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Racism against an Indian BPO worker

I was fortunate that in all the years I was in US, never once did i get a feeling of being discriminated against. I heard stories but I never saw that face of America. However, a call center worker sitting right here in India wasn't so fortunate. A couple of RJs for a popular radio station thought it would be funny to get abusive with a custmer service rep just because she was taking the call from India. Read more here.

My office here is surrounded by BPO companies. These call centers work around the clock and you can see plenty of activity even at 2 in the night. Most call center workers start their day late in the evening and work all night. They live with a perennial jet lag. They have to live with an assumed name and practice a fake accent. Talk about identity crises! And while they make decent money by Indian standards, an American kid working just one hour a day in Mc Donald makes more.

What I am getting at is that BPO workers don't deserve the flak they are getting in America. These are people working very hard to make a living. Nothing wrong with that. They are not stealing anybody's jobs. They are definitely not making easy money. America is a great country because there is dignity of labor (something we still don't have in India). An engineer, a doctor, a carpenter or a truck driver all get equal respect. All work is considered equal. So please give the same respect to these guys too. They deserve it.

Comments

This is very sad to hear that such hate can be allowed to be broadcasted on a radio. Americans have seen past experiences with racism and a culture of hate, and still consider it as funny.
The RJs involved in this were given a suspension by the broadcasting station for just one day. This is ridiculous punishment considering that the broadcasting company can be sued for millions of dollars for promoting such hate.

The RJs involved in this were given a suspension by the broadcasting station for just one day. This is ridiculous punishment considering that the broadcasting company can be sued for millions of dollars for promoting such hate.


This is the crux... Can be sued millions of dollars...

Who is going to bell the cat?

Who is going to sue...

We indians have started accepting these things as a part of life... we are so accomodative... is this a weakness? or is this foolishness that we do not stand up and react?

America in general has no respect for other people. They make of everyone and sometimes lack class.

Even in America, if you watch some of the comedians and TV shows, poorer low-income whites are ridiculed too with the labels 'redneck' (if you are a white from the southern states) and others like 'white trash' I hate those terms. And then the conservative religious peoples are also ridiculed. They ridicule each other too.

I am an Indian college student and I have worked in stores and call centers in America. Even American call center workers get that nonsense. And some of our customers hear all the things on the news about call centers in India and they think the jobs are being taken away from Americans. These people are not intelligent or educated.

Call centers are jobs that are considered minimum wage here. Working full time at a call center here would put you in the working-class salary. We don't get paid well. Sure in rupees it is a lot. But, you are forgetting living costs. Things in America are expensive.

Anybody who works in customer service has to put up with that. I have worked at stores and we get some very rude customers, who don't care if you are white, brown, black indian, asian. They are rude to everyone.

And when you are working customer service jobs, you are dealing with the general public who are not always educated or intelligent. We get a mix. Class system does exist in America but its very subtle and not as blatant.

When I worked at a call center, I do get rude customers. But, if they start swearing and saying inappropriate things, I can give them three warnings and if they continue I can say something like "I'm sorry but due to the inappropriateness, I am going to disconnect the call. Thank you for calling ....." (Thats it) Nobody has to put up with it. Thats was our call center policy.

Please allow me to blatantly state this:

White people, who have always been superior to racism, don't realize how much pain they can inflict upon the inferior races. Also, blacks, who have just fairly recently joined the superior sides, apparently don't recall the gruesome pains of racism. If any non-Indian person is reading this, I ask you to stop doing this to people that don't deserve it. It is, just simply, ridiculous.

Hi, it is just confusing to hear that indians are being discriminated by people in the U.S.A, well I think that is what you get when you have a culture that inculcates inferiority complex, and indians project that by not being comfortable of who they are, also the apparent cast system and other forms of it being metted out to the ordinary indian by the so called upper class (bulls), no one in the world thinks or agrees with this point of view indians are just indians, so don't pretend what u can't be you may apply pounds of fairness cream but that will not change the encoding in your genes.

I am a 49-year-old African-American male in the U.S. Of all of the things that we as human-beings do to waste precious time and energy, racism is at the top of the list. I would venture to say say that 99% of all societies ills are rooted in racism. If as much time and energy were spent trying to better the human condition, we would all be living in a near utopia. Racism with your own race is just plain crazy! Light-skinned is NO better that dark-skinned in any race. People should be judged by their actions and not their skin color. The rules of life are simple: treat all people the way you want to be treated! Everyone has bad days, and we can't be 'angels' all of the time, BUT we can be respectful, polite, and cordial to each other - especially other races. It is sad, but people will judge your entire race by what you or someone else of your race does. Most people want a decent living, a good home, a healthy family, a safe place to live, and happiness...and it doesn't matter what country you live in, your race, or religion.

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