Don't get mad at me for the way you speak!!

[Hon'ya-chan]

Ever get people that are either using a lisp or accent, and when you ask or say what you think their saying, they get mad at YOU for not listening to them correctly in the first place?

Had this lady today that got progressively mad at me when I couldn't find this book for her. She kept saying something akin to "The Vexing Book." Even when I mentioned Vexing, she got mad cause that wasn't the word she was saying, and got pissy over it. Writing it out wasn't an option she refused, said she saw it in our store and insisted on it. After she provided the authors name, it's "The Vaccine Book".

It's bad enough I get people that can't remember titles of books and give me vague descriptions.

[malmalthekiller]

Bah, I know what you mean.

When people come up to the service desk with returns or questions about a product, and I cannot understand them, I just start getting yelled at.

Excuse me, but I'm from a small town in Northern PA, and I grew up with no diversity, sorry I'm not used to it, but I'm trying.

[LibraryLady]

I assume you know the old Librarian joke about the patron who asked for a book titled "Oranges and Peaches"? What the person really wanted was Darwin's "Origins of Species".

We get that all the time. A young lady recently came in and asked for a two-volume set suggested by her Professor. The title was said to be "African Antiquity". She was told our library had it but she couldn't find it in our OPAC.

Of course she couldn't find it because OPAC searches are usually not forgiving and she didn't quite hear her Prof properly. She wasn't looking for "African Antiquity". She was looking for "Africa in Antiquity". That's such an easy hearing error to make and we found the material for her quickly because it was a show at our Museum.

Sometimes I think the old card system was better. It was more forgiving of errors. Today, with everything on the Web you must know exactly what you want or open yourself up to all sorts of madness.

[Chromatix]

Google has technology that will suggest near matches for "odd" search terms. It strikes me that a phonetic near-matching system would be pretty useful for the library.

[PepperElf]

Ever get people that are either using a lisp or accent, and when you ask or say what you think their saying, they get mad at YOU for not listening to them correctly in the first place?

Yes. OMG yes.

One of my old sucky supervisors... English was his second language I think (Tagalog his first).

Now... I'm use to Filepeno accents. They were *extremely* abundant there... (I'd say I've probably been exposed to varying accents for over 10 years of working there)

But... with Sucky, his English wasn't accented as much as it was mumbled. If he didn't know how to pronounce something he just mumbled it... and on top of that he'd often try talking to me when he was facing *away* from me.

Yet. It was my fault that I'd have to ask him to repeat himself. He'd usually yell at me to "Open your ears!"

Needless to say... he didn't much like my "attitude". My attitude of telling him to 1) Enunciate, 2) stop mumbling, and 3) try taking facing me. (Though part of that was also because I wasn't as subservient as he'd like)

[edible_hat]

I once had an SC yell at me something along the lines of "WHY THE @$%& DOES THIS HAPPEN EVERYWHERE I GO!?!?" after my repeated asking him what he was mumbling.

Which lead to a realisation: If the same bad stuff happens everywhere you go, you're the problem.

[Hon'ya-chan]

Google has technology that will suggest near matches for "odd" search terms. It strikes me that a phonetic near-matching system would be pretty useful for the library.

But I don't work at the Library, I work in a Bookstore.

Either give me the proper title name, or a scribbled note with the PROPER Title or Author, a website printout, a cellphone picture, whatever. I have better things to do that play 20 questions with someone who can't even pronounce THE without it sounding it like DUH or DA.

[edible_hat]

But I don't work at the Library, I work in a Bookstore.

Either give me the proper title name, or a scribbled note with the PROPER Title or Author, a website printout, a cellphone picture, whatever. I have better things to do that play 20 questions with someone who can't even pronounce THE without it sounding it like DUH or DA.

You mean you don't have da bwoo wun by dat guy, yu no, he was on oh-bra...

[tollbaby]

You mean you don't have da bwoo wun by dat guy, yu no, he was on oh-bra...

OMG *dies* that was hilarious!!!!! (it's funny because it's true)

[powerboy]

Don't knock everyone with a lisp. Not all of us are assholes.

[Chromatix]

Lisps are one thing - if they nominally have a similar accent to what you normally hear, you can usually work it out.

It's when you get a severe speech impediment or a very incomplete knowledge of the language combined with a strong, unfamiliar accent - then it gets difficult to cope with.

In both cases, it does help a lot if both parties are actively trying to make themselves understood, rather than just repeating the same thing louder and slower.

[karma_gypsy]

I used to have a co-worker who would mumble .... he would try and speak so fast that his words were all mumbled together ... so often I just guessed at what he said or have to have him repeat himself ...


What really drives me nuts is when the manager asks me to do something (like watch the floor or help in the pawn room) and she'll have to yell at me from across the store (it's a fairly small store), all the while not facing my direction but glancing down at a computer ... so, all I usually hear is "kg, can you mufaframemuablabbidy?"



"Ummmmm...... what?"



Most of the time I just walk over to her and ask her to repeat herself ... It's easier anyway ...

[KellyHabersham]

I've never experienced this in person, but it's happened online a few times.........the other person didn't type in English very well, and if I repeatedly had trouble understanding what they wrote, they would either get very bent out of shape, or accuse me of needing to learn English.

[MadMike]

Ever get people that are either using a lisp or accent, and when you ask or say what you think their saying, they get mad at YOU for not listening to them correctly in the first place?

You just can't win. If you can't understand them, you're stupid. And if they can't understand you, you're stupid.

What I really love are the mumbler/yeller type. You know, they mumble something too quietly for you to hear, and when you ask them to speak up, they get pissed at yell at you. My ex was one of those.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Heck, got one of those last Saturday.
On the phone.

"Hmmffmfmfff gasket hmhmffmff transmission mhmmffmfm on the end."

"Excuse me sir?"

Exasperated tone "HMMHMMMFFFF GASKET HMHMFFFMMFFMMFF TRANSMISSION MHHFFFFFHMFMFFFF ON THE END!"

"I'm sorry sir, I can't understand you."

Lather rinse repeat, I ask my coworker if he can decipher hmfmfmfmfhhmmffff gasket hmhmhmmmfff transmission hmhmhmfffff on the end, he has no idea, tells me to tell hmmfmfmffff to go to a garage to ask for the exact piece he needs.

I tell hmmffffmff the info, and I get "HMMHMMMFFFF GASKET HMHMFFFMMFFMMFF TRANSMISSION MHHFFFFFHMFMFFFF ON THE END!"

I'm on the verge of asking to buy a vowel.

I ended up putting him on hold indefinitely.

HELP ME HELP YOU! Chew and swallow that hot potato in your mouth!

Or if you're bound and gagged in your own home, dial 911, not the hardware store! I'm not police trained to translate kidnapped with a sock in your mouth into english!