I bought a new computer last week. The setup instructions were not included so I had to call tech-support. I was connected to an automated system and the instructions were in spanish. I waited, and the second message was in english. I followed the prompt and finally reached a live operator. She spoke english, but her accent was thicker than the callouses on a politician's tongue. We stumbled through a lengthily conversation before she transferred me to the appropriate tech advisor. Her accent was even harder to decipher.
This "failure to communicate" resulted in my connecting the printer cable to a potted plant instead of the parallel port. The goods news is I now have some nice print-outs of a Boston fern.
Now, I am used to accents and dialects. My dads side of the family are born-again rednecks and my moms side hail from the Bronx by way of Germany. Thurty-thurd street to be exact. My fifth grade french teacher was from France and I have two Uncles whose parents came to this country from Italy. So I have a pretty good ear.
A couple of months ago I had to place a call to a Federal Governmental agency. The woman I spoke to was Korean. Not only was her accent difficult to understand, but her command of the english language was limited at best. You would think that people hired to man telephones, especially folks who either work for the government or who are in technology services would be required to have a certain "phone" presence.
Despite the frustration, I did learn something. The next time a telemarketer calls I'm going to tell them, "I no speekatee engleesh!"
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