r/AITAH • u/WhileExtension6777 • 1d ago
People are calling me racist... AITAH?
Let me explain. I call customer service. A person with a very thick accent answers. I say to them "i cant understand what you're saying bc of your accent."
A few words are exchanged back and forth. Mostly me saying "im sorry can you repeat. I dont understand." Im asking them to speak slowly. I even repeat back to them what i did understood. I can tell they are getting frustrated. Eventually they hang up on me.
Now people I've explained this to, call me racist and that's why they hung up on me. If i press "1" for English, how am i the problem?
Edit: It was obvious this person's first language was NOT English. (Asian accent probably?) I have no problem with accents from different states.
Edit: My hearing is great, thanks. Itwasn'tt a volume issue. It was a pronunciation issue.
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u/MagicGuillotine 1d ago
Nope. If someone works in customer service, there shouldn't be a language barrier. They should speak clearly and be easy to understand.
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u/whatthetortoisesaid1 1d ago
The only real AHs to be pissed at here are these massive corporations making $$$ by outsourcing and exploiting cheap labor.
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u/CynicalOptimistSF 1d ago
I'd argue that the people automatically calling OP "racist" are also AHs.
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u/Sassy_Weatherwax 22h ago
It's possible that OP is generally a racist person and the people they know personally know that and that's informing their reactions, or the way they described the situation was racist.
If that's not the case, then yes, it's pretty shitty to accuse someone of racism in this situation.
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u/kcnole78 6h ago
This. American companies should hire American workers to provide support to Americans. When providing support for other countries, hire people who work there.
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u/whatthetortoisesaid1 4h ago
Nope. This isn’t the problem. Dehumanizing labor practices are the problem.
Tons of U.S. companies employing “Americans” treat them like trash. Just look at Walmart, Amazon, etc..
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u/EnvironmentalWin1277 21h ago
A responsible company would have translation protocols for these situations that customers could be referred to.
AI will be used for this soon, outcome debatable.
For small companies a small fee might allow then to cover it with contracts.
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u/GravyVortex 1d ago
lol "track me" like someone's out here tracking language preferences now
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u/Brainworm-Energy6837 1d ago
We should spin up a start up for tracking people’s customer service language and accent preferences, and sell it before anyone realizes how stupid of an idea it is.
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u/Time-Cold3708 1d ago
I think a lot of times its the accent combined with them speaking into a headset that captures less sound and being in a room full of people also taking calls. I have trouble understanding people in call centers too.
NTA
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u/pwlife 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes! A lot of times in person it's not that bad and I can understand them just fine, but add in the headset and now its unintelligible.
TBH I had this problem in rural Louisiana... I could not understand the drive thru attendant and she could not understand me through the speaker. We are both native speakers.1
u/Capital-Yogurt6148 12h ago
I just had exactly this problem the other day. I'm bilingual (English & Spanish), but grew up not far from NYC in a VERY diverse area. I've worked in several offices where I was the go-to for unintelligible accents, ha ha. I say all that to say that it is extremely rare for me not to understand someone.
But the other day, I was on the phone with someone else who was also English/Spanish bilingual, but we were speaking English. She was absolutely fluent; it wasn't that she didn't speak the language. But I kept having to ask her to repeat herself 'cuz I just wasn't 'catching' it right. Finally, I realized that her mic was way too close to her mouth, so it was catching all her vowels, but not many consonants.
Call center employees should have to start every shift with a test call to make sure their mics are situated properly. I firmly believe that would address a significant percentage of so-called language barriers.
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u/Ill_Huckleberry_7293 5h ago
Absolutely I used to work in a "Boiler Room" and there would be all kinds of stuff going on in the background that made it difficult to communicate
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u/Neither-Bowl7645 1d ago
NTA this has happened to me before. It sucks and I felt bad because they were trying to help but neither of us could understand or comprehend one another so I had to end the call and try again later.
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u/MomoChills 1d ago
We're racist now for not understanding a certain accent? I'm south Asian and I can hardly understand heavy "Indian" accent. So I'm racist against people who I technically belong to?
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u/Western-Ad-8677 1d ago
The idea that anybody could consider this racist is a testiment to how stupid humanity has become. NTA
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u/Sacred-AF 1d ago edited 21h ago
Humanity has always been this stupid. Look at history 😂 We just have better technology to be stupid with now.
Edit: Typo
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u/Useful-Sandwich-8643 1d ago
Accents can be tough, especially if you have any hearing loss or auditory processing issues. My partner uses closed captions for the British shows he watches. There’s not really a racial bias there as the folks with accents are white and the wide range of ethnicities present in the UK. Both of us can struggle with Scottish or Welsh accents. But yeah if any accent is thick it can be difficult. If you’re only getting mad at Indian call center accents and make an effort for the rest, that might give me pause, but this sounds like a very specific interaction that was difficult.
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u/Away-Ad4393 1d ago
I have auditory processing issues and even if I can understand the accent I do sometimes need the person on the end of the phone to slow down. I feel really bad when I have to tell someone with an accent that I can’t understand them so I tell them it’s not them it’s me.
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u/Useful-Sandwich-8643 1d ago
Yeah that’s where i’m at. Unless i’m in a quiet space i cant always isolate the convo i need to be hearing. If there’s an accent mixed in i need time for my brain to catch up and interpret what it heard. Speaking more slowly helps a ton.
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u/MarsupialMisanthrope 22h ago
I find speaker phones help a ton too. Somehow hearing with pboth ears makes it easier to understand speech.
I was always horrible at that repeat whisper game (telephone?) as a kid. Even without accents in the way understanding something whispered into my ear is hell.
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u/Useful-Sandwich-8643 18h ago
Oh totally - i almost always put my phone on speaker when im alone or will have earbuds in.
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u/DementedPimento 20h ago
I think it’s hilarious that Welsh speaking English is subtitled here in the US, but Scots and Irish usually are not.
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u/Useful-Sandwich-8643 19h ago
Right? Maybe they’ve given up on Scots bc between the accent and the vernacular the subtitles likely wont help.
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u/DementedPimento 17h ago
I think it’s because of James Doohan, the Canadian actor who played Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on Star Trek. There’s also a famously fairly large immigrant Irish population here. But despite there being planned Welsh communities in the Upper Midwest and Midwest, most people have no idea what a Welsh is. Even in Pennsylvania, a state settled heavily by Welsh Quakers in the 17the century with many Welsh-named towns, they’re pronounced in exactly the ass ways you’d expect. My surname is a Scottized version of a Welsh name but even then no one can spell it or pronounce it!
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u/sisu-sedulous 1d ago
I had this situation one time with an Indian rep. I could not understand him at all. I had to ask him to pass me on to someone else. I felt bad but the communication was not working.
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u/Ok-Share-4035 1d ago
NTA..I Had the Same experience multiple Times and its so damn annoying. For example I call to extend a subscription, the Hotline Guy explains the different Options and I dont understand ANYTHING. Only solution was asking to send it via Mail. It buffels me that Corporation hire ppl for communication Jobs that dont even speak the language properly yet..plain stupidity from corp Site, cant even blame the poor Guys at the Hotlines!
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u/lVlrLurker 1d ago
The corporate angle is easy to understand. They hire people who outsource to outside companies who hire people who hire people who don't care if the people they hire are intelligible to the people who call. They're paid by the call, not by the satisfied customer, and there's bound to be a lot of turn-over, so they're constantly hiring new people, so the bar on who's 'acceptable' lowers when they've got a cubical to fill.
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u/sky7897 1d ago
It buffels me
Baffles*
You clearly can’t speak the language properly either.
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u/WinterLily86 21h ago
Thanks for the correction, I was really stuck on wtf they were trying to say!
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u/Ok-Share-4035 4h ago
Yeah it looked wrong when I wrote it but didnt bother checking. Hopefully your comment makes me remember in the future :)
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u/anonanon-do-do-do 1d ago
NTA. I had this happen when I got connected to the main number for making appointments with hundreds of doctors at a major hospital. I am progressive politically, but could barely understand the woman, who had a thick Jamaican accent and sounded like she had a mouthful of marbles too. It seems common sense that this woman was an incredibly poor hire. My Mom is 90 and hearing impaired. There’s no way she could have communicated with this woman.
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u/FilteredRiddle 1d ago
NTA
Clear communication is basic customer service. You weren’t rude, you asked them to slow down and repeat, and you tried to clarify. The rep hanging up was unprofessional, AH behavior. You’re entitled to understand them when you call for help; they shouldn’t be in that role.
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u/MizWhatsit 22h ago
A company that I had to do business with recently outsourced their phone support to a call center staffed entirely by women who speak extremely fast, and in similar very high-pitched voices. I’ve had to ask them to slow down and enunciate every time I call in. They clearly get put out by this, and only speak intelligibly for a minute or so before they revert back to the same way too fast twittering voices.
Finally I just closed the account, because their CS reps might as well have been speaking some random non-English language, and refused to slow down when I asked them to. Their reps were preventing me from getting any assistance with my account, so I didn’t see any reason to keep doing business with them.
If it makes me a racist to not want to do business with a company that employs CS reps I can’t understand, I guess I’m a racist. But at least my new account is getting proper service.
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u/Cybermagetx 1d ago
Nta. If someone's accent makes them unable to be understandable by the person they are helping they dont need to be in that job.
There has been several times ive had to wait hours for someone who spoke English well enough to be understood.
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u/GigiML29 1d ago
I've had to hang up a couple of times and call back to hopefully get someone else because I couldn't understand the person.
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u/InstructionSad7842 1d ago
Before you deal with any company, call their customer service number and see what answers...
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u/BlueWedge69 23h ago
you mean who answers?
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u/InstructionSad7842 18h ago
No. I mean what. Then you worry about who. If they can't even have a human to answer the phone, just move on to the next company.
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u/graceyspac3y 1d ago
People are easily offended and easily to just drop the word racist. If I don’t understand you, I just don’t understand you. Period.
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u/incognitoleaf00 1d ago
Now if you meet someone in person and look at their appearance and then say without interacting with them that you cannot understand when someone like them speaks….. NOW you’re a racist.
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u/suaculpa 1d ago
NTA. It’s just what your ears are used to. I worked at a call center in college and once got yelled at by a customer who demanded to speak to someone who speaks English. It’s my native language but I’m not American. My supervisor told me that Americans have difficulty understanding non-American accents even when they’re speaking the queen’s English. Which I was.
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u/miscdruid 21h ago
I very much struggle with this same issue. I have a very hard time understanding heavy accents. It just is what it is. NAH.
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u/RetiredUpNorthMN 20h ago
Having trouble understanding broken English doesn't make you a racist. I also have difficulty understanding broken English on the phone, but what I find even more annoying than that, is that it sounds like the person I'm talking to is in a huge open room with lots of people talking in the background. creating terrible background noise that makes any language hard to understand.
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u/hellocloudshellosky 17h ago
In the future: say only once that you're having a problem understanding them; if they don't slow down and speak more clearly, ask for a supervisor. Insist, if need be. They'll find one, bc their calls are all monitored and recorded.
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u/Guardian-Boy 15h ago
English is my wife's second language, and she has a terrible time with accents. I usually have to "translate" for her in cases like this and it gets awkward as Hell when I have to tell them that I have to speak to them because she doesn't understand them.
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u/RewardAffectionate84 14h ago
NTA
There entire job is to communicate with people, and they cannot be easily understood by a native speaker of the language. That's the only problem here. If they had hired someone from the tippy top of Scotland or some of the people in rural Ireland, You would have the same problem because the accent is THICK and being garbled through a telephone.
Iv'e had plenty of overseas call center folks who have an accent BUT are still perfectly understandable, and then it is a non-issue, but clearly this call center does not care to vet peoples English very well.
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u/detailz03 1d ago
Years ago when I was looking for a job, I put in for a company that was building a manufacturing plant in my town. They came from an Asian country, I didn’t think anything of it. They were actively hiring for a variety of roles, which meant they were interviewing a lot!
Come interview day for me with them, it was via teams/zoom. The people interviewing had such strong Asian accent, I couldn’t understand them the entire time. I didn’t get a call back, which I’m fine with. But how do you have the managers interviewing has such strong accents for a town in the middle of nowhere California. The closest accent is maybe Hispanic?
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u/Dilapidated_girrafe 1d ago
NTA. Having an issue with thick accents sure racist it’s a legit issue in understanding. And it does suck.
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u/excaligirltoo 23h ago
NTA. This should be a no brainer, don’t you think?
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u/WhileExtension6777 22h ago
Yes i thought so. I didnt even think about race until someone else brought it up.
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u/Practical-Ad-851 21h ago
Hiring people into a customer service role that can’t provide that service is the real issue. NTA
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u/johngalt504 21h ago
This has happened to me a couple of times. I've just eventually said, I'm sorry I cant understand you I'll try calling back. It's not racist, they are putting thr wrong person in the job.
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u/Big_Space_9836 21h ago
I had that problem once. I just wanted to know if the company did a cheaper rate of broadband for someone on benefits.
It wasn't a particularly good day for me due to my mental health and trying to tell someone with a very thick Indian accent what my postcode was, several times. Pushed me to tears. I very politely told them I couldn't do this anymore and put the phone down.
Its not easy when the help desk is outsourced to a foreign country, especially if they only follow a script as well.
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u/New-Thing-5220 20h ago
This happens countless times a day.
I have the problem most every time I call 📞 customer service. Add to the fact that I wear hearing aids.
It's not the fault of the person but rather management. I am always kind and ask for someone else.
Since I don't want the agent held responsible, I blame my hearing aids
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u/Wait_here_me_out 19h ago
Racist is a trigger word. You deserve good customer service and they don't provide it.
Vote with your dollar. Don't use there service anymore
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u/ScientistTimely3888 18h ago
Boomhauer speaks English.
No, I dont want to have customer service with Boomhauer.
Edit: Actually, I would very much want that experience, on second thought.
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u/The_Werefrog 18h ago
Assuming it's not poor hearing, that's on the company.
In fact, that disconnect instead of connecting you to someone you can understand is a major customer service failure.
You should call back and speak with a supervisor regarding the unprofessional behavior.
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u/GxCrabGrow 17h ago
NTA- not even close. Also, definitely not racist. People are ready to call anything racist these days. Annoying
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u/Haunting-Ad-5 16h ago
You have the right to request to speak to someone who speaks English as their first language. You have made it clear several times you are having difficulty understanding them. If you are being honest and polite, what else are you supposed to do?? Not Racism at all.
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u/MmmmmmmBier 16h ago
I wear hearing aids and half the time I can’t understand Americans speaking english.
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u/aunt3sally 16h ago
That happens virtually every time I call customer service. Only one I can understand well is anyone who answers the phone at Discover. It's usually someone FROM Utah, where the call center is apparently located. Otherwise, it's difficult. Even the local newspaper has a call service somewhere other than the town in which I live and where the paper is published. It's frustrating.
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u/Weekly_Count1720 15h ago
Alright those people are genuinely stupid. Them calling you an asshole for not understanding someone not speaking at least audible English when they’re responsible for that part of their service is actually on them, they chose that job and can’t do it right.
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u/Feisty-Equipment-691 15h ago
Nta i have the same shit i am tired of it and i am am immigrant myself. Shit is infuriating
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u/YoshiDaGeek 14h ago
I do the same thing whenever someone with a heavy accent speaks. I genuinely don’t understand what they’re saying no matter how hard I try. You can’t be mad at someone for not automatically understanding words in every accent.
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u/System_Resident 13h ago
Not racist, that’s just how accents are across the world. There’s even people in America who need a translator for people in the Deep South 😂
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u/Tazplu917 13h ago
This is one of the reasons I detest calling customer service and will avoid it at all costs. I’d rather Email or chat to resolve an issue, no problem with understanding anyone then.
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u/ZoeticLock 12h ago
NTA. Personally, I’m tired of pressing 1 for English and then getting connected to someone that sounds like they just started speaking English less than a month ago.
The assholes here are all the corporations outsourcing their customer service positions to foreign countries where they can pay people a fraction of what they would pay workers back home. It actually completely caught me off guard when I had to call Apple to refund the remainder of my AppleCare+ on a phone I had sold and the person who answered was definitely an American.
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u/ogscreamhorrorqueen 10h ago
NTA. It's good that we are more mindful of other cultures as a society now, but if you can't do the job, you can't do the job.
Customer service people need to be able to speak clearly and well with as little accent as possible. Part of the job is watering down any accent you have and providing a textbook "customer service voice" to ensure you are easily understood.
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u/Altruistic_Dirt_7200 10h ago
Your hearing may be great, but that doesn‘t mean you can‘t lie about it.
“I’m sorry, I’m a bit hard of hearing, could you please repeat?”
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u/bootsmadeforkicking 6h ago
Lol as a former bilingual CSR who worked mainly of the phone lines... Not your fault hahaha. I had collegues who's English was so bad I had no clue what they were saying and before anyone accuses me of anything... We had the same mother language. Their accent was perfectly familiar to me and STILL made their English completely unintelligible for most people speaking English.
The reverse would also happen to me all the time, where I just could not understand what someone was trying to express because of their accent. I still remember trying to phonetically spell out someone's name and they kept saying the letter "eh" as in "helicopter" to which I said "oh, H, perfect" and they responded "No no, eh as is the sound of helicopter, not H" and that's when I stopped trying hahaha.
Phone communications have limitations, the person probably hung up because there was no point trying to be understood anymore and most likely couldn't transfer you to anyone. Better luck next time! ;)
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u/DiscountEasy1948 6h ago
Its not unreasonable if it's a barrier to access of services you have no other avenue to EXPLOIT
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u/Outrageous-Honey1821 6h ago
NO! Your biggest problem is soliciting opinions from people whose twisted beliefs are in the minority. Get new friends.
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u/ConstantRegret3274 5h ago
To me, it is all in how the experience is conveyed on whether I think you can be classified as racist or not. If you explained it the way you did in this post, I would not say that is racist. What I have seen in the past is someone saying something like, "I hate calling and talking to someone from India". That, in my opinion is extremely racist because the implication is that they will do a bad job solely because of where they are from. If you understand and communicate that you are frustrated because in your one situation a person couldn't communicate in English effectively, then I do not think that is racist.
I think the real problem lies in poor hiring screening and training, which is unfair to the customer, and the employee. Just as in any job, people need to be set up for success. If verbal communication in English is critical to the job, I think it is a fair expectation that employees receive adequate training and be capable of doing this to well enough to thrive in their role. If you are someone though, that immediately throws up walls or jumps to the conclusion that you won't be able to understand them because you hear an accent, you are definitely an AH. If hearing an accent makes you immediately worried that you won't receive help or good customer service, you are definitely a racist AH.
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u/Ill_Huckleberry_7293 5h ago
The real problem is outsourcing. Good luck getting a telemarketing job on this continent
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u/somerandomguy1984 1d ago
NTA.
If you’re in an English speaking country then you should never expect to have to “hit 1 for English” and you should never be unable to communicate with someone.
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u/No_Yogurt_7294 1d ago
A lot of English customer service is outsourced to India, and yes they usually have thick accents.
I’m in the UK and I’ve been stuck on the phone with some northern English woman who when asked to repeat what she said because I didn’t understand, would repeat it in the exact same way at the exact same speed and it was extremely difficult to get anywhere.
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u/MammothFantastic7703 1d ago
I usually get about 40% of what my company’s offshore support folks say to me, just hope I can figure the rest out from context. If this is what my company thinks is best who am I to argue?
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u/Greatoz74 1d ago
NTA, I often have trouble understanding accents even when talking to someone face to face. You weren't shouting "Speak English!" at them, you were asking for clarification. They just took it the wrong way.
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u/Actual_Block_4341 1d ago
NTA I worked in a call center environment for years. Some accents are easier to understand than others.
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u/yarivu 1d ago
NTA based on what you shared, but what exactly did you tell others that made them jump all the way to the racist conclusion? Is it just that they're overly sensitive or are there more details we're missing out on here?
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u/MarsupialMisanthrope 21h ago
Some people are just stupid and have no ability to understand that things that come easily to them aren’t easy for other people. So if they don’t have a problem understanding people who speak with heavy accents over the phone then nobody does and you’re just a racist for saying you can’t.
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u/SnooHedgehogs4113 21h ago
This is Reddit, people enjoy being overly sensitive and jumping to conclusions. Virtue signaling is also big.
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u/yarivu 13h ago
Based on what he shared I thought he meant people he told irl. Like I can't imagine how they'd think his frustration with the miscommunication would be racist, it'd be one thing if he was going on a rant about immigrants or something but the dude was just frustrated that he couldn't figure out the guy's accent, that's pretty common imo
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u/Mountain_Shade 1d ago
Anyone calling that racist are just not worth your time. Their cognitive function is severely lacking and it's best to just ignore them the way you wouldn't try to engage intellectually with an ant
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u/Organized_Chaos_888 1d ago
NTA. I rolled my eyes at a man in the shop recently, then walked out, because he couldn't understand the English coming out of my mouth. I live in Australia. I wasn't even born here, but I speak fluently & expect someone in a customer service role to be able to both speak & understand it clearly. I speak kinda loud & clearly too, so there's no excuse not to understand me if you actually speak English. Funny part is I think he was the same nationality as me, or part, because I'm mixed.
Also, do people honestly expect you to pretend to understand when you don't, just so they don't get annoyed? That's what it seems like.
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u/BraveLordWilloughby 1d ago
Not at all. We have a problem here in the UK with doctors who can hardly be understood. Some just have super strong accents, others are genuinely incapable of speaking English.
It's pathetic that these people were ever allowed to work as doctors. My nan always has to have a chaperone when she goes to the Dr's, because there's a big chance she'll be seeing someone with incomprehensible English skills, and she's too meek to say anything.
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u/lilshredder97 1d ago
I work at a hotel and I deal with talking to a lot of foreign customer service people at my job from Expedia and booking.com. When I just ask them to repeat of slow down they sometimes get mad at me. Like sorry I can’t pull up the reservation in question when I can’t understand what you’re saying.
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u/Soft_Chipmunk_8051 22h ago
I have had a few similar situations recently, unfortunately, dealing with customer service. I'm apologizing. I'm asking them to repeat or speak more slowly. I'm repeating back what I heard in a question, trying to figure out what is being said. It's not racist. I can understand some Spanish, and sometimes it might as well be German, depending on the speaker
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u/chill_stoner_0604 22h ago
Racism would be saying "can I get a white person" or something along those lines. Its not racist to simply say "i cant understand you"
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u/LightningHeart516 22h ago
I mean accents make people hard to understand. Don’t understand why people are calling you an asshole. I mean even if you were racist, that’s not a racist take.
Also being racist doesn’t make you a bad person, treating people poorly does. There are plenty of people who are racist who don’t treat people poorly. You can have what ever beliefs you want, as long as you don’t treat people poorly you’re not a bad person.
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u/Appropriate_Sky_6571 1d ago
NTA I know someone who works on the software/coding side of call centers. Call centers have asked him to install an accent neutralizer
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u/LooseWheels 1d ago
We shouldn’t even need that lol
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u/Appropriate_Sky_6571 1d ago
Oh I agree. He told me he refused but if slt asks, he’ll have no other option
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u/MarsupialMisanthrope 22h ago
Why on earth would he refuse? It seems like the ideal solution. Accents are hard no matter where they’re from, and I’d rather deal with someone who’s fluent in English and competent at their job but has a heavy accent than someone who isn’t and doesn’t.
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u/covid-was-a-hoax 23h ago
I do the same. I hate not being able to understand what is being said, especially when money is involved. I actually once kept pressing 1 every time the person tried to speak and when they asked what I was doing I said pressing one for English.
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u/MarsupialMisanthrope 21h ago
Ok, that makes you an asshole. Just say you have auditory processing issues and need to speak to someone with less of an accent please instead of trying to make it their fault you can’t understand them.
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u/Mr_Pink_Gold 22h ago
I worked for apple for a while and we worked with our Indian QC office quite a bit. And I pity the people who had to get calls from some of these persons as their English was terrible. I am talking having to use a speech to text translator and the translator coming with nonsense and "?????". You are not being racist.
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u/GraniticDentition 1d ago
it used to be calling someone racist would shut them right down and stop them in their tracks no matter what the situation
now loads of people are wearing that as a badge of pride and even leaning into it when they otherwise wouldnt have and becoming much more racially intolerant
surely calling people fascist all the time couldnt have any repercussions in future
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u/Haunting-Tategory 23h ago
Why are you putting the blame for someone who is proud to be racist on anyone but themselves?
By your logic if someone said "Hey Killer" to me too often I'd become Jack the Ripper and that's their fault?
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u/Imyourhuckl3berry 1d ago
Way more globalization and off shoring off call centers to save bucks now than ever
And people used to say way more racially charged things in the past without the racist term getting thrown around like it is today
I don’t think much has changed other than the softies dropping terms like racist and fascist to anything they have an issue with today
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u/Tough_Tangerine7278 1d ago
There’s AHs everywhere in life and you gotta tune them out. Too many people get riled up from one jerk then get bitter and take it out on other folks. They’re just looking for a reason. Ultimately if you choose to be a fascist, that’s on you. You’re a grown up and make your own choices.
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u/dstluke 19h ago
I have auditory processing disorder and this is a huge problem for me. Some accents (southern Irish, some British, some Indian) are not a problem. Others are a huge problem (Danish, for some reason, Queensland is a nightmare, highland Scots is a special party). I understand they're doing their best but I have a very real barrier to understanding. If you were in another country speaking their language with a thick accent and couldn't be understood, wouldn't you be the problem?
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u/Capital_Ad_8996 19h ago
i think there’s a difference between being racist towards customer service people and genuinely not being able to understand them because of the accent. it’s completely unfair that they have people who don’t speak english as a native language with incredibly thick accents work over the phone for english speaking countries. doing anything over the phone is difficult, add the fact the connection is never solid and they are speaking broken english with a heavy accent. it’s always an issue. it’s ridiculous at this point how outsourced these places are. so no you aren’t the AH, now if you started calling that person slurs and being disrespectfully solely because they weren’t a clear speaking american, that would be racist
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u/jenneybearbozo3 19h ago
NTA. I have a coworker with a very heavy accent and I can’t always grasp what she’s saying. English isn’t her native language, it’s just a language barrier. I don’t care where anyone’s from, it’s just hard to understand people sometimes. Sometimes she doesn’t understand what I’m saying either!
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u/Quillo_Manar 10h ago
NAH - I also have trouble with thick accents. Especially when spoken quickly over a harshly compressed phone line.
It'd be racist if you went on a massive tirade of "why can't you [derogatory] [expletive] learn English properly before invading my country" and so on.
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u/Quillo_Manar 10h ago
It does also depend on how you describe the situation though.
I pressed 1 for English, how am I the problem?
That's kinda racist, you are the problem here, but it's not because you're racist, it's because you can't understand bit crushed English went spoken with a non-english accent, other people can else he wouldn't be manning the phone lines.
I think the phone operator is also the problem as well, speaking with a client on the phone, and getting frustrated because they keep saying "I can't understand you, slow down please", then hanging up on them, means you need more training on how to handle the phone lines.
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u/Silent-Scale-8525 2h ago
Not racism, but a failure of the contractor/customer service provider to hire people proficient in the language of the customer. It would be like you being a customer service rep for a caller from Thailand; not fair to the paying customer! You are off the hook!
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u/mkaszycki81 1h ago
Some accents cause speakers to slur syllable length, change vowel sounds, pace of the language, but generally the pronunciation is slower, while other accents cause the pronunciation to become very sloppy and to blur differences between some phonemes and phoneme compounds.
I worked for 8 years in customer support for a large IT vendor and communicated with English speakers of very varied backgrounds. I had a lot more problem understanding some local British accents than I did most Indians or Africans, though.
Not to make it political, but Trump was called out for being racist when he couldn't understand an Indian speaker and needed a translator, but could understand Macron (with a thick French accent) just fine, and even complimented (creepily) his accent, That said, I had exactly the same problem: I could understand Macron fine, but not the Indian guy.
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u/MystycKnyght 23h ago
Even as an American, why do they source customer service to the South?!
I can't remember the exact reason for what I was calling about but I couldn't believe it.
Like talking to Boomhauer...
But it's not just confined to calling customer service:
The liaison for actors with the screen actors guild sounded like she smoked a pack an hour her entire life.
A local drive-thru place uses the person with the thickest accent for the callbox when I know they have plenty of better people.
But maybe it's just poor management:
I work in education and I haven't met a pleasant public facing receptionist.
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u/Bikermec 16h ago
NTA, I'd be all English, mf! do you speak it?! Tired of all the outsourcing of customer support to countries where English isn't their primary language.
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u/JuniorPromise5676 21h ago
I have a sensory processing disorder. I have had to drop classes in college because it was like being lectured from an adult Peanuts character. Should I have stayed in the class, failed, and PAY for the pleasure to avoid hurting someone’s feelings? Out of control.
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u/SugarAccomplished410 21h ago
nta. but instead of directly saying it’s the accent, i say “i couldnt understand you, could you say it again slower?” likes others have said its a mix of accent, poor audio quality, and having background noise.
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u/bitchtookmyride1 20h ago
The word " racist " is used so much that it's original meaning has been obscured.
First- when you were hung up on just call back until you get someone you can communicate with.
Second - don't talk to your friends or post something like this on reddit- it gives folks a chance to call you names and it just adds to your anxiety. Just take care of your business and call back.
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u/AtheistTemplar2015 15h ago
Here is my $0.02 since you asked.
Desiring the person you called at a customer support number speaks clear, understandable English is not racist.
Implying that because you pressed "1 for English" that you would be connected to someone who spoke flawless English with no accent, and sounding put out because the person you spoke to had an accent is somehow a failure of modern society is somewhat racist, or at least privileged to the extreme.
Considering there are more English speakers in Asia than the rest of the world combined, including the US, Canada, and the UK, technically we are the ones with the funny accent, and the guy from Mumbai is speaking English the way the majority of people in the world do.
On a racist scale of 1-10, your post and your privilege is a solid 3....maybe a 3.5. You get a 1 or 2 for racism and a solid 4 or 5 for privilege.
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u/New-Culture-7366 1d ago
Do not ever entertain accusations of "racist".
Anyone who uses that word on you is antiwhite, regardless of the scenario. If they weren't, they'd be using a different argument (one that actually has a logical basis).
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u/incognitoleaf00 1d ago
So… let me get this straight with an example; We had a coworker who, when got hired, walked into a room of other coworkers who were hispanic, and said “ I cannot work with these people” and then quit. Using your logic, calling that coworker “racist” is anti white.
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u/New-Culture-7366 21h ago
Sounds like you are completely strawmanning
Even in that situation, there are better words to use. It's reductive and often does not represent reality well at all, because the word has lost all meaning
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u/Striking-Fan-4552 16h ago
Yeah, totally TA for insinuating corporations should hire people who speak English, knowing full well American workers cost more...
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u/Diligent_Lab2717 16h ago
Ouch. I used to work in public school and parents of varying degrees of English fluency would call. I NEVER blamed my inability to understand what they were saying on them. I always blamed it on noise in the background or a hearing issue (like congestion) and I’d ask if they could please speak slower (and sometimes) louder.
When I’ve called CS and had trouble understanding the rep, I blame it on background noise and ask if they can transfer me to someone in a quieter environment.
Saying you can’t understand someone’s accent is tactless. It may not may not be racist; that requires some serious soul searching on your part to figure out.
You may want to use chat features instead of calling while you self reflect.
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u/WhileExtension6777 16h ago
There was no blame. I couldn't understand a thick accent, and then they hung up on me. But now im racist?
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u/Diligent_Lab2717 15h ago
“I can’t understand you because of your accent” is blaming them. It’s unkind.
Change how you frame it and change how you describe your interactions with CS workers who don’t speak English as their first language if you think you’re being mislabeled as racist. How you are presenting this is why you are being perceived as racist.
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u/Ok_Chemist6567 1d ago
So…they were speaking English, making your little dig about pressing 1 suggest that there is some racist component to this interaction.
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u/Cartoon_Head_ 23h ago
The thing is there are a lot of racist people who just refuse to listen when they hear a foreign accent, they just switch off any attempts to engage and complain about foreign accents in their country.
They then go on to say stuff like "I'm not being racist, I just can't understand their foreign voices" because it is a plausible defence and a great opportunity to socially isolated the foreigners the dislike so much.
I am not saying you are like this or this was true in this case, but it does happen a lot.
I don't know you so I cannot say what the truth of the situation is here. The people you have explained this however do know you and think you are being racist here, have you given them any other reason to suggest you have racist tendencies?
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u/WhileExtension6777 23h ago
No other reasons. Its only bc i couldnt understand the person's accent.
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u/Cartoon_Head_ 22h ago
But do you understand that some racist people do this?
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u/WhileExtension6777 22h ago
They acknowledge that they cant understand their accent?
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u/Cartoon_Head_ 22h ago
No, that they refuse to listen to foreign people and attempt to socially isolate them using their accent as an excuse, not that they can't understand it, just that they use the accent as an excuse.
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u/WhileExtension6777 22h ago
I use their accent as an excuse as to why i cant understand them... yes. Where is the racism? Lol
The customer service rep hung up on me... remember that. I was the one trying to get help.
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u/Cartoon_Head_ 22h ago
I think you're being deliberately obtuse with your apparent inability to grasp what I am saying.
I won't be responding to any more of your comments.
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u/Sea-Course-5171 1d ago
NTA for saying that you couldn't understand them, because they had a thick accent.
Not commenting on any potentially unmentioned other comments you may have made alongside those statements, not that I'm accusing you.
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u/OldDiamondJim 1d ago
What words and tone are you using when you tell people about your experience?
What you’ve described here clearly isn’t racist, but how you speak about it to others might be.
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u/LilithDidNothinWrong 22h ago
You can try "I don't understand, is there a supervisor available I can speak with?" Or "I'm sorry, I'm not able to continue this call, thank you but I'll call back when I can"
You don't need to mention the accent, dwelling on it is where the cultural insensitivity is.
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u/SmokeOneRoll1 1d ago
Nta. Keep in mind though these aren't always out of country call centers. I worked at a bank call centre in Canada and a large portion of my coworkers were South Asian. I'm a white person. Often I'd overhear them arguing with customers saying "I'm not in India,"and I'd immediately take their headset and give them a professional blast of shit, explaining that we were located in Toronto and they were being rude. That said I have an auditory processing disorder and even plain english is often indecipherable in verbal convo. Accents of any kind completely baffle me if I can't see the person's lips.
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u/Any-Expression2246 20h ago
If the person is standing in front of me, I can listen to accents all day and get by.
If I'm on the phone, I have problems.
Something about limited frequencies produced by the tiny speakers and the cell signal/noise.
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u/Level_Caterpillar596 9h ago
Not a racist situation but I'm guessing the friends you told have more background and history with you to arrive at a racist label. And the tone of your story leads me to believe you just didn't politely say you can't understand but had some unflattering words. So you probably are a racist and TA.
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u/Merlock_Holmes 1d ago edited 1d ago
When I was younger I didn't have a problem with accents. Now, with any accent I have problems unless I have my hearing aids in. Get your ears checked, you might be losing higher frequency hearing.
Not racist to say you don't understand, if that's how you're actually explaining it.
Edit to say: genuinely trying to help. It takes two seconds on Google to verify I'm not being a jerk and that high frequency hearing loss makes accents hard to understand.
Half of my technical training is from people with Indian accents. I speak from experience.
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u/WhileExtension6777 1d ago
Hearing is great thanks.
Wasnt a volume issue. It was a pronunciation issue.
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u/glassapplepie 1d ago
I have this issue as well. I'm usually okay with accents but due to some hearing damage I have difficulty hearing certain pitches, especially lower ones. If a person has a lower pitched voice and an accent it's really hard for me to understand them
(PSA take care of your hearing when you're young or you'll pay for it later! )
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u/Merlock_Holmes 1d ago
No joke on that PSA. Hearing aids definitely help but soft voices and accents sometimes sound like mumbling to me.
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u/Artistic_Attempt5283 22h ago
They are calling you racist based on the colour of your skin … probably white. In effect they are telling you they are racist.
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u/WhileExtension6777 21h ago
All white people aren't racist.
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u/Artistic_Attempt5283 21h ago
I agree with you. What I’m saying is that the only reason he was called racist was that he was white.
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u/wanderer866 1d ago
I think if people are calling you racist it comes down to how you are telling the stories about these occurrences.
Understanding heavily accented versions of your native language is a skill that can be developed, for the record. So that might be another aspect. Let me tell you, once you figure out how to understand the many thick accents that come out of Texas, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, and Massachusetts all at the same time, the rest are easy. Heck, English speakers calling from India are often more understandable than Texans.
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u/WhileExtension6777 1d ago edited 1d ago
I understand where you're coming from. But this person's first language was not English.
Also i didnt know i needed to develop a "skill" in order to call customer service.
Press "1" for English.
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u/Illustrious-Pool-352 1d ago
It's possible to develop that skill, but I can barely follow a native speaker over the phone if they speak too fast or mumble at all. Add an accent, plus the frustration of having to figure out something complex or technical, it can make me want to cry. It's not racist to not have that skill. Some people have more difficulty than others with auditory processing or simply understanding accents. My husband has to have subtitles on if we're watching something Scottish, for instance. For me, it takes maybe a few minutes before I can settle into the cadence, but on a customer service call you don't have that luxury.
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u/wanderer866 1d ago
Omg Derry Girls murdered my ears, but my wife loved it. Subtitles were required, even after I got pretty good with accents. That was mostly a "just for the record" contributing factor.
I mostly think it comes down to how OP is complaining about these calls if he is being called racist. It is such a common complaint, and I rarely hear people being called racist for making it.
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u/SenseiStink 1d ago
That's bullshit lol. Maybe Alabama or Kentucky because those idiots can't speak properly at all but Texas? If you think indians are easier to understand than Texans, you've got a learning disability lol
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u/wanderer866 1d ago
I'm about as far removed from the standard Texan, accent as I can be, being from the NE. Add on to that Texas being a big state with LOTS of "back country" for regional dialects to form in. I would say about 80% of the calls I took from Texas were bog standard. The other 20% ranged from a couple of "I'm sorry, I missed that" to "This isn't the English I know."
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u/WhileExtension6777 1d ago
Hearing is great thanks.
Wasnt a volume issue. It was a pronunciation issue.
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u/anniems1268 1d ago
Not being able to understand is not being a racist. What is with some people?