Customer service chat

Today I had the following online chat with a Comcast customer service rep.
Whenever I am in such situations I wonder about the background, location,
etc. of the person on the other end. I have always assumed in these
conversations, with such narrow and predictable topics, that many of the
responses are from mandatory scripts or even preprogrammed. It is kind of
modified Turing test. Today's conversation was interesting to me. Many of
the responses have idioms and yet there also seem to be signs that the rep
is not a native speaker. Or maybe my familiarity with the varieties of
native English is just limited. My comments are in brackets. Any guesses as
to Ritchie's first language?

Ritchie: I understand you are interested in our DVR Service. Is this
correct?
Richard: yes
Ritchie: Great!

[How wonderful that Ritchie is so thrilled.]

Ritchie: Approximately 15 minutes before the installation appointment, the
technician may call to you at this number....May I ask for the nearest cross
street to your house, please. This will help the technician to have an
easier time of finding your residence.

["may call to you" instead of "may call you."]
["to have an easier time" instead of just "have an easier time."]
["of finding" instead of just "finding."]

Richard: Winter st
Ritchie: Thank you for the cross street information. I will take note of
this.

["take note of this"?]

Ritchie: Okay. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you want to avail of
this service.

["to avail of" seems odd to me. Isn't it usually "to avail yourself of"?]]

Richard: ok
Ritchie: I apologize for the delay,
Richard. I am still processing your installation date. Please bear with me.

["bear with me" seems very idiomatic.]

Richard: ok
Ritchie: I have July 8 between 12pm and 2pm available. Will this work for
you?

[idiomatic]

Richard: yes
Ritchie: Excellent!

[Ritchie is so enthusiastic.]

Ritchie: I will now finalize your order. Kindly hold on for a minute.

[antiquated usage?]

Ritchie: Is there anything else I can help or assist you with today?

["help or assist"?]

Ritchie: You may now end this chat by clicking on the end session button.
Have a great day and God bless!

["God bless" seems very jarring for this context.]

Richard Yates




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