Rick Raw: India Taking Over America by Driving Customer Service Callers Crazy.

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Today, most American corporations‘ customer service representatives and high-tech engineering jobs are located in India. Legions of American companies are outsourcing a slew of diverse jobs to India and other countries. Soon, most American company headquarters will be relocated to India. Indeed, India is taking over our country’s Gross National Product, leaving us helpless lambs for the slaughter. More significantly, Indian customer reps are driving us crazy every time we call to get help with our growing array of high-tech devices.

Recently, I was having trouble with my Linksys router. So I called the company for help. Of course, I got an Indian rep whose heavy accent I couldn’t understand. I had him talk very slowly and still his Indian pig-English blurred the words. First, it was frustrating, then maddening. After ten minutes of mis-communications, I blew a fuse and said," Look, you mealy-mouthed jerk, I’m getting on a plane to India and I’m going to look you up and turn you into a pretzel." He missed the dark humor of my tirade. "Sir, I’m getting my supervisor," he said, sounding scared. This happens every time I call any company’s customer service reps. "Do I look like I eat curry and rice for lunch?" I say under my breath. Honest to God, I try to be patient.

When Dell joined the Indian customer service club, I wrote an angry letter to Michael Dell saying that his company used to take pride in his high quality computers and customer service. I was shocked that he outsourced this important selling point. Not surprisingly, he never responded my letter. Then, the next day, Dell announced a deal with Wal-Mart to sell Dell computers in their stores. Yeah, Michael Dell sold out for increasing his bottom line. Now there is no advantage to buying a Dell computer. It’s just another generic high-tech product on the market with lousy customer service–Indian accented. (Cue Sitar music).

How and why did our country allow American corporations to outsource their labor and engineering jobs to India? Our lawmakers used the lame excuse that in order to compete on the global markets, companies had to lower labor costs. Hogwash! We have a much higher standard of living than poor countries like India–or we used to. Since when is paying American workers a fair wage wrong?

The problem is–our government let this happen right under our noses and we did nothing about it. We repressed our outrage and let U.S. corporations turn India into an American protectorate, siphoning off our jobs and lowering our standard of living. The truth is, outsourcing is debated in Congress and the Senate with much meaningless rhetoric devoted to pacifying constituents to look like the lawmakers are serving the needs of the people they represent.

President Bush’s head of the Council of Economic Advisers, N. Gregory Mankiw stated that "outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade, which makes it a good thing." Mankiw’s comments sparked a furor on both sides of the aisle. John Kerry accused the Bush Administration of wanting to "export more of our jobs overseas." Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle quipped, "If this is the administration’s position, I think they owe an apology to every worker in America." Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert warned that "outsourcing can be a problem of American workers and the American economy." Duh! Wake up and smell the coffee at the unemployment office.

Now we all suffer the indignity and humiliation of the Indian customer service because our voices are silent in Washington. Lawmakers are beholding to the vast corporate interests that literally buy their terms. The corporations install their lobbyists to make sure their interests are paramount. Again, it’s our (the people’s) fault for our lack of militancy and not staying in touch with our government.

Get mad as hell and tell your Congressmen and Senators that you are not going to take it any more. Write them, call them–pay attention to what they are doing with your tax dollars. Rise up and fight. It is, after all, our government for and by the people. Finally, encourage the companies that you do business with to use American customer service for their products.