At&T; Apologizes For A Bad Call

AT&T has apologized after a newspaper learned about an internal “tip sheet” on making sales to various ethnic groups.

The Oregonian said the tip sheet characterizes six ethnic groups: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Jewish, “Iranian or Armenian” and Middle Eastern.

The comments range from advice to accept coffee or tea when offered by Japanese customers to a warning against wasting the time of Jewish-American customers and that price is the bottom line for Chinese customers.

“There was nothing that is negative meant or implied, and I didn’t see anything negative,” AT&T spokeswoman Susan Carpenter said.

The three-page tip sheet was written by a KoreanAmerican saleswoman in Southern California.

Other tips included:

Consider Korean-Americans as the “AsianItalians.”

Jewish-Americans often link their complaints to a monetary value.

Some Middle Eastern customers will not remember they are bound by a contract.