Annoyances

gav on 2004-02-12T16:33:15

Call center staff should know the Phonetic Alphabet. Having your people say "F for Frank, O for Orange", etc, just sounds unprofessional.

---

Phonetic Alphabet

jdavidboyd on 2004-02-12T18:01:27

I've always preferred,
F as in stuff,
O as in kangaroo...

(I heard something like this years ago from some comedian, George Carlin maybe)

Re:Phonetic Alphabet

rob_au on 2004-02-12T20:12:17

There is always that one step further that Victor Borge introduced - phonetic punctuation! (Alternately here)

Re:Phonetic Alphabet

petdance on 2004-02-12T21:44:38

It's certainly not George Carlin.

Re:Phonetic Alphabet

brian_d_foy on 2004-02-13T04:07:06

That sounds like the Nichols and May telephone operator skit.

Re:Phonetic Alphabet

jdavidboyd on 2004-02-13T16:02:24

Hmm, perhaps. I remember watching it YEARS ago, when I was in my teens, I believe, so 30 years ago approximately. Does that sound about the right time for them?

Mike Alpha Yankee Bravo Echo ...

jhi on 2004-02-12T21:24:26

... Sierra Oscar Mike Echo Oscar November Echo Charlie Oscar Uniform Lima Delta Tango Uniform Romeo November Tango Hotel India Sierra India November Tango Oscar Alpha Mike Oscar Delta Uniform Lima Echo ?

BEGIN { @N{qw(Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey X-ray Yankee Zulu)}=(); @N{map{/^(.)/}keys%N}=keys%N; @N{0..9}=qw(Zero Wun Two Tree Fower Five Six Seven Ait Niner)}
s/([a-z0-9])/$N{uc$1} /ig;

Re:Mike Alpha Yankee Bravo Echo ...

gav on 2004-02-12T21:36:29

Lingua::Alphabet::Phonetic will go in one direction...

Which phonetic alphabet?

brian_d_foy on 2004-02-13T04:11:34

If you want call centers to know the phonetic alphabet, you have to also insist that customers have to know it too. Then, you have to choose which one they should use.

Just remember that the person on the other end of the phone is a person, probably working a shitty job. Treat them like a person and you will not have to worry about adjectives like "unprofessional".

Re:Which phonetic alphabet?

pudge on 2004-02-18T00:02:37

Personally, I'd think that if I called up Verizon, and the person on the other end started saying something about November Alpha November Delta Oscar Romeo, that they had a screw loose, or were recently discharged from military service. I've never had normal civilian operators use military phonetic alphabets, and have never thought the ones they do use sound unprofessional just because they aren't those.