ANOTHER PET PEVE - MINI RANT

[chief38]

I try and think of myself as a fair and somewhat tolerant person in these days of political correctness, influx of foreigners and newly legalized immigrants. I also understand they have to work and do not begrudge them for doing that.

That said, I can not deal with people who answer phones that simply can not be understood. They are learning English but are no ready for prime time phone duties yet. I find myself asking them to repeat themselves numerous times and sometimes have to ask for someone who speaks better English. That said, I am the one that is made to feel like a fool for doing this! I am certainly not alone here and though I'm ranting here I know nothing will be done to correct this situation.

I just got off the phone with a Doctor's office to change an appointment and the phone appointment person sounded like she was speaking Chinese in a super high pitched voice - couldn't understand one word she said. When I requested to speak to another person I was put on hold for so long, I wound up having to hang up and call back - thankfully I got another person!

Then I spoke to Home Depot to find out when my online order would be ready for curb side pick up and could not understand a word of what the employee said! THIS IS CRAZY!!! I do not understand WHY employers hire people with insufficient skills in English to do phone work! Not saying they shouldn't hire them to do other things - but NOT for phone work!

This is STILL America - right? This is no longer an isolated incident - but at least in my experience it's now the norm. Have Company's based in the USA lost all of their common sense?

Anyway, rant is over but WILL complain to those company's directly - not that it will do much good I'm afraid!

 

[arjay]

It’s about the money lol (always)

 

[D Brown]

I know it can be frustrating, but people have been coming to our country for a long time; and part of the assimilation process is learning our language. Try to be patient with them as they assimilate and become Americans.

As for phone conversations; I have to constantly ask people to repeat what they've just said because I'm mostly deaf, can't hear anything over 4,000 Hertz so I pretty much can't tell one consonant from another. I'm sure I frustrate the tar out of whoever I'm speaking to. Proper names? Forget it... I usually have to ask the person on the other end of the phone line to S P E L L their names to get it.

Why did I post this reply? Just to note that the frustration can go both ways. Patience is a virtue.

Have a good one!

 

[41 Roadmaster]

So right! If a person is going to live in or serve an English speaking country they need to learn to speak the language.

 

[Warren Sear]

I have been the foreigner in quite a few countries trying to communicate with the locals in their language. It's not easy, and has given me patience and understanding with new arrivals here. I'm just glad they are earning a living and not mooching off the rest of us.

My grandparents arrived here from Germany before the war. I am sure it was very difficult for them, too.

 

[Rule3]

I know it can be frustrating, but people have been coming to our country for a long time; and part of the assimilation process is learning our language. Try to be patient with them as they assimilate and become Americans.
As for phone conversations; I have to constantly ask people to repeat what they've just said because I'm mostly deaf, can't hear anything over 4,000 Hertz so I pretty much can't tell one consonant from another. I'm sure I frustrate the tar out of whoever I'm speaking to. Proper names? Forget it... I usually have to ask the person on the other end of the phone line to S P E L L their names to get it.

Why did I post this reply? Just to note that the frustration can go both ways. Patience is a virtue.

Have a good one!

I understand what you are saying however things are a bit different today. Yes, most all of us came from somewhere else or our parent. grandparents did. Back then they made the effort to learn English and become citizens. Proud of it as well. They assimilated into the Country. Now not so much

Here in Florida the primary language is becoming Spanish. I hear more Spanish in the large stores. I have neighbors been here for years that do not speak English. I worked in public service and many phone calls, were asking for "Spanish please. Spanish?? Sorry I do not speak Spanish.
We have many visitors from all over Europe. The German, Scandinavian and Italian folks speak English But we Americans do not speak any of there languages.? Goes back to public schools. Heck we went on a cruse down around Aruba and other Islands, those people speak like 3-4 languages.

Why is it necessary to have all public documents, voter info printed in two languages?

 

[Rudi]

I are enjoy you probrem. You must hold for supelvizer. Or we carr you bak in 22 day. Click!

 

[LVSteve]

If you want the ultimate stupidity in this area, my ex-pat buddy and me both had INS guys checking OUR comprehension of English in barely decipherable accents. His guy came from Columbia. My guy might have been from Estonia or Kerguelen (look it up ) because he had an accent that baffled me entirely, and I'm considered to have a good ear for such things.

 

[islamoradamark]

Excuse me could you please put someone on the phone that speaks English

 

[UncleEd]

I've had trouble understanding
people from different locales,
different states and different regions
who purportedly were speaking English
though they probably are third
generation Americans.

Why can't they learn to speak in my
accent and use my expressions and
idioms?

Rant over!

 

[walkin jack]

Chief 38, you are a singin' my song. I too understand the situations of foreigners who arrive here as I too have traveled in foreign countries and know what it feels like to not be able to communicate with the locals.

Surely there must be other avenues of employment they could find. It's not fair to them and it's not fair to us if we are unable to communicate and take care of our business or medical situations.

Would it be out of line or unfair to require a certain level of skills with the English language to those working on telephones. I don't know how it would work but I do know something needs to be done. The problem is even worse for people like me that are hearing impaired,

 

[LVSteve]

I've had trouble understanding
people from different locales,
different states and different regions
who purportedly were speaking English
though they probably are third
generation Americans.

Why can't they learn to speak in my
accent and use my expressions and
idioms?

Rant over!

Try coming from London and attempting to speak to a Geordie from Newcastle. It's not pretty.

 

[dockmurgw]

And then there's my French Canadian immigrant to Maine mother in law. Now that's an accent that cant be duplicated!

 

[Redeker]

Whenever I call a customer service line and it is answered by a person with a heavy accent and they say their name is "Steven", I tell them my name is 'Rameesh'.

 

[Jon651]

A dear friend of my parents, who I always considered my aunt, used to have a saying: "America is a melting pot; so MELT, dammit!"

The problem with customer service that most of us appear to be complaining about is actually a byproduct of the internet and the fact there is almost no such thing as a long-distance call anymore - talking to a call center in India is just as easy these days as talking to someone in the States. The only true difference from a company's perspective is the personnel cost of the human answering the phone, and Americans won't work for the wages they pay in India or wherever.

It ain't pretty, but it's our new reality. You can't undo progress...

 

[Absalom]

I actually haven’t had any such experiences except with computer tech support which was quite clearly not located in this hemisphere.

But an airport not too far from where I did most of my flight training had a commercial helicopter school with a lot of international students, whose English and pronunciation thereof was not always up to snuff; the stone-age level of radio technology still prevalent in general aviation didn’t help.

Doing practice landings there was always a bit nerve-wracking; you’d hear a radio call and understand just enough to realize the guy was buzzing around somewhere around or below you, but not enough to get what he was doing. I once almost stalled my C-150 on approach because I was frantically searching the air around me rather than watching my airspeed.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRcJQ9tMbY[/ame]

 

[SC_Mike]

I've called customer service three times in two days, the first two times after 20 mins on hold I got someone with broken English and the problem not resolved. The second guy told me to Goo@le the issue. The third time on line for 20 mins I hung up. Then I cancelled the service and sent the product back Amazon for a refund. Too many other people wanting my money who might actually provide a product/service that works...

Remember Peggy?

 

[Dave_n]

If you want the ultimate stupidity in this area, my ex-pat buddy and me both had INS guys checking OUR comprehension of English in barely decipherable accents. His guy came from Columbia. My guy might have been from Estonia or Kerguelen (look it up ) because he had an accent that baffled me entirely, and I'm considered to have a good ear for such things.

I had great fun with the INS guy in Philly who wanted to check my English abilities. He was most upset when I wrote out some responses using English spelling rather than the *******ized version that he wanted. As he told me "proudly", he should know the correct spelling as he was an English major in college. I simply pointed out that in that case I would henceforth use the spelling from the "Canterbury Tales". He very rapidly decided that I knew the English language! Dave_n

 

[pasound]

I grew up, and still live in West Virginia. Our native accent is distinct, indeed. Yet in the middle-class neighborhood of my childhood, my neighbors were Greek, German, Irish, Italian, Lebanese, Syrian, Algerian, Indian, Pakistani, and others, as well as regular WASPs like me. All well trained and educated professionals. All spoke their family languages at home and their public English was very West Virginian. Easy to understand. Now any time I call a help line or an agent, or get a spam sales call, I can't understand a word. I don't know what happened, but it's not good. And it costs good Americans jobs, including the multi-national neighbors I had growing up.

 

[BigBoy99]

I agree with you completely. I have stopped going to the military PX and Bxs located on military bases. They hire the foreign wives of servicemen stationed on the base. The wives are barely fluent in English and know absolutely nothing about the products they are trying to sell.