text: why is it acceptable to have american, british accent but not an african one? my friend who is african came to england recently and attended some job interviews in customer service. on 2 different occasions, he was told that he has a strong african accent and people might find it hard to understand him and for that and some other reasons was not considered for the job. because us americans and the british are sick and tired of getting "customer service" from people we can't understand.  it's not discrimination.  if i go to africa and my boston accent is not understandable i don't expect microsoft africa to make me a phone support technician.  i'm just so sick of people using discrimination as an excuse!