People with accents make me nervous. I am terrible at understanding accents. I want so badly not to embarrassed the speaker, or more to the point if I'm honest, myself. I just subscribed to The Globe and Mail and when all the necessary information had been exchanged the lady helping me (with a very strong accent) asked me to rate her customer service skills.
"Eight being pus and ten being good."
A long pause as I frantically try to figure out what pus is.
"Um, I'm sorry, what was the rating system?"
"Eight pus, ten good."
I'm thinking, "Eight has to be something bad as it's on the bottom of the scale, but she can't possibly be saying pus. Pus? That's really bad."
Another long pause.
"Ummm. Eight is a... a pus?"
"Yes, pus."
And then, like lightening, as often happens with my slow brain when frightened, it hits me.
"Oh! Pass!"
"Yes, pus."
"You're a ten," I say.
I had planned on giving her a ten right from the start. I just panicked.
"Thank-you," she says. I can hear her smiling on the other end of the line. A nice smile. I like her. She's definitely not pus.
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2 comments:
I'm still laughing out loud. I agree with you fully when it comes to accents. We live in such an accepting society that includes all and it feels like it's been drilled in to be as inclusive as possible, and yes, it feels as though questioning pronunciation might be offensive somehow. It probably wouldn't be the end of the world if we said we didn't understand. But, alas, we don't want to offend.
also--how was the "hob-nob"?!
The BIG hob-nobbing is tomorrow night(dressing up and eating with "some of Canada's top writers"). I'm sooooo excited. I did however, sit beside Rudy Wiebe today during a discussion about writing in Western Canada AND he signed my book, most graciously and even a little bit shyly. I'm hoping to get a picture with D.A.R. tomorrow night and I'll post it for you if I do.
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