#not to mention all the lies they told including that apparently they interact w me all the time which just isn’t true 😭 lol

[awek-s-archived]

.

#aweks.txt #hate saying this bc it’s exactly what the hate anons from last night were aiming for but I do wanna die a lot rn FJSJFNSN #I always say if smth is justified fair enough and. no matter how ppl wanna keep saying that it wasn’t baseless. it really was #just because you can’t read doesn’t mean the rest of us relate to that too #i thought I was pretty clear but I’m not gna sit there and write out points about everything they said abt me while trying to give my #personal opinion on what I thought abt what they initially said #in their very first message they accused me of hating trans ppl and said ‘fuck you and her’ while going hard w the hate #then accused me of not being trans #then proceeded to weaponise their own identity bc I wasn’t playing into what they wanted me to act like #and I’ve been thinking abt it all night and I reached out to mutuals more educated than me to talk it out and such #people who are ACTUALLY from the communities the anons were claiming to be in #who said that it really was a huge witch hunt just for no reason #i get life is hard for everybody and it sucks but I can’t imagine hating myself so much that I go on anon to tell someone to fuck off and #then say that I’m glad I ruined their day #like that’s just. fucked up esp since you don’t know me #not to mention all the lies they told including that apparently they interact w me all the time which just isn’t true 😭 lol #anyways #all this to vent one final time and say that I’m gonna have anon off indefinitely #and just quietly work on my requests and my interactions with my mutuals :) #and just honestly to remind people that no matter how much you hate someone (in this instance me) #it doesn’t justify making things up about them or putting words in their mouths or generally making it your life mission to make their day #awful and then say you’re proud of it 😵‍💫 like I pity you. sincerely. i hope you find what you’re looking for in life and take a break from #the Internet bc you truly need it #everyone who was nice to me and dmed me I want to say thank you again and I really appreciate all your words

[weirdlingwonders]

Rant

Today I calle a store.. and was literally on hold for an HOUR because no one spoke enough English to know what I was asking for, or how to get done what I needed w/o transfering me back and forth, putting me on hold for LITERALLY half an hour, and twice, eventually disconnecting me w/no human interaction whatsoever. XP And all I needed.. was to find out IF they had a certain setting spray. SETTING SPRAY. Not that complicated.

And last week I had an experience w/Greyhound on the phone that left me feeling equally as frustrated. Apparently they’ve outsourced to the Philippines, and no one in their call center speaks enough English to understand “service fee.”  

Alllll this.. in UNACCEPTABLE.  If Customer Service doesn’t speak enough English to get the job done, THERE IS NO ACTUAL CUSTOMER SERVICE TAKING PLACE.

I don't mind dealing with someone with an accent (after all, we all come from somewhere else- unless we're Native American).  And I don’t mind if a person doesn’t ahve perfect English. -I- don’t speak perfect English, and I was born here.  But I DO mind when someone doesn't have enough of a grasp on the English language that they can't understand what I'm saying. as someone with absolutely -no- accent at all, and they’re supposedly working w/folks in the US.  No, we may not have an official language,” but that doesn’t mean that when a person walks into a local KFC, they expect the person behind the counter to speak Farsi, Swahili, or Inuit.  The US, like it or not, is a largely English-based entity.  Because we were colonized by English speakers.  It’s our unofficial, official laugnage.  It’s what people greet each other on the street with.  It’s how we answer the phone.  Not with “Bonjour!” or “Moshi Moshi!” But “hello!”  So whether in person or on the phone, if you don't speak enough English to do even the BASICS of your job, there is a biiiiig problem. 

If I'm in a taxi and the driver doesn't understand "turn right up here," or I'm at a sandwich shop and the guy doesn't understand "I'd like 2 slices of provolone, please," that's an issue.  And before you get all uppity about this being petty or trivial, please note that this issue can be a matter of personal safety for many.  I ride paratransit and taxis frequently, and my basic, personal safety can be put in jeopardy if the driver of my vehicle doesn't speak adequate English. If they go to grab my elbow as I get out of the vehicle and I say "I've got it," they need to understand me so they don't grab me and push/pull me, causing me to fall & potentially injure myself. Or if we’re heading to the vehicle, they jaunt away leaving me alone to navigate dangerous terrain in the dark and ask “can I please hold your arm?” or let out a plaintive “hello? Can you come help me, please..?” and they don't understand, again, I could get hurt.  Literally, PHYSICALLY HURT.  Or (and this is much scarier for folks like me), if I'm in that taxi and the driver doesn't understand "turn left at the light," then God knows -where- they might be taking me, inclined to leave me, how long it might take me to get home, or how much they may be charging me (or the paratransit company that sometimes uses their services) to get me home.  I've BEEN in cabs where they couldn't figure out where to go, even though both the GPS AND I were TELLING them how to get to my address- because they didn't speak enough English to understand me or the machine.  And I assure you, that is both extremely frustrating, and pretty damned scary.  Last time it happened the guy wandered around w/me in the car around 11 at night, pulling into little alleys, parking in vacant lots and empty bank drive through lanes to do u-turns, get his bearings, n’ stop to figure out where he was n’ needed to go. And when you’re in the car with a stranger as a young woman, that shit is scary.  (Nor would it have happened w/someone who might have been new/confused n’ not known their job well. At least an English speaking person would have been able to understand my directions, and that of the GPS.)

Beyond my paltry personal safety concerns, companies who hire non-English speakers are also setting their employees AND their customers up for failure (not to mention a world of frustration).  if I call Greyhound to get help with a partial refund that they TOLD me to call for back after my trip, it should not take me literally ELEVEN calls filled with numerous attemptsto get help, because no one on the previous call or department spoke enough English to understand what I need.  I got people who didn't understand how to put me on hold or transfer me (rather than hang up), I got people who didn't understand what I asked, and then couldn't understand "I'd like to speak to a supervisor please," etc.  And that's not okay.  Customers end up hanging up out of frustration which isn't polite OR productive, and CS folks probably have no idea why, because they don't speak enough English to grok the problem!  And that’s a waste of time and money for EVERYONE involved.  The company loss money from customers who leave them, and the customers lose money from giving up on items, services, charges and other issues they can’t gain access to & thus go addressed or uncompleted.  People buy from OTHER cable companies. OTHER sandwich companies. OTHER clothiers. And bills go unpaid. That’s not okay.

And as a customer, I do my very, VERY best to be courteous and considerate to the folks on the other end of the line, no matter WHO they may be, so please don’t accuse me of xenophobia, racism, etc.  I make pains to be calm and polite to CS folks because I've been one myself, and my family has generations of service industry people in it.  I know from years of personal experience what it's like to be behind the desk (or the phone) and have people treat you like garbage, or a non-person, forgetting that there's a -real- human being behind that phone- or that desk. I get it.  So I make pains NEVER to be -that- person.  

But if your customer service doesn't speak enough English to do even the BASIC TENANTS of their job, there's no -real- customer service happening.  You're essentially paying people to sit there and get nothing done, while your customers get ticked- or brushed- off.  Customer or CSR, we ALL have our limits, and putting people who doesn’t speak English in language-saturated jobs is like putting a VI person in a sight-dependant job.  I’ve been there. It doesn’t work, isn’t fun for ANYBODY, and sets EVERYONE up for failure.  Including your business.  I shouldn’t be put in a position to have to read smudged, 7pt font, just like someone who doesn’t understand more than “how can I help you” should be put in a job where complex English phrases are used just to get through ONE call.  Either way, the job isn’t getting done well or efficiently, or happily.  

But then.. I as an employee need to be honest w/myself and my boss, just like my boss must with himself, for the sake of his company’s well-being.  If I can’t read 12 point font in a sight-based job and tell someone I can, that’s MY issue, ‘cause I’ve lied to my boss and made my problem theirs.  But if I say I can’t and a boss hires me anyway thinking I can fudge my way through ‘cause they can’t be bothered to hire someone with the necessary skills, then that’s an even BIGGER one.  I don’t expect my taxi driver to understand fancy terms like “forced perspective” or be able to converse eloquently about poetry or plus-size fashion.  Sure, I get that English is a complex as HELL language, but a person should be able to do the basics of what they’re hired to do.  So if I’m not asking about complicated food additive ingredients like methyltriglycerodextro-something or other when I call about my cell phone bill, my expectation is that they’ll know enough about the job AND the language to get what I need done.  That.. shouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation.  -Because we expect businesses to be competent in whatever arena we’re PAYING THEM to be proficient in.  I’m not gonna ask my sandwich maker to find my house, nor my taxi driver to make me a sandwich.  And sure, new employees exist, and there’s ALWAYS a learning curve- to EVERY job. I get that.  But they don’t grok phrases inherent within the realm of their job description, that’s a problem.  No matter the origin, employees NEED to be able to function within their job arenas. Because it’s what they’re being PAID to do.  And "Turn right." "I'm looking for an item in your store, with the title X & item number Y."  Or, worse comes to worse, "I'd like to talk to a supervisor." are not neuroscientific terms that fall directly within certain, specific job descriptions/arenas.  I’m not gonna call Greyhound asking to fix my bank bill, yanno?  Most often these conversations are about pretty simple, relatable terms and needs.  Sandwiches. Cable bills.  Makeup. Shoes. Bus tickets. A ride home.  And if your employee can’t comprehend the basic job phrases, that’s a problem.

And please, please don't patronize people by arguing that nonsense about different native English speakers having different accents and dialects and thus, not being able to understand each other. Sure, I as a person w/no accent may not catch everything someone from South Carolina says, but if we’re at a lake and I hear something about a pole and fish, I’m not gonna think they wanna take me skydiving.. yanno?  If people around the world who speak Arabic, Spanish or French (some of the most widely spoken languages around the globe) can understand one another, regardless of country or dialect, then a person from Alabama should be able to understand a person in Boston- or vice versa. Sometimes it takes patience and time, and yes, sometimes there's a difference in colloquialisms, or ya might not understand eeeevvvery word, but if a person from Nebraska calls a person in Austin, TX, I'm pretty sure they're both gonna understand "I'd like to make an exchange," I need to refund a service fee" or "turn right here at the light, please."  Because they have a COMMON LANGUAGE.  

I’m not saying it isn’t hard to learn English.  I’m not saying it isn’t admirable for folks from other countries to movie here and begin to make a new life, which includes learning a HUGELY complex new tongue.   What I AM saying is that it doesn't matter where you're from; the simple fact is, you can't do your job if you don't understand the basic phrases INTRINSIC to that job.  Native English speaker or no.   And I’m tired of having to pay the price because companies aren’t willing or able to train their staff well, or hire well-prepared staff, capable of doing the jobs we’re both paying them to do.  

It’s more than just a sandwich. Or a cable bill. Or my electricity.  It’s my life.