I had too many customers get confused when I asked, "and that is pudenda spelled P as in Papa, U as in Uniform..." customer interrupts, "why are you talking like a radio?"

Had a regular that would spell it in NATO, and said he served in artillery. Heard just fine on his good ear, tinittus was just a low hum.

T as in tardigrade

I once had a client tell me, "T as in... T."

Yeah, that was helpful.

My last name has a z in it and I had a customer service person say "z as in xylophone?"

alpha bravo charlie delta echo foxtrot etc. it's SO HELPFUL when talking on the phone. I learned them all because no one could figure out my name.

A for 'Orses

B for mutton

C for yourself

etc

"T for Terrorist"

The CS Representative I was talking to: "Sir, this is an Airline"

I was frustrated with the phone support agent and used ‘S, as in Stupid’ and I got hung up on.

N as in "pneumatic", U as in "eulogy", K as in "Québec"...

C for Czechoslovakia may be a slight improvement over my go-tos:

A for Antidisestablishmentarianism

B for Buckminsterfullerene

C for Counterrevolutionaries

https://lemmy.world/post/23884231

Always been a petty pet peeve of mine. When I was training customer service reps I'd hand out a sheet and suggest they nail it up in their cube.

So much easier when everyone's on the same page. The military uses the phonetic alphabet because it's crystal clear, even over sketchy coms.

Why would you make up some bullshit of your own, having to constantly stop and think about it, when the pros already have a working system?! FFS, you don't even have to make the effort to memorize it, just use it a few times, done, it's in your head forever. Now I'm getting mad. (Told you I was petty about this.)

Anyone know why they use "niner"? Doesn't seem to mix up with other numbers.

EDIT: That's 2 band names I came out with today.

Petty Pet Peeve™

Anal Rail Gun™

My favourite was E as in estrogen

I often use "M as in mayhem." I know it's "Mike" but that's boring.

Eggplant, xerxes, crybaby, overbite, narwhal.

My eternal gratitude to anyone who can find the old Jonathan Katz stand up bit where he was spelling things out ridiculously to a 411 representative. I must have taped over my old VHS with it.