If I were a native Spaniard, living in the grand country of Spain, I would have certain expectations from customer service representatives I had to speak with. First and foremost, among my expectations would be that every customer service representative, to whom I would have to speak, would speak Spanish. Not Spanglish, not Spanch, not Sperman, not Spiranian, not Spurkish, not Spangladesh, and not Sparmerican. Just plain, understandable, clear, and distinctly Spanish. If I were Spanish and straining to understand the customer service representative butchering my language to the point where I had to repeatedly request to "say that again, please", I'd be livid and highly frustrated. In fact, I'd be willing to wager a bet that Spain wouldn't (or doesn't) tolerate customer service representatives that can not clearly communicate with Spanish consumers calling for service help or information.
And so I must ask the rhetorical question: "Why must we endure speaking with customer service representatives that struggle with English?" I am not opposed to hiring people for whom my native language is a second language, but I am highly affronted when the person with whom I am speaking can barely be understood. The company who hires individuals for whom English is a second language has every right to employ whomever they so choose, but for Pete's sake, only put those who can clearly communicate with the public in those front-line positions that deal directly with consumers.....who speak English in an English-speaking country.
If I were visiting or living in Spain, I'd have the expectation of frustration when attempting to speak with a customer service representative because I would expect said representative to speak Spanish, not English. Why my experience here in the United States should be any different is beyond my ken.
When in Spain.......
Ancora imparo
