How do I tell my boss to talk slower?

Question

The guy training me talks way too fast, and then still talks the same speed even when I ask him to repeat. He obviously knows his job, but he seems a bit annoyed that he has to answer my questions.

Answer 1

Just tell him the truth: talk slower. He's training you to do your job, if he doesn't train you right, then basically your out a job. Tell him, "I am  trying to do this job to the best of my ability, but your talking to fast for me to understand what your saying. Do you think you could take it down a notch?" I'm sure he would understand. Now, if you're more shy, talk to someone at the job, and ask them to tell him. Or, talk to someone higher than the guy training you to talk to him. Another idea is leave an 'Anonymous' tip at his desk, underneath his winder-wipers, etc. to talk slower. Either way, he is bound not to take it personally. Hey, I talk SUPER fast and everyone tells me to slow it down, but it doesn't bother me one bit. If he talks fast, someone has probably already told him to slow it down.

I wish you the best of luck! I'm sure you'll be fine and choose the best route, even if it's not my suggestion!

-Jake

Answer 2

I was on the phone one day with a vendor in another state, and it was a young man with a serious attitude problem to begin with.  The longer he talked, the faster he talked.  I finally had to tell him, "Look, you're obviously from the Northeast, judging by your accent and the speed you talk.  I'm from the South, and down here, we talk slower and we listen slower.  So you're going to have to slow down if you expect me to listen to you."

Are you taking notes as you're being trained?  Then hold up your hand and remind him, "I'm trying to write this down so that I don't have to ask you questions for the next 6 months.  Please slow down and give me time to make my notes and ask my questions now."

Keep repeating that as often as you need.  After the first time you ask him to slow down, he's being rude if he doesn't, and he knows he's being rude.  He wants to rush through your training because he has other duties.  He's forgetting that if you don't get THOROUGH training, your questions aren't going to stop just because his 3-day or 1-week or 2-week training is over.

You aren't being rude OR unreasonable to expect him to slow his pace to accommodate your learning and your note-taking.  The goal is for you to learn and understand, not for him to rattle off more information than you can process, understand, or use.