Ah, the Union mentality. Consider the behavior of the two different sides in this story-- frankly, I don't want to have to communicate with the people on the American end.
Posted on 01/11/2005 3:19:12 PM PST by Arjun
MUMBAI: "Q: I'm curious as to what kind of responses you have been getting. Do you use curse words at them?
A: I made an Indian woman cry and promise to quit her job in 60 seconds. You can do it too!"
This is only a random (and printable) selection from the thousands of messages in cyberspace calling for a campaign to harass Indian call centre operators, to put an end to the offshoring of jobs. The same person goes on to describe some more of his experiences while calling these call centres, an activity to which he promises to devote "one hour every day".
"Actually the usual response is confusion...I get the impression these are not the brightest bulbs in India's chandeliers. Often, they give me a 'courtesy laugh' as if I were joking and ask how they can help me. Usually, I limit the calls to 60 seconds anyway, so I can call back and really hammer them. I've been doing this about 20 minutes a day. It's great fun!" The person goes on to give the names and numbers of some popular MNCs with Indian call centres.
In the last few months, and particularly since the US presidential elections, people working in call centres in the country say that they are receiving more abusive and racist phone calls than ever before. "Earlier, people would get abusive if we didn't answer their questions satisfactorily. Now, I get calls—on some days up to five a shift—from people who are calling only to abuse," says Shalini J, a 22-year-old engineering graduate who works in a major call centre in Malad.
In fact, call centres are even training their employees specifically for this. "There is a 'mute' button on our system which we have been trained to press as soon as we get a call," says Aslesha M, another engineering graduate who works in a call centre in Pune. Aslesha says the button mutes any sound from their end so that inadvertent responses to abusive language are not heard by the caller. "When the person has finished saying all he/she wants to say, then I press the 'talk' button and reply," she says.
While earlier, abusive calls would usually come from drunken callers, now they come from sober people who are calling only to vent their feeling about their jobs being offshored, or 'Bangalored' as it is now called, says Suneet V, a Mumbai call centre executive. Suneet says that they have been told never to hang up on the caller. Instead, "de-stressing, yoga, and special training on how to deal with this is given to us," says Suneet.
Most call centres have caller-ID systems, and habitually abusive callers, they say, are sometimes screened out after 12 to 15 calls. But they're up against people who are not only angry, but also smart. Take this post, for example:
"I have inside knowledge of call centres, having worked in several. It's crucial that the agents be efficient. Barraging them with 60-second calls will ruin their stats and also lower their morale. Eventually, they'll start thinking 'another damn rude American a******' every time a call comes up. All of this will have a cumulative effect. If 100 people across the US would commit to spending 10 minutes a day, we could cripple them, and bring those jobs back to the US."
Indian people are the only people I know who still smile even when they are pissed off. I mean that as a compliment.
I find that technique very effective in further driving rude,nasty and racist clients over the edge.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm, one of my nieces works in an American call center. She said she OFTEN gets nasty calls.
They have to smile. Curry has that effect on mouth muscles.
If this is true, it's despicable. Why would you intentionally insult and harass honest people who are just doing their jobs?
If you're unhappy about American companies outsourcing work to India, take it up with the American company. If you feel unfair governmental regulations (whether American or Indian) are to blame, take it up with the government. Or better yet, start your own company and do a better job at a better price right here at home. That's the way to create and retain American jobs.
Don't crap all over people (who are probably less fortunate than you) who are trying to make a living and feed their families just like you are.
I have heard rumors from SBC workers that SBC will be bringing back ALL their outsourced jobs.
I tend to find responding with "white trash" (as I did to a neighbor in Brooklyn not too long ago) or "ghetto Rican" (as I did to a rude customer when I worked in retail) only serves to make them angrier and more of a nuisance.
Ah, the Union mentality. Consider the behavior of the two different sides in this story-- frankly, I don't want to have to communicate with the people on the American end.
I guess yelling at somone with the intent of proving that americans are racist idiots somehow makes sense.
Personally, I try not to intentionally give the impression that the people of the US act like garbage, but thats just me.
Agreed.. the service industry attracts a lot of angry people with issues. They figure that we need their business so we can be treated any which way.
Dell outsourced some of their support calls, then brought a lot of it back to the USA. The secret weapon that forced them to? Southern accents - Indians just could not seem to understand what the person was saying.
This sounds like a great technique to make our corporations more inefficient, and build a reputation to be more rude and nasty than the French among people who are our allies. Gee, what a wonderful idea! /sarcasm!
No not at all. Being nice and smiling even when someone is calling me names is better than getting down on their level.
They also smile when twisting the knife in your back. Always remember: the wider the smile, the deeper the hate.
This is really terrible. I understand how people can get frustrated, expecially when they've lost their jobs. But they're targeting the wrong people, and it strikes me as cowardly. These are just poor saps doing a job to support their families. If you want to get at the corporations that moved the jobs overseas, call THEM. Or, even better, look in the mirror and ask yourself why the jobs moved.
We all have to adjust to the changing economic environment. Those who expect to do the same job for more-and-more money for 35 years without improving their skills or education are just plain stupid. No insult to anyone intended. Really. :-)
C'mon...those folks in India aren't the ones who made the choice to outsource the jobs. That was done by American managers.
If anyone wants to give someone hell over the phone, I suggest they start with the upper management types who did the outsourcing, not the unoffending drone who got the outsourced job.
That is as disgusting as screaming at a cashier because your credit card is declined.
It makes no sence to call a call center to abuse call center employees.
Why don't they call the executives of the company(s) they have a beef with instead?
This in no way means I will not seriously waste the time of any rude phone soliciter who does not accept my polite "no thanks" and calls me again.
Sheesh, if anything you should feel sorry for the poor people having to work in call centers. Call center jobs suck, period.
I am a Caucasian, born in Chicago. I happen to have a very strong, very positive feeling toward Hindus. Unfortunately my experience with most Indian service center employees is that even though they may be very intelligent and very polite, and have strong desire to be helpful and do a good job, the cultural gap is just too great.
The lack of direct experience with the American credit card system, the American telecommunications industry, and the American computer industry usually ends up causing quite a negative experience as far as receiving the help that I called in about.
This has happened to me so many times, that when an Indian answers, unless I have reached the rare exception who truly can help me, I will politely end the call and try again later. I will repeat this until I get an American or Canadian.
Europeans, and Turks also seem to be able to relate to the cultural and societal subtexts better than the Indians.
Hindu-Americans are savvy to the subtler issues, so it is not a matter of racial profiling, but rather a matter of a lack of hands on experience with the technologies and procedures involved.
I believe that the short term advantage that the American companies may be enjoying with Indian call centers could result in a net long term negative, if my experience is typical.
My customer service experience has already convinced me to never to business with certain companies no matter how enticing their product or service may be.
The absolute worst company by far is Dell Computers. This is true no matter who answers the phone!
I talked to one not long ago about a dial-up problem with my internet service. The person had a heavy Indian accent so we talked slow and resolved the problem. He was EXTREMELY knowledgable and I was happy with the results.
On the other hand, I called the Social Security Administration about a problem with my mother-in-law's checks. Before I had talked one minute I wanted to strangle the b*tch, er, person on the other end. They could not do a simple request and the problem is now worse than before.
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