Watching for microaggression was fairly easy this week. The very first one happened right in my own home. The other day, my husband was on the phone trying to take care of an issue about an order we made at Walmart.com. He had already made 2 calls and the problem was yet to be resolved. I noticed his tone was rather gruff and he asked the person on the phone to connect him to a manager, one that spoke English please. My jaw dropped down and I just stared at him. It was especially interesting since he proof reads all of my papers or spelling and grammar so he is aware of the things we are studying. When he got off the phone I asked him what that comment was about. He said that the girl spoke very poor English and he knew she wouldn't be able to understand what he was explaining since he had tried it with two other people previously. He said it was a waste of his time and hers to continue and that he wanted to talk with someone who would understand what he was saying.
He suddenly looked up and asked "Is that one of those microaggressions you were writing about"? Ah yeah ya think. He had good intentions, he didn't want to waste her time or his trying to explain it again when he felt she was just going to have to transfer him anyway. But he should have tried, assuming that she wouldn't be able to help him because of her accent was very wrong. A little diversity awareness going on in my home this week!
2 comments:
Hi Stacie,
I think that your post was a very good example that many of us could be accused of being guilty of. I have never been so verbal on the phone to someone I was frustrated with, but I will now admit that I have felt very frustrated by the communication barrier that you experience many times when speaking to customer service. Many companies contract out phone service jobs such as these to overseas companies because of financial reasons and this increases the chances for language barriers, however this does not give us a reason to react in ways such as this. Thank you so much for sharing. How does your husband feel to be the example in your blog? lol...I'm sure very supportive! :)
Stacie,
My first, thought was I did not believe your husband to do anything wrong. But, next I thought about the verbal tones of saying the word "English." I also, thought you did a good job calling attention to the situation. Thanks, for sharing your experience this week.
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