Posted on 02/16/2004 5:57:43 PM PST by John Jorsett
Food stamp recipients in California having trouble with their accounts no longer speak to customer service representatives within the state -- but they are not supposed to know that. Operators at call centers in India and Mexico, who work for a company that handles transactions in the state's food stamp program, are trained not to reveal their location.
This fog of private-sector confidentiality is at the center of an intensifying national debate over the exodus of white collar jobs to low-wage labor markets abroad. California lawmakers are trying to get a handle on how many state government services have been sent offshore by contractors. But the task is proving to be practically impossible.
Two bills that would ban offshore outsourcing of state services have been introduced in the state Assembly this year, and more are pending. Yet it is far from clear how such restrictions could be enforced, state officials and legislative sources say, because state agencies do not keep track of where the multitude of private contractors do their work.
California is only now building a computer database that could track the $6 billion in contracts it awards every year to the private sector for goods and services, said Rob Deignan, a spokesman for the General Services Department. But it won't have the capacity to monitor subcontracting services that might go overseas.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
First of all why is anyone who can't speak English getting food stamps? Seems to me, if a legal immigrant needs welfare, that immigrant is a "public charge" failed immigrant and should be sent home. If the immigrant is illegal...well that's self explanatory.
And secondly, is anyone missing the irony of Mexican immigrants callin Mexican call centers to complain about not getting their US taxpayer money fast enough?
O: Namaste! Thees is Pradip Singh, how mey I hulp you?
C: Huh? Whas that, you callin' me nasty?
O: OOOOhhhh Nooo Sirrr. I trying so hard nice to be.
C: Look, man. I ain't got my stamps yet, man. Its like gettin' real close to wheres I cain't get no more beer, and like the ol' lady's been hollerin and sh*t, so I gotta find wheres I kin get some stamps.
O: Oooh yes sahib! Believe me you, I know how you feel so hungry for the rice you must take any job. Now where may I send mail for you to stamp come get?
C: WTF? Whachoo speekin', Spic?
O: Nooo sir maam. I am speaking Sacramento.
C: Sacrawhosits?
O: I calling from Sacramental am.
C: So where's I get them stamps, dammit!?
O: Yessir. Go to de postal orifice, show yoor papers, and dey gottem dere.
C: What cr@p was that about orifice?
O: To the post where mail you letters from.
C: Sh*t. Office. You mean the Post Office.
O: Yessireebobob!
C: Sacramento?
O: I speak Sacramento, only yessireebooboob!
Oh really? Try firing a bureaucrat.
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