Sunday, October 7, 2007

Arro? Ez dez de reddie ah de ouz.....

(Title Translation: Hello? Is this the lady of the house?) My phone rings and interrupts me doing something important like napping, reading or tweezing my chin hairs. Its bad enough that it’s a solicitor but it adds insult to injury that it’s a solicitor from my power company who, of course, has to have my phone number on file and is exempt from the “DO NOT CALL” list. That this solicitor is OBVIOUSLY a foreigner who has a VERY strong accent only puts the cherry on top of it all. Now I have nothing against foreigners and I am happy that this woman has a job, but wouldn’t you THINK that a company as large as a power company, for crying out loud, would have enough positions open for her to work in a capacity that DOESN’T require her to call customers on the phone and try to sell a service? I could only understand about every sixth word this woman had to say. I kept saying “excuse me”, “pardon me” and “would you repeat that”….until finally, my patience nearly gone, I just said, “I’m sorry I cannot understand what you’re saying”, then she said something else and I said, “Oh, I already have that, good-bye”. I just hate being unnecessarily rude and try hard not to be. After all, its not her fault they are making her do this crappy job.

Yes, we are a melting pot. Yes, its wonderful this lady is working and not tapping our welfare system. I give her big hugs for that. But, CORPORATE AMERICA….use some common sense here. Why would you put someone who has such a strong accent in telephone SALES or in TECHNICAL SUPPORT (which justifies a whole other future blog entry of its own)?? What is WRONG with this picture? I’m sure we have an ABUNDANCE of people available for work that can speak English just fine and can, therefore, be understood. And, on the other side of the coin…just imagine how SHE must feel at the end of the day….after having repeated her sales pitch over and over again only for the sole reason that she can’t be understood. It must surely be as frustrating for her as it is for the ones on the receiving end. I bet she drives home in tears every night and just hates her job! Is it just me? Am I turning into a cranky bitch? Are people in upper management the blooming idiots I think they are? My male hormones are jumping around giving each other high fives about now. Lord a mercy. I’m shaking my head again.

There! I’m off my soap box now. Sorry if I offended anyone but you know its true.

2 comments:

fiwa said...

Sadly, just because someone is in upper managment doesn't make them smart. I think the reason these folks get into telemarketing jobs is that it doesn't take a lot of experience or training. I feel bad for the people who have to take those jobs too, but I also don't think I should have to spend time on the phone listening when i am not interested. I just try to break in at the first possible moment and say "Thank you but no thank you, and I'm hanging up now."

It does tick me off that companies that you do business with still have the right to harass you with unwanted calls. Probably not much you can do about the power company, but I did threaten to cancel one of my credit cards if they didn't stop calling me. And it actually worked.

Anonymous said...

Hi Val, thanks for stopping by and letting me know about you! And I'm flattered you've added me to your blogroll!

My mom has never said anything about foreign telemarketers, but she seems to get more recorded messages than real people. It must be so annoying to get a solicitation from the phone company when you're on a Do Not Call list!