Got another marketing call today. Warned by the delay, and then the click, before the person started talking, I think I responded appropriately:

Caller: Hello?

Me: Dia dhuit

Caller (long pause): Can I speak with the financial decision-maker in the house, please? (She lost major points right there for not saying "may I").

Me: Cé thusa?

Caller: Excuse me?

Me: Nach dtuigeann tú mé? Cé thusa?

Caller: Do...you...speak...English?

Me: Tá Béarla agam, cinnte, ach ní maith liom é a labhairt. An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?

Caller: Does...any...one...there...speak...English?

Me: Cén fáth? Nach bhfuil aon Ghaeilge agat ar chór at bith?

Funny...I have no idea why she hung up on me!

Now tell me again why you don't have time to practice speaking Irish!

I don't know what it must be like over where you are, but here they call you from call centres in Morocco (I think that's where they are) so you immediately know that the call is on a bad line and their accent isn't quite the same.
But I feel sorry for them, it must be pretty disheartening work. They often get my name wrong, so I can say, it isn't me or they're selling some kind of exotic financial product so I just say non merci. I understand that they have call centres in India for making these kind of calls to the UK and perhaps to Ireland as well, so you get well-educated Indians pretending that they are in England and talking with an English accent. They often get insulted too when people catch on to what's happening - but what a waste of these people's careers.

Here some of them come from call centers overseas and some come from the U.S....it kind of depends on what they're selling (banking products are usually from domestic call centers). You can tell them, though, because there's a slight delay when you pick up the phone, then an audible click, after which you can hear the buzz of other people talking in the background.

I don't feel that badly for them. They have a job, which is more than a lot of people can say in this economy. Some people are pretty nasty to them...I just pretend that I don't speak English.

Redwolf

Had another one yesterday! This time it seemed to take the woman a while to realize I wasn't speaking her language. She just kept plowing away with her spiel for about a minute, and finally said "I apologize for the call, ma'am...you have a nice day now, you hear?" after about the fifth "Ní thuigim."

This was definitely an American call center, by the way. Gal had a southern accent.

Redwolf

You need to record one of these and post it some place because that is just too funny.

It wouldn't work very well, as I couldn't tape the other side of the conversation, I'm afraid.

But it does get funny. Once when I was visiting my parents, I kept a nuisance caller going for almost five minutes...she kept asking me if I spoke English and asking other people in the call center if they knew what language I was speaking (and did anyone there speak it?). I didn't have much Irish at all back then, so I kept things going with "'Sea," "Ní hea," "Ní thuigim," "Arís, le do thoil" and "Gabh mo leithscéal." My Dad nearly died laughing.

Redwolf

Why? Every adult native speaker says "can I" -- it's only foreigners and kids that say "may I".

_________________
A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

Not where I come from.

Redwolf

Deirim - 'could I ?' agus 'may I ?' agus 'puis-je ?'

Everybody I've ever heard says "Can I …?"
"May I?", "Might I?", and "Could I?" would sound very stilted and unnatural if anybody were to talk that way where I live.

One nice thing about "Can I …?" is that it matches nicely with "An féidir liom …?"