The Pandemic Soul

Outsourcing outrage: Indian call-center workers suffer abuse, via Fark

As a call-center employee, I can sympathize with some of these folks just in the sense that people really can be just nuts at times. But in all fairness, there are some serious issues with outsourcing call-center jobs abroad.

To clarify, I am not against outsourcing. As a die-hard liberal, even I can see that outsourcing is good for the global economy. And just jobs are lost here is not the end of the world — life will go on, people will find new jobs, and our economy will not collapse. In fact, it will be stronger. The economics of outsourcing are pretty clear and easy to find, though, so by all means look them up online sometime.

What I’m referring specifically to is the fact that, of all the jobs to outsource, one in which the primary method of connection is through speech seems to be a pretty poor choice. Communicating via the phone can be difficult for two people who are of the same language. There is no visual context to associate with speech patterns. But when you throw in there a foreign accent and perhaps a small lack of ability to understand one another’s complete meaning, and suddenly things get frustrating. Now add on to that the fact that people calling a call center are only doing so because there is a problem — well, it’s just a mess.

Furthermore, of all the times I have been routed to a foreign call center (perhaps four?), I have not yet spoken to a person who was not clearly and blatantly reading from a script. Now, does that not happen here in the U.S.? Not saying that. But it is doubly frustrating when you are trying your very best to explain to someone something that you really know nothing about (say, your computer), and not only are you having trouble understanding them, but they’re not really understanding you, and then they’re reading out of a help file! Does no one at these companies understand that I can look on your website and get to your convoluted and useless knowledgebase! What I need is someone who has been thoroughly schooled in the ways a computer can destroy my life, and can put my life back together with a few clever keyboard tricks.

Nonetheless, all this aside, there is no excuse for acting like a certified nutbag on the phone. Neither is there an excuse for being a racist. The people on the other end of the line realize that they took the job to make money, just as well as you do — they don’t need you to state the obvious to them. The funny thing is, someone in India can take a call center job for the money, and be glad that they have the job because of the money. Here in the U.S., you don’t take a call center job for the money — you take it because you need a job. And you’re a lot more disgruntled about having to deal with whackos for shit money than someone in India.

There’s something to think about.