I actually wanted to compose this entry as the second episode of Let's Talk About Work but I figured that any entry that has anything to do with my company name should be excluded from the series after all.
In my line of work, I usually address myself by my surname whenever I greet customer calls that reached my desk.
Me: Thank you for calling Dell, my name is Tan.
Sure, I am not the only Tan in the company but the logic behind this decision is to restrict myself from getting too friendly or comfortable with my customers. After all, there are company ethical policies to abide by.
In case you were wondering, yeah I do have some weird moments when I need to call certain customers with the same surname as I do.
Me: Good day, Mr. Tan. This is Tan calling from Dell.
Unfortunately, the same trick does not work for India customers. First of all, their slang is different and hence, most of them are not able to pronounce Tan as we do.
Me: Thank you for calling Dell, my name is Tan.
India customer: Sorry, what is your good name again?
Me: My name is Tan. Tango, Alpha, November. Tan.
India customer: Thang?
Me: =.=" Yes, my name is Thang.
Alas, this did not last long as well for India is such a big and vast country that they actually have a number of regions with different slangs.
Me: Thank you for calling Dell, my name is Thang.
India customer: Thang?
Me: Yes, how can I help you?
India customer: Is it Dan?
Me: *thinks for a while* You can call me Daniel. =.="
-sigh-
It was good for a year or two until recently when I received an India customer's email.
From: NALAWADE.XXXXXXXX@xxxxxxxx.com
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 5:12 AM
To: XX, XXX; xxx_support_xxxxx@dell.com
Cc: XXXXXXXXSERVERADMIN@xxxxxxxx.com
Subject: RE: [WARNING - ENCRYPTED ATTACHMENT NOT VIRUS SCANNED]
Dear Danyl,
Danyl WTF?! Is the name Daniel so uncommon that they cannot even get it right? Fine, fine, Daniel is never my Christian name or whatsoever so it should not be any issue for me...
... until 2 days ago.
Me: Thank you for calling Dell, my name is Daniel.
India customer: My name is Danial. Can I have your good name?
Me: Sure, it is Daniel.
India customer: Yes, I am Danial. What is yours?
Me: Daniel.
India customer: Yes, tell me.
Me: *facepalm*
And I went...
9 comments:
Haha .. so funny .. so your name is Dan.
And I don't know that Indians speak like this ...
@Anonymous:
I thought you have a few online friends from India right?
Chatting through MSN is way different with chatting through phone ok ... anyway .. I have no interest to find out how they pronouns TAN .. lol
Hello Thang, Dan or Danyl???
Ha Ha, but the technician in my company can pronouns Tan very well, he came from India too... :P
@靖璇:
Practice makes perfect. :)
Hi Danyl, my name is Daniel .. no seriously :P
@daniel boey:
Yeah, I know I knew too many Daniels to use another Daniel for myself. :P
Unfortunately, that was the only name that rhymes with my Tan (the India customers pronounce it as tan, as in sun tanning's tan).
the very last part i like it...can imagine how your face will look like during that time..lolz
@32686:
You are going to miss it soon. :)
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