Stop outsourcing my customer-service calls to India
When I call to make an airline reservation, they think I’m ordering chicken tikka when I’m just trying to get an aisle seat.
By Chuck Cohen / November 14, 2008 edition
I talk to India four or five times a day. Unfortunately, I am not trying to halt nuclear proliferation or negotiate a Kashmir settlement.
I am attempting to achieve far more difficult goals – making airline reservations, questioning a credit card charge, and, most daunting of all, begging to restore an Internet connection.
As in so many international negotiations, what we have here is “a failure to communicate.” Basically, I can’t understand what they’re saying, while they are equally baffled by my English language skills.
(By the way, a hint to outsourcing companies: Telling your Asian subcontinental employees to identify themselves as “Kenny” or “Billy” or “Butchie” simply doesn’t work. Just as calling myself Prabha or Mahatma will not trick anyone into asking for my chicken tikka recipe.)
As a result of these daily miscommunicatons, I have booked tickets to Altoona rather than Atlanta, found out that the charge for a case of tongue depressors was justified, and learned that my Internet account either a) never existed b) was canceled four weeks ago or c) is working perfectly.
And yet I continue my daily phone calls, speaking to all those unfailingly polite people who have no idea what I’m saying – and vice versa.
“BUTCHIE:” “So, your account is T-Joe-44.”
ME: “Did you say B?”
BUTCHIE: “No, G.”
ME: “Yes, C.”
BUTCHIE: “Of course. Just a moment, please.”
Pause.
More pause.
BUTCHIE: “I am so sorry for the delay. May I have your father’s middle name?”
ME: “Yes, it is Jack.”
BUTCHIE: “No.”
ME: “No?”
BUTCHIE: “Yes, it is no, not Mack.”
ME: “No, it is not Zack, yes it is Jack.”
BUTCHIE: “Of course, still, it is not the correct name for account P-Doe-34.”
Pause.
More pause.
BUTCHIE: “Do I hear tears?”
ME: “You hear tears.”
BUTCHIE: “Oh, good. I am relieved.”
ME: “You are?”
BUTCHIE: “Beers are better than tears, Although I do not drink…”
ME: “I drink.”
BUTCHIE: “In that case I recommend a deodorant…”
Now, call me chicken. Call me anything you want. But after days of conversations like this, I realize that screams, threats, and curses don’t do any good.
They merely result in a repeat of the same answers that made no sense to any of my questions that made no sense to Kevin or Butchie or Billy Joe.
That is why I have found it is much better to change my father’s middle name to Mack, fly to Altoona and then find my way to Atlanta, come up with a use for 10,000 tongue depressors, and accept an Internet connection that provides me with more hiccups than a Hungarian dinner.
I have, however, established a close relationship with Butchie, even though he tells me my chicken tikka recipe is more Broadway than Bombay. Or did he say “Beltway?” Doesn’t matter. We understand each other. I think.
• Chuck Cohen writes from Mill Valley, Calif.
2. Ravi Kumar | 11.14.08
Mr. Cohen: Let me tell you a funny story!
Ravi Kumar: You think you are funny, Chuck?
Mr. Cohen: Of course, I am, now watch me …
(Chuck assumes a chicken-like posture and begins to hop around the room.)
Ravi Kumar: I am not amused, Chuck? Give up?
Mr. Cohen: Do you think I am chicken?
Ravi Kumar: Why do you insist on speaking in innuendoes?
Mr. Cohen: How about a second try?
Ravi Kumar: There you go again … NO!
Mr. Cohen: Oh please Ravi, be a sport!
Ravi Kumar: What part of NO, do you NOT get Chuck?
Mr. Cohen: You are a spoilsport, Ravi!
Ravi Kumar: (Shrugs his shoulders) Suit yourself … chicken!
3. Rudy | 11.14.08
I am afraid that is not the way you should look at people from different countries with different taste and cultures.
1. Each Job Critical As Americans Struggle
2. Critic links Pfizer Inc. to overseas job ’scam’
do a google search to find the above 2 articles.
There is an issue in this country and people need to address it directly.
We need to blame our leaders and CEOs for moving the jobs out of this country filling up their pockets. It’s not only jobs but technology, future of the next generations, 401K, everything that the middle class did so many years to be what we are today and finally there comes a new breath of CEOs who simply throws it out of the window to make profits the easy way. He let down the people of America and need to shoulder the blame.
The press has the responsibility to go after each of them and ask them to provide the statistics of not just what’s your profit margin but how did you achieve it….though cuts and sale of plants(negative way) or through growth and innovations (positive way) !!!!!!!!!!
5. rohit sanyal | 11.14.08
Hi ,
It’s Nice story , And I am strongly Agreed with You . Since Many Call cenntre In India , they don’t have Proper knowledge In English But still they Take Calls. These Page should Open In every call centre website atleast Management Hire the staff who had knowledge.
It’s Good Page .
Nice to Know you …..
6. Acintyabedhabedhadasa | 11.16.08
Namaskar Mr. Cohen-ji,
I am very sorry we have confused your good name, sir. As you know we receive many lakh calls each day. But as the saying goes, “No money no honey, no wife no life.”
Best wishes,
Kenny
7. Sue | 11.16.08
There’s a funny side to all this, and it seems both a sad side and a frustrating side. If you’d rather laugh and begin to empathize, you might like to watch the film “Outsourced.” It won’t get you a job back, but it will use up some of your spare time!
8. Carly Rose | 11.16.08
I’m surprised that no one mentioned the staticky phone connection. It’s hard enough to understand an unfamiliar accent over the phone, then put the line under the ocean, or fire it up into space. I have no trouble understanding Indian accents when I’m in the same room with a person, but sometimes my own father doesn’t make sense when I talk to him on my cell phone.
9. Bob(Pratibah) | 11.16.08
I have told them that I will not use the services. When Johnny, who I asked is that your given name from your mother, and he answered, “Pardon, dis is my name Johnny, may I have your account?” After providing it, I was told “there is no issue with this account, your next payment is due on x”. After explaining there was a double billing which was automatically deducted and paid the entire balance, twice, I asked Johnny for his Supervisor, Bill.
Bill’s English was un-intelligible. I told Bill I want to cancel my account, I would never use the product again, and asked if he could transfer me to another Supervisor.
Mark obviously had some English experience, and said, “I am most sorry for your experiences today, those guys were both new”.
So that explains it. I think we are doomed.
10. Gary | 11.17.08
I can’t believe you posted this under ‘humor’ while posting another story about how violence in America against immigrants is increasing. This story is not funny. It is thinly veiled racism. I have many Indian friends and some are afraid of American extremists. Please be more responsible in the commentaries you print. This is an anti-immigrant commentary, not ‘humor’
Please, think.
11. Pierrette Wolfe | 11.17.08
i enjoy talking to call center workers in India. I love their accent, and when I don’t understand something, I say “I’m sorry, can you repeat that please” and they do, more slowly, and I understand. I ask them where they are and what the weather is like, and they always tell me. I googled images for “indian call centers” so that I can picture the caller in his or her little cubicle, so far away, yet so intimately connected to me and my delinquent charge account, in our flat, crowded world.
12. Jeremy Keith Hammond | 11.17.08
Gary - I read this article afraid that it would be racist but only to find out that the author actually did a good job here. I disagree with the idea that this article is racist (and I’m usually very sensitive to racism issues.)
Even the quoted conversation - which could have been riddled with racist typed “accents” or spelling errors and could have been very mean - was tastefully done.
The author has done a great job at putting the blame on the companies responsible for the outsourcing and not language barrier itself. He highlights a genuine concern - not one based on degrading race/culture myths.
I think you do make a good point, Gary - we should be careful not to aim this frustration at the So.Asians who are only guilty of wanting a well paying job - but this article is not guilty of proliferating racism.
13. Pete | 11.17.08
I don’t see how this is racist. Noticing that two people from very different places on the planet have trouble communicating with each other is racist? I have been the frustrated caller far too many times in these kinds of scenarios. I don’t blame the person on the other end of the line. I blame the company that made it necessary for me to resolve my problem with someone that I have difficulty expressing myself to and vice-versa. It’s a quality of service issue.
14. Suresh manian | 11.17.08
C’mon, Chuck, deal with it. We’ve learnt to figure out the Texan drawl, sitting here in Coimbatore, and we know that it is Eyerack and not Iraq. It takes a little time, that’s all:)
15. Sam | 11.22.08
Let us all accept the fact, Indians cannot be blamed for offshorization alone. CEOs of large companies who messed up their financials and now want to do cost cutting need to take up some responsibility. Take it or leave it, people here are not able to compete in global market. Folks here need to work hard and demand less pay and burn less fuel. Life style needs to change. Don’t ask ‘who took my cheese?’ ask yourself ‘, ask ‘how do I get back my cheese?’. Stop blaming others for your screwups, especially folks who are keeping you afloat.
16. Alisha | 11.27.08
get a life.
maybe you should all try to understand and not be ignorant.
even my professor said people frm india actually speak better english.
17. Tom | 12.05.08
On another thought too how come no one mentions how many USA jobs are being lost for all this outsourcing? I mean we lost over 500 million jobs in November alone. Companies need to stop this.
18. parvathi | 12.24.08
I am an Indian, and I must admit that there is some truth to the article.
I do understand their accent, but their attitude ( whether it was newbie or not) was not good. Instead of fixing the issue in my account, the agent was trying to prove to me that he was an “american” and he felt the call-center jobs were janitorial ones ( not for him). And in the end, he neither fixed the issue, nor wanted to understand my account’s problem and wouldnt let me talk to the supervisor and hung up.
The companies are hiring people without prior experience or training.
This article is not about any racism.
19. Tim | 02.23.09
I sure think it’s funny. You need a sense of humor. Part of how we get through life is by empathy. When we have a bad encounter on the road due to a careless soccer mom on her cell phone charging in to our lane anything other than gracefully, we talk about it to our peers once we arrive at our destination. The same thing goes for call center experiences. I for one can relate to the anticdote because I call insurance companies all day and talk to “Bill” and “Larry”. I laughed at the story. Maybe others should lighten up a bit and realize it’s not racism. You should be ashamed of yourself for making such an accusation. Of course it’s the fault of the CEO. We know that, and if we could call his house and prank call him, we would!
20. Brian | 03.09.09
We are certainly in trouble in this country. No racism here, but just the desire to speak to an american.
Mark my words - I give it 3-5 years and when you hit the drive-thru at your local favorite fast food joint, it will be some Indian or other person’s voice behind the speaker, because company XYZ outsourced that job to a Hindi call center. Much cheaper than a person at the window, and bet that cashier-less drive-thru windows are not far behind that.
Most Americans think that our greatest threat is from Mexicans coming into this country to pick produce and work in restaurant kitchens. I cringe when I hear some red state ignoramus proclaim that their job will be/was lost to a Mexican or another immigrant. Asian immigrants don’t want your job as a county employee, or trash collector, or mechanic or auto worker. They’re gonna go to school, and be your boss at your next crappy job.
America needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps and start working. Start producing things like windmills, solar panels, etc…
21. Miki | 04.12.09
Its uncanny how many of those that aired their views in response to the article ended up blaming company CEOs for outsourcing jobs to India! Take a good look at all that is American and where does that leave you? A nation that functions solely on hope! Even rickshaw drivers back in India speak better English, properly punctuated, than those that claim to belong to the land! The only comments worth a dime are those of Gary and Suresh Manian (11.17.08)!
22. Waqas Mughal | 05.14.09
Despite communication problem, outsourcing is increasing unemployment rate in US and in Europe.
23. Nancy | 06.18.09
I looked up “ban outsourcing” and I couldn’t find anything recent here in the US. There are so many people here without jobs and outsourcing is the equivalent of letting everyone in the country to usurp Americans’ jobs, as if it already hasn’t happened!
24. Expat in India | 06.22.09
Interesting comment from the one saying ‘deal with it’. I pay for a service and I ALSo have to deal with it’s being hard to use???
I DO “just deal with it” when it’s a problem at work - because then I AM the service provider.
Many in India abhor US english and feel that it’s very low class english across the board. No wonder the 2 sides can’t speak to each other. Indians would hate to us US English pronunciation and grammar.
When I call, I don’t want to burden any Indian tech with my uneducated American english. I immediately request a US counterpart - we can wallow in our linguistic ignorance and not sully anyone else’s purity of language.
25. vivek | 07.26.09
I am an Indian too. But i strongly disagree with outsourcing jobs to India. There are lots of people losing job every day and no matter what justification they can give, they should find a resolution to this problem. Or else the only hope for people in us would be to go to India/China and try to find a job there. I think the govt should come up with some regulations against these companies. Its not just about them, but the entire country. Also, I bet if this situation was in India, they would have burned down those companies years ago.You can take my word for that.
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1. kjp | 11.14.08
I am so sorry that you have trouble understanding another form of the same spoken language. I am happy that most issues that call centers recieve are resolved amicably. The reason I am certain of this is that they are not well-established part of our lives. Were they not doing the job, surely market forces would have driven them out of business. Indeed, the trend is for even more call center operations. Operator training is also vastly improved.