What Bothers Me

So, at the moment I work for a support company. We support people who have their web hosting with us. It is a shared hosting environment, which means that a lot of people (about 400 accounts) share a single server and IP address. The distinction between most people, in this environment, is their username. In some cases, though, we will sell an individual a static IP address; however, they are still sharing space on a server.

As a result of this environment and the cost of the service, we get customers from all over the world. Literally. All over the world. Not all of them speak English. Those that do, sometimes, know there is an issue with communication. They know, in advance, that they do not speak well or clearly.

That I can deal with – when the individual also tries to be understood.

However, what get’s me, a lot, are the people who know this about themselves and don’t try to be understood. They don’t care. They expect that some special magic wand will be waved and there will be a tacit level of understanding that exists between person calling and the company being called.

It doesn’t work that way. Never has.

The issue here is that if you know enough about speaking English, and we only offer support in English, then you know that you, as a non-native speaker will not speak as well as a native speaker. That’s not really an issue. When you are willing to work with me, I am willing to work with you.

However, when you, as a non-native speaker, choose to not participate in the communication process, the process fails. I can ask, I can prod, but if you are not willing to try and speak with me, if you are not going to try and make the effort to help me understand what you are saying, then I’ve got nothing. I can’t help you.

Case in point:

Today I get a call from someone who had (to me ears) a distinct middle-eastern accent. I know this, in part, because of the domain name and because of his address information. His problem was that his index file was becoming corrupted. Not my problem. I don’t support index files. I don’t support code; but in his estimation, I should because I am the representative of the company (to him).

The issue was exacerbated by the customer telling me one domain and really meaning another domain. And all of this with an accent and vernacular that is not/was not compatible with my ability to understand. When I would say something like, “Sir, I want to help you, but I don’t understand what you want me to do, look at,” he would repeat, verbatim, the same thing over and over again.

So, I finally figure out what domain he is actually calling about. I look at the domain, click through the error messages, take a look at the code, and see that he is using a CMS (content management system) and I ask, “What software are you using to run your website?”

He says, “I don’t know what you mean.”

I say, “I can see from the errors that you did not code this website. What software are you using.”

He says, “I’ve uploaded this six times.”

I say, “I’m sorry, sir, if you are not willing to work with me I cannot help you.”

He says, “You corrupt my index file.”

I say, “Sir, we don’t do that.”

He goes on about something for several minutes and I sit back and just listen. Some calls just get to a point where nothing you say will change anything. I get that. When a call gets to that point I sit and listen to the customer rant and rave. I understand being upset and angry and I understand needing to vent and I understand that sometimes you just allow yourself to vent on the dude that answered the phone.

When he was done, which happens sooner or later (longest being yelled at time, current job, 30 minutes), they then ask, “Are you still there?”

My response, pretty pat, “Can I help you with your problem now?” and then I do what I can to make sure we don’t hear from them again.

Today, well… multiple problems; first, the dude wasn’t willing to actually try and communicate his problem. I wanted to tell him to use our chat function as most people can write English better than they can speak it; which is also true of native English speakers speaking other languages; second, dude finally said, “I will just reinstall it again, for the seventh time,” and then hung up the phone.

Conversation done.

However, this reminds me of Siraj.

Siraj was a teacher I had several years ago for Anatomy and Physiology. He was from Pakistan. He chose not to speak English very clearly. He told us that we would be lucky to understand what he said and that he would be testing off of the notes. He also expected us to be present every day of our lives.

Some tidbits about Siraj. 1) He’d been living in the United States for about 15 or 20 years, 11 of which were as an illegal alien. 2) He had the ability to speak perfectly clear and understandable English whenever he wanted to – as was frequently demonstrated whenever he decided to rail on the American government. 3) Siraj went off radar after 9/11.

He had an ability to make himself understood that he chose not to use. Most people do. You can change the way something is said and help the recipient to understand meaning. You do have that ability. And yet, some people, like the stereotypical American traveling the world, feel that you, the individual, should cowtow to them and their language. Accommodate me. Accommodate me. Accommodate me.

It is not an American ideal. It is a world ideal.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Denny Crane | Bond. James Bond