Actually, I moved up in the ATC world (what... more than 20 years ago now!) because I was working at a very busy VFR tower and the manager at a nearby big tracon tuned-in to hear how I was doing. He called me and hired me. Weired world...
And speaking of odd things, having grown-up in the US just south of the Canadian border, I thought I knew what Canadians sounded like. However, now when I have a listen to some Canadian controllers online, the accent often seems almost Aussie... Very talented lot, them Canadians with the speech defects, none-the-less...
Dave