Can we blame them?

[Jonbo298]

Just read

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/17/BUGB3FPGT01.DTL&type=printable

[Crash]

hell with that, I hate outsourcing and that crap... while I would never verbally abuse or insult the person on the phone (geez, it's not their fault)

I think the whole india customer service **** is ****

I just talked to one about an hour ago... can't understand the damn accents!

[Neo]

lol that's horrible

[Krypton]

holy crap.

that is bad.

[Dyne]

Yeah, outsourcing sucks. What can you do.

I like to think I don't need customer support lines in the first place. Some people are just really dumb and that's why they exist.

[Professor S]

I'll bet anything that the same people calling up those call center centers to verbalize their hatred of outsourcing would never work in a call center.

I have. It sucks. Let them do it.

[GameMaster]

Receiving telemarketer calls is not a fun event but you shouldn't be taking out on the person calling you. They're just doing their job. Sure, it's not an ideal career but some people don't have that choice. They take what they can get in order to survive. My mom complains about this when she receives calls from Dell. Apparently, Dell's payment/credit/bill/money center is in India because my mom one time asked where the caller was from and that's what they said. My mom's complaint was difficulty understanding the person on the other end. She also says some of them give off unfriendly (or at least uncourteous) vibes. If people are verbally assaulting them and acting like jackasses, I can't blame the Indians for feeling angry.

[Yan]

Althought I hate hate HATE telemarketeers (they always seem to call at the wrong time, 8.30am on a weekend, anyone?) I am never rude to them. Most of the time I just tell then that I'm busy or I'll pull the "Sorry-I'm-underage-and-I'm-not-responsible-for-these-matters" trick. Works a treat everytime.

I got a call from a guy who was trying to sell me a new phone plan the other day and he just kep talking on and on... I couldn't get a word in at all. Then he asked me where I'm from, and I told him I'm Malaysian.

He went, "Oh... I could tell you aren't Australian by your accent. You sound American and yeah, a bit Malaysian. By the way, I've been to Malaysia and they have wonderful beaches. Wonderful girls too! I bet you are very pretty because you have a very pretty voice. I love Malaysian girls blah blah blah..."

I hung up on him. :S

[Dylflon]

I always try to cut anyone I talk to who operates a phone for their living a lot of slack. They're abused by a lot of people so I try and treat them with as much respect as I can. I'll do research surveys from time to time if I have the time as well. They're usually very gracious when you take the time.

But I have mixed feelings about outsourcing. While it sucks that Americans are losing jobs and whatnot, there is something to put it in perspective. America is quite a wealthy country and if you lose a job operating a phone, there is a good chance that you could find another job that pays at least as well.
In places like India, they're paid much less for doing the jobs we do here in North America. So outsourcing has its positive side as it offers a better life to many Indians who may not have much otherwise.

The Indian middle class is coming into gear and the country is getting more together and able to participate in world trade and whatnot much like China and other nations. Everybody is getting closer to being on the same page. This makes it possible for better and fairer world trade in the future. And in a world where countries are more or less economically equal, they would be pulled together economically giving less cause for war. I don't think Iraq would ahve been invaded had they an economy that was up to speed with the western world.

So if you guys hold capitalism in such high regard, you should perhaps celebrate it working world wide.

Although there are still problems such as sweat shops and so forth, the world is becomming mroe economically tied in a positive way.

[manasecret]

Dyflon: Ditto. I mean, exactly. Capitalism is a good thing, and soon as the rest of the world can catch up to us I'm betting the world as a whole will be better off. But I also understand ideals suck when it's your job that's getting taken away.

The complaints sound similar to me about the illegal Mexicans, which is all crap to me. People have been complaing about that forever DEY TURK ER JAAAAARBS!!! Now people in New Orleans are complaining about the same thing. Mexicans turk err jarbs! they say. Some councilman on TV was going on and on about it. Those damn Mexicans are taking all the jobs that all the locals from New Orleans are too lazy to get back to New Orleans to do! How dare they take advantage of wide-open oppurtunities! Gods, it seems to me if a Mexican with little education straight from Mexico can do your job better than you then perhaps you need to be replaced.

Sorry, off topic.

I've talked to some Indians while helping a dentist I know fix her SBC DSL. She had an English accent, though it was forced enough that you could tell she was Indian. But I talked to her about India, what cities I should see if I ever make it to visit there. She was very nice. I think if she lived here in Houston I would have asked if she was free and would like to go to dinner haha.

[Su-Yin]

racist comments should never be made, whatever the situation.

[Jonbo298]

Yeah, racist like comments don't need to be said. I cringe whenever I get some person in India or Africa because its a pain trying to understand and half the time they just read off a script without thinking outside the box.

But I havent made any comments to a person in India about their accent on the phone unless the guy/gal is a total dumbass and has no clue what I'm talking about, I'll demand a supervisor or hopefully get someone who I can understand and doesnt talk a mile a minute.