This Silicon Valley startup wants to help call centers sound more white

[Professor59]

OK, but even their “demo” doesn’t prove that they aren’t just switching back and forth between two separately recorded tracks.
Getting some Theranos vibes here…

[subextraordinaire]

I speak really fast. When I’m on the phone with customers I consciously remind myself to slow down because I’m aware that I speak fast.

A few weeks back, a Google rep called me because our VP’s OOO message gave me a point of contact for urgent matters. Dude had an accent, but it was because he spoke sooooooo fast that I kept asking him to repeat himself. He needed me to make a financial decision about our business account.

Finally, I just asked him if our account will be shut down? (No) Okay, should I interrupt my VPs vacation and let him know that it’s imperative that he immediately call his Google rep? (No)

It’s the speed, not the accent.

@BradC

All it takes is careful listening, and maybe the occasional question if someone starts speaking a bit quickly (this is true regardless of accent).

[milliefink]

@IanM

You can make this into an outrage story about racism if you want to, or you can look at it as removing another barrier to success imposed by the same barriers leveraged by racism and lazy western expectations.

My dude, no one’s falsely crying racism here.

What you’re saying about your national context shows that it differs from the US context, where talking “normally” means talking like (middle-class) white folks. Helping call center workers sound more “normal” to US listeners means helping them sound more white.

If you’d read through this thread before commenting (or maybe read it without anti-woke lenses on), you’d have seen some examples of how that works in a US context. In a thread that’s on, you know, a US-based blog.

[chenille]

No, I’m sure they looked at English speakers from all over the world, from Newfoundland to Australia to Kenya, and it just happens that white middle-class Americans are the ones all the others perceive as most intelligible. Everyone else has accents, you see. (/s)

[Mindysan33]

@chenille

and it just happens that white middle-class Americans are the ones all the others perceive as most intelligible.

Just a coincidence, I’m sure… /s

[babVU98i]

Came here for the reverse direction local dialect feature request. Thanks, was not disappointed.

[Nightflyer]

What bothers me far more than any accent are the scripted responses call center associates are required to use. I can see their utility; it channels the problem-solving into predictable steps and enables a consistent level of assistance. But much of the time I’m calling for something that’s somewhat off the standard set of responses, and that’s where things start to break down… It’s also a less friendly experience, from a customer standpoint, because it’s more like speaking to an automated phone tree than a real live person. Irrational as it may be, I feel like I’m not being listened to beyond the point where they can pigeonhole my query into the next point of the script. I try not to be a problem child, because I’ve worked customer service and I do empathize with their constraints, but it’s still frustrating.

[Katryn]

Scripted responses are the bane of my existence. There has been many times I’ve called a centre and not be able to get a positive result because I did or did not use the correct buzzword. If I use that buzzword they just repeat the script associated with it (usually off the webpage where I got it because I’d rather solve the problem on my own) and if I don’t use it then they don’t seem to know what I’m talking about.
After being transferred several times I finally get someone who can go “oops, the mistakes on our end…click click click… that should fix it, anything else I can do for you?” and I’ve wasted an hour of my life because someone input something wrong. Sigh.