Does your accent affect how you’re treated as a customer?

Without changing humankind I am at a loss how it is possible to make people behave as though they have no life experiences which affect how the deal with other people in official and day-to-day meetings.

“If you can’t be treated in a fair and just manner without having to alter your accent – or your name – then there’s clearly an issue that needs to be addressed.”

There are some people who are naturals and effective in dealing professionally with all sorts of people and others need to learn from them. There are other people who lack people skills – but also bear in mind that the organisations they work for may deliberately make life difficult for them and customers.

On the other side there are customers who are unreasonable in their attitude and expectations – fortunately a minority.

I can only speak for 40 years in dealing with clients from a low level and to management. One skill certainly I think worth having is that of adapting to the correct level for the client or the person you are dealing with. This means avoiding technical terms for the techno-illiterate etc etc. So altering behaviours is both natural and helps society get along.

Unfortunately extending social behaviour changes to the very rare people needing to change their names seems a huge leap in the article.

I am left wondering if this is really something Which? should be addressing given all the other practical matters this charity has in its Articles that remain outstanding. Currys PC World and assisting practically with people taking them to court for breaches of Trading laws would seem a far more interesting story to follow in this Conversation.

In my experience there’s far too many folk out there who are far too grossly condescending and far too frequently despise anyone who cannot manage to operate on their level which infuriates me. Just because someone is severely disabled and therefore not able to work or drive or marry and have kids and take on all manner of hugely demanding grown-up commitments etc. does not make them remotely contemptible as far too many think. And it’s not just accents that some folk needlessly find fault with. Look how it is with things like golf or cricket clubs in affluent areas. You’re expected to have the right “social references” and it also helps if you have a double-barreled surname and drive a posh elite class car etc. And it’s the same with some employers too. I think such people have a lot to learn from little toddlers, they never have any prejudices or treat anyone with appalling disrespect, but instead they’re by far the most civilised generation of all.

Linguistically, I judge native English speakers not on their accent but on their grammar and vocabulary. There are plenty of multilingual Eastern Europeans in the UK, especially in London, whose quality of English grammar and vocabulary is far higher than the average native English speaker. If they can get it right, then why can’t so many native English speakers? Everyone should make an effort to speak and write their native language without basic errors, even if that native language is English. It is excusable to make mistakes in second or third languages (which I admit to doing), but not in one’s mother tongue.

We have a diverse range of accents in the United Kingdom, especially in England where accents vary over distances as short as 20 miles, unlike in Russia where the accent is uniform for hundreds or thousands of miles. We should celebrate our rich diversity of local accents and consequent regional identities, but we should never celebrate bad grammar and vocabulary in the birthplace of a global language like English, which is indicative of a poor education system and apathetic speakers. In France, for example, I don’t experience the level of linguistic incompetence in French that I hear in the UK in English, so this is not caused by disabilities or dyslexia or anything similar. In my experience, Ireland produces the world’s highest quality English grammar with a lovely accent. Why are the British, especially the English, so bad at the language that they invented?

Many Brits seem to run down their country whenever the opportunity arises. What message does this give the rest of the world? Is it really justified?

I am unable to change my accent but believe that being polite and showing empathy for people that I am dealing with is an effective way of getting their help, though patience can be necessary too.

It’s worth remembering that those we are dealing with may be following instructions from their employer rather than using their own initiative and that rather than the employee should be the target for criticism. Having seen how staff at customer service desks are treated by some people, it must be a horrible job.

My Scottish accent once resulted in a visit from the police….

Many years ago I was temporarily in a rented flat while house-hunting. An officer came to visit me one evening as part of the Yorkshire Ripper enquiry, having been tipped off that there was someone with a Wearside accent living there. He quickly recognised that I had a Scottish accent and when I asked if it was my landlord who had reported me we had a good laugh.

I often find that it’s not my accent so much, or lack of it, that causes me communication problems, but just the way I talk. I’ve been lumbered with far too many appalling disabilities including not being able to talk clearly enough and my speech coming out too fast so that some people are well nigh impossible to communicate with, as if I was foreign and speaking a different language and I often find that voice operated automated services on the phone are well nigh impossible to use which is discrimination in my opinion, far too many services are like that these days and they absolutely infuriate me as they constantly lock me out and it must happen to others too and it needs sorting out. And there’s certain english words like notoriety and linearity for instance which are supposed to be pronounced very differently to the way they look and I like to pronounce them my way which suits me and that infuriated one of the teachers at school who insisted on trying to force me to conform to the norm and act just like all the test and conform to standards just like a machine which I furiously resented and still do. And today’s society expect me to conform just like a mass produced manufactured component rolling off a production line and automatically like whatever “everyone else” likes, like dogs, alcohol, pubs, sleazy tabloids, porn, gambling, gossiping, slandering and rumour-mongering, partying, baking frying heat and rowdiness etc. which I DON’T like one single bit.

I have a bit of an odd accent. Twenty years in England turned my Northern Irish accent into something a bit strange. I am aware I sound super posh now I am back in Belfast and find I put on a stronger accent when I am talking to people in shops here so they don’t think I am snooty! 100% just my own hang up I am sure though.

When I first moved to England I was in Liverpool. Locals were always very friendly in shops but other students were a bit suspicious of me at first so I think I subconsciously softened my accent. I certainly don’t miss drunk people on nights out asking me if I am a terrorist or if I had seen a bomb explode.

Just to add some information from other countries [the charity’s founders were keen on learning from other countries] There is a bill in France outlawing discrimination on the basis of how people speak. Effectively there are many accents in France and they are all now to be acceptable.

Also in France, the electrical manufacturere SEB has a network of 6000+ repairers. Darty has also a repair scheme running up to 15 years for major products. Of course costs of repairs may be a problem. To this end starting Jan 1st most electrical products will have to display a repairability index number.