I Stand Corrected//

[Jordyboy9]

after 3 long weeks of hassle from BT regarding overcharging and failure to fix a line fault,endless hopeless conversations with people from india,i am finaly sorted today, by an nice english speaking girl called Jasmine,saying this does not make me a racist but it is a bit frustrating when they cant understand my scots accent, and i am hopeless trying to understand theirs,thoughts on this anyone?

[craft1948]

When I first worked for BT in the accounts office my biggest customer was Menwith Hill which was an American air force base.
I had to ask for a change of duties as I couldn't understand what the Americans were saying...

[jourdain2]

One year, the training video for teachers assessing the oral component of English GCSE featured children from a Liverpool school. One girl's accent was so thick that I marked her as a 'fail' on communication. I simply could not understand her and I watched the tape several times and really tried.
Next thing was an examiner's visit - they had her as a B+. An interesting argument ensued, when I pointed out that I could understand my pupils' accents so their criticism didn't apply. (My results ended up OK and not queried.)

[Dee Sa]

my nephew in law works in a Bangalore call centre whilst working for a masters degree, he is selling exotic hols to Brits, the guy sitting next to him asked him what was a Jacuzzi !!!! say no more !

[Buenchico]

>>>asked him what was a Jacuzzi

Bloody 'ell! I thought that everyone knew that it was a letter written by Émile Zola ;-)

[BlackadderV]

Groan, groan and thrice groan!!

[BlackadderV]

A jacuzzi is an appliance which saves you the trouble of farting in the bath yourself.

[Buenchico]

Trust you to lower the tone, BAV ;-)
http://lowres.cartoonstock.com/men-jacuzzi_bath-bubbles-farts-wash-washing-mmon414_low.jpg

[woofgang]

internet chat is your friend when dealing with the accent problem. No accents, no asking for repeats, no hanging on the phone, and if you are like me and have no aural recall (can't remember what someone tells me verbally) then technical instructions are there in from of me to re read at need.