Al and I watched an interesting movie on Netflix the other night, called “Outsourced.” I would recommend it. It really made me re-think a few things.
The movie was about a guy in the United States that worked as a manager at a call center. The company decided to outsource the call center to India and he would be out of a job just as soon as he trained his Indian replacement. He had to live in India for a few months while he was training his replacment. Of course he went there with a very bad attitude.
I have to say that when I call an American company and end up talking to someone who is obviously not n this country, I get a bit of a bad attitude. I try not to do business with companies that use foreign companies for their service, and I think a lot of us feel that way. I don’t like the fact that they don’t speak English the same way I do and also that they are taking American jobs.
However, I had an epiphany after watching this movie. It really made me think. The people there are poor and struggling to survive in a country with too many people. Why shouldn’t they accept these jobs if offered? They are eager and willing to learn.
When he went to train these people, he tried to explain that they needed to sound more American, and to learn our customs and way of speaking so no one would know they were Indian. They asked him why American’s had such a problem with outsourcing and why we were rude to them. He explained that Americans were concerned that their jobs were being taken away. That was hard for the Indian people to understand, since most of the products they were selling were mostly made in China! It made me think. I have no problem going to Wal-Mart and looking for the best prices, which is frequently not something made in America.
This was an interesting and funny movie and I would recommend it. It was entertaining.
It’s available from Netflix streaming. We really enjoyed it and like I said….it made me think.
Let me know if it doesn’t change your attitude towards outsourcing and the people of India.
7 years ago
5 comments:
Sounds interesting...we'll have to rent that one. Thanks for the heads up!
Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
Thanks for the movie recommendation. We're always looking for good movies to watch on rainy days...like today!
Thanks for the movie recommendation, Karen. We'll have to watch "Outsourced". Isn't Netflix great? It has totally changed the way I watch movies.
Thanks for the thoughts. I must confess I have had a negative attitude when I talk to customer service and I know it is not in the USA and their dialect is hard to understand. it is good to see the other side of the coin and have a different perspective.
Mike & Gerri
When Roger and I worked for General Electric we both had to train others to replace ourselves. Roger had to train a guy from Korea who came to the US for Roger's training. Then Roger and I both had to fly to Canada and train people there to also do our jobs. It was rather difficult to show any enthusiasm about training people to do our jobs. However, I guess it worked out OK since Roger was able to retire at age 49 with a full pension and medical benefits. I got a much higher paying job with another company. BUT, sending so many manufacturing jobs out of the country has put many, many people out of work and ruined many people's dreams of a good retirement.
Saw the previews for the movie and looked really good. I don't think it will change my attitude of outsourcing jobs though - until the US begins manufacturing more things, the country isn't going to recover.
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