My financial and medical benefits are administered by a large international service provider, the kind that has call centers all over the globe. Owing to the repeated change in my status over the last year and the sheer incompetence of the Online Automatic Information Updater, I have often been stranded without a necessary service inspite of payments made religiously each month. Late and Finance Charges are a fate worse than leprosy to my financially-neurotic family.
Either these call centers in “Toronto and New Hampshire,” as I’ve been told, are abuzz with female benefits representatives of exclusively Indian ethnicity OR the centers are in India with Indian workers. The latter option seems more reasonable given a) the higher likelihood of a group of women with thinly-veiled Indian accents actually being in India and b) they do not struggle with any part of my name.
Each time I am towards the end of a call with one of these ladies, I ask for her name. Before you accuse me of yanking this poor woman’s chain, I simply want to know if she will be honest with someone whose name is Maitri As-South-Indian-As-ThairVadai-Last-Name. Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with Brittany Smith and her manager, Holly McMichael, names offered of their own volition. While speaking with Holly, I asked where her center is located.
“We’re in … uhhhh … New Hampshire.”
Yeah. Right. Common decency kept me from verbalizing my next question, “Are you really in New Hampshire?” Of course, she’s not going to tell me where she really is lest she lose her job, much less her standing as a call center manager.
The discomfort arises from this: As an Indian-American, I can hear through Brittany’s and Holly’s accents easily to realize they are neither White(-sounding) nor in this country. Can’t other Americans who have lived in this country for much longer than I do the same? Are these Call Center Socio-Linguistics Lessons fooling anyone? Alternatively, do regular Americans just not care as long as it’s a Holly, Jim or Joe at the other end who can take care of the problem? If this is the case, I should not have to hear from quite a few colleagues that “they have just had it” with the Benefits and IT call centers because neither can these representatives speak understandable American* nor can they help solve local problems.
*I cringe when Americans accuse foreigners, especially Indians, of not being able to speak English. They speak English perfectly, even better than the average American at times, but they don’t do it with an American accent. Be specific.
Melvin Durai has picked up on this trend in his own humorous fashion with the latest edition of his column:
On this warm afternoon [in the year 2020], the professor is teaching three ambitious [American] students how to communicate with Indian customers.
Professor: “Okay, Gary, Randy and Jane, first we need to give you Indian names. Gary, from now on, you’ll be known to your customers as Gaurav. Randy, you’ll be Ranjit. And Jane, you’ll be Jagadamba. Now imagine you just received a call from Delhi. What do you say?”
For the life of me, I cannot see how the transparency of Harini or Jagadish can hurt the average American. The American name is window dressing and signifies nothing, not when the desired outcome is my problem fixed in cogent English. Or is it? In this nation of a growing and contributing Indian-American population, that the non-Indian segment demands coddling with vanilla and white bread is troubling when these same people benefit from the advantages of participation in a global economy. On whose terms are we all participating in the “pursuit of happiness?” Really, who wins here?
I think Melvin Durai’s site is down.
Nope, I just got through alright.
Ms A.Roy has written on this topic too.
Is it in her “The Cost of Living” book? I haven’t read that one yet.
I think the deception stems from something pretty simple: a lot of Americans have gotten into a media-induced frenzy about outsourcing. The paranoia is not borne out by the numbers, but it’s there. And most companies do not want to let their customers know that they are part of this trend. Add in some basic American xenophobia, and you’ve got Holly and Brittany.
Of course, those same American consumers do not want to pay more for anything so that these companies can pay the costs of providing services from the US.
Eventually, the reality will sink in: there’s a big country with a lot of capable people speaking fluent English halway across the world, and the telecom costs to connect that country to the US are tiny, and the economics of the situation make oustourcing of certain jobs inevitable. Trying to hold on to jobs where you’ve no competitive advantage is always a losing game.
Nope I think that was all about the dam/NBA. This is another book I believe called Power Politics. An excerpt:
In a Call Center College, hundreds of young English-speaking Indians are being groomed to staff the backroom operations of giant transnational companies. They are trained to answer telephone queries from the United States and the United Kingdom (on subjects ranging from a credit card inquiry to advice about a malfunctioning washing machine or the availability of cinema tickets). On no account must the caller know that his or her inquiry is being attended to by an Indian sitting at a desk on the outskirts of Delhi.
The Call Center Colleges train their students to speak in American and British accents. They have to read foreign papers so they can chitchat about the news or the weather. On duty they have to change their given names. Sushma becomes Susie, Govind becomes Jerry, Advani becomes Andy. (Hi! I’m Andy. Gee, hot day, innit? Shoot, how can I help ya?) Actually it’s worse: Sushma becomes Mary. Govind becomes David. Perhaps Advani becomes Ulysses.
Call center workers are paid one-tenth of the salaries of their counterparts abroad. From all accounts, call centers are billed to become a multibillion-dollar industry.
I worked in a call center of sorts in the U.S. a few years ago. It was amusing to me how many people asked where we were, even though I speak with a perfect English accent. One of my colleagues, a sweet Assamese girl, spoke perfect colonial-style English and predictably got cornered by the “Where are you guys located?” question. But in all honesty, I think it was our midwestern mannerisms that tricked our east coast client into thinking we were elsewhere in the world. ;)
Ultimately, many of my duties were outsourced to India where it would cost a fraction to pay someone to do what I do. It makes a lot of business-sense to do that, and until the faces and names behind the money are browner, Sushma will become Susie, etc.
The Northwest reps are inevitably in Minnesota with thick upper-midwestern accents. They always love it when I tell them I’m from Wisconsin and recognize the accent because they get the “Where are you?” question as well.
A close cousin, whose name I will not reveal but rest assured that it is VERY Indian, worked a telemarketing job for a long time, during which no one asked her where she was from, even though she used her real name. I bet it’s probably because she’s from Ohio and speaks in perfect Americana.
that was all very confusing…
biggie-size that?
“The American name is window dressing and signifies nothing”
Um.. It does signify something.. in fact, something very important. It’s an attempt at putting the customer at ease. It tells the customer .. “I empathize with you, and I will solve your problem.” That is not an unimportant message.
It’s simply human, at a time when one is stressed, to trust people who look like you expect them to, and talk like you expect them to. The average dentist doesn’t wear a floral shirt and bermudas to work, does he? And I’m guessing the average lawyer doesn’t chew gum or wear a backwards cap on, at his practice.. With good reason. Irrespective of competence, a casual approach to presentation signifies flippancy, which increases stress levels, rather than calm any anxiety.
Remember, call/service centers are not fora to assert ethnic identities. They’re in it to solve problems, raise the level of service and increase repeat business. If it means wearing an alternate identity, so be it.
To attribute anxiety to xenophobia is, a bit extreme. C’mon, Americans are human too.. For all their flaws, they’re still relatively likeable.. Let’s not expect superhuman qualities of them, just because they have some wealth.
The high level of service an average American consumer is accustomed to is an outward sign of something important – respect for the individual.
That is a lesson sadly forgotten in Socialist India. I can only hope that we in India will re-learn the importance of providing true service, by working with foreign clients. There is nothing there to be abashed about. In any free market, service is always on the terms of the customer, and those are the only terms that matter.
Pace .. Ms. Roy.. (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?)
To call her work “books” is misleading. They’re cleverly worded, no doubt. But they are not books, they’re polemics. She is not an analyst, she’s a sophist.. a panderer. For example, the purported speech..
“Hi! I’m Andy. Gee, hot day, innit? Shoot, how can I help ya?”
When was the last time you heard a call center employee say that? Or for that matter, any American?
“Actually it’s worse: Sushma becomes Mary. Govind becomes David. Perhaps Advani becomes Ulysses.”
Why pray, is it worse? There’s nothing before or after that line to tell us why Mary is worse than Susie.. or why David is worse than Jerry.
Notice the short, stubby sentences. Definitive. And utterly conclusive. Paragraphs with self-contained logic. No hint of ambiguity. Or of second thoughts. Or anything beyond a direct cause and effect relationship between events. It’s self evident that somehow things became worse. Inexplicably. Oh wait. She thought of an explanation.
A Capitalist decided to make money. So someone in the US lost a good job. And someone in India got a crappy job. So, the capitalist is also a kill-joy. S/He converted a great job in the US into a crappy job in India. Boo!
“Call center workers are paid one-tenth of the salaries of their counterparts abroad.”
Notice the innumeracy, the indifference to accuracy of numbers.. One-tenth is a nice round number that catches the eye. And it will soon become a self-evident truth when repeated enough times by enough journalists and oped writers, all of who will quote each other.
Irrespective of competence, a casual approach to presentation signifies flippancy, which increases stress levels, rather than calm any anxiety.
So, by that logic, Indian names display flippancy and uncouthness? Bad analogy, Sri.
They’re in it to solve problems, raise the level of service and increase repeat business. If it means wearing an alternate identity, so be it.
They don’t even do that half the time. Quite a few people I have talked to have extremely poorly-masked and incoherent accents which collectively nullify the fact that they have an American name, and don’t get me started when they can’t solve my local problem because all they read back to me is the manual or their rules. If you compound that with the fact that they’re obviously not Holly or Jim, it leaves an even worse taste in the mouth of the customer.
respect for the individual
Oh yes, this is so evident when self-respecting Jagadish has to change his name to Joseph for the equally respectful American. (sarcasm)
When was the last time you heard a call center employee say that? Or for that matter, any American?
Obviously you haven’t called into many centers in Louisiana or the upper Midwest, i.e. Wisconsin and Minnesota. Last night I had a chat with a woman up in Green Bay about the weather and the differences between the educational systems in the north and south.
why Mary is worse than Susie
I didn’t get that part, either.
There is nothing there to be abashed about.
Including your name that ain’t fooling anyone.
Notice the short, stubby sentences. Definitive. And utterly conclusive. Paragraphs with self-contained logic. No hint of ambiguity. Or of second thoughts.
Were you imitating Roy here for effect? Or were you proving the point that your own short and stubby sentences are utterly conclusive and lack second thought?
One-tenth is a nice round number that catches the eye.
Notice that my post doesn’t care about this. I realize that 1/10th the salary of a grossly overpaid American is a lot of money in India, an amount with which they can live better than that American. I’m happy that India is in on the global market by usurping commodity services and deflating the value of these services back to an appreciable level. All I want is for Indians to be able to use their pretty names while they are at it. If America is the melting-pot and there is so much respect for the individual going on here, they can stand to get a lesson in global ethos or two.
P.S. I wouldn’t be very comfortable about having to don another identity for a third to half of my day almost every day for the rest of my working days.
“Alternatively, do regular Americans just not care as long as it’s a Holly, Jim or Joe at the other end who can take care of the problem?”
Sadly, I think they do care, which is why, ONLY for the interest of profit, do these companies ensure (poorly) that their Indian call center operators sound as “American” as possible.
I think it attempts to put the customer “at ease”, but I don’t think that justifies cloaking these employees in false identities. But I’m not sure where the solution lies. Would major companies really threaten their financial interests for the benefit of cultural preservation? (because that happens SO often)
Side note – great blog!
So, by that logic, Indian names display flippancy and uncouthness? Bad analogy, Sri.
My bad. I should have been explicit in saying that it’s the ‘unfamiliar’ which increases friction in people. Indian names are mellifluous to me, but need not be to others.
Well, obviously I can’t talk for the quality of service provided. Nor would I generalise one way or the other..
All I can say is that if that was overwhelmingly true, it would very quickly slow offshoring down… I just think bad experiences tend to become famous, even if they’re rare overall.
this is so evident when self-respecting Jagadish has to change his name to Joseph for the equally respectful American. (sarcasm)
You’re entitled to be sarcastic, but changing a name to make it convenient to others is not a bad thing to do. For example, I know this one girl whose last name is spelt “Venkat-ramani” though in the original Sanskrit and/or Tamil it would be “Venkataramani”.
I don’t have any moral issues with having to wear new identities.. I personally think it’s more important to get as much of the business *now* as possible, while the window of opportunity is open, as it’s a winner-takes-all market structure due to the high upfront cost.
To be honest, I rarely call any call centers, leave alone chat with them ! Well, I guess it reflects terribly on me, but I’m just not a people person.
Including your name that ain’t fooling anyone.
“jaTilo muNDii luJNchhitakeshaH
kaashhaayaambara-bahukR^ita-veshhaH .
pashyannapi cana pashyati muuDhaH
udara-nimittaM bahukR^ita-veshhaH .. 14..”
How is this case any different?
Were you imitating Roy here for effect? Or were you proving the point that your own short and stubby sentences are utterly conclusive and lack second thought?
I, “lack second thought” ? I, who answers a “Yes / No” question with “It depends.” ? Show me where.
I realize that 1/10th the salary of a grossly overpaid American is a lot of money in India, an amount with which they can live better than that American.
I’d be cautious about phrases like “grossly overpaid”.. On average the typical outsourced job would pay $25 – $35 an hour. That’s not so high, is it?
Most of them are either part-timers, or students, or people only just getting out of the lower-middle class into the middle-middle class. Most of them have a bare-bones high school education.
With all my conviction pro-globalization, I feel disconcerted at times. They are not ‘overpaid’. It’s just that they add so little relative value to the firm’s profitability, and are not in a position to justify any further investment into their training.
It’s funny, cause whenever I call call centers, they ask me where I am from! Last week when I called JetBlue (it’s not outsourced yet), the call center lady asked for my name. I did my routine: said my name, spelled it out, and pronounced it again. Silence for a few seconds.
“That is a really interesting name.”
“Thank you.”
“Where are you from?”
“What do you mean? Like, where is my name from?”
“Uh..yeah.”
“It’s Indian.”
“Oh.”
And that, my friends, is generally what happens when I call. If I’m talking to an South Asian call center person, the convo is a little different. They will ask where my parents are from, assuming I was born and brought up in the States and an ABCD.
So, that’s the twist I see in call center calling. =)
Yeah I wrote about this too (http://maisnon.blogspot.com/2005/07/daniel-my-brother.html) Went through it again recently when I called AOL travel and spoke to Angel (I’d bet $10 it was actually Anjali.) The funniest thing was that she said my name way, way, way more than was called for. Started and ended each sentence with it. I was cracking up (and I think she may have been as well.)
You’re entitled to be sarcastic, but changing a name to make it convenient to others is not a bad thing to do. For example, I know this one girl whose last name is spelt “Venkat-ramani†though in the original Sanskrit and/or Tamil it would be “Venkataramaniâ€.
I’m entitled to be concerned when changing a name to appear American belittles identity and does not alleviate the perceived threat. As for the so-so quality of service, Americans will withstand a lot when it comes to that because they can’t be bothered fighting for consumers’ rights for too long.
The girl to whom you refer has a mother whose last name is Venkat and a father whose last name is Ramani. To avoid confusion as to her parentage and to encourage distillation to one surname, her parents decided that the best course of action for the entire family was to go with hyphenation: Venkat-Ramani. Now, I’m entitled to be sarcastic: Your ability to achieve sweeping conclusions about people you don’t know is astounding. It really increses the likelihood of a cogent discussion.
Here’s something else from Bhaja Govindam for you:
Mudha jahiihi dhanaagamatrishhnaam
Kuru sadbuddhim manasi vitrishhnaam
Yallabhase nijakarmopaattam
Vittam tena vinodaya chittam
The funniest thing was that she said my name way, way, way more than was called for. Started and ended each sentence with it. I was cracking up
They do that to me, too! “Ms. V-R, can I help you, Ms. V-R? Can you still hear me, Ms. V-R? Ms. V-R, sorry to make you wait, Ms. V-R, but this is the situation with the case, Ms. V-R.”
Especially endearing and amusing when it’s a Bengali saying my last name three times fast.
Good Lord ! I’ve never heard of anything like this before.. You are, truly, at the bleeding edge of social change. I made, what I still think, is a reasonable assumption. So I was wrong about your name.
That doesn’t say anything about the question that was raised.. about ‘identities’. The moral quality of the speaker (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with a truth that’s being spoken.
I’ve lived on both sides of this ‘argument’. On the far side, where one adopts an alternate identity to earn a living, and on this side where I am moving jobs to India.. and having seen the other options, adopting a fake identity, if need be, is a no-brainer.
Try living the life of an educated, unemployed 23 year old Indian, pounding pavements, and then come back and tell me your concept of ‘identity’ is more important than gainful employment.