Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in the
US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in India,
and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff. 'When you move
jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot of pent-up
frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he said.

There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem was
no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to speak
to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough English
to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the U.S. Don't
hold your breath.

Shamelessly stolen from alt.tasteless:

(a real laugh riot! Great ways on how 2 insult foreign tech support monkeys
!!)

"Auto" wrote in message
oups.com...
Indian call staff quit over abuse on the line

Abuse from British and American customers is driving increasing numbers
of Indian call centre workers from their jobs, defeated by the strain
of handling persistent rudeness.

Irate customers was cited as one of the main industry stress factors in
a recent survey of call centre staff and some organisations have begun
employing psychiatrists and counsellors to help employees to cope.

'I've had people tell me, "Back off, Paki, and don't call me again",
said Eugene, 27, whose former employer, Spectrumind, provided an
accounts services for BT. 'There was a lot of racist abuse once people
detected from our accents that we weren't English. I saw girls reduced
to tears by it.'

Pooja Chopra, 29, from Delhi, who spent two years fielding calls for BT
Cellnet and America Online, faced similar abuse. 'People would say,
"You're a Paki, I don't want to talk to you, pass me to someone who can
speak my language".

Workers face a spectrum of rudeness - from sexual harassment to fury at
unsolicited sales calls, to open racism. Industry analysts have seen
the phenomenon of racist clients grow in recent years, as customers in
the UK and the US become increasingly sensitive to the political issue
of jobs outsourced to India.

Shyamanuja Das, editor of Global Outsourcing magazine, which published
a study on the stress factors triggering call centre resignations, said
that hostility from clients was one of the factors which caused workers
to quit - 25 per cent of those questioned said client vitriol was a
major cause of stress.

'The anger in the West over job losses and fear about offshoring has
made this a growing problem. Some people call up with deliberately
difficult questions. Most just say things like: "You're from India. You
don't know anything. I don't want to speak to you", he said.

Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in the
US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in India,
and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff. 'When you move
jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot of pent-up
frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he said.

As staff turnover is a major problem, with some companies battling an
annual departure rate of 60-70 per cent, organisations are taking
radical steps to help staff to deal with abuse. In recent months some
firms have decided to provide psychological support to their workers.
Sanjay Salooja's Delhi-based firm, Empower, has 20 trained counsellors
who tour the city's largest call centres, providing support to harassed
employees.

'Most employees are very young and don't have the skills to allow them
to cope with this kind of abuse,' he said. Workers are already feeling
the stress of having to work through the night and are under extreme
pressure to meet productivity targets. 'They are vulnerable anyway, and
an abusive call really knocks confidence. They don't want to take
another call for an hour or two, and their performance is impacted.'

The idea of consulting therapists remains taboo in much of Indian
society, but the stigma is waning. 'Our research shows that about 50
per cent of workers would like the chance to receive counselling,'
Deepal Raheja, one of the programme's psychiatrists, said.

The therapists try to help staff realise that the abuse is not personal
and to put things in perspective, he said. 'Somebody I counselled was
very upset after a British customer had asked for an address near
Trafalgar Square and he had to admit he didn't know where Trafalgar
Square was. His customer became very abusive, and the incident really
dented his self-esteem,' he said.

Some companies still specify staff must anglicise their names, adopting
forenames such as Mary and John, to try to stave off resentment.

There are no unions yet to represent the 350,000 workers in the Indian
call centre business, but unionist Gautam Mody, who is trying to launch
the first call centre workers' collective, said this was a problem that
needed to be addressed urgently abroad. 'Some workers are deeply hurt
by this abuse. The issue of xenophobia cannot be resolved from this
end; there must be a battle against it in the countries responsible.'

More organisations have started to let staff hang up on persistently
rude customers (formerly a sackable offence), after warning them three
times to mind their language. Trainers try to help new staff understand
the different cultural forms of rudeness they are likely to encounter.

'British customers can be very rude but in a polite way,' Anita
Bhuttar, training vice-president of GTL, a Mumbai-based company, said.
'Usually they won't use abusive language but you can tell from the tone
of their voice they're angry.'

'I found it difficult to work for British clients,' Pooja Chopra said.
'They wouldn't call you names, but you could hear the hostility in
their voices. The US customers were generally much more easy-going.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/inter...494871,00.html

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in the
US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in India,
and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff. 'When you move
jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot of pent-up
frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he said.


There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem was
no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to speak
to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough English
to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the U.S. Don't
hold your breath.


It's worse than you think. The US politicians seem addicted to using overseas
call centres. You'd think they would keep the jobs at home, being your public
servants and all...

=============================================

Georgia is one of 32 states using the same two call centers in India and another
in Mexico for Spanish-speaking callers.

http://www.11alive.com/specials/uswo...?storyid=49513
=============================================




mike

m II wrote in news:E39oe.42532$tt5.1042@edtnps90:

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in
the US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in
India, and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff.
'When you move jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot
of pent-up frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he
said.


There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem
was no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to
speak to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough
English to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the
U.S. Don't hold your breath.


It's worse than you think. The US politicians seem addicted to using
overseas call centres. You'd think they would keep the jobs at home,
being your public servants and all...

=============================================

Georgia is one of 32 states using the same two call centers in India
and another in Mexico for Spanish-speaking callers.

http://www.11alive.com/specials/uswo...e.aspx?storyid
=49513 =============================================




mike


Most Indians speak very good English, at least in the cities, AFAIK. I've
never been to India, but all the Indians I've met elsewhere spoke perfect
English, albeit sometimes heavily accented. They have many different
languages and use English as a lingua franca to talk to other Indians in
their own country, so complete fluency is more the rule than the exception.

Of course, they do speak what you would regard as British English, but I
understand that the call centres all give training in American
colloquialisms. I've never had the least trouble communicating with anyone
in Indian call centres, but then I am British, after all. Perhaps you will
all have to learn the Queen's English? It makes a change from learning to
label your rubbish 'basura'. Perhaps I could offer classes in how to
communicate with call centres in proper English. Note that they are call
'centres', not 'centers'. The British Empire strikes back!

They always seem particularly pleased to hear an English voice on the line,
and sometimes ask me if I like cricket. I think it is a relief for them not
to have to talk American. They can get quite chatty. There was one funny
incident when I asked one of them if he was in India and he told me that he
wasn't allowed to answer that question!

"The US politicians seem addicted to using overseas call centres."

JS Just how are politicians addicted to using overseas calling
centers. Other than the occasional one who might call a porn talk site
of course....

m II wrote:

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in the
US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in India,
and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff. 'When you move
jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot of pent-up
frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he said.


There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem was
no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to speak
to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough English
to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the U.S. Don't
hold your breath.

It's worse than you think. The US politicians seem addicted to using overseas
call centres. You'd think they would keep the jobs at home, being your public
servants and all...

Seems like some use was made of some facilities up in CanaDuh as well. No need to
employ Canuckys when we should be employing folks right here at home.

Soon, folks all over CanaDuh will be standing on line to get their daily ration of
poutine.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

I agree. My experience with american call centers has been about as
good as those that appear to be located overseas. The quality of the
response is directly related to the skills and knowlege of the
individual - their location has little to do with it. Tucson, Arizona
has numerous call centers operating there, and I would guess many of
the operators have a non-U.S. accent as well. When calling a call
center my purpose is to get information. I've found that by staying
cordial and sometimes repeating a question that I get the results I'm
looking for. Some on this forum(not you) seem to be more focused on
insulting the operators and generally causing problems. They must have
a lot of free time.

"Alun L. Palmer" wrote in message
.. .
m II wrote in news:E39oe.42532$tt5.1042@edtnps90:

Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:
Blue Cornchips wrote:


Vijay Mukhi, a call centre analyst, said websites have sprung up in
the US giving phone numbers of companies which use call centres in
India, and listing Hindi swear words to be used to abuse staff.
'When you move jobs away from a country, there's going to be a lot
of pent-up frustration which gets let out on Indian workers,' he
said.


There might not be so much frustration if they could understand enough
English to understand your problem. I delt with a help desk in India
over a credit card issue...never could get it across what my problem
was no matter how many ways I attempted to expalin it, when I asked to
speak to a manager, she hung up.
Maybe these companies will finally get the message that customers are
getting tired of dealing with people who can't understand enough
English to be of any help and bring the support centers back to the
U.S. Don't hold your breath.


It's worse than you think. The US politicians seem addicted to using
overseas call centres. You'd think they would keep the jobs at home,
being your public servants and all...

=============================================

Georgia is one of 32 states using the same two call centers in India
and another in Mexico for Spanish-speaking callers.

http://www.11alive.com/specials/uswo...e.aspx?storyid
=49513 =============================================




mike


Most Indians speak very good English, at least in the cities, AFAIK. I've
never been to India, but all the Indians I've met elsewhere spoke perfect
English, albeit sometimes heavily accented. They have many different
languages and use English as a lingua franca to talk to other Indians in
their own country, so complete fluency is more the rule than the
exception.

Of course, they do speak what you would regard as British English, but I
understand that the call centres all give training in American
colloquialisms. I've never had the least trouble communicating with anyone
in Indian call centres, but then I am British, after all. Perhaps you will
all have to learn the Queen's English? It makes a change from learning to
label your rubbish 'basura'. Perhaps I could offer classes in how to
communicate with call centres in proper English. Note that they are call
'centres', not 'centers'. The British Empire strikes back!

They always seem particularly pleased to hear an English voice on the
line,
and sometimes ask me if I like cricket. I think it is a relief for them
not
to have to talk American. They can get quite chatty. There was one funny
incident when I asked one of them if he was in India and he told me that
he
wasn't allowed to answer that question!


Hello, Alan


Thank you for your kind offer, but I have a few friends in the U.K. who have
kindly offered to teach me the Queen's English.

I did catch some flak one time when I created a database and had a
sub-category of "moulded" components. We tend to drop the letter "u" over
here quite a bit. And we had better, given the political climate over here
)

Unfortunately, I have no idea if I can set my spell checker for the Queen's
English; if I could, I most certainly would as I would use it especially to
communicate with a couple of extreme right-wing friends on the net

For what it is worth, my grandfather (my father's dad) was Scottish; he
emigrated to the U.S. when he was 7 years old.



73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA

Best to avoid racist terms such as "paki". It's right up there with
"******". "Monkey" is no better - only applied from what I see to non-white
persons, it's at about the level of "boy".

Blue Cornchips wrote:


Shamelessly stolen from alt.tasteless:

(a real laugh riot! Great ways on how 2 insult foreign tech support
monkeys !!)

uncle arnie wrote:

Best to avoid racist terms such as "paki". It's right up there with
"******". "Monkey" is no better - only applied from what I see to non-white
persons, it's at about the level of "boy".

Blue Cornchips wrote:


Shamelessly stolen from alt.tasteless:

(a real laugh riot! Great ways on how 2 insult foreign tech support
monkeys !!)



And people then wonder why the tech support "monkey" in India is so
surly. If you lived in Bangalore and had to work from 9pm to 5am doing
tech support for Americans who call you "paki" all the time, you'd be
mad too.


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