Suprise Attack of the Spelling Nazi

[TealJellyfish]

I am still shaking as I type this.
In my job provide phone numbers for our offices and locate the closest one to people when they ask. Also other basic information like fax numbers, address etc and information on the promotional programmes we run.

Me: TADA
SP: Spelling Nazi (evil)

Me:Opening Spiel
SP:Hi I'm looking for the closest office to "odd sounding suburb"
Me: What state is that in?
Her: "state"
Mr: *Types into system ...* "0 Results" Could you spell that please
SP:Your asking me to spell it
Me: Yes please
SP: WHY DO YOU HAVE A JOB IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPELL IT *spells slowly like I'm a retard*
Me: I'm Sorry... Have I done something wrong ?
SP: I AM SICK OF CRAPPY CUSTOMER SERVICE
Me: I'm sorry it didn't turn up in my system the way I spelled it...
SP: YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY YOU JUST ASKED ME
Me: Ma'am I did try and my system didn't recognize it with my spelling
SP: WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD LEARN TO FUCKING SPELL(Strike 1)
Me: Ma'am I can spell but we have alot of different suburbs and some of them have odd spellings and sometimes I get it wrong.
SP: WELL YOU SHOULD LEARN TO FUCKING SPELL (Strike 2)
Me: Ma'am if you continue to swear and be abusive I am going to end this call. Now would you like the phone number for the closest office to "Dumb fucking suburb in glad i don't live in"
SP: YOU STUPID COW. YES I WANT THE NUMBER AND IF YOU FUCKING HANG UP (Strike 3)
Me: *hangs up*

At this point I was shaking so hard I could barely breath and I wanted to cry.

*Phone rings*
Me: "Opening Spiel Minus Name"
SP: I would like the real estate in "Stupid Suburb" *Smug Tone*
Me: Unfortunately we don't an office in that location
SP: Well then whats the closest office???
Me: *names office*
SP: Well whats the phone number
Me: *gives number*
SP: OK
Me: *Ends Call*

SERIOUSLY WTF. I feel better after typing all that. I am not a perfect speller and if I am unsure of how to spell something I will general ask rather than trying 3 or 4 different combos to get it right and then wasting there time.. was I being a bad CS Rep here?

[daleduke17]

In reality: no.

To her: yeah.

Screw her. You did a good job.

I live about two hours from Chicago and St. Louis. I've heard a LOT of different suburb names and some of them are confusing to spell, especially some of the St. Louis ones since they are of French descent. I have a hard enough time trying to spell some of the names we get through here. :-p

That lady was probably offended that she had to do some actual work to get what she wanted, and that you as the "drone"* didn't have the spelling at the ready.

* - Most SC's think of retail people as robots and drones with no feelings.

[TealJellyfish]

Screw her. You did a good job.

I live about two hours from Chicago and St. Louis. I've heard a LOT of different suburb names and some of them are confusing to spell, especially some of the St. Louis ones since they are of French descent. I have a hard enough time trying to spell some of the names we get through here.

That makes me feel alot better. I was ranting about it to my co-workers for 15 mins cause it was so shaken up about it
Oh well. I didnt do anything wrong so if my boss gets a complaint I can just show it

[Chanlin]

Yeah what a complete Bit*h.

I've started just asking for the Zip code because some people are to dumb to spell the place where they live. Googling the zip code gets instant correct spelling.

Another trick would be to just say this is how I spelled it

I get this alot for some local places like Terre Haute (Terra as in earth and Hote with an oh sound) or Wapakonetta (Wop ah kah net ah) or Ypsilanti (Ips ah lant ee) and people are surprised I know how to spell it. What annoys me most is when people try to spell it slow and I tell them, yeah I've already got it typed in thanks.

Oh and to you people north of us there IS a Grand Rapids in OH please don't get offended if when you say Grand Rapids and nothing more I ask for Ohio or Michigan.

And for the morons in my state Ohio is not the only state in the USA that has a city named Columbus. In fact I can name at least 5 others off the top of my head without thinking about it too hard.

[TealJellyfish]

Chanlin: I am in Australia and I also cover our offices in New Zealand. Both AU and NZ have alot of places that are called by the native names (Aboriginal and and .. Maori (sp?) so they are spelt really odd in some cases and NZ especially sound completely different to how its said.

This name sounded fairly normal but I spelt it with an extra L the first time thats why the system didnt recognise it! I also have the problem that we have alot of common suburbs that are repeated across states and both countries (and NZ doesnt have states so that makes it even harder) I wish i could look it up by Post code (ZIP to Americans) but the system wont let us

Some people just suck

[CancelMyService]

Yeah it's fun when people calll in not realizing they're getting a local office and try to spell some of the obnoxiously long names we have in Western PA.

Why yes, I have heard of (and can spell) Monongahela, Punxsutawney, Susquehanna, Aliquippa, Pymatuming, etc.

[Eric the Grey]

I've started just asking for the Zip code because some people are to dumb to spell the place where they live. Googling the zip code gets instant correct spelling.

Just be careful about that. Zip codes do no always have the correct city attached to them. Mine, for example, pulls up Denver, instead of Thornton, which is the proper city. I've had difficulties with that on web forms before, because it uses the database to pull the city...


Eric the Grey

[marasbaras]

What a stupid jerk!

Here's how I would handle this:

SP: I would like the real estate in "Stupid Suburb" *Smug Tone*
Me: Yes, here it ... *click* (oops!)

[FinnieMc]

I've had a similar experience with a French Speaking Client.
My main problem was that he was speaking very fast and said his name was Merlin or something like that.

When I asked him to spell it, he was yelling: Comme L'enchanteur!!! (Like the wizard).
Unfortunately I kept understandiing: Comme le Chanteur (Like the singer) and I couldn't for the life of me recall a singer called Merlin, Merlain or something similar.

[rae6684]

Chanlin: I am in Australia and I also cover our offices in New Zealand. Both AU and NZ have alot of places that are called by the native names (Aboriginal and and .. Maori (sp?) so they are spelt really odd in some cases and NZ especially sound completely different to how its said.

Wicked Lexi - just remember if its a kiwi town - if its pronounced F its probably Wh and it is Naa its spelt Nga

[Norton]

Don't feel bad. You can't be expected to be able to spell every odd suburb name.


I'll bet the reason she got so upset was because she couldn't spell it, either.

[Stormraven]

She was definitely a SC. I'm something of a spelling nazi myself, but I would never yell at someone for asking me to spell a word. In fact, I consider it far better that I get asked.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

I used to be really good at writing down names as I heard them. Now, I have to have people repeat the spelling at least three times. Maybe I should get my hearing checked.

And as far as that caller goes, she was being massively sucky. I don't care how good a speller you are, it is unlikely that you will know how to spell every single suburb; even if the person asking pronounces it correctly. So pfffft to her.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Never take spelling for granted.

Yesterday a customer told me she lives in a place pronounced "Rocks-Berry", now she said it pretty quick so I thought she said "Roxbury" which is a common street name and suburb name and just a common place name in general. So that's what I typed in and got 0 results.

Turs out it was spelled Roxbeary. That's first time IN MY LIFE I'd heard of a place spelled as such.

That was extraordinarily stupid of the guy to piss on you because you didn't know the place.

[Becks]

Too bad every place can't be called Oconomowoc.

So easy to spell.