“Confession: I fake an accent at my job…”
My heart is pounding writing this because I literally haven’t told anyone this. So I work at this one store, and I work on the sales floor; but before all that, I was just one person interviewing for a position at the store. Before I arrived for my interview, a friend of mine dared me to interview in a British accent.
I said I’d do it only if they paid me, and to my surprise, they sent me like $10 through Venmo (which was more than enough for me). I went into the interview with the mindset that I wasn’t gonna get hired and they inevitably hired me on the spot. Accent and all.
I was nervous because I had already talked to a whole bunch of higher ups with the accent and decided to just go through with it -thinking it was only going to be a summer job. I was so wrong. It’s been like 7 months that I’ve been working there and I still use the accent to this day.
When people ask me where I’m from I just tell them my hometown because I have several brits from that town whom I grew up with. The accent hasn’t really posed a problem until now because my boyfriend is friends with one of my coworkers so I’m gonna have to find the right time to come clean.. thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
Here’s what people had to say to OP:
shtpersonality said:
Bet a coworker that you can fake an American accent for the rest of the year for $300.
LibertyLikateer said:
Well this is just fantastic…please provide an update. I want to see how this delightful garbage fire shakes out.
designerhotdog said:
One night after drinking quite a lot, I pretended to be from Boston. I can’t recall why. I met someone I would go on to have a very serious relationship for a number of years. It was pretty embarrassing to wake up the next day without an accent.
Oryx_xyrO said:
I used to work with a guy who was faking a British accent, and it was PAINFULLY obvious.
Requad said:
I did this exact same thing in one of my college courses. The jig held up until the end of the semester, until one of my classmates ended up becoming one of my closest friends. That conversation was an awkward one.
Round of applause to you pulling this off for 7 months. You are a hero, and when you are eventually found out, tales of this ridiculous endeavor will be told and retold in that workplace forever.
MINI UPDATE:
Finally told my boyfriend about the accent and he said, and I quote, “well babe, you just gotta fake it till you make it, and get the hell out of there!” I got a lucky one, y’all!
