Customer service code-switching:
Upon being told by the service man at my local Motoworks motorcycle shop that my rear brake caliper is “all seized up,” doubling my spring maintenance bill, I did some socio-normative math in my head, in real time. I realized that since this was a motorcycle shop, it was perfectly acceptable to respond in a way that I wouldn’t respond to a customer service person at Chase bank, at Verizon—or even at the Subaru dealership.
“Fuck!”
“Yeah, I hear ya,” he replied.
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