It’s nearly impossible to fix a problem if the other person cannot explain what’s going on.

What would you do if a caller couldn’t explain their problem and then suddenly started speaking in a language you didn’t understand? Would you try to translate what they’re saying? Or would you pass the call onto a manager?

In the following story, a call center employee finds himself in this situation and ends up choosing the latter. Here’s how it played out.

That one time a guy asked for my manager because I didn’t speak his language

For the last 8 months, I have been working at a very large IT call centre in the UK that has service desks for multiple large brands.

I happen to work on the worst of the bunch, which provides hardware and IT support for a certain global fried chicken joint, and to put it bluntly, it’s a bit of a storm sometimes.

The way it works is that stores across the UK call us whenever something breaks or goes wrong in their store, and we either try to diagnose it or, if it can’t be fixed, have one of our engineers replace it.

The call started off normal enough.

Now, without sounding judgmental, the company employs a lot of people who haven’t been in the country long enough to speak English very well, so sometimes quick fixes turn into long fixes because neither of us can really tell what the other party is saying.

So I’m in the office doing my thing and contemplating jumping out the window when the phone rings, we’ll call this guy dopey dude, and me, as in me.

Me: Service desk, GiveMeYourUpvotesPlz speaking, how can I help?

He wasn’t saying which machine was broken.

DD: Yes, I am calling from store x, and you know my ugh, back-of-the-office machine is not working.

Me: Okay, can you tell me specifically what machine is not working, as there are multiple devices?

DD: Yes, okay, it is the back-of-the-house machine

Me: …which one though?

No matter how he asked, the guy refused to answer the question.

DD: But you see, how do you mean which one? The back-of-the-house machine is not working.

Me: Yes, but as I said, there are multiple devices in your back office. Can you tell me which one? Plus, you haven’t even told me what exactly is not working with it?

DD: IT IS NOT WORKING, SIR!

Then, he starts speaking in a foreign language.

Me: Yes, as I said, what is not working and how is it not working?

DD: (Proceeds to speak in a foreign language)

Me: I’m sorry?

DD: (Speaks to me in the same language again)

The man got angry when he admitted he didn’t speak that language.

Me: I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying.

DD: You don’t speak the language?

Me: Not the one you’re speaking, no.

Oh my God, everything broke loose after that sentence.

Suddenly, he demanded a manager.

DD: GET ME YOUR MANAGER NOW!!!!

Me: Gladly

In the end, it turned out that all the issue was that his network cable was not inserted into the printer properly and was not printing as a result…

This is why I hate my job.

Geez! The guy could’ve tried to explain the problem a little better.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about this phone call.

This person deals with similar calls.

Here’s a good thought.

According to this comment, people should learn the language of where they live.

Here’s a reader who finds that to be annoying.

That caller was ridiculous.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.