Disliking Call Centres Does not a Racist Make

[SenseOfTumour]

Add another nod of agreement, I in fact feel like I can't come straight out and say 'for fuck's sake why do they put the indians with the strongest accents on the phones at my local Pizza Hut?' I know that even tho it's just me wanting a clear voice to do business with, I'd be tarred as a racist for saying anything bad with the word 'indians' in it.

Not because I'm against indians, but because I know they do have a range of staff there, and yet almost every time I call, I have to repeat my order about 3 times, and feel kind of unsure that what they repeat back to me is what I asked for, to the point where I just order online nowadays.

I would however say that PC is a truly great thing, in the 20 years since I was a teen , so many things have changed for the better, and I'll take the occasional stupid tabloid story if it pushes back the hate and ignorance.

But, putting the people with a clear speaking voice on the phone job is not racism, it's common sense and good business, just like you wouldn't be calling Professor Stephen Hawking too stupid to be a postman, it's just that you both understand he'd struggle to manage the stairs in the blocks of flats.

Or to be racist about it, it's why I wouldn't hire Beyonce to be the face of my new fake tan product launch. Not because black people aren't attractive enough, but the simple fact that you need a white person to show off fake tan. (or an orange one at least.)

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I would say that you don't need to dump all your friends so much as next time you're sitting around just chatting, gently bring up the subject of the call centre thing and try to explain your case again, asking before they shut you down for a couple of minutes to state your point of view, if they can't do that, then you need to ask them why they can't show any respect to a friend.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

do you agree with my point of view or do you think I should be fitted for a white hood?

Don't sweat it.

No one likes foreign call centres. Even Indian immigrants get the shits up if they think they're talking to another bloody Mumbai based call centre (one of my sisters used to work for Optus in a call centre and has a lot of stories about that exact thing).

 

[JohnDoey]

It's not racist but if you don't explain might sound racist to some over sensitive people.

 

[snowman6251]

Am I the only one who read that post normally then the second he mentioned his Australian accent every word I read suddenly came into my mind Australian style. That was awesome.

 

[Mcface]

How exactly did you word it?

Well someone said something about being on hold to HP tech support for a few hours and I basically went "ugg god I hate foreign call centres" and bang I get called a racist.

Typical bimbo, if you ask me. Because she assumes "foreign" means race. Fuck, If my call center was to Germany, Russia, Africa, Japan, I wouldn't give a fuck, if I can't understand what they are saying I'm going to be pissed.

 

[ace_of_something]

In what I like to call 'the dark times' I worked briefly at a call center for a hotel booking agency. I learned some things; like the fact that lots of Legal immigrants work for the call centers in the city (has more than any other city in the US) because you don't need a high school diploma and they pay fairly well. So often times people would just assume they were talking to someone in some far corner of the world.

(We have so many call centers because we have a 'flat' or 'newscaster' accent around here)

 

[Zing]

Come to Australia...Where everyone's racist!

Is it racist if I scream racial obscenities when they call me for the third time during one day while I'm on a Killstreak, or eating dinner with my family, or ANYTHING? Nothing gives these people the right to call me and try and sell shit.

 

[Lucifus]

Its not Racist, and I sympathise.

After seeing what's happened to BT, Orange and a few other places that require use of a call centre to use I really hate all foreign call centres. Bar not being able to understand them most are just down right rude, sometimes laughing at your problems with the most RETARDED tech support known to man.

After working in a British call centre some of the things that are done with foreign call centres are just shocking.

 

[tkioz]

Come to Australia...Where everyone's racist!

Is it racist if I scream racial obscenities when they call me for the third time during one day while I'm on a Killstreak, or eating dinner with my family, or ANYTHING? Nothing gives these people the right to call me and try and sell shit.

Have you been getting the "Hello is this Mr. " calls? Horrible VOIP lines apparently about a "tech support" ticket you logged for your computer... which is really freaking funny since I fix computers for a living so I'm pretty damn sure I wouldn't be calling them.

 

[elcamino41383]

Get some racist friends.

They'd never call you racist.

They'd probably say "Stop being so not-racist!"

Would solve everything.

I don't read a whole lot of posts on here daily, just enough to satisfy my curiosity. Nor have I posted all that often either (just over 100 in the year or so I've been around?) But you win with this one. Gave me a damn good chuckle.

OT: She's a twit. It's NOT racist (as everyone has said.) It's a pain in the ass. When trying to get tech support, or whatever you called them for, it helps to have someone that speaks in a manner you can understand better. I remember the 4 times I had to deal with Asurion (boy do they SUCK) over my PS3 getting fixed because it YLOTD, every time I talked to them whether it was to tell them it broke again 2 days later and needed to be shipped out again because they seemingly haven't the slightest idea what they are doing, or if it was a survey about how good(AWFUL) of a job they did. I had to have them repeat things a few times. And what was pretty bad to me, I think one of them was just from like the deep south, like...the south's asshole or something because it was like trying to listen to Boomhower or whoever from that show King of the Hill. I have no problem with an Indian man/woman answering the phone, but it'd be nice if I'm clearly calling from America (I mean who doesn't have caller ID in these ages?), to at least talk to someone with a LIGHT accent as opposed to heavy one that sounds like a cat is being ran over my a tractor.

I think I may have went a little longer on this than necessary...meh oh well!

 

[AmayaOnnaOtaku]

Can I **** punt this girl PLEASE?!?!? She obviously does not know the definition of racism, or it is her crutch in life that she props herself upon.

Part of my job is to contact Health Insurance companies to verify eligibility of members for correct medical claim payments. Having a representative who has English as their first language makes the call go faster and the problem resolved in a shorter amount of time. Nothing frustrates me faster than have to tell a foreign rep multiple times no I am not a provider.


Is this the same ***** so said you were racist because your perference in women you date? Because if it is give me about 5 minutes and a baseball bat and I can fix you and your buddies problem.

 

[Waif]

Well, perhaps there was some misunderstanding occurring here. I know for one that there are a lot of people out there who get defensive about things right away. Looking at the girlfriends reaction carefully, we have to understand that her heart was in the right place, just not her mind. People who are quick to fight against injustices like racism, are noble people on those grounds. It's just too bad that some of them do not have the forbearance or the tactful skills necessary so that they aren't fighting a meaningless battle with an innocent opponent.

I am not sure of the exact dialog that went on, but carefully selecting words can go a long way to avoid misunderstandings such as these. Instead of picking a particular call centers nationality as an example of a bad call center. First make a comment about how every call center you've called seems to have some problems with quality. Then mention how call centers in foreign places aren't much better off. You can ease the conversation by saying something like "It's probably because they aren't being trained in the right way, and aren't being paid a decent wage." In this way you can say the same thing, but without being so direct that someone may misunderstand your intentions.

That being said, this is kind of a strange conversation. Especially ones that people have strong opinions about.It's normally tactful to stay out of such conversations or if you have to just be concise in how you use your words.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I do believe that your friends are a little quick to shout the racist card, you should probably bring that up to them.

OT: I don't like them either. It isn't that I dislike the place or the people I'm talking too, its just that I'd rather talk to someone who I could understand instead of someone in a country halfway across the globe who's only talking to me because the Company outsourced it to them.

 

[deus-ex-machina]

I don't care where the call centre is based, but when I have to say Pardon/Excuse Me/What? several times when I'm speaking to someone then I get annoyed pretty quickly. Communication is key in a call centre. If you can't communicate with your customers, then ultimately you're not going to be good at your job. The biggest problem I've had is not understanding really thick accents but not being able to understand advice or information and getting annoyed by it does not make me racist. It doesn't make anyone racist. I've had people mutter or speak too quietly down the phone and this annoys me just as much.

Almost as much as being juggled between departments and never getting a clear answer.

 

[tkioz]

How exactly did you word it?

Well someone said something about being on hold to HP tech support for a few hours and I basically went "ugg god I hate foreign call centres" and bang I get called a racist.

Typical bimbo, if you ask me. Because she assumes "foreign" means race. Fuck, If my call center was to Germany, Russia, Africa, Japan, I wouldn't give a fuck, if I can't understand what they are saying I'm going to be pissed.

mmm that reminds me of a frustrating call I had to place several years ago to tech support for a Funeral Home Management System I was installing for a customer (and boy did it take us a while to find one of those... lol). I ended up on the phone with a dude from the company, and I swear he had the deepest, hardest to understand, I don't know how you'd say it, South American? I mean you know those American accents from the southern United States

I mean he was an actual employee with the company that made the software, so that was cool, but we had a hell of a time understanding each other, me with my thick Aussie accent and him with his thick whatchacallit accent, it worked out in the end but we were talking in phonetics at one stage in order to get things working (you know Alpha Echo Kilo, etc).

So yea nothing to do with race, just the frustration from trying to make yourself understood and understanding the other person.

 

[IzisviAziria]

Chinese companies don't hire english speaking call center employees because we don't speak friggin chinese.

Well really, the Chinese don't hire an English call center because it wouldn't be a cheaper alternative to a Chinese one..

 

[IzisviAziria]

I don't know how you'd say it, South American? I mean you know those American accents from the southern United States

in the States we just call it a Southern' Accent... And here in the states, we consider it just as difficult to understand. I'm from the Northwest US, I work at a truck stop, and occasionally we'll get a guy that's clearly from the deepest podunk town in Alabama and it's just impossible to tell what he wants.

I suppose in the context of Ms. Twatsalot from the OP, I'm racist against southerners. Oh wouldn't life be fun if that were how racism were actually defined?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I just get the shits at tech support lines where all the 1st tier people (as in the first people you talk to) are just working off the fucking FAQ (although in defense of 1st tier people who actually know what they're doing, I realise most of them are forced to work off the FAQ first as company policy).