4 ms·
WHY
by derpherpsson 7y ago
WHY
- funklute 7y agoIt's super useful if you're on the phone, having to spell out a list of letters, e.g. a postcode
- yread 7y agoIf the other side also knows NATO alphabet. There are too many uncommon words for the average helpdesk operator
- Waterluvian 7y agoThat's an interesting thought that I didn't consider. In a decade or so of using it I've never, anecdotally of course, had a problem.
- astura 7y ago^---- yes, this is exactly it. Especially since most CSRs you're going to be talking about don't have English as their first language and don't have the same cultural background as you. That's why the people I know who use it at work don't use it while on the phone with Comcast.
- scottlocklin 7y agoThe other side will either know the NATO alphabet or be able to understand it anyway. It was designed to be interpreted and used by non English speakers, since most of NATO doesn't/didn't speak English. I've used it dozens of times, zero errors. It's really good enough to be considered a sort of spoken language Golay code.
- Ensorceled 7y agoSo you’re not saying “no, not bee, DEE” the rest of your life.
- self_awareness 7y agoIf I want to spell out something over the phone, I'm saying: Hellen, Eve, Lawrence, Lawrence, Ophelia, Wallace, Ophelia, Robert, Lawrence, Donald.
- stakhanov 7y agoBut doesn't it sound so much cooler and so much more badass to say hotel echo lima lima oscar whiskey oscar romeo lima delta? Makes the person on the other side of the phone immediately have the kind of respect that one would have for someone who can order air strikes :-D
- quickthrower2 7y agoI’m reminded of an English comedy sketch, one police operator is saying “Tango Whiskey Foxtrot...” on the phone, the detective next to him “Tango.. Tango.. Diet Coke & Fanta”
- hanoz 7y agoTo which the recipient might be thinking E, E... no wait the first E must have been something else then... ah H, so: H E... slow down a bit... why isn't this person using the same phonetics as the other callers...?
- falcolas 7y agoIs that first one an "H" or an "E"? Is that second one an "E" or a "V"? That's the problem with home-made solutions, across any form of lossy medium (aka static or accents), the home-made replacements are not always distinct enough.
- Waterluvian 7y agoBecause life is fleeting and it's neat and what are you doing in traffic anyway?
- Bnshsysjab 7y agohonestly me reading credentials over phones would probably end up making this a positive roi investment within months. ymmv though. And no, the credentials don’t warrant a ‘eavesdropping’ threat model, they barely matter at all.