How much of an inconvenience is it to you to 'press 1 for English?'?

Question

I don't live in the USA so I don't even know if it's true or just an urban myth.

But assuming it is true, with all the poeple complaining about what an indignity it is that some company somewhere would dar to try to cater to as many people as possible, my question is this:

Is pressing that big old '1' button such a difficult thing to do? Does it really effect your ability to live your life? It takes, what, 1/10th of a second?

Answer 1

Ed, I completely agree with you that it isn't much of an inconvenience at all. I think that people are using the "inconvenience" argument to cover up for the fact that they are just angry and frustrated about immigration in the U.S. Often when people say they don't like a language it's actually a reflection that they don't like the people who speak that language. So, frustration at pressing 1 could actually be a reflection of racism towards Mexican people.

Answer 2

It's not an indignity, but why only have 2 selections? English or Spanish. Why haven't the Vietnamese objected to not having their own selection? How about the Lithuanians or Poles or Germans, etc. Why not have every language and dialect and even dead languages as a selection? Gee, we could have a button board as big as a billboard. Or here's a better idea, if you live in a country where one language is the standard, why not learn and use it?

Answer 3

It's not the pressing of the "1" button that annoys most people its that most of the time your not asked, " press1 for English, 2 for french, 3 for whatever other language." Most of the time it's, " press 1 for English and 2 if you would like it in Spanish." Well no I don't want it in Spanish, I'm in America we speak English hear. It wouldn't be so bad if it SW for all languages but most of the time it's not, it's for Spanish. I don't appreciate that so yes it is difficult for me to press the '1' button for English. I f we were in a Spanish speaking country we would speak Spanish, the Spanish people hear don't have to try and I'm not saying that they don't they just don't have to.

Answer 4

In Holland, my home-country, and also in Romania, the country that i currently live in, almost all companies that i call have a "press 2 for english". Specially here in Romania, when i'm dying to learn the language, it helps me a lot. I am learning the language, and it even goes well, but at least here they don't expect me to speak it in a few days.

In America they should try to have that little understanding too. Most immigrant s wanna learn the language, but for God's sake, give them a little normal time

Answer 5

People DO complain, but they are dumb, it takes very little effort to push an additional button, plus even if they didnt have to push that button, they would still have to go through the automated system and push other buttons. They are just worried about America's culture and language changing into Spanish.

Answer 6

Minor inconvenience. The really annoying thing is being put on hold for hours and hours, just to get the answer to a simple question.

Answer 7

FIRST-= KIKASMAN HAS IT RIGHT PEOPLE WANT TO SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING . SECOND THIS IS AMERICA (ENGLISH) WHY DON'T THE RECORDING SAY PRESS 1 FOR ANOTHER LANGUAGE WHY SHOULD I ,,IN MY OWN COUNTRY HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION ON WHAT LANGUAGE I WANT. MAYBE EVERYTHING SHOULD BE IN LATIN THEN WE ALL HAVE TO PRESS A BUTTON

Answer 8

Not much... in fact, I don't even think about it. Sometimes, I press other buttons for fun even though I may not understand the language.

Answer 9

Hey,

Not really, it more of an inconvenience for me to have to listen to a machine instead of a real person, or even worse listening to a real person who doesn't know what they are talking about

Take care

Answer 10

press one for english????? this is America , right.... how about don't call back until you can speak english... in other countries they don't cater to american the same way...