I’ve been calling a couple of US and Canada hotlines. And it’s pleasant hearing a familiar voice on the hotline, a familiar accent.
1.) Expedia. I called Expedia for the first time last week and a male (gay-ish) voice answered. Marcus had a thick Pinoy-English accent and I recognized immediately that he was Pinoy. I spoke to him in mixed English and Filipino and Marcus replied to me in English without missing a beat. Was very helpful, he clarified all my queries.
I later spoke to two more Expedia call center representatives, found out there were two locations in the Philippines (Manila and Cebu) that received Expedia calls.
2.) T-mobile. I called T-mobile hotline to verify some rates and remaining credit. I wanted to know how many minutes my pre-paid SIM had on it to call the Philippines (Answer: it had 120 minutes for US calls and 12 minutes for calls to the Philippines). By her accent, I thought I was speaking to an American.
In the course of our conversation, she asked me where I was calling. I said I was calling the Philippines. Then she shared that she’s Pinay and is from Orion, Bataan. We had a nice chat about a good friend of mine who’s also from Bataan and about going home.
3.) WiFi. Another lady I spoke to was the technical support of the wireless hotspot I was accessing. From her intro (“Hi I’m Belle, how can I assist you?”) I thought I was speaking to an American, but in our subsequent exchanges, I recognized the fluent English of a Pinoy. So in one of her questions to me, I replied: “Pareho pa rin.” Belle hesitated, then after a short pause she replied: “What?” Two ways it could go:
- She wasn’t Pinoy and truly could not understand what I said
- Her “what?” was a give-away, not a common reply for non-Filipinos, a literal translation of “ano?” (more common reply by non-Filipino would be “Pardon” or “I didn’t get that” or “What was that?”)
Towards the end of our conversation in straight English, Belle said “Ingat!” . That was the secret Pinoy hand-shake, she let me know that she was Pinoy.
Mga kabayan, Ingat! and make the Filipino proud!
ka edong
Hoy! Pinoy ako!
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yahoo domains (sales reps) are pinoys too. got to call for a refund from my domain adventures some time back from ‘em. (got to know this from knowing friends working in the company that handles yahoo)
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