I mentioned a while ago how I used English to win in the meaningless war on sales. Well, I'm still winning, but I found that once in a while there's a brave soul who tries to fight the power by attempting to sell me something in English. Usually when these sales people discover I "don't speak Chinese", they pretend to have called the wrong number (kind of funny actually. Why would someone bother to ask if I spoke Chinese if they called the wrong number?).
One time, upon discovering I was a "foreigner", this guy responded by reading his sales pitch from a written statement. I decided to listen on and see how bad he butchers it. Normally, if you say you're not interested, these guys might make an attempt to convince you otherwise. This time, the guy read his pitch, and just politely hung up when I said no. It was like pressing the easy button.
Unfortunately, there is also collateral damage in the War on Sales. Sometimes I'll get a call from my bank, or my mobile provider, or a restaurant I made a reservation at. Though these calls are legitimate, they don't immediately identify themselves, so I naturally give them the "no Chinese" treatment. When I find out who they really are, its too late to turn back. I can't say "oh ha ha just kidding I actually do speak Chinese". So we both have to suck it up. The service rep has to use often broken English to try and convey the message to me, while I have to focus really hard to understand what he/she's trying to say. Collateral damage.
2 comments:
well, at least he made an effort right?
That is what I look for in a sales.
Nah, I wouldn't say he made an effort. I'd say he followed orders.
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