Touche....!
Being in South Florida, (heavy Latin & Spanish accents) and having
customers in Alabama, Tennessee (Heavy Southern accents) etc, we have
had to "Tune" our ears as well as our Accents, including carefully
choosing our words...
It is not uncommon for us to have a new support Rep. get on a call and
start making strange facial expressions.. saying.. " I know the caller
is speaking English, but I cannot make out a word of what they are
saying !"... Which of-course goes both ways, a Southern English speaker
has equally hard time understanding heavy Latin and Eastern European
accents.
The sad part but true reality is, that most folks when they hear a
different accent, automatically equate accent with professional
competency .. and that is the toughest thing to overcome for phone
support work.
City folks, will often equate Southern accent with someone who is less
proficient and slow, while the Southern folks will equate the Northern
Accent with someone trying to be slick and pulling a fast one on them..
And then of course we have our favorite New Yorkers, (Manhattan / Queens
etc) who simply equate politeness as a sing of weakness and try to
railroad you if you are too polite.
It's all good, it's all fun, it's all part of life, and surprising to
most, this is COMMON HUMAN behavior across ALL Parts of the World. Not
just unique to USA and Indian Call Centers..
:)
Regards
Faisal Imtiaz
Snappy Internet& Telecom
7266 SW 48 Street
Miami, Fl 33155
Tel: 305 663 5518 x 232
Helpdesk: 305 663 5518 option 2 Email: supp...@snappydsl.net
On 3/3/2012 11:26 AM, Dave Pooser wrote:
On 3/3/12 9:57 AM, "Faisal Imtiaz"<fai...@snappydsl.net> wrote:
Especially if a human answers promptly without a horrible accent...
Jeff
Like a heavy Southern Drawl ?
Saah, Ah resemble that remahk!
:^)
I think no matter where you're located, having a tech support rep who
speaks your language with an accent not too dissimilar to your own can be
a huge help. I've had tech support calls go bad because of unintelligible
accents when I was calling centers in India and in Ireland, but also in
the US when I found the last of the Clampett clan answering phones for an
ISP. (I've lived in Texas almost 16 years-- if you're so redneck that *I*
can't understand you, you need a job where all your communication is in
writing. Or pictures.)
