Why do I get so frustrated when I call tech support or customer service and I cannot understand the person on the other end of the line? I know they are just trying to do their job but, jeez, couldn't one of the qualifications be that they have a clear, understandable speaking voice? If I have trouble understanding them, I bet they can't understand me so how am I going to resolve my problem?
Very often I find that people who work in technical jobs are more and more folks whose first language is not English. Why, you ask? We have lots of members who are in the education business. Let's ask them. From my own limited personal experience I have seen many minority citizens in math and science classes at our local university. My own son is a computer genius, but oddly, he is weak in math. He started in computer technology and hated it. He hated writing programs and he wouldn't put in the extra study time for the math. Lazy is what I call it. So, he changed his major to history--no math. He has done very well and has added an English major and is starting his master's studies in the fall. I suspect that we lose many prospective technology students because they are not getting the fundamental training they need to succeed. My son went to a collge prep school and graduated with honors. I would think that he should be prepared for whatever he has chosen to pursue. He wasn't! I paid just the same amount of $$ for his K-12 education that I am paying for his college education. Was it worth it? Who knows. So when I hear a heavily accented technician--I just bear with it. They always have good language skills-just accents! We are lucky to have them. We might not have any technical assistance at all or we might not be able to hang on the phone long enough to get someone we can understand. I do understand your pain. Trying to deal with my internet server is one of those trying experiences!
I taught in a very well regarded school district at the middle school level in a state that spends money on education, but until recently there aren't enough working computers in the classrooms. Having computer lab once a week isn't enough. In our state a small number of districts receive most of the funding because the students come from poor families. Those districts have more computers. The funding is now changing so that each district gets a certain amount of extra money for any disadvantaged students that are enrolled. Even "rich" districts have poor students attending the schools!!!
I now supervise Student Teachers from a state University when they are assigned to varied school districts. Some have the wonderful "smartboards" with which to do interactive teaching, but so many districts have nothing more than an overhead projector and a couple antiquated computers. (My teachers now are all at elementary schools up to grade 6 at most, so I am not familiar with what is going on at the high school level.)
Many "tech" people you contact have accents because your calls are going to people who work for a corporation, but live in another country. I'm guessing the reason is that even for educated people, wages in India are much lower there than in the U.S.
It seems everything is done out of the country! It seems no matter what you buy,at least some parts of it are manufactured in foreign countries. Many of our food products are made in other countries. We have many local butcher shop-grocery stores in our area.You would think,local product would be found there. A friend recently pointed out the labels put on the fresh meat packages,they may be products of United States,Canada or Mexico.It is no wonder we can no longer have any control over the quality of our food products.Medications are manufactured in foreign countries.We wonder why our economy is in the condition it is in-if we look at the York,PA area-many of the large manufacturing plants are gone,including Pfaltzgraff.Many of the products produced out of the country lose their quality,but the prices surely do not come down.I really wonder where we are headed! I wonder if I will ever see the good life we had again in my lifetime.Where will our children and grandchildren be?
My story has a happy ending. Dish sent a different tech out who said the first tech should have moved the dish so the second tech moved the dish, changed the AV cables to components and VOILA lots and lots of HD channels. He also said the telephone rep gave me the wrong information about my receiver. I still can't tell the difference between HD and standard but the mister says he can and IT'S ALL ABOUT WHAT MAKES THE MAN HAPPY. He's not too happy to have the dish right out in the middle of the yard though. *sigh* never satisfied
I still think you should be able to speak English plainly to be a telephone service rep but I just need to get over it. Either that or quit buying crap I really don't need that I have to call and complain about.
