Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Don't take offense...

The other day I received a phone call. It was a survey. Yes, one of those. And since the husband works with his clients in the development of intricate surveys to measure popular opinion, I usually feel compassion for whomever the survey-conductor is and participate.

This particular survey was conducted by someone with an accent. I believe he was Indian (as in the dot, not the feather). And so, it made for a little extra hard concentrating and listening on my part.

He explained the survey would take a few minutes and then began by asking my age range. I fell in the 25-40 bracket. Kind of a broad bracket, but whatever. And then he asked my gender. Female, of course.

And then he asked if I was a freakin' American.

What? Did I hear that correctly? I asked him to repeat.

And he again asked if I was a freakin' American.

That's what I thought he said. So, just to confirm, I asked one more time if he would repeat the question.

I am positive he was thinking, "lady, this is not a difficult question"- and so he asked me one more time-- "Are you a freakin' American? Or are you Hispanic or Caucasian?"

Oh, K, got it. I told him I was Caucasian.

To which he replied, "Are you sure you are not A-freecan American?"

And I replied, "Yes, positive. I am Caucasian."

Then he tried to convince me that I was African American. And I assured him I wasn't. And he didn't want to talk to me after that. Because I was the wrong color.

And I hung up the phone and giggled.



Oh, one more thing. I voted today. After all, I am a freakin' American.

16 comments:

Heidi said...

O. My. Gosh. I'm laughing so HARD! That is awesome.
Love the dot, not the feather.
Don't know why outsourcing is a good idea if they are going to offend everyone they call up. A very noteworthy call. So funny!

Holly said...

Awesome dot com.

Ginny said...

haha. that is so funny. thanks for the laugh.

Randibee said...

Love that story! I haven't had a good laugh in awhile! Thanks for sharing!

Me (aka Danielle) said...

haha! That is TOO funny!

Wonder Woman said...

It took me a second..........but I got it eventually. Hilarious!

uniquelynat said...

hahaha
i love that he was trying to convince YOU of the color of YOUR skin. like you haven't lived in it your whole life and wouldn't know! silly man! :)

HanksFam said...

I love it

Michelle said...

That is freakin' awesome. You have successfully made me smile, chortle and even laugh right out loud. I thank you.

fish said...

hilarious.

Nathan said...

"as in the dot, not the feather"

Probably my favorite line.

P.S. I also take surveys when they call. It goes back to my college days when I was in a research class and had to conduct one. By the end, I felt like garbage, and swore I would be at least one happy voice on the other end of the phone for those poor souls having to ask a bunch of random questions.

Mechelle said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So funny!

Audra said...

You are the best. Very funny

Loralee and the gang... said...

I once saw a photo online somewhere of an eastern-indian-ish type person (I hope that's not offensive to anyone) sitting on a stationary bike pedaling, to generate power for the laptop computer that was perched on the handlebars. And so whenever I call my computer tech people to help me with a computer malfunction, I always imagine that and try not to laugh. Because, it's always a different person, and that person ALWAYS has an eastern-indian-ish accent. A lil' hard to understand, especailly when you're already stressed about a dying computer...

Anonymous said...

This just made my night. Thanks for the laughs.

The Prudent Homemaker said...

Hilarious!

I don't mind answering short surveys, but lately I've been getting called at 6:30 pm (which is when we eat dinner) and they re calling with LONG surveys. I always ask how long it will be and they keep saying "Only 20 minutes." Sorry, but I don't have 20 minutes to answer a survey--especially when I'm trying to get dinner on the table. We've had several of those lately. One company called three nights in the same week at that time.