Off shore call centers, amazing at times, at other times crazy.
My impersonation in writing of a call center guy who I can’t understand. And I am not smart enough to communicate with a person who speaks better English than I do, though with an accent and in a different culture.
Me calling about broken ice maker.
“Yes, my name is Tad Wright, calling about a broken ice maker for a Whirlpool side door refrigerator/freezer.”
“Eloh, I am Todd dis call is …” in a sing song voice. Dunno what he is saying. Pretty sure it’s being recorded for training and all that.
“Funny, you’re Todd and I’m Tad. Do you use two d’s?”
“I am using a landline sir.”
“What?”
“What is the reason for your call sir? This I must know to provide assistance.
“My ice maker is broken.”
10 minutes later after discussing the manual and getting me on the right page for the model number.
“Okay Meester Tad read that model number please.”
“W, M, C, five, seven, one, seven …” at the same time he starts repeating.
“Dubu, Enn, Pee, Pive, Sebin, Juan, Sebin …” I hold it, but crack up finally at the my Sebin when he says Juan. So now I WANT to accept the challenge. As I gather myself I realize he’s probably messed up M and C.
“Todd, let’s start over, but tell me the letters you think I said.” We establish the correct letters after a couple of minutes.
Then I try something daring. “Todd, are you familiar with the phonetic alphabet?”
“Yes. Where you say a word that starts with the letter you want.”
“Good!”
“Gee!”
“No, no, no, I was, okay we’re starting over with the model number.”
“I was making joke on you sir.”
“Good one Todd.”
“So where you from? You in America?”
“Yes?”
“Really? Where?”
“India. I mean Indiana.”
We get through it. There’s some more letters, but he nails it second time through. I started with the military one. Then shifted to the One Adam Twelve way, A as in Adam, B as in Baker, C as in Charlie instead of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. I’ve never thought about Charlie being the same in both.
So now I need to get an alpha numeric number off of the refrigerator door.
I look and it’s a huge string of numbers and letters. There’s a few that could be zeros or oh.
I’m going to give up.
Long silence.
“Hey Todd, I have a relative that just showed up, I have to go. Can I call you back Todd?”
“I have to answer the phone as it rings. The serial number of your broken ice maker is on the computer. It will match your phone number.”
“Too bad, thank you.”
Guess who I got on the line when I called Indiana back? No, not Todd. Someone worse than Todd. When I sold that house and conveyed the refrigerator with the broken ice maker a few years after calling with Todd from Indiana.
Me calling about broken ice maker.
“Yes, my name is Tad Wright, calling about a broken ice maker for a Whirlpool side door refrigerator/freezer.”
“Eloh, I am Todd dis call is …” in a sing song voice. Dunno what he is saying. Pretty sure it’s being recorded for training and all that.
“Funny, you’re Todd and I’m Tad. Do you use two d’s?”
“I am using a landline sir.”
“What?”
“What is the reason for your call sir? This I must know to provide assistance.
“My ice maker is broken.”
10 minutes later after discussing the manual and getting me on the right page for the model number.
“Okay Meester Tad read that model number please.”
“W, M, C, five, seven, one, seven …” at the same time he starts repeating.
“Dubu, Enn, Pee, Pive, Sebin, Juan, Sebin …” I hold it, but crack up finally at the my Sebin when he says Juan. So now I WANT to accept the challenge. As I gather myself I realize he’s probably messed up M and C.
“Todd, let’s start over, but tell me the letters you think I said.” We establish the correct letters after a couple of minutes.
Then I try something daring. “Todd, are you familiar with the phonetic alphabet?”
“Yes. Where you say a word that starts with the letter you want.”
“Good!”
“Gee!”
“No, no, no, I was, okay we’re starting over with the model number.”
“I was making joke on you sir.”
“Good one Todd.”
“So where you from? You in America?”
“Yes?”
“Really? Where?”
“India. I mean Indiana.”
We get through it. There’s some more letters, but he nails it second time through. I started with the military one. Then shifted to the One Adam Twelve way, A as in Adam, B as in Baker, C as in Charlie instead of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. I’ve never thought about Charlie being the same in both.
So now I need to get an alpha numeric number off of the refrigerator door.
I look and it’s a huge string of numbers and letters. There’s a few that could be zeros or oh.
I’m going to give up.
Long silence.
“Hey Todd, I have a relative that just showed up, I have to go. Can I call you back Todd?”
“I have to answer the phone as it rings. The serial number of your broken ice maker is on the computer. It will match your phone number.”
“Too bad, thank you.”
Guess who I got on the line when I called Indiana back? No, not Todd. Someone worse than Todd. When I sold that house and conveyed the refrigerator with the broken ice maker a few years after calling with Todd from Indiana.
61-69, M