"Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than the next, moves slowly, over periods of years from one part of the earth to another." -Paul Bowles
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
What kind of accent is that?
I don't bother asking...because I get tired of people asking me on the phone at work. Unless they're expats too, I'd rather just stick to work 'convo'. So when I called to try and sort out some flights home (next February), I didn't even bother to ask the fella on the other end of the phone, but I do have to wonder what the heck kind of accent the people at United Mileage Plus on the 13_ _ _ _ number have. Who knows where that call centre is, but they are certainly teaching a new version of spoken English somewhere inthe world. Anyway, it looks like I'll be home for a couple of weeks in February, and all for free thanks to miles. Unfortunately, I'll miss my first Valentine's Day in Aussie with my hubs:(
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3 comments:
Thta's a problem we all have these days Susan - with modern telecommunications you can call a local number and be speaking to someone in Delhi or Denver!
Last time Paula and I were going to the US we needed holiday insurance and I called Asda insurance as they had proved to be the cheapest for us in the past and I spoke to a very helpful (and unusually easy to understand) Indian lady. I presumed that I was speaking to someone in Bombay or wherever, but it turned out that she was in a call centre in Perth (Perth in Scotland I should add!) so it's very difficult to guess whom or where you may be communicating with these days :-)
Hope your trip goes well when it comes around
Steve
LOL. I can tell you exactly where that call center is.
I can relate on both parts. After three years in Britain and seven years living with an Aussie/Irish lass I don't think most people can pin my accent down. They usually guess in this order:
1. Irish
2. English
3. Canadian
Though I often think they guess Canadian to be polite because noone wants to falsely accuse someone of being a Yank.
As for the telephone people, I just try to avoid the phone full stop. I usually insist on doing any transaction that involves money in person. Call me old school. Or a Luddite.
Glad to have "run into" a fellow American in SA.
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