Top Indian Writer’s Shocking Book about Offshoring
by NJAmerican
There is no shortage of accounts of the mistreatment of British, Central European, and American customers by India based call centre workers. The acrimony of the call centre experience is being confounded by arrogance toward paying customers with ever increasing frequency. Best Selling Indian author, Chetan Bhagat, in his latest book, One Night at the Call Center reveals a dual animosity between Indian call centre workers and their customers. CONTINUES

This brief extract from the Yahoo / Agence France Presse book review is particularly daunting:

"'Remember, a thirty-five-year-old American's brain and IQ is the same as a 10-year-old Indian's brain ... Americans are dumb, just accept it. I don't want anyone losing their cool during the calls...' the instructor tells a class.

Bhagat, a 31-year-old investment banker based in Hong Kong, says this was a real instance which he came across on his trips to call centers during his six-month research for the book.

'My research showed me that this is what call center instructors teach the trainees,' says Bhagat, who has come down hard on outsourcing jobs."

It’s amazing how [these difficult to understand] call centre people always seem to play the victim, while many customers have been treated badly. Call centre treatment has become a joke in an extremely frustrating environment where customers must experience incompetence and lousy service while corporate executives remain indifferent. From a customer standpoint, will the call centre experience see less arrogance as a result of the article and the book? The most compelling question becomes, “Do we, as customers, want to pass our most personal financial data into the custody of those who may despise us?”

There is no doubt that unreasonable customers either exacerbate or contribute to an unpleasant call centre experience for good customers. But there is no excuse for inept corporate leaders who disrespect their customers to the point of subjecting them to what becomes a contentious trepidation over the telephone. There is no excuse, either, for fake British and “Americanized” names, fake domiciles, and fake accents - these strategies amount to “lying to the public.” Above all, there’s no excuse for firing British and American citizens for the sake of foreign nationals who have done nothing for the UK or for the US.

Based on the excellent Yahoo / Agence France Presse book review , both customers who use call centres as well as citizens/workers (particularly those affected by the offshoring crisis) may be interested in purchasing Chetan Bhagat's "One Night at a Call Centre," as well as the seeing the movie upon its release.

Supporting URLs

India Call Centres Suffer Storm of 4-Letter Words and follow up comments to this article.

John and Jane are Coming to a Cinema (and Call Centre) Near You

Young Indian Call Centre Employees are a New Dalit Elite

All [UK] Bank Call Centres Moved to India

Supporting URLs from Antioffshore.org

Ways to Detect a Call is Being Answered from Offshore

Allegations that Indian BPO is Selling British Citizen Data

Offshorer Dell - "Dell customer rating plunges..."

The Problem of Virtual Immigration