Did you know that American Express Travel uses agents from India to book their Business passengers.  I have noticed working a later shift in Reservations that I get calls 8:00pm Arizona time and it is 8:00am the next day in India. 
It really Grins my Gears that when you ask them to repeat themselves they get irritated.  Hey I know how to speak english clearly they do not!  And when they ask me what city I am in I reply “Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

I think its funny when you talk to one of them if you change your wording alittle different you can confuse them and they say “2 minutes please” and they come back in exactly 2 minutes.  As they franticly search in their computor for the answers.  They may speak english but they don’t understand it.
Welcome aboard Birdlyswa!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing that people in New Mexico really have a problem with that type of thing when they deal with call centers in foreign countries.  I guess that many times the CSR thinks they live in Mexico.  I heard that some people in the south and Northeast also think that ABQ is in Mexico.  Of course a lot of New Yorkers think that all us cowboys in Phoenix live on big ranches.  I only wish!

That NAFTA thing’s gone to far.

Aunt J you cracked me up!  Thankx for sharing. Boy we could really have some fun with each people in India. I can kick in my Boston accent and a little Francoise and Texas Margaret to finish up the call (I could Honey and Sugar them).  I like those buzz words you mentioned.  More and More agents pass those calls to CCR’s. I had one last night and after a 15 minutes “discussion” with her she thought the pax had tktless credit.  Shot my talk time- what a waste.
Husker- thankx for the post. You brought up a whole other subject.  The “ You speak’a Spanish”? No English.

Whenever I telephone a call center, I always ask where they are just to make conversation.  Sometimes I get the impression that the CSR doesn’t want to tell me and I’m not sure why.

I know at one point we werent aloud to tell people where we were.  You could say AZ just not Phx, they didn’t want people to know where we were, they said security reasons.  You know the wackos out there.  We still can’t give our last names, just incase someone is crazy enough to go to the effort of finding you.  They’ve relaxed somewhat and now we can say Phx.

I just had this experience when calling a popular computer company, I didn’t ask where he was from, but my call took nearly an hour and I’m sure it could have been shorter if I could have understood what he was saying.  And yes, he got frustrated with me for constantly asking him to repeat himself.  I was just as frustrated.

Now here’s another one.......just went to Wendy’s last night, Hispanic person at the window.....took 4 times to tell him what I wanted....and he still got it wrong.  If you’re going to deal with the public, especially verbally, you need to annunciate and repeat!!!!

The phone reps from the Phillipines are fun, have a personality, and they are pretty much very helpful… not too much of an accent.. didn’t have to ask more than once very often and was on the phone with him for 2 hrs.. made it a very pleasant 2 hr tech call

You know who kills me? The southern folk in the US. I can never understand them with their Hee Haw and their bells jingle jangle jingling. And what the blue hell is with the “Gitr Done” thing? You would think with all that edumacation they had, it would pay off with some english. HUH HUH HUH? Who’s with me?

I know what you’re saying, I would like to where Tamper is!!  Accents in the Northeast.  The won that gets me is the most though- I axed you a question.  When I was in school we learned asked was not spelled with a x.

OMG.....you guys are so right.  I was recently in Mobile AL and had a horrible time just ordering chicken fingers for my daughter.... it took 3 times.  And it came out ‘fangers’.  Aunt J....I get that ‘ax’ you stuff all the time.  And the kicker is when they say ‘thems’ instead of ‘those’. 
We can spend billions in foriegn countries, but we can’t educate our own....SHAME ON US!!!

With the rumor of Southwest closing its reservations center here in Phoenix, where will these calls go in the future?

By the way, I loved visiting the people over there (WN Res. Center) and am sad that they are leaving Phoenix.

Oklahoma City, Houston and ABQ.

where are those places?

Timbuktu.