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Read the book The World is Flat. It explains a lot of this stuff. Some of the reasons the foreign customer service happens is because (a) most Canadians and Americans don't necessarily want telemarketer or customer service jobs (it's quite an unforgiving position and the pay can suck), (b) time zones (the need to offer twenty-four-hour customer service -- it's daytime there when most of us are sleeping, so no one has to stay up all night sitting by the phone if they're working for a customer service department) and (c) the internet, which makes this all possible. There are companies in India that offer the customer service often offer language and accent classes to their employees; some get so good at speaking American-style English that we couldn't tell the difference. It depends on the company what you'll get though.
Because of technology, we will never be able to "seal off" the United States or Canada and make them some sort of North Korean-like secretive and separated countries.
On a somewhat unrelated note, why does anyone care if they have to push 1 to talk to someone in English? It's just a button; how lazy is that if you are mad that you have to pick between options?! I don't understand why there is this arrogant, elitist attitude (especially in America) that "everyone should speak English" and we shouldn't learn to communicate in any other language. It's basically ethnocentrism, which is disgustingly closed-minded.
We're such hypocrites when we are proud of our "melting pot" roots, but look haughtily down on immigrants or anyone who doesn't have some sort of European ethnic background that can be celebrated with parades and weekend holidays. We can celebrate Pulaski Days or dye an entire river green in honor of Ireland, but just keep those Hispanics out of the neighborhoods and by no means should we ever have a Black president... Pathetic.
Read the book The World is Flat. It explains a lot of this stuff. Some of the reasons the foreign customer service happens is because (a) most Canadians and Americans don't necessarily want telemarketer or customer service jobs (it's quite an unforgiving position and the pay can suck), (b) time zones (the need to offer twenty-four-hour customer service -- it's daytime there when most of us are sleeping, so no one has to stay up all night sitting by the phone if they're working for a customer service department) and (c) the internet, which makes this all possible. There are companies in India that offer the customer service often offer language and accent classes to their employees; some get so good at speaking American-style English that we couldn't tell the difference. It depends on the company what you'll get though.
Because of technology, we will never be able to "seal off" the United States or Canada and make them some sort of North Korean-like secretive and separated countries.
On a somewhat unrelated note, why does anyone care if they have to push 1 to talk to someone in English? It's just a button; how lazy is that if you are mad that you have to pick between options?! I don't understand why there is this arrogant, elitist attitude (especially in America) that "everyone should speak English" and we shouldn't learn to communicate in any other language. It's basically ethnocentrism, which is disgustingly closed-minded.
We're such hypocrites when we are proud of our "melting pot" roots, but look haughtily down on immigrants or anyone who doesn't have some sort of European ethnic background that can be celebrated with parades and weekend holidays. We can celebrate Pulaski Days or dye an entire river green in honor of Ireland, but just keep those Hispanics out of the neighborhoods and by no means should we ever have a Black president... Pathetic.
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