A friend in the education biz recently developed a course on customer service for his company.
I provided some general communication tips, but realized today that I didn’t mention a personal perspective that I have gained from years on the phone with customer service representatives:
If the customer service representative speaks with a Southern accent, I:
a) believe they want to help me;
b) have found that they do help me; and
c) am in a better mood when I hang up because they are friendly — regardless of how I felt when started the call.
Now, I tend to believe that the people on the call on true Southerners. You can’t fake that hospitality…
Or can you?
It’s something the companies who depend on customer service — and, really, what company these days doesn’t — need to consider. We can teach people how to lose an accent…
Why not teach customer service folks to have one?
The Sticky Egg 
In theory it’s a good idea, but I guess it would depend on what part of the country you’re from. People from the South have a tendency to be able to pick up on fake Southern accents because not all Southern accents sound the same. Each state is different, even counties within the same state can sound slightly different. I agree with you wholeheartedly though — I absolutely love a Southern drawl (having grown up with it, I’m biased I guess). That and an Irish accent are my favorites.
Good point — we true Southerners might be able to spot the fake. But bless their heart for tryin!
I always get homesick when I get a customer service agent from the South. I’m like you, I would prefer that type of a person on all of the customer service lines. They’re usually friendly and just more willing to go the extra bit to help.