mocked because of accent.

Use this like a hidden super power. You can get away with almost anything if you start out by saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm American....".

At train station window to buy ticket:  "I'm so sorry, I'm American...."

Ticket person: "No need to explain..."

LOL You are a genius! hahaha Although, I hate using excuses so I think I may have an inward battle with myself over whether or not I will use this move :p

I think about this a lot. It seems as you get a bit older that you don't get as embarrassed as you once did. It leads to good things and bad. Good like meeting kind people at a filling station, bad when you go to a beach and there is an old hairy guy in a wet chartreuse Speedo next to you.

I worked with this salesman once, who was like a philosopher-salesman, and he had developed numerous little things along these lines. When he went in for the big pitch meeting he would pull out a little mustard packet and put a spot on his tie. Impeccably dressed, but with a mustard stain glaring out. "Sailor," he would say, "Before I was just a guy trying to sell fish, now I am a human being." 

I always wanted to write a book with the guy - titled How to Sell Fish.

I worked with this salesman once, who was like a philosopher-salesman, and he had developed numerous little things along these lines. When he went in for the big pitch meeting he would pull out a little mustard packet and put a spot on his tie. Impeccably dressed, but with a mustard stain glaring out. "Sailor," he would say, "Before I was just a guy trying to sell fish, now I am a human being." 

I always wanted to write a book with the guy - titled How to Sell Fish.

That's pretty awesome.  You should definitely write that book, Sailor!

This guy. He liked that I knew a lot of arcane factoids (I later found out that it was another technique of his to find little things about people that they were secretly sort of proud of and play them up). But one day I dropped the name Arthur Fiedler into a conversation and being a Bostonian (Fiedler was conductor of the Boston Pops) he lit up.

"Sailor, let me tell you about Arthur Fiedler." He went on to tell me that on the night of the big 1976 Bicentennial Celebration he was back in Boston with a huge sales meeting scheduled for the next morning. It was like a make or break thing for the company he worked for. He was in a hotel right down by the water, I mean ground zero for the orchestra and the fireworks. And he was passing a kidney stone.

So there's this image of him writhing around on the floor with the room lighting up with these huge explosions and cymbal crashes, knowing that in just a few hours he had to go in and clench this deal. Like in a movie when they make the room red and flashy when a character goes insane.

I had to ask if he made the deal. "Oh of course not, I could hardly stand up the next morning...they fired me before I got off the plane back home. But that led to me moving to Florida and meeting my wife."

If he had said he made the deal, it wouldn't have been half as good.

The gas man came by for a meter reading today.  He got quite a tickle out of my American accent & talked for ages (apologies to the neighbors whose meters needed reading).  He gushed about how much he enjoys talking with Americans.  He made my morning.  Luckily, I can't think of anyone who has made me feel weird or bad about being an American over the last year that I've been in England.  I'm sure the day will come, but it hasn't happened yet 

I've not necessarily been mocked for being American but I have had some strangers be quite rude to me because of my accent.

I work in retail and I get customers of all ages, from all over the UK and the world, asking about all kinds of different things. Keep in mind I have heard all kinds of people from all over the UK and Europe, and I can understand customers 98% of the time. I generally can even understand people from Europe and Asia who don't even speak english very fluently.

Once I had an older british woman ask me about something and I couldn't understand her because she was so quiet and her accent was a bit thick. She kept asking for "caps" and I didn't realise what she meant by just saying "caps". She looked at me and said "do you even speak english?" and she rudely started saying what she wanted slower and louder, as if I were a dog or a child. So after digging a bit deeper I figured out she wanted a "shower cap".

Another time a british man ran up to me out of nowhere, and he acted very aggressive and upset, I guess he had a problem in a different part of the shop. He said "LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER" but it took me a second to process what he said because he said it so quickly and aggressively. I asked him to repeat what he said because I just wanted to make sure I heard him correctly. So he repeated what he said and then goes "Do you even work here? Get me someone who speaks english." One of my colleges who was within earshot heard and ran over to help me out because she noticed he was being rude to me. So he went up to her and was like "Yeah you, you speak english, you can help me."

It happens now and again and I have learned to just brush it off because there will always be rude people and you just have to ignore it and continue your day!

I too work in retail over here and our customers are mostly middle aged to old ladies. I've only had one negative experience regarding my nationality. It was my first week on the job and I was speaking to a coworker when a middle aged lady (who probably overheard my accent) approached me and asked if I was American. I said yes, and she replied in a forthright manner, "oh, Americans are pretty loud and brash aren't they?" I just replied "hmm, not all of us are like that though- I consider myself pretty reserved and quiet!" She gave me a very puzzled look and said "huh, that's interesting." Interesting, really? Come on, you have to be a bit deluded to think that all Americans match that stereotype. She then proceeded to tell me about a former roommate of hers from NYC who was brash and loud. Looking back, she wasn't necessarily rude about it all- just presumptuous and a bit ignorant.

I have at least one customer a day who's friendly and asks questions about where I come from. Then they tell me about their American relatives, their holidays in America... and they compliment my accent. Those customers are lovely 

When I first came to UK (eons ago) I was hired to work in a small bookshop.  The owner seemed quite keen to have an American on his staff and pointed out that he also had a South African working for him.  Don't get the impression that people with 'foreign' accents are so welcomed nowadays.

This discussion reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a British friend.  She said his mother was American, but that she'd been in the UK since 1975 and 'mostly lost her American' accent. It never occurred to me, but I can see this happening to me. Anyone else been in the UK a long time? Lost your accent? My kids are young, and my husband still has a strong East Yorkshire drawl.

Anyone else been in the UK a long time? Lost your accent?

Been here since 1985.
I think I still sound the same as I've always done, but some people say I have an accent.  I think it's more likely that I have picked up a Scottish vocabulary and way of phrasing things, but as to an actual Scottish accent... no.

Been here since 1985.
I think I still sound the same as I've always done, but some people say I have an accent.  I think it's more likely that I have picked up a Scottish vocabulary and way of phrasing things, but as to an actual Scottish accent... no.

You have a nice gentle combi-accent, Albatross! Not quite Scottish and not quite American.

First came in 1972 and stayed for over 20 years.  Don't think my accent changed that much (I'm from Boston  ) but I think you do learn to enunciate more clearly.  And of course your vocabulary changes.

I lived in New Zealand for 8 years and my Georgia accent became blended eventually not quite NZ nor Georgia. Many assumed I was Canadian....never understood that. I didn't speak in public unless I had to, I felt I didn't belong and being a American was mocked for my accent.
I live in the Uk now with the same treatment. Some find it delightful to listen to words or phrases which only another Southerner would be familiar with...lol
But when words slip out that are called another thing here, the mocking rears it's ugly head. It's very hurtful not to be accepted for who you are and how you speak. Mostly because it wasn't the way I was raised...... To be respectful, kind and have manners not to mock anyone no matter what .....and of course the saying "If you don't have anything good to say.....don't say anything at all."
I would never mock anyone's accent when I was back home in Georgia, quite the opposite.....love hearing different country's accents.
 The hardest moment is being looked down upon when you admit your from america...immediately they assume all Americans are like characters on TV....loud and dumb...
Hate that....makes me sad and confirms again.... I don't belong here either.

Anyone else been in the UK a long time? Lost your accent?

How long is long to you? I've been here about 15 years and my accent is a hybrid, fluctuating kind of thing - lost accent, no.

Different accent, yes. Definitely my own, as I guarantee no one with have a British Columbian - Yorkshire with Southern-ish mixed in sometimes, with varying inflections.   

I lived in New Zealand for 8 years and my Georgia accent became blended eventually not quite NZ nor Georgia. Many assumed I was Canadian....never understood that....

I can kind of understand the Canadian thing. In my earlier days, with less Yorkshire exposure, the most common guess I got was Irish, a common emigrant to the rest of the Commonwealth.

I didn't speak in public unless I had to, I felt I didn't belong and being a American was mocked for my accent.
I live in the Uk now with the same treatment. Some find it delightful to listen to words or phrases which only another Southerner would be familiar with...lol
But when words slip out that are called another thing here, the mocking rears it's ugly head. It's very hurtful not to be accepted for who you are and how you speak. .....
 The hardest moment is being looked down upon when you admit your from america...immediately they assume all Americans are like characters on TV....loud and dumb...
Hate that....makes me sad and confirms again.... I don't belong here either.

I'm really sorry  to hear that you have found some people's attitudes tough. To me, that could be they are just idiots - those are universal and / or maybe it's a cultural difference, such as in terms of humour. I always get 'colonial' jokes, which I can always turn around back on others, in jest. Can get boring and repetitive, but I don't take it personally, and sometimes people are just ignorant as well.

If you aren't feeling accepted for who you are, that sounds just really tough. I hope you can find some things you are interested in and connect with people that way.

Hugs. 

First came in 1972 and stayed for over 20 years.  Don't think my accent changed that much (I'm from Boston  ) but I think you do learn to enunciate more clearly.  And of course your vocabulary changes.

You have a lovely accent. And of course, yes to the vocab shift........ 
 

I am a teacher, and most of my pupils assume I moved over here the other week, when in fact I have lived here since before most of them can remember!!!

I get asked if I'm Irish a lot. Perhaps Californian + Scottish + Northern English = Irish???

It doesn't bother me except during parents' meetings when the parents ask me all about why I moved here and why I left CA and how long I have lived here... etc... I would just rather talk about their child's progress in my subject!!