Click the link above to read an interesting article from the British newspaper The Guardian about the sort of abuse that Indian call center workers are experiencing.
I have never spoke much about how I feel about outsourcing. I have mixed feelings about it, and I know there is no one right answer. I have had a couple of difficult experiences with overseas call centers, but I certainly can see it from their point of view. People complain that the outsourcing takes jobs away from Americans, I would be quick to tell them this is not the sort of job that you should cry about losing.
The horrible thing is that no matter who is right or wrong, there is a person, a real live person on the other end of the phone. They did not take this job because they answered an ad in the paper that said,
"Operators needed: Take jobs from arrogant Americans and prevent them from figuring out how to install printer drivers on their new computers. Dental benefits included!"No, there is a person who is doing everything they can to pay the rent, keep groceries in their pantry and just make it through the day like the rest of us. If you don't like outsourcing, fine, make sure to not do business with companies that use overseas call centers, but for the sake of all that is human and decent in our shared hearts that beat the same way with the same blood coursing through our veins, don't abuse someone who is just trying to make a living, it's not their fault!
Working in any call center has days where it really sucks, but to know that you are calling people that are going to call you racist names, make fun of the way you speak, and degrade your culture, well, that's just beyond call center purgatory, that my friends, would be call center hell.
Thanks for reading,
AC
Racism and disrespect is unacceptable. If you don't like who are you dealing with, stop doing business with them, don't torture the little guy on the other hand of the phone.
Its suffering. Changing name, accent and then all abuses. I cry every day before entering office.
: 5:04 PMThanks for commenting. I've had days where I cried before entering work, but I work days. I can identify, but I know you've got it rougher than me, by a long shot. My customers don't abuse me every day, 75% of the time they are pleasant. I don't have to change the way I speak, or change my name.
It's not right. People should not have to make a living this way. Changing your name just so some cracker on the other side of the world will feel more at home, thats not right.
Your kind of call center is the sort of abuse that someone needs to stop!
AC
