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Are local telemarketers rude or cowards?

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  1. #21

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    Feb 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by ddubya:
    Yeah, I was thinking robocall too. If I receive a call from a 'human' my "hello" does not deter them and they then proceed with their spiel in Cantonese at which point I'm the rude one and hang up rather than waste a minute waiting for them to take a breath and then me explaining I don't speak Cantonese. Unless of course you have a more distinguishable accent...
    Yeah I'm the one hanging up on them when they start going on in Chinese without even giving me an opportunity to say "Sorry do you speak english?". Sometimes it might be a courier delivering my new Xiaomi toy I ordered online the day before or something like this so I usually give them a few seconds, if they keep talking without pausing them I know they are full of shit and just hang up. Or sometimes when i pick up a call it seems to get diverted somewhere and start ringing. As soon as I hear this ringing, I always hang up before whoever appears on the other end.

    It's nothing to do with language though. If I pick up the phone and someone rambles on trying to sell me something in english I would hang up on them too. Unless they are selling tax loans, at which point I say "if you can get me 0.08% per month or less I am interested otherwise no thanks"

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    11,884

    If there was a Cantonese version of Lenny, it would be great.

    https://toao.net/595-lenny


  3. #23

    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Posts
    190
    Quote Originally Posted by pkboy:
    Maybe answer "Wai?" next time, flex your Cantonese skills and waste everyone else's time even more.

    If only they had a do not call register, oh wait here it is

    https://www.ofca.gov.hk/en/consumer_...ion/index.html
    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    If there was a Cantonese version of Lenny, it would be great.

    https://toao.net/595-lenny


    CA has established three registers, namely, a Do-not-call Register for fax (the Fax Register), a Do-not-call Register for short messages (the Short Messages Register) and a Do-not-call Register for pre-recorded telephone messages (the Pre-recorded Register).
    Just to be clear - there isn't a do-not-call register (an effective one at least). The DNC register that is run by the Communications Authority only deals with
    - DNC for fax
    - DNC for SMS
    - DNC for PRE-RECORDED messages

    So for a stock standard telephone call with caller ID and a human voice on the other end is not covered. there has been a push to establish a more effective one, but seems to have been stuck in LegCo atm...

    https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...ing-new-do-not

    https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight...l-it-makes-you
    pkboy likes this.

  4. #24

    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Sai Kung
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    4,151
    Quote Originally Posted by pkboy:
    Maybe answer "Wai?" next time, flex your Cantonese skills and waste everyone else's time even more.

    If only they had a do not call register, oh wait here it is

    https://www.ofca.gov.hk/en/consumer_...ion/index.html
    About as much use as a chocolate teapot. Usual toothless paper tiger.
    pkboy likes this.

  5. #25

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    7,471
    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:
    Yes, so I have learned how to say in Cantonese "Sorry, I don't speak Cantonese, can you please say that in English?". I still get hung up on.

    People complaining about expats not being able to communicate in a rather high-level of Cantonese/Chinese has started to piss me off (like whining that expats can't read a legal-jargon Chinese text and expect a translation)... Many expats DO learn some Cantonese/Chinese, it's a very long process, and sometimes we've only just arrived and haven't had much time yet to start learning and never in our lives imagined ending up here, so please give us a break!

    And by the way, it's a bilingual city, whereas the UK is not... not a fair comparison.

    Would you like to talk about the high level of English competency many Hong Kong locals have? Like being a taxi driver and not knowing the English word "park"?
    I'm surprised by your experience. I ask the same, and the reply I usually get is "Sorry wrong lumbar." Seems they're all suffering from lower back pain.
    Elegiaque and HK_Katherine like this.

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    7,471
    Original Post Deleted
    Try repeating this:

    "mmm.......mmmm......ho.......ho.......ho la....... ah...... mmmmm.......ok......"
    juanalias likes this.