u/ArtsyQueerNubian

A friend and I were talking the other day and he told me he got a job at a call center for an American company. He's Colombian. He told me the money's fine but he cannot get used to how American customers act. To him, and I've heard this before, even when we're not being outright rude there's kind of this weird vibe. I told him that's probably because the average American customer is used to a very specific type of customer service. I worked in an airport for a long while and sometimes I worked for tips. I always brought home a couple hundred on a decent day. My coworkers who barely got anything just did the primary function of their job. American customers want to feel a connection, like you're a friend in a way. There's a certain tone of voice and body language you have to embody working with the public here. We call it customer service voice lol. I slip into it sometimes even when I'm with friends lol. You can't be too formal because that's considered alienating. You can't be too familiar unless given the sign it's okay to be. You can't let your frustration or true emotions show on your face. You can't be too chatty but you can't be sparse on words. Literally I've had people get upset because I didn't seem friendly enough and I was just baseline polite lol. My friend mentioned that the manager gets asked for a lot. I told him to get used to it lol.

What does good customer service in your country look like? I've been to Panama and Colombia so far and neither were like what I've described above. People just did their job and that's it.

I'm American and right now I work at a factory that builds HVAC equipment. I work 40 hours and every other week I have to work Saturday. Sometimes my job makes us stay two hours past our usual time. I also work at night. My Colombian friends always react with horror lol. One of my closest friends from there thinks it's insane a job has mandatory overtime but that's not really uncommon here. I've worked at hotels, ports, airports, retail etc. A lot of them have mandatory overtime especially during busy season. I'm also guessing night jobs aren't super common there because I've worked overnight before and he and my other Colombian friends thought it was crazy. As I understand it jobs there and in other South American countries tell you how much you'll be making that month not exactly by hour I guess. I could be wrong I'm just reciting from memory. From what I can tell work culture in Colombia is different than here. For example, there was a girl at an ice cream shop when I was there who clearly was having an attitude and was not even attempting any kind of customer service outside of the barest parameters of her job. I let it go but in the USA she could easily get fired for not being polite enough and making us not feel welcome. My job penalizes you if you're even a minute late and they take an hour off of your paycheck. My friends thought that was insane paired with the fact I get to work 40 minutes early. By the time I get to work, half my team is already there and we've got maybe 30 to 40 minutes to wait. This is not uncommon in the USA. If you're on time, you're late. If you're early, you're on time. A lot of jobs also time bathroom breaks, mine does. My job even gets on you about speaking languages other than English. If someone thinks you're talking about them in another language, you could get in trouble. I've had other jobs like this where all business had to be conducted in English and side conversations in another language could get you in trouble.

What's work culture like in your country?

I'm from the USA and I travel to Latin America quite a bit. So far I've been to Panama and Colombia a few times. I've watched quite a bit of TV while I was there and it was interesting. In the USA, Black Americans basically have our own entertainment ecosystem. BET, OWN, TVOne, Bounce, Centric and others cater almost exclusively to that demographic. Outside of my community, there's kinda been an explosion of content targeting America's minorities like Ramy, On My Block, Beef, Reservation Dogs, Fresh Off the Boat, Ms. Marvel, Los Espookys, Acapulco, One Day at a Time, Deli Boys, Interior Chinatown, American Born Chinese, Dark Winds, Never Have I Ever etc. There's also quite a bit of content featuring and targeting the LGBT community. We have our own channels as well.

Does your country have anything similar to that? What does minority representation in your country look like?

I wrote a film about seven multicultural heroes who learn their reality is actually a TV show in another universe and must fight a white supremacist producer from that universe from rewriting their reality. One of the heroes is Jaega/Beastmaster. I've had the concept of a Indigenous American superhero in mind for a while since there really aren't a lot. I studied tropes relating to Indigenous Americans in media and tried to subvert them. I plan pitching this script and sending it to screenwriting competitions and festivals next year. The problem is I want to be sure I'm being respectful of the culture and not falling into the same old tropes. If you're interested here's a bit more about the character and his background:

Jaega comes from a tribe known as the Wapachi. Instead of using a real tribe and fucking that up I just invented one. But I did obviously draw inspiration from actual cultures. I'm from Florida so I'm more familiar with the tribes here so the Wapachi are kinda based on them. Jaega's name even comes from a coastal tribe in Florida. I had to explain how he got his powers. So the mythology I came up with is that 10,000 years ago a meteor crashed into their lands but the energy radiating from it created a pocket dimension they could live in. It also changed their biology and gave some of them superpowers. They lived behind that veil for millenia and were never conquered by the white man. About a century or so before actual colonization, the spirits of the ancestors warned them about the upcoming threat. They opened the veil and let everyone from Turtle Island who could get there could escape there. So the culture is a mix of Southeastern tribes, Alaskan tribes, Southwestern tribes etc. Again I did this to avoid focusing on just one culture. It's like a Wakanda type deal. The meteor chiseled away into a powerful diamond known as the Bravestone which is sentient and chooses a host.

Jaega is not the host but a shapeshifter who can turn into animals. I'm still a little weird on if this comes off as offensive. I know Native Americans are stereotyped as being more in tune with nature. I tried avoiding the magical Indigenous trope by making them basically mutants. It's biological not inherently mystical their powers. I also tried subverting the stoic Indigenous warrior trope by making him a hyperactive gay twink. I've never seen that done and I thought it'd be interesting. I'm gay myself.

I wanna make sure anything problematic is sorted out before I start shopping it around. I'm willing to pay you. If you're interested please DM me.

My ex fiance who I'm still friendly with has gone missing. He moved to San Francisco a few months ago. He's a Colombian national. He said he finally got his work visa when we were living in Atlanta but I'm certain that was tied to his actual job. I don't know if they just give you general work visas to work wherever. He came here on asylum claiming he was being persecuted for being gay. He's actually, or considered himself at the time, straight but needed a way into the USA. We were together for a while and I'm a man so I don't know what his deal is there. He was a cop and from what I can piece together, he doesn't wanna tell me the whole story, he got into some trouble with the cartels. From him never showing his face on social media, being paranoid a lot, never using his real name, having a lot of cash on hand all the time and generally being vague about details of his past I pretty much assumed he was working for them in some capacity and either started working for another one here or some other type of illegal activity. I'm concerned he got caught up in all the current stuff with immigration for a few reasons. His visa is probably no longer valid. He is a coke head and I know he goes on mysterious business trips despite working in construction so I'm concerned he got involved with some bad people. He has a history of getting pulled over for driving without a license and he's usually high when he does. I think he has one now. He usually messages and calls me all the time. I can't contact him on Facebook even though the profile appears to be non deactivated. His number is off. No one who knows him knows where he is. I tried checking the local hospitals and jails. No luck. It's like he just disappeared. The only thing I can think of is he got tied up in all the ICE stuff. I don't know how to look that up. He had a lawyer but I don't have that contact info now. I'm really worried he's either being detained or someone else killed him. How do I find out if he's in a detention center?

My ex fiance who I'm still friendly with has gone missing. He moved to San Francisco a few months ago. He's a Colombian national. He said he finally got his work visa when we were living in Atlanta but I'm certain that was tied to his actual job. I don't know if they just give you general work visas to work wherever. He came here on asylum claiming he was being persecuted for being gay. He's actually, or considered himself at the time, straight but needed a way into the USA. We were together for a while and I'm a man so I don't know what his deal is there. He was a cop and from what I can piece together, he doesn't wanna tell me the whole story, he got into some trouble with the cartels. From him never showing his face on social media, being paranoid a lot, never using his real name, having a lot of cash on hand all the time and generally being vague about details of his past I pretty much assumed he was working for them in some capacity and either started working for another one here or some other type of illegal activity. I'm concerned he got caught up in all the current stuff with immigration for a few reasons. His visa is probably no longer valid. He is a coke head and I know he goes on mysterious business trips despite working in construction so I'm concerned he got involved with some bad people. He has a history of getting pulled over for driving without a license and he's usually high when he does. I think he has one now. He usually messages and calls me all the time. I can't contact him on Facebook even though the profile appears to be non deactivated. His number is off. No one who knows him knows where he is. I tried checking the local hospitals and jails. No luck. It's like he just disappeared. The only thing I can think of is he got tied up in all the ICE stuff. I don't know how to look that up. He had a lawyer but I don't have that contact info now. I'm really worried he's either being detained or someone else killed him. How do I find out if he's in a detention center?