Curious about thoughts on 'accent code switching' during retail service.

I should probably clarify that it might not actually be code switching, but rather it feels like code switching. The place I work at has a mixed ethnic neighborhood and most of the folks speak English to communicate; our store is mostly made up of Cantonese / Mandarin speakers with a moderate level of English proficiency and only two staff speak fluent English which is a colleague let's call "Jane" and myself. The scenario I'd like to present and receive thoughts on doesn't occur often, but enough to make me wonder what the other side might feel if they may have caught on to the difference in speech.

So here's the thing: I normally speak with an accent akin to the American accent like when I talk with Jane. I've taken notice after some time as well as Jane informing me of it that I speak in a different accent when I encounter some customers who speak with an accent. I start talking in broken English and the tone? voice? changes like it's trying to mimic a certain region's sound. I mean that's all fine and dandy so long they can understand me — for some reason, sometimes they understand me better that way, according to Jane.

But with all that, my main curiosity is that there are a few times where I was in a conversation with the accented customer and Jane comes over to ask me things. Imagine me speaking broken English in maybe a butchered Eastern European accent, stopping that, turn over to Jane and start talking in my normal American accent, and then turning back to the customer and start speaking in broken Euro English again. In the beginning when I was told about this by Jane and then noticing it afterwards, I sometimes think to myself: like man, that felt kinda racist? maybe not racist, but like a form of unpleasant manner (not really sure how to describe it). End of the day though, it wasn't ever brought up as an issue in the store.

I do find it kind of fascinating though. Like there are times where my jaw actually gets tired from talking in the accent, but I can't really process stopping it. And it just kind of turns on whenever I hear someone speaking in an accent. Then there are times where I fear that I might lose my normal way of speaking because I keep talking in these "I don't even know what accent you're trying to do" accents as described by Jane.

I'd love to receive some thoughts and insights regarding this. Is this a phenomenon of some sort in language or speech?