AIBU to think that anyone working in a customer service focused envrionment particularly shops and call centres should receive training in order to understand regional accents?

[Itsgottabebags]

I have had someone basically say to me I don't understand you and being passed on to another colleague. This was despite spelling out my address alphabetically and using the P for pappa style of giving details.

Its not like my accent (NE) is particularly 'thick'.

Aibu?

Nothing wrong with a NE accent. Sounds like the only thing that was 'thick' was the person in the call centre.

YABU. I have a pretty strong regional accent when chatting with friends but I massively reign it in when speaking to a stranger.

At least they passed you to someone else and didn't just put the phone down on you! That happens to my Dad all the time - he has an Italian accent.

Lots of customer service centres deliberately house their bases in the NE because the accent is considered to be warm and friendly while still being clear enough to be universally understood. It doesn't follow that the same wouldn't be true of a customer with the same accent calling a different call centre

I sometimes have difficulty understanding people I don't know well if they have a particularly broad accent, but that is because I only have around 40% of my hearing so wouldn't put myself forward for a roll that required me to be able to take information from people from all over the country.

YABU to suggest that all call centre/ shop assistants need training because you have had one bad experience.

Its one bad experience that I have put. I have had many more experiences. I don't really use region specific words etc and its not that thick an accent

If they said that it was because of your accent then that was wrong of them.

I have worked in call centres and the phones can be terrible, as can the amount of background noise that the headset picks up.

Are you saying they should be trained to understand all regional accents?

I don't really see how they could be. The onus imo is on the speaker to make themselves as clear as possible.

YABU - my dad's wife is scottish and I have difficulty understanding her. It's only through spending more time with her that I can understand her better and her accent isn't tremendously thick, so it's not unreasonable for a person hearing you for the first time find your accent a challenge.

Manic this does not make me thick

But do you work in a call centre?

I'd say if someone works in one they should be able to understand accents. I don't struggle with understanding accents because I listen.

YANBU!

I work with in CS and as we are a very inclusive public place we get lots of people with foreign or regional accents. We also have a lot of severely disabled customers who find it physically difficult to speak clearly, customers with stammers/tics, etc.

It is harder to understand people sometimes but you just listen, take your time and don't rush people. I don't think it's possible to be trained so much that you could instantly understand every single person on the planet (short of some kind of babelfish device) but you can control how you treat people and not just palm them off on someone else!

And, Cockwomble, my comment was tongue in cheek. I should have added smilies.

Working in a call centre has nothing to do with you calling people who have trouble understanding certain accents thick.

Are you actually kidding manic? Are you actually implying that I find it hard to understand my dad's wife's accent because I am not listening?

So if anyone struggles to understand an accent it's either because they are thick or not listening?

Sticking a PA smiley on doesn't make you any less offensive.

I work in a call centre- you might be able to hear us clear as day but the quality of what we can hear is piss poor. I had to request a double headset because I could hear naff all

I wasn't being PA. I was being flippant ffs

Funny, I don't find it nice to be called thick or accused of not listening.

FFS

YABU. Would you rather have stuck with the person who couldn't understand you, for whatever reason, or be passed on to someone who could and actually get your shit done without having to spell out every word?

YABU. If you have had a number of bad experiences, the common factor is you. So what can you do to make sure that you are understood?

I don't have a problem with customer service people not understanding my accent, I do have a problem with people phoning me from companies that I genuinely cannot understand at all, despite sometimes asking them to repeat themselves 3 or 4 times. I have lost count of the times that I have had to give up and hang up after apologising that I just cannot understand what they are saying.

YABU.

It's hard enough to understand different accents sometimes when you're face to face, let alone when it's on the other end of the phone with no lip reading, facial expressions on body language to help you out. Add to that the crappy headsets, bad lines and other people in the room talking and it's no wonder people sometimes struggle.

At least the staff member was nice enough to pass you on to someone who could help. In every training session I've ever had that would be considered excellent customer service