Sunday, February 11, 2007

Call from call centers in India

The growth of the call center culture is in evidence all over. One in five calls that I receive is from some call center on behalf of a credit card company or may be a telephone company. Earlier when such a call turned out to be from India, the conversation tended to follow the following route.

X: May I speak to Mr Rohit Rai?
RR: Speaking..
X: Hello Mr Rai, how are you doing today?
RR: Fine, how are you?
X: I am doing fine too. Thanks. Mr Rai, I am calling on behalf of a telephone ...
RR: Sorry, I am not interested in a calling card right now.
X: This is not about a calling card Mr Rai. XYZ is a telephone company and we are offering international calling plans at very cheap rates.
RR: Sorry, I am not interested.
X: Mr Rai, which part of India are you from?
RR (hesitant about prolonging the conversation, but being polite) : Northern part.
X: Do you understand hindi?
RR: ann...yes.
X: Ok then main aapse hindi mein hi baat karoonga. mere liye thoda jyaada convenient feel hoga. (Eng trans: Ok then, I'll talk to you in Hindi for it will be more convenient for me).
RR: Ok...(How can I get him/her to stop?)
X: Mr Rai, aap India mein kahan se hain? (Eng trans: Where in India are you from, Mr Rai?)
RR: main __ se hoon. but __ saal main __ mein bhi tha...(What am I doing talking to this guy/gal/woman?)
X: Aap ghar mein akele hain ya bhai behan bhi hain? (Eng trans: Do you have any siblings?)
RR: ...............(Believe it or not, I answered that too).
X: .................
RR: See, no matter how much you talk to me, how much you try to convince me, I am not going to be interested in a new telephone service or a calling card.
X: Why Mr Rai?
RR: I simply don't want to go through the hassle. And, I do not trust any company I haven't even heard of.
X:
RR:
...
...
X:
RR: .....(Hang up!)

Don't you doubt that the part about my siblings or the one about my whereabouts in India are fictional. Most of this conversation very much happened to me. Now you may wonder why I ever let the conversation to wander to such extremes. Why not just nip the conversation in the bud? Well, its not always easy to be rude to people who are just trying to endear (ensnare, really) themselves to you. But, I do that now, the nipping in the bud.

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