"Thick accent"

[Unregistered]

I provide customer service at a desk as well as answeing phone calls are part of my job. Few days ago I helped someone over the phone. As I picked up the phone and asked how could I help the person on the other side asked me a question and immediatle she complained and said to me " I am paying more attention to your thick accent than what you are trying to explain to me". I felt so uncomfortable with her comment and did not know what to say to her. Finally I said to her "OK I will slow down and explain your question again".

My question and humble request are here,

please give me some advice how I can reduce my accent. And,

How do I response to some who makes such a comment like the way she did? Even though I don't disagree that when I speak in english there is "broken accent".

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

 

[susiedqq]

You handled that rude remark just right :lol:

Most of the time, if the speech is slowed down, it can be understood. Otherwise, you may need to pass this customer to another worker.

The other day I spent 2 hours on the phone with a person from India who answered questions about our FAX machine. Once in a while I had to ask him to repeat his sentence, or slow down. We got the problem solved. He was very patient with us!