Suspended for using a robotic voice or for having one?

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"NEW YORK CITY ? A longtime city Health Department worker was suspended 20 days without pay for answering customer-service calls in a robot voice.....

During the Feb. 14 hearing, Dillon defended the tone of his voice, claiming that he wasn't mimicking a robot ? rather he was just slowly reading from a script his boss instructed him to follow when dealing with customers.

"He contended that he articulates each word because he speaks fast and has a Brooklyn accent, which is sometimes difficult to understand," the judge wrote in her decision.

Dillon also told her that he was not a "people person" and that his boss, Barry Novack, picked on him...

Dillon has worked for the Health Department since 1976 and has never faced disciplinary action before this case, the decision says."


http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2014103 ... swer-phone

I'm met Autistic people who spoke rather like robots.

Could his accent have been concealing this fact that he naturally speaks this way all these years?

Well if all he did was to speak in a slightly odd but understandable manner on the phone, I do not think he has done anything wrong. As long as he never tried to falsely claim to be someone he was not, a robot or some other non human thing.

<sarcasm>Maybe I should tell me students when they phone me up that they have reached the phone number for the deputy boss Dalek on the mothership, I am not sure what would happen. I think some of my coworkers would die of laughter at such an event.</sarcasm>

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Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

he needs to find himself a good lawyer. and SUE!! !! !! !! !! !!

Well...if I were a supervisor of a phone bank for customer service for a company, or a government agency, and one of my employees habitually answered the phone talking like a cliche Hollywood robot I might have the urge to fire him too. Like does he think he can joke around? Or is he trying to palm himself as being a robot so the callers wont ask him questions? Or what? I would at least give him a stern talking to to find out what's going on with him.

some of us talk like robots with no effort whatsoever. it is just his boss' opinion that he lacks the fluid NT speaking style [IOW "talking like a robot."] that is an EEO lawsuit waiting to happen.

This reminds me of a thread from a few months ago. Are retail workers required to be "bubbly". Can non bubbly people get jobs in retail or call centers? If I'm buying groceries I don't care if they get scanned by someone who's bubbly, I just want them scanned. If need to call an organization I don't care if they're bubbly, only that the address my problem. So is hard for all the non bubbly people to get jobs? Even if it's not a job that requires speaking to customers, you still have to talk your way through the interview, which could require a certain level of charisma.

For those who speak in "robot voices", do they speak in a true monotone or do they just sound a bit flat, not bubbly enough?

Maybe they sound bored because they have a boring job. If they do the job only for the money, why should there be a rule saying they also have to enjoy their job as well. I think a salary is fair compensation for an unenjoyable job and there shouldn't also be an expectation that you enjoy yourself as well. Anyone who sounds like that is probably just putting on an act anyway. Sounding bubbly when you're really bored might not be something everyone can do.