I deal with customers over the phone from all over the country. Sometimes it is all I can do to try to make out what the customer is saying, not so much due to the accents, it is more the habits of pronouncing the words that the customer has. Some people just do not talk clearly or pronounce their words cleanly. Most people from the south I can understand fine, no problem. the problem is when you get the guy on the phone who sounds like Farmer Fran from the Waterboy, you know you are in trouble.