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echo: barktopus
to: All
from: Bruce Biermann
date: 2005-11-18 16:22:14
subject: Re: Americans abroad

From: "Bruce Biermann" 

By the time I have to call a call center, I'm going to be pretty
frustrated. And if the person answering the phone can't speak English,
German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian, I am even going to be more
frustrated.

I don't care if the call center is in India or Indiana, their purpose is to
assist me in resolving a problem.  If they fail in their purpose, due to
language or whatever, I will express my opinion of the firm they work for.

That doesn't excuse lack of civility, but I'm not sure location of the call
center matters.

"Adam"  wrote in message
news:437e166e$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27783
>
> "STAFF AT Indian call centres dealing with Americans are getting more
> angry at some callers' rude, backward, stupid and bigoted comments.
>
> A collective for Indian workers, formed by Vinod Shetty, a Bombay lawyer,
> said that most of the Americans seemed to have chip on their shoulder
> about outsourcing and vented their insecurities on call centre staff.
>
> Shetty, who was interviewed by the San Francisco Gate newspaper, said that
> a lot of trauma is caused by rude Americans.
>
> The Indians have recently made a sitcom about working in a call centre
> which unleashed a storm in the ancient country. Mostly because it was
> based on true cases and depict Westerners as arrogant, immoral and
> comically rude.
>
> One of the episodes recreates a real-life exchange that occurred in
> January between an American and an Indian agent. The Philadelphia radio
> show "Star and Buc Wild," host Troi Terrain phoned an Indian
call centre
> pretending to order hair beads for his daughter
>
> "Listen to me, you dirty rat eater," Terrain growled.
"I'll come out there
> and choke the crap out of you. You're a filthy rat eater. I'm calling
> about my American six year old white girl. How dare you outsource my
> call?"
>
> Now Americans thought that a huge joke, because they liked Friends, but
> when the Indians are dealing with this sort of stuff every day it starts
> to be too close to reality to be funny.
>
> For example, the Gate tells of a call from a woman in Texas recently to a
> bloke in an Indian call centre. She started by saying that thanks to
> outsourcing: "You are getting money, food, shelter. You should be
> starving."
>
> She berated him for 12 minutes before she finally allowed him to offer
> advice that promptly fixed her problem – turn her computer off and reboot.
> "
>
>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/17/BUGB3FPGT01.DTL&t
ype=tech
>
> "Das, who quit the job after four months, said she learned to dislike
> Americans. "Rarely, there are people who are good," she said
by e-mail,
> "but then others remind me that all they believe in is cursing, and they
> don't have respect for others."
>
> Her opinion is not uncommon among many workers in India's burgeoning
> call-center industry. "
>
> Adam

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