tongue tied
Working for a directory enquiries company several years ago - let's call them Fun Fun? Nay - I had to say the same phrase every 30 or so seconds 'Welcome to 118118 how may I help you?' (Not how CAN I help you, mind - the wording had to be exact.)

For some reason saying those words over and over to a colourful collection of ungrateful, rude and idiotic people, made my brain flip and decide it could no longer say the phrase - my tongue started to spasm and I just couldn't get the words out.

Six hellish months later and I had modified my greeting phrase to something like 'Hello, can I help you.' I promptly got called up during a 'monitoring session', asking why I wasn't saying the right words. Was there something wrong? No, they didn't see how such a mindless repetitive task could cause something like that to happen.

That was the final straw and I quickly got out of there, but to this day I still can't say 'Welcome how may I help you' without my mouth literally convulsing in fear. . .
(moosefish, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 23:55, 6 replies)

can/may
of course it's grammatically correct to say "may". "Can" assumes that you can help without even knowing what the problem is.
(dchurch bah, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 0:08, closed)

Ah
But of course, failure was not an option
(moosefish, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 0:12, closed)

Only
mentioning it, as I used to work in a call centre and had the exact same thing told to me!
(dchurch bah, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 7:56, closed)

Indeed
"Can I help you?" is a simple factual question. "May I help you?" is an offer to help.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:06, closed)

Oui
This is very true, but I think the finer grammatical point was lost anyway on the *ahem* clientele
(moosefish, Sat 5 Sep 2009, 17:18, closed)

192
At least back in the old days of 192 we didn't have to do this. While you were hanging up on your current call your recorded "Hello 192 how can I help you" was already playing to the next caller, the first thing you got was "Smith!" "Stevens" or whatever.
(Corbo, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 11:49, closed)