Thoughts from the Work Cave
I provide ISP tech support for rural America. My customers do not live in cities. Most of them do not even live in towns. When they have a problem with their computer, the telephone is their only hope. There is no neighbor or coworker they can ask to come over and help them. The closest computer repair place is usually miles and miles away. As a result, they call us for EVERYTHING that goes wrong with their machine. I had a woman burst out in tears today when I told her she needed to call her computer manufacturer. She'd said she'd already tried that but she couldn't understand a word they said and when she finally got someone who spoke with less of an accent, they couldn't explain things to her in a way that made sense. I get a lot of calls like that (though usually without the tears) and unfortunately I have to refer them right back to the manufacturer. The odd thing though, is the calls I get from customers who have called my employer before that say things like "I'm so glad to get someone that I can understand." Huh? Everyone I work with speaks perfect English. There might be the odd accent or two, but nothing so overwhelming that you can't understand them. I started paying attention to where these callers were from and, for today, it turns out that most of them were from Kentucky. For some reason, my peculiar mix of German/Texan/Southern accent is pleasing to their ears which I find odd because they have a very distinctive accent and I sound nothing like that. And here's a bit of trivia for you - in Kentucky you don't click on the "next" button, you mash it.