Not the call centre story I expected, either
So my laptop was doing poorly, and having exhausted all the (few, pitiful) tricks I knew I decided to break down and call tech support. I made it through the phone menu and was connected at last to a person. Now, my English isn't exactly perfect and I have a little trouble understanding English as is spoken in the country where I live now. English spoken at a call centre halfway around the world isn't a whole lot clearer to me, so every call center situation means I put on my clearest speaking voice, turn up the volume and hope for the best.

Usually, calls end in tears -- mine. This time was different! As the tech fellow talked me through diagnostic after diagnostic and hopeful fix after hopeful fix, we fell into conversation. TechGuy (TG) was surprised to hear that not only was I having aloo gobi for lunch but that I'd made it myself; he asked if I was Indian and I said that I wasn't, but my childhood best friend was and her father had taught us both how to cook. TG commented that my accent wasn't very American-sounding, and I told him how I used to live in France but had been in America for some time; he asked if I missed it (I do) and said he dreamed of going to Paris one day. I asked how he ended up working in tech support and TG said that he was a writer and wanted a job that would help to improve his English so he could submit stories to more publications. He asked if I knew any writers and I told him of a friend who'd recently published a novel, having been 'discovered' through a short story he'd had published the year before. TG said hearing things like that gave him hope, as the past few rejection letters had made him think of giving it up.

All in all it was really a delightful experience even though it didn't end in my computer being fixed (happily, a friend put it all right in exchange for a cake). I sometimes wonder how TG's writing is going and if there's ever a chance I'll pick up a short story or a novel and recognise the plot as one he described to me. I hope I will.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 21:47, 2 replies)

Your English...
is excellent. I find it hard to belive that you have problems with listening.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 22:01, closed)

The written word is easy!
Talking is another. I'm fairly good at mimicking accents and speech patterns when needed, yet if I don't, my own accent seems to throw people when I talk. Americans are always asking if I'm British or telling me I 'talk funny', and I find some of their accents absolutely incomprehensible.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 22:10, closed)