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  • Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid.

  • Being polite is always important, but it's especially important

  • if you have a job in a call centre or in any customer service oriented position.

  • So, let's look at what it sounds like when we meet a polite employee and a rude employee,

  • whether it's on the phone or in person.

  • But this dialogue that we're going to go through is actually

  • on the phone. So, let's listen.

  • Okay, so we have here two employees, Rude Robert and Polite Patricia, and they speak

  • very differently. So let's listen to Robert. Robert answers the phone, and he says;

  • "Yes? Huh?"

  • Patricia says: "Hello. Good morning."

  • Robert goes on: "What do you want?"

  • Patricia says: "May I help you? How can I assist you?"

  • Then Robert says: "Wait a minute."

  • Patricia says: "Just a moment, please."

  • Then Robert can't hear, so he says: "What? Huh? Can't hear you."

  • Patricia says: "I'm afraid I didn't hear what you said. Could you speak a little louder, please?"

  • Now, in this case, we were listening to both people. Right? Let's just go and listen to

  • Robert by himself and see what he sounds like.

  • "Yes. Huh? What do you want? Wait a minute.

  • What? Huh? Can't hear you."

  • Now let's listen to Patricia.

  • "Hello. Good morning. May I help you?

  • How can I assist you? Just a moment, please.

  • I'm afraid I didn't hear what you said.

  • Could you speak a little louder, please?"

  • Who would you rather meet on the phone? Let's continue this dialogue.

  • And Robert continues. Let's listen in.

  • "What else? Is that it?"

  • Patricia says: "Will there be anything else? Will that be all?

  • Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

  • Robert says: "Gimme your email."

  • Now, you see, I wrote here: "Gimme yer email." Okay?

  • That is not proper English; that is not correct English. Don't write like that.

  • But I wrote it like that because when people speak really fast and they speak very casually and very,

  • very, very informally, then it sounds like that. But it's only proper in certain informal

  • situations with your friends or something like that; not in the workplace. Okay? And

  • certainly not in a customer service kind of position. So, you will see some things like

  • that here, but don't try to talk like that or write like that

  • if you have a customer service job.

  • So, Robert says: "Gimme your email."

  • Patricia says: "May I have your email please?"

  • Robert says: "How many boxes do ya want?"

  • Patricia says: "How many boxes would you like?"

  • Now, that's something to really pay attention to. When we change: "Do you want"

  • to "Would you like", it makes a world of difference.

  • "Would you like" is very, very polite, and "Do you want" is very ordinary.

  • So make sure that you use: "Would you like", even if you don't

  • have a customer service job. It's just a much more polite way of speaking.

  • Let's continue. So,

  • Robert says: "How do you wanna pay?"

  • And Patricia says: "How would you like to pay?"

  • Again, we see: "Do you want" or "wanna" and "Would you like". Right?

  • "How will you be paying today?"

  • And Robert says: "Okay. Bye!"

  • And Patricia says: "Thank you very much. Have a nice day.

  • Now, did you notice that when I was reading Patricia's part, I was smiling;

  • when I was reading Robert's part, I wasn't smiling? So, most call centres and customer service positions

  • train their employees to smile while they're speaking, because they say that we can hear

  • your smile. All right? And it's true. And if you go back and listen to this video, you

  • might hear my smile even if you're not looking at the video. So try that yourself. If you

  • want to sound friendlier, if you want to sound more polite, if you want to sound warmer - then

  • smile, especially when you're on the phone. And even though people can't see you, they

  • can hear your smile and your warmth. Okay?

  • So, keep these points in mind. They can make or break your career. All right?

  • If you'd like to do some practice on this, please go to our website: www.engvid.com.

  • Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now.

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid.

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