Lorem Ipsum

“Good morning. Thank you for calling customer service. My name is Andy, how can I help you?”

As soon as I heard his voice, I thought he sounded like an Anand.

“Yes, I had bought this monitor from you guys about a month ago and I’m not too happy with the screen resolution. I would like to return it.”

“Can I please have your name sir”, he said. “Karm Khanna”, I replied. “Do you also have an order confirmation sir?” he inquired. “Yes, it is 399442227”, I confirmed.

There is a moment’s pause and I can hear the clicking of keys on his keyboard as he pulls up my information. “Mmmm…”, he says hesitantly, “Sir, I see that you purchased this from us 31 days ago on December 23^rd.” Again, there is a pause. Anirudh (I was close), as he was called all his life until about a month ago, was in a fix. He was staring at a printed laminated piece of paper referred to as the “script”. There is one in each of the 200 cubicles around him. He quickly scans through the summarized paragraph under the “Return Policy” section. It unequivocally states, “All returns must be made within 30 days from the date of purchase.” He has been instructed not to stray from the script.

“Sir, I’m sorry I cannot process the return as it has been more than 30 days since your purchase.” “But I have been a customer of yours for over 5 years”, I countered. “I’ve bought 3 machines from you guys…and it’s still the 30^th day here in the US, you know”.

Five minutes of back-and-forth later, we were getting nowhere. I hung up, extremely frustrated, and wrote an email out to customer service here about my experience. My return was processed within a week and I even got a coupon for 20% off on my next purchase in acknowledgement of being a loyal customer.

But this isn’t really about my monitor, it is about Andy/Anirudh. Anirudh grew up in Bangalore, India. He graduated from high school in the summer. Of course, 2 years ago, he had a good idea of the direction that he was headed in. He was to go to Medical school, like his father and uncle, and go on to study Molecular Biology, Neuroscience and Medicine. But then, to start earning Rs. 15,000 a month at 17 seemed like a very good idea. So yes, with his plans on hold, he joined a US based customer-service center with 30 of his high school buddies. Two weeks of twing-and-twang classes later, he was unleashed onto the outsourcing world, armed with a telephone and the “script”. And he answered calls into the wee hours of the morning, sometimes close to 150 a day, instead of studying the Mechanisms of Human Diseases in his college dorm over a pot of coffee.

The BPO workforce in India is projected to increase to 2.3 million by 2010…a whole army of who knows how many Andy’s and Sara’s that could have been Dr. Anirudh Chauhan or Engineer Sarika Choudhary. Nonetheless, Rs. 15000 a month is a big draw. Our parents did not make that until they were well into their 30’s. It is a lot of money for a youngster to spend in multi-level shopping malls that rely on generators for power or overcrowded bars and clubs. Of course with the Indian economy bursting at its seams you would think that our infrastructure is advancing in congruence…but that is another story for another day.

I grew up in India and went to boarding school in Gwalior where we were all gravitating towards a career in science or medicine. Skipping a college education was not even an option. I moved to Los Angeles after graduating college and have been in the Software industry for over 8 years. Personally, I always felt comfortable with my choice of profession owing to my fondness for math. I still believe that our Indian high school math curriculum (ICSE or CBSE) is the best there is to offer. I can’t help switching lives with Andy to imagine how any of my analytical grooming throughout high school would help me answer 150 calls from irate customers night after night.

But of course, growth is good. We all know that through History. Growth breeds consumerism, and consumerism keeps us all happy and motivated to keep earning and buying things that we don’t really need. A classic mantra that has worked very well for the developed world. But more importantly, growth also helps facilitate our elected government to invest in our future. You know, clean air for our children owing to the cutting-edge breed of our engineers, good healthcare for longevity that is provided by our world-class renowned doctors and surgeons. But I can’t help wonder every time I get a call to sign up for a new credit card or telephone service, if on the other side of the telephone, our Andy would ever get to be Dr. Anirudh Chauhan?

I remember seeing an old magazine commercial for Camel cigarettes - “Doctors Recommend Smoking Camels”. It came out back in the 40’s, I think. Of course we believed that smoking was cool for a very long time even after that. A half a century later, smoking accounts for 30% of all cancer deaths today. I think we could have played down the “cool card” on tobacco a little.

I guess skipping college and joining a call center is cool today. I worry that our creation of machined Andy’s or Sarah’s might end up being the cancer of the Indian society, a plague that slowly degenerates its ability to produce the caliber of engineers and doctors that it has so successfully produced in the past.

I know it is a hard analogy to make, but then, we will have to wait and see how all this plays out. Will people find comfort in seeking care by a dedicated, bright Anirudh dressed in a white coat or will they cringe at Andy’s twang-infused vocabulary at the other end of their telephones?

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 25th, 2006 @ 8:27 am on the category Sociotech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.