Samudra

Racism is just a phone call away

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."

ChrisF202

What is your source?

No offense, but we need to stop outsourcing jobs. Im not saying that we should use racism to stop this, but it cant go on forever. We have plenty of unemployed Americans who should be doing this job, I know several people who were laid off from jobs and were outsourced to a person in India.

Samudra

I have my source.
Do you want some transcipts too ?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...how/987643.cms

Ask your companies to stop outsourcing and racists to stop their outpour of stupidity.
We cant help it and it aint our problem !

There has been another vulgur , inhuman exhibit of foolishness.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...how/988029.cms

May be this is also because men are losing jobs and this needs to stop.No i mean ,racism ,need not stop , the outsourcing has to stop.Correct Chris ?

Does this reflect the American Society ? I pray not.I am confident it is not.
Or should i re-think ?

Veni Vidi Vici

Business will do what is good for business. And unemployment rate in the US is a LOT lower then the Unemployment rate in India. Something like 5% to 20~30%.

__________________
"Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS…" -- Thomas Paine

Asim Aquil

Hmmm I can't remember this book, I read...

Its something like the hidden American war..... Its all about this phenomenon.

Its mostly just happening in America, because their corporations just go for cheaper n cheaper. Think Japan for instance. They go for better tech, which helps increase productivity in any case and they don't have to lay off as many people.

Really nice book. You think 1000 abusive minutes a day would stop people from outsourcing these jobs? People can be trained to speak English in an American accent, once that happens, how'll you tell the difference?

So you have to live with it, sooner or later. If India's doing call centers, go do something bigger. Bigger economy, stop thinking small...

Early in the day, America started off as an economy that supplied some basic raw materials and that was its business. Times improved and it got into a Manufacturing economy, that passed and then came the service economy, I guess thats changing too. Ever heard of the Experience Economy?

Google it up you'll find these tidbits on Macro-economics interesting. Especially in light of America, since the US usually sets these trends.

Ray

Asim,

CNN's Satinder Bindra's phoney American accent is jarring.

Asim Aquil

using accents to show off should be a thing of the past now, its really just a matter of being understandable.

ChrisF202

Thanks for the source, I dont trust things without sources, its how I am. Why should try to get job only to find that all the jobs were outsourced? How would you feel if half the people in your community with computer assiatnce jobs and the like were liad off and had their jobs outsourced to a foreign country just for profit? Where did I say in my post that his racist comments were the correct thing to do?

Samudra

Mistake is mine.I think i somehow missed the url in the first post.

If you were using that logic , any country wouldnt want to import
anything....move on.We buy so many from America , we sell so many to America.
Outsourcing should be seen purely in this sense.

Capitalists want profit , and how can India be blamed for being competitive ?
Mind that i said , am confident such actions do not reflect the true American society.

Ray

Outsourcing is the prerogative of the company that wants outsourcing to increase their profits.

Therefore, it would be wrong to blame the folks of the country to which outsourcing is being done.

Racist comments? Tape it and send it to the compnay which has outsourced. Good if they sort the matter out, otherwise try your own way.

Thereafter, give it back to the racist with polite innuendos.

Eg. 'Sorry, sir, no, this is not a KKK outsourcing agency. I am afraid you have the wrong number'.

Would you lose your job? Maybe. Yet, it could then become a point for rallying the folks against such racist joes.

Most racists are bullies with an empty head. Very little education. Give them some super British lines and see how confused they get. Make them feel intellectually inferior with total politeness. My example above is for the hopeless cases.

Asim Aquil

Racist comments are an ineffective ploy anyway. Especially once you understand what exactly these guys are trying to do, and don't let it bother you.

But seriously Americans should see this as a sign of skill evolution. There are bigger and better jobs out there in the IT field, than to answer some question on how to restart a PC.

I think the issue has been made bigger than it really is. Americans can still outperform everyone else in the field of IT, they just need to think bigger.

Confed999

Racists suck...

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I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
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Khalsa_starr

But outsourcing is good - to the other side ofcourse. Yes the American empire and it's power have already began to slowly decline. Especially after the dot-com bust, 9/11, invasions of Afg and iraq, sliding dollar, outsourcing jobs, urban decay ramant, lost jobs - the list goes on. Remember the roman empire before it fell? The united states are almost in the same position. The less powerful countries in the world are turning against the states.

It's not good, but "what goes up, must come down"

MIKEMUN

[QUOTE=Khalsa_starr]But outsourcing is good - to the other side ofcourse. Yes the American empire and it's power have already began to slowly decline. Especially after the dot-com bust, 9/11, invasions of Afg and iraq, sliding dollar, outsourcing jobs, urban decay ramant, lost jobs - the list goes on. Remember the roman empire before it fell? The united states are almost in the same position. The less powerful countries in the world are turning against the states.

It's not good, but "what goes up, must come down"[/quote]


Oh man,you're way behind the times. We don't use such words anymore...We don't use the word empire,we use democracy..Likewise we don't use the word invade...We use liberate,bring a beacon of freedom,remove tyrants... ....Actually it is nothing new...The States has had a lot of unfriendlies since WWII,even before..Most of the current ones just happen to have oil...The US's economy is actually in better shape than most countries,for example Germany....And if I remember correctly,the Roman empire continued being an empire a couple more centuries after it fell...It was those horrible Huns who finally told the Romans to pack up and go home...

jon_j_rambo

@Gupta --- Dude, that's one story from some internet punk, whatever. Anyways, what do you expect? You're taking the sorry jobs, that's why we give them to you. You think the customer service reps are treated any better when they worked in the United States? People raise hell (heaven) all the time to customer service, that is part of Capitalism; we expect service! Go into any business within the United States, when there is a problem, the customer will voice their point! Deal with it. Your job is to serve (thus customer service). If you don't want to deal with customers, find another job.

Far as racism, India is the most racist nation, they hate their own kind, it's that silly little racist "Class System" that India has, arranged marriages (sad, very sad indeed). The United States has a such a diverse population & we get along the best! Plus, we are free & have the best way of life in the history of the world!

Indian workers are lazy, not innovative, & don't have a clue about the United States. They are one click above Mexican labor. Funny thing is, China will undercut India, the USA has no loyalty to India, because all you are is price.

The real technology is in the States, always has, always will. What drives the economy is a Christain nation, because God does the blessing.