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Corsa Sport » Message Board » Off Day » If you dont know the phonetic alphabet then dont just make up your own

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Dr Pepper

Member

Registered: 21st Sep 02
Location: oxford Drives Renault Clio RS200
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:27

Why do people insist on making up their own phonetic alphabet especially when working in a call centre. It seriously makes my life a misery on a daily basis. Its not hard - their are only 26 words to learn and they are pretty obvious. Just had one of the most frustrating ten minutes of my life with a supplier. Needed to order several appliances for stock from a white goods suppliers.

Girl on the phone tells me she has a bosch sgs45c02 on offer

I cant understand what she is saying so I say "did you say sierra, golf, sierra?"

she says "no its sgs - seal, gabby, seal"
I say "did you say s for sierra, g for golf, s for sierra?"
she says "no its sgs - seal, gabby, seal"
I say "eel, yanky,eel?"
she says - yeah thats correct
I say- "so just to confirm thats e for echo, y for yankie, e for echo"
she says- "no its s for simon, g for gabby, s for simon"
I say - "do you mean s for sierra, g for golf, s for sierra"
She says - "yes "
I say- "but you said a minute ago that it wasnt sierra, echo, sierra"
She says - "yes but I didnt know what sierra meant"
I say - "Its the NATO phonetic word for the letter s"
She says - "oh right- doesnt simon sound like it starts with an s, more than sierra does"
I say(now laughing but wanting to cry)- "they both sound like they start with an s to me - but when you said g for gabby I thought you said y for yanky"
She says - "why did you think that"
I said- "Because Yanky is in the phonetic alphabet where as gabby isnt- probably because it sounds like yanky"
She says - "But what does yanky mean?"
I said - "it doesnt really mean anything, its just a clear way of explaining what letter you are reffering to. For example when you said s for seal I thought you were saying e for eel because eel and seal sound the same over the phone"
She says - "well I dont know why there are so many words that sound so similar- its well confusing"
I say- "yes thats the idea of the phonetic alphabet- none of the words sound the same so you an easily tell which letter is being spelt"
She says - "Oh right - I didnt realise there was actually a proper set of words for each letter - I thought you could just use any word"
I said- "well you can use any word but it gets a bit confusing doesnt it
She said- "sorry I havnt worked here long - I will have to work on it"
I say - "no problem, just a misunderstanding we got there in the end- is it ok to order 20 of those please for delivery over two weeks?"
She says - "oh actually we are sold out of that one, do you want me to see if there are any others?"

I hang up.

John

Member

Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:30

Although it's easy to learn if you are using it daily, I know it and I still get caught out all the time.

As long as it's something both people understand I don't see the problem.

Member

Registered: 29th Jan 03
Location: Bolton, Drives Q3 S-line +
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:30

micra_pete

Premium Member

Registered: 23rd Apr 03
Location: West Yorkshire
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:31

I don't mind it personally.

Someone once said Q for cucumber to me, I lol'd

Matt L

Member

Registered: 17th Apr 06
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:32

I know most of it got proper confused when someone was saying it today to me

Dr Pepper

Member

Registered: 21st Sep 02
Location: oxford Drives Renault Clio RS200
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:33

yeah ive had quite a few people say "k for quebec"

Ste L

Member

Registered: 3rd Jul 06
Location: Manchester Drives: 106 16v Rallye
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:34

isn't e for echo, so would you think it's eel anyway?????

Jambo

Member

Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:37

i get it alot here

Cant remember some of the funny letters ppl used

I remember an Indian chap from our overseas call centre, asked for my name so i said "James" then for the rest of the call he called me "Alan" for the rest of the call

I put him on speaker and my colleagues and the customers where wetting them selves

Lawrah

Premium Member

Registered: 25th Dec 04
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:39

a lot.

BluKoo

Member

Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:42

quote:
Originally posted by micra_pete

Someone once said Q for cucumber to me, I lol'd

Adam_B

Member

Registered: 13th Dec 00
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 14:54

Where i used to work someone gave a car reg over the phone and one of the letters was x-ray. They guy taking the order wrote down E, we ripped him for months

ssj_kakarot

Member

Registered: 29th Apr 03
Location: hartlepool
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:14

if they dont know the phonetic alphabet thought what are they supposed to do, they kind of have to make it up on the spot, not like there going to pop you on hold while they learn it are they lol.

Rich H

Member

Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:17

@ that convo. I have to sometimes use the first word that comes into mind for a specific letter though as I'm useless at remembering the proper phonetic alphabet

Eck

Premium Member

Registered: 17th Apr 06
Location: Lundin Links, Fife
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:19

quote:
Originally posted by micra_pete
I don't mind it personally.

Someone once said Q for cucumber to me, I lol'd

That's what I used to do when idiots phoned me who had no idea what any of the phonetic alphabet were

Is that Q for Cucumber, F for Phone etc!

Dr Pepper

Member

Registered: 21st Sep 02
Location: oxford Drives Renault Clio RS200
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:20

quote:
Originally posted by ssj_kakarot
if they dont know the phonetic alphabet thought what are they supposed to do, they kind of have to make it up on the spot, not like there going to pop you on hold while they learn it are they lol.

They could realise they work in a job where it is imperitive to use it and take 10 minutes out of their day to familiarise themselves with it. Its not exactly hard to remember- you already have the first letter

James

Member

Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:20

N for gnome

C2RL R

Member

Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:27

i know it from when my mate was joining the cops and he asked us to randomly ask him what different letters were from time to time.

_Allan_

Member

Registered: 24th Mar 04
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:37

I have this issue every single day in work.

Fruit or Cities are the most commonly misused.
Closely followed by animals. Monkey is always a favourite.

When they're foreign I just use my own like Milf, Spank etc...

[Edited on 03-04-2009 by _Allan_]

Marc

Member

Registered: 11th Aug 02
Location: York
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:53

An African girl on our help desk spelt her name out phonetically for me this morning

AlunJ

Member

Registered: 3rd Apr 07
Location: Newport
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 15:59

I use it everyday at work - i'd be buggered if I didn't know it haha - its not hard to learn but I guess it helps that I have to use it everyday

alan-g-w

Member

Registered: 9th Nov 07
Location: Glasgow
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 16:27

I think that as long as you know the word they're saying it's fine. If someone said simon, eel, simon I'd know what they were talking about and just leave it at that tbh.

-wylo-

Member

Registered: 4th Oct 04
Location: Dunfermline
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 16:31

I spent 5minutes trying to confirm my postcode to an indian callcentre using the phonetic alphabet before, he still couldnt get a grasp so when he asked me to spell my surname i started with W for Wanker

dannymccann

Member

Registered: 9th Aug 06
Location: Doddington, Lincolnshire
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 17:00

If I have to make a phonecall to some sort of business where I am going to have to spell all sorts of shit out I sit there and write the phonetic alphabet out in front of me so I purposefully dont make the exact same mistake in the original post

But yea thats quite funny

Ben G

Member

Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 17:08

sounds like you were just trying to be a clever cock tbh

i don't know the phonetic alphabet and i don't work in a call centre or phone them up often enough to warrant learning it.

nothing wrong with using your own words if you don't know it.

you were probably trying to woo her with your vast intelligence and knowledge. did you succeed? or is she now fucking the dumb macho guy?

[Edited on 03-04-2009 by Ben G]

LeeM

Member

Registered: 26th Sep 05
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline

3rd Apr 09 at 18:26

'd yesterday when i was giving a postcode phonetically, ended with 4KC

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