Vignettes #8

Working for a customer service we sometimes need to call a customer instead of informing him by email. A few years ago the company had a delivery problem with packages that were sent to Russian addresses. For some unknown reason they were stuck at the Russian customs office.

So somebody in our company thought it was a bright idea to personally call all the customers involved and inform them about the delay of their orders. I work for the international department of the customer service which corresponds with our international customers in English. We were to do the phone calls.

The first problem is that we ask foreign customers who don't speak or understand German to send their queries in English. This doesn't mean, though, that our customers all understand English. So it was obvious, once you got a Russian customer on the phone, you couldn't be certain if you were able to speak with him.

The second problem was calling to Russia: many phone numbers were wrong, others weren't home, etc. I actually reached only about 5 customers, and only 2 of them understood English well enough to grasp what I was telling them.

And with one call the following happened: a child answered the phone! At first it was me asking in English for its parents, the child saying things in Russian. Then I heard a babble of voices in the background, the child giggling, then arguing in the background. Another child was on the phone, I spoke, this one giggled, too, then more arguing, and then a third child.

The whole phone call consisted of having each kid take a turn with me on the phone with lots of giggling and laughing on their side. They sure had a good time.

I never got through to an adult English-speaking person.

I can't wait till we get to call customers in Indonesia...