Bet that title got your attention!
Took me a while, but I finally had to deal with an Indian call center this evening. In the process of setting up my computer here, I had to update my Norton Software and anti virus protection. As software companies are wont to do, they no longer offered technical support for an upgrade to my 2003 software, but I could purchase a 2006 software package for the low, low, price of 49.95. So I did.
However in the process of installing it, I came across some HUGE problems getting the down loaded program to install right. Looked at the web site. Tried to get things right by uninstalling everything Norton on the hard drive. Finally, I admitted defeat and called their customer service line. The lady on the other end had a very pronounced Indian accent, so I can only assume it was someone in Banglore or some other such place.
And she showed me how to get the pesky Norton stuff on the machine and the downloads re-installed. That at least made the pesky security alerts go away!
However I could not help but think about the person on the other end of the line. Where did she live? Was she wearing a Sari? (I doubt it…..). Red Spot on her forehead? Nice …….(fill in the blank..)? How many people applied to get her call center job? How many Indians did not make the cut and are still econmically disenfranchised?
Make no mistake about it, for all the talk about a “new India” its built on a rocky foundation. Namely the perpetuation of a “permanent” underclass that of about 350 million who will work cheaply and allow India to be able to continue to undercut its Western and progressive Asian competion. Its what seperates America from the “rising” countries where American businessmen have exported American jobs.
Then again, at least she fixed my computer…………..