I want to rip my hair out over having to deal with non-native speakers

[Proud90sKid]

Really tired of having to deal with people who can barely speak English at work. Yesterday one of our cars was in an accident and towed to impound. The lady on the phone did not even speak english. It was on me to figure out how to communicate with her. Thats how her business works. Cars are towed to her shop and then customers have to figure out the communication shit show.

There are people at my own company who barely can spell their name their english is so bad. I cant communicate with them. Im not trying to be a dick. I just legitimately cannot understand broken english.

Miscommunications always anger me, even when I am just explaining something poorly. I always feel very annoyed when there is a miscommunication.

[Ennui.]

I get that it's frustrating, but people who speak limited English have to work too. There's no official language of the United States. I understand that it's hard when you're on the phone with someone and trying to do your job and you get wrong information, though! I get that at my job, or people who lie to me.
There's not much you can do about it, though. I will say giving her a speech lesson on the phone and trying to get her to practice is something that can be received badly and can be considered rude. Next time it may help the call go faster if you just stick to the point of your job. Perhaps next time you can ask to speak to the manager or someone higher up than her if you're having a hard time understanding?
Remind yourself that this is something that is out of your control. You can't control what others do, or how they speak. You can only control your reaction to it. It's frustrating for sure and even anger-inducing, but losing it over the phone will only make you more frustrated and angry in the end. It's not going to help the situation, and if you get reported it may even risk your job. Remind yourself that once the call is over she's just a blip in your day and you have a whole new day ahead of you tomorrow!

[Arabesque- golfing girl.]

Hello,

When you are on the phone or in person with someone and they do not speak English that well, the best thing to do is try to stay calm when you are speaking with them because like what was said up above, English is a lot of people's second language and it takes them a little bit longer to figure out what you are asking for. My best friend is from France and when she moved to my area when I was 8 years old, I helped to teach her English and I remember she used to get upset because she didn't always understand what I was saying at first. I know it can be hard, try to see where that person is coming from and try to work together on what you need help with. I wish you the best and hope everything works out for you soon.

[Everglow.]

Dealing with different levels of communication is hard, and can definitely be challenging! I can understand that it's especially hard in a stressful situation like the one you described with your car.

I work with people who have different levels of communication for a living - often they are older people, people with English as a second language, people who are hard of hearing etc. Sometimes, especially when I've had a bad day, it's difficult to remember that it's not necessarily THEIR fault that I can't understand them. If you feel you're getting wound up, take a breath and try to be patient. If you can't understand, ask them to repeat it slower or louder, or to spell it out for you. Also, ask them to explain something in another way if this isn't working. I used to work selling sometimes complicated products to customers, and always had to explain things in a million different ways to make sure I communicated it well!

Humans are individuals so we all understand and process information differently. It is frustrating sometimes, but it's important to remember that people are usually just doing their best, and people who are in a country which doesn't speak their language are trying twice as hard as others to communicate well a lot of the time.