# Why the fuck do you have that job when you can't fucking speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 6, 2001, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455 "2001-07-06T05:17:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/1 "2001-07-06T05:17:31Z")
So I had to call a company about something that doesn’t matter here, and I was transfered to the customer service department. After talking to the guy there for 5 minutes I was ready to pull my hair out. This guy S-t-u, S-t-u, S-t-u, stu, stuttered so bad it drove me nuts. Then I asked him if he normally was on the telephone for his job or if he just happened to be there when it rang. "N,nnn, no, no. uh, I, uh, I, uh, I W-w-w-w-wa-work the FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF fa fa fa fa fffffffffffffffphones ev, ev, ev every d-d-d-d-day. What? Your entire job entails talking on the telephone? You can’t even speak. I could barely understand anything this guy said! My cat can communicate over the phone better than this slob. This is not a rant against people who stutter, it’s a rant about not getting the right people for the job at hand. Who the fuck hired that guy to work the phones? ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/2 "2001-07-06T05:31:58Z")
I think he might have been fucking with you. Maybe every 500th time the phone rings he turns into Stuttering Bob[sup]tm[/sup] just for the hell of it. Or maybe he **was** just walking by and made an ass of himself on someone else’s phone. If they get a complaint, it’s not his phone. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/3 "2001-07-06T05:34:35Z")
I had a similar experience recently calling a Government department advice line. The woman who answered spoke the most rudimentary, heavily accented English imaginable. I work with lots of people from non English speaking backgrounds and am pretty good at coping with accents but I could make out little of what this woman was saying. Eventually I got her to transfer me to her supervisor - Me: Could I have this call transferred to another operator please as I am having difficulty understanding the woman I am speaking to. Super: No. Transferring the call would simply be pandering to your **racism**. I was unable to convince this woman that I am not racist an merely wanted my question answerred. I had to give up, hang up and start in the queue again. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/4 "2001-07-06T05:36:09Z")
We used to have a postman that had a tenuous grasp of the English language. He couldn’t read English very well, needless to say. When he was our postman, everyone’s mail was always getting delivered to the wrong houses. A LOT more than usual. I don’t get this kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/5 "2001-07-06T05:42:32Z")
I routinely hang up on and boycott any business that is unable to have their phone answered by someone who can take an order or give me clear directions to their location. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/6 "2001-07-06T05:46:02Z")
Well pk, I am sure the PC police will be in eventually to flame your ass, but I agree with you. I have a prosthetic leg, and your OP would be the same as me getting a job as a meter reader (or any job that requires a lot of walking) Sure, I can walk, but I can’t walk that dam much during a shift, and it would make my co-workers carry my load. I understand accommodating people like me with disabilities, but it’s stupid to put us in a job we can’t do. If I was the boss of the phone guy, I would take him off the phones, and put him in a position where his stuttering didn’t matter, no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/7 "2001-07-06T06:48:53Z")
People with stutters gotta eat, too. No biggie, not like you’ll end up needing his help ever again. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/8 "2001-07-06T07:33:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mercutio \* > **People with stutters gotta eat, too.** Yeah. So what? My rant isn’t about the stuttering guy, it’s about the company that put him in a position to do nothing but talk. How absurd. What was the personnel officer thinking about? Agravating their customers? Give this man a job, but a different job than this. What he’s doing now is not appropriate. You don’t hire a 97 pound weakling to lift heavy boxes all day. You don’t hire a man with no arms or legs as a traffic cop. You don’t hire a blind man as a drivers ed instructor. You don’t hire a person with severe Parkinsons disease as an eye surgeon. You don’t hire a deaf mute as a motivational speaker. Or a person with dyslexia as a proof reader. Or a pedaphile as a baby sitter. Etc. All these people need to work and eat. But they should get a job that’s more suited too them. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/9 "2001-07-06T12:51:01Z")
Of course, if someone with a stutter applies, you must be _very_ careful before turning him/her down for a job. Otherwise, you can get hit with an ADA lawsuit. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/10 "2001-07-06T12:57:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > \*\*What was the personnel officer thinking about? Agravating their customers? \*\* [cynic] Precisely. They get fewer calls that way, and the only person _they_ know that’s inconvenienced is the unfortunate stutterer, whom has to deal with frustrated callers all day. [/cynic] ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/11 "2001-07-06T13:01:54Z")
zev, I doubt that a severe stutterer would have much of a case if turned down for a job where phone communication was the primary function. The ADA does not require companies to hire people with disabilities for jobs they cannot perform without a reasonable accomadation. I can’t think of a reasonable accomadation for a stutterer doing phone work off the top of my head. also to the OP: > [@](#): > > My cat can communicate over the phone better than this slob He’s a slob because he stutters and can’t communicate well? Very nice. I know you had a frustrating experience, but that seems uncalled for. Zette ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/12 "2001-07-06T13:40:48Z")
“You don’t hire a man with no arms or legs as a traffic cop.” —Well, you could put him in a little red suit and stick him on a pole as a stop sign . . . ---
**Author:** ![cleosia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@cleosia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleosia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/13 "2001-07-06T14:15:56Z")
I remember some time ago, when they talking about lowering the standards for firefighters so that more women could make the grade. Now, I’m all for equality (being a woman myself) but if I’m in a fire, I would rather the firefighter that comes to my aid got the job because she was up to standards, not because they needed to fill the gender gap on the force. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/14 "2001-07-06T15:22:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*“You don’t hire a man with no arms or legs as a traffic cop.” > > —Well, you could put him in a little red suit and stick him on a pole as a stop sign . . . \*\* That is horrible! But the damn funniest thing I have seen in weeks! 😃 thanks ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/15 "2001-07-06T15:27:35Z")
**pk** we don’t agree on much, but when you are dead on, you are dead on. And sir, this time you are dead on. Sua ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/16 "2001-07-06T16:21:25Z")
Pkbites: \*\*You don’t hire a 97 pound weakling to lift heavy boxes all day. You don’t hire a man with no arms or legs as a traffic cop. You don’t hire a blind man as a drivers ed instructor. You don’t hire a person with severe Parkinsons disease as an eye surgeon. You don’t hire a deaf mute as a motivational speaker. Or a person with dyslexia as a proof reader. \*\* I was so with you until this last sentence: \*\*Or a pedaphile as a baby sitter. Etc. \*\* If being a pedophile (I don’t know what a pedaphile is, so I’m assuming you made a typo) is covered by the American with Disabilities Act, I’m leaving this country, even if I have to swim. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/17 "2001-07-06T16:22:18Z")
Maybe the manager was one of those pricks who thought to himself that the stutterer wasn’t “trying hard enough”, and “just needed to be put in a position where he’s forced to talk.” And I wouldn’t be suprised to find out that this guy gets fired for not sufficiently doing his job, instead of being transferred to a position he’s more suited for. And other than the “slob” part, I completely agree. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/18 "2001-07-06T16:28:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Devil’s Grandmother [/i > I was so with you until this last sentence: > **Or a pedaphile as a baby sitter. Etc. \*\* > If being a pedophile (I don’t know what a pedaphile is, so I’m assuming you made a typo) is covered by the American with Disabilities Act, I’m leaving this country, even if I have to swim.** Nah, it’s not covered, but neither is being a 97 pound weakling. My point is, you shouldn’t hire someone for a job they’re just not suited for. I guess using the ped **O** phile as a baby sitter example was extreme. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/19 "2001-07-06T16:42:32Z")
Once again, I’ll reiterate: I seriously doubt that a person who stutters would be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (regarding phone support). Read the ADA in detail if you want more info, but don’t use false examples to try to show that the ADA doesn’t work or sets ridiculous standards. It is **not meant to put people into jobs that do not qualify. It is meant to provide a reasonable accomadation to people with disabilities so that they may perform their job function.** This is not about the ADA, it’s about a company who has stupid business practices and puts an employee in a position where they are unable to perform the job that they have been assigned. The only way the ADA comes into play here is if the company tells the person who stutters that phone support is the ONLY job they can have in the company and no accomadation can be made for their disability (and no comparable position is available for them). The ADA would not have forced them to hire him to begin with. Zette ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455/20 "2001-07-06T16:49:17Z")
> [@](#): > > And I wouldn’t be suprised to find out that this guy gets fired for not sufficiently doing his job, instead of being transferred to a position he’s more suited for. Sorry- I missed that when I posted my last comment. THAT would be an issue that could be covered by the ADA. An employer is required to make a reasonable accomodation for a person with a disability, which could include a transfer to a comperable paying/benefits position if no other accomodation can be made. But note: they did not have to hire the person who stutters to begin with. That is not the purpose of the ADA. Read more here: [http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/pubs/ada.txt](http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/pubs/ada.txt) Zette [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-do-you-have-that-job-when-you-cant-fucking-speak/71455.md?page=2)