Call Centre phone operators always saying “Bear with me a moment”.

Thora  Bushnell who empties the wastepaper bins  at a bank call centre and gets to hear what’s said round the office, says: “They are trained to say this , and like everything else they say it’s scripted.” She also knows from what she finds in the bins that they are trained to add superfluous words at the ends of their sentences, such as ‘…at all’, ‘…today’ and ‘ …..for me’ as in:-

“Is there anything else I can be doing for you today?”

“ Would you be taking out the insurance with that at all ?”

“Could you confirm your date of birth for me”

“…For me”  also has wider applications everywhere from supermarket checkouts (“Could you put in  your pin-number for me”) to  dentist’s surgeries (“Now could you please rinse your mouth and spit for me”) This sentence structure is consistent with the correct forms prescribed in the ‘Primer of Quot Grammar’ (see Quotlish) in which the extra words tacked on are called ‘The Superflative’ or sometimes the ‘ Bo-Peep Mode ‘ ( Bo-Peep’s sheep , you will remember , came home ‘wagging their tails BEHIND THEM ‘ – the last two words added on to no particular advantage) :  as in  ‘in this day AND AGE’, ‘at this moment IN TIME’ , ‘ in the world IN WHICH WE LIVE’ and ‘ please describe IN YOUR OWN WORDS’. There have been other postings about call-centre usage , many concerning the use of the word ‘yourself’ in a context where ‘you’ would be have been enough – as in “Would this service be of any interest yourself, Sir. …today…at all …for me.”

(George Daubing, Bridport) - QQQ**