Okay, thank you for the clarity @ctr, I see my assumptions are wrong.
Old Man Rant
- Thread starter Macfrommichigan
- Start date
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Well I’ll say possibly in defense of ai or new cars whatever, a “friend” of mine was backing up and not paying much attention
The car applied the brakes so my “friend” didn’t back into a wall.
The car applied the brakes so my “friend” didn’t back into a wall.
Indeed, the remarkable thing about common sense is how distinctly uncommon it actually is.
-Z
Please note that I say this coming from a family of teachers whose mother was the first member of her branch of the family born in the US (my grandmother was born either in Ukraine or en route to the US from Ukraine).
I will focus on India in this discussion, but the same concepts can be applied to many other countries.
There is absolutely a language barrier present during many encounters with customer support, even if the support is outsourced to another country in the Anglosphere. The issue is that there is a big difference between US English, British English, and, say, the Indian version of British English. Note that, in India, given how insanely diverse the country is linguistically- it has 22 official languages, 121 spoken languages, and 270 "mother tongues"- if people from one part of the country wish to speak to people from another part, the chances are good that that one Indian will communicate with another Indian using English!
So, there is a fundamental issue of there being a language barrier between a customer in the US and a support agent in, say, Bangalore. Then, there is the matter of the person on the other end of the phone simply having a thick accent. This is not a knock on this person's fluency in English- merely that his/her accent makes it difficult to understand them. I'll speak for myself: my French is nearly fluent, but I've heard from French speakers that my accent, while not American, is certainly odd. Were I to do tech support in French, I have no idea how hard it would be for, say, a Parisian to understand me. And, also note that, since I learned Continental French, were I to provide tech support to someone speaking Canadian French, chances are very good that s/he would find me almost incomprehensible.
Finally, and this is absolutely out of the control of the agent in question, many agents need to go through The Queue. This is a set of questions that an agent has to ask you. You may be a computer expert with 30 years of support as a technician, who knows exactly what s/he wants. The agent still has to start asking you if you're running Windows, if you've tried rebooting, if your computer is on, and so forth. This is quite literally part of their job. Again, I speak from experience in this: I am someone with 30+ years of computer experience. I am typically quite capable of calling into tech support and describing, accurately, exactly what I need the agent to provide. But, s/he cannot do so, or transfer me to a supervisor who can, until after s/he goes through The Queue.
My suggestion in such situations is such. First, I take a deep breath and remind myself that the chances are very good that this person is better educated than the average American, largely because the US education system is sorely misfunded below the college/university level, and getting more so at the highest levels now, too. I remind myself that this person is probably having as hard a time understanding me as I am understanding them. Finally, I console myself that, if worse comes to worse, I can pull out my best Scots brogue and paraphrase Scotty:
“I was driving starships while your great-grandfather was still in diapers”: Relics (TNG) vs. Flashback (Voyager)
Scotty finds himself in La Forge’s engine room on Picard’s Enterprise, while Janeway and Tuvok find themselves on Sulu’s Excelsior.
trekvstrek.com
-Z
"Then, there is the matter of the person on the other end of the phone simply having a thick accent."
That's most of the challenge in my case. Which is why, being from the midwest, I also sometimes have trouble understanding people from the east coast or deep south.
That's most of the challenge in my case. Which is why, being from the midwest, I also sometimes have trouble understanding people from the east coast or deep south.
Last edited:
Old Man Rant on:
Since turning 60 about 7 months ago, I seem to have started aging in dog years.
Old Man Rant off...
Since turning 60 about 7 months ago, I seem to have started aging in dog years.
Old Man Rant off...
I seem to age normally, although I have been known to drink in Dog Beers.
For me, it seems like since 50. No joke: I was in my late 40s, and people often mistook me for being 10, even 20 years younger. But just over the past 5 years, it seems like I've aged 10+ years all at once. Owwie owwie owwie.
When I was in my 50's I heard someone say that 60 is the new 40. I would say that I can't wait to hit 60 so I can feel like 40 again. Well they lied!
When I hit 50 I started growing a crop of ear hair. Ear hair. Why?
Rant over.
Rant over.
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Ear. Nose. Eyebrows
The trifecta!
I can accept going bald.
What I don't accept is why my hair at the back is as good as it was when I was 20.
I demand that I go bald backwards.
I'd just like to see my feet without having to sit down! It's amazing how fat you can get with absolutely no effort!
Same here!
Heh... when I was living in Center City Philadelphia, I ran 5K/day, plus walked everywhere b/c I didn't have a car (why would you, in Center City), and weighed ~150 lbs. Now... well, let's just say I've put on a few stone.
-Z
Neighbours.
I find it weird that a 30-something couple with two young kids are still living like college age party animals. After a summer (and autumn!) of renovations, their newest addition to their home seems to be some sort of strobe light. Looks like I’m going to have to keep my blinds closed from now on.
Also, they spend countless hours during the summer hosting friends in their back yard, and have just built the king of all back yard enclosed patios, or whatever they’re called which will likely amplify and redirect their stupid age inappropriate music to my property.
Finally, they play their music in the yard even when they’re not there. It’s like living next to a failing restaurant that’s trying to drum up business by pretending to have a thriving patio.
Sorry friends. It had to be said. But I feel better!
I find it weird that a 30-something couple with two young kids are still living like college age party animals. After a summer (and autumn!) of renovations, their newest addition to their home seems to be some sort of strobe light. Looks like I’m going to have to keep my blinds closed from now on.
Also, they spend countless hours during the summer hosting friends in their back yard, and have just built the king of all back yard enclosed patios, or whatever they’re called which will likely amplify and redirect their stupid age inappropriate music to my property.
Finally, they play their music in the yard even when they’re not there. It’s like living next to a failing restaurant that’s trying to drum up business by pretending to have a thriving patio.
Sorry friends. It had to be said. But I feel better!
Start playing Lawrence Welk in your back yard.
The opposite of an old man rant, don't kick me out.
Remember the days when all one could order for delivery was pizza or Chinese? I have a cold and am being a big baby. But Pho is on the way. Certain advances are a positive.
Remember the days when all one could order for delivery was pizza or Chinese? I have a cold and am being a big baby. But Pho is on the way. Certain advances are a positive.
There are guys who moan about the old days because it's kind of an Old Guy thing, and there are guys who moan about the old days because they actually think the old days were better.
I'm happy to be alive in some of the most amazing of times.
I don't have any desire to live in a pre-computer / pre-television / pre-mobile phone time.
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Honestly sounds like the place to be. I’d get to know them and get a few invitations! Maybe suggest they tone down the strobe light although once you are there dancing….
Oops. Sorry
Old man rant!
Yes get off my lawn !!
Ages ago we had a party. A pretty good one back in the day. The cops showed up. They said the “neighbors” complained. I calmly told and pointed out every one of my neighbors who were literally at the party. And asked who complained. At that point he shrugged and left.
