moosenogger]

I have to laugh sometimes when I end up talking to someone who is obviously in a different country. I had one tech guy spelling something out for me, but when he went to use the "A as in apple" approach, he started using cultural and regional words that I had NO idea how to spell. That, combined with the accent, made that a particularly difficult call for me.