I work in a channel which involves dealing with different people over the telephone or in person on a day to day basis. Its been more than 8 yrs and some of my leading distributors have known me for well over 6+ yrs.
Part of my responsibilities include handling escalations of various types which come in the form of queries / complaints / requests.
Invariably, they are sent to me directly by the top distributors - irks me to no end - not following the escalation matrix!
One such person - an elderly gentleman, who only a couple of yrs back got to know that I am from Hyderabad and speak Telugu fluently, tries to get all his concerns resolved by talking to me in Telugu.
Using language to build familiarity is alright within limits, but for someone like me, it borders on encroachment on my personal space and I am not comfortable with it.
I always keep my responses in English or Hindi as is required and only rarely switch to any other regional language - Tamil / Telugu / Kannada to deal with my distributors.
Back to this gentleman who has been for a while now escalating some concerns (related to some payments). I have to the maximum extent possible resolved them and made exceptions in some cases, but he refuses to give up.
Being almost 70+, he gets preachy most of the times.
In a recent such conversation, I was firm in telling him that I have done the best I could and any further exception can only be handled by the top management, that I do not have the authority to take such business calls.
To my chagrin, he started in his preachy voice (quoting him verbatim) - "You see madam, usually in India, women are known to be kind and gentle in talking with people"!!!
I cut him short and curtly told him to keep his opinions to himself and that I do not appreciate people trying to get personal about me or make comments.
Kind and Gentle my foot!! Why this stereotyping?
At work, I am a professional first, then a woman.
Part of my responsibilities include handling escalations of various types which come in the form of queries / complaints / requests.
Invariably, they are sent to me directly by the top distributors - irks me to no end - not following the escalation matrix!
One such person - an elderly gentleman, who only a couple of yrs back got to know that I am from Hyderabad and speak Telugu fluently, tries to get all his concerns resolved by talking to me in Telugu.
Using language to build familiarity is alright within limits, but for someone like me, it borders on encroachment on my personal space and I am not comfortable with it.
I always keep my responses in English or Hindi as is required and only rarely switch to any other regional language - Tamil / Telugu / Kannada to deal with my distributors.
Back to this gentleman who has been for a while now escalating some concerns (related to some payments). I have to the maximum extent possible resolved them and made exceptions in some cases, but he refuses to give up.
Being almost 70+, he gets preachy most of the times.
In a recent such conversation, I was firm in telling him that I have done the best I could and any further exception can only be handled by the top management, that I do not have the authority to take such business calls.
To my chagrin, he started in his preachy voice (quoting him verbatim) - "You see madam, usually in India, women are known to be kind and gentle in talking with people"!!!
I cut him short and curtly told him to keep his opinions to himself and that I do not appreciate people trying to get personal about me or make comments.
Kind and Gentle my foot!! Why this stereotyping?
At work, I am a professional first, then a woman.
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