Neo Calls Again
Hands up those of you who don't like being called by Indian call centre staff? Yes, I thought so. Hands down now people.
Yesterday I received a call along the lines of, "Hello, this is Neo. I'm calling on behalf of Optus Mobile...."
"G'day Neo. How ya going? It's been a couple of weeks since you called."
That flabbergasted him somewhat. I told him that he had called me a couple of weeks ago and then put me through to Mike or Chris. It was Chris actually. Neo was a bit shocked that I remembered him and thanked me for it. Come off it, how many people called Neo call you on a regular basis? This guy stood out in my mind.
Interestingly he sounded more Danish than Indian so I asked him if he was in fact in an Indian call centre. He said yes and soon he would be calling on the UK instead of Australia. Obviously he has called everybody here in Oz as he has called me twice. So if you are in the UK tell him I said "Hi" if he comes calling on you. What sort of a name is Neo for an Indian, I ask you? These fans of The Matrix are a little on the fanatical side.
When I was talking to his workmate Chris a couple of weeks ago he promised to halve my phone bill. So I got my latest bill and we talked it through. The line rental would be $10 cheaper for the first six months then it would go back to being $4 dearer and you had to sign up for a two year contract. Based on my last bill I would be paying $4 more per month, for the first six months, on local calls. So the first six months would be only $6/mth cheaper and the remaining 18 months would be $8/mth dearer.
Hmmm, I don't think so. His promise could not be fulfilled. Sorry, but Optus aren't going to get this frugal bastard's business if it means I have to pay more.
8 comments:
The thing that gets me is, none of them seem to understand what 'no thank you' means. They have a job to do, but it is irksome in the extreme when they don't listen or give you a chance to say anything. Even if I get in first and say I am not interested, they still launch into their spiel.
I think he must have had a team leader listening because every now and again he would launch into something unintelligible and I guess it was work-speak. Funny to have a chat again though.
indians who work in call centres have to cultivate a foreign accent, coz they say our accent is difficult for others to understand. and 'neo' is, as i think you know :) not his real name. again, he takes on a fake name coz his real name probably would be difficult to get across to foreigners.
i know people calling up to sell you things you don't want can be buggers, but you know, neo stays up all night doing this coz of the difference in time zones. maybe he funds college with this, and rushes off to attend lectures at 8 am after a night of talking to people who don't want to talk to him. give him a little understanding :)
I wasn't upset to talk to him again and your point is well made. Can't imagine having to do that sort of job myself. Hopefully he goes on to get a good job and has a great future.
Megha, you're from India,arn't you? Do you get any tv stuffs from Australia over there? Like, neighbours, Home and away, McCloud Daugthers, the secret life of us, etc? I bet they would sound very strange and hard to understand.
If you do get those, tell me what you think.
hei ben :) yup, we do get australian shows here. i had a friend who was crazy about 'home and away'. i myself have only watched some episodes of a show called...hmm...something high. damn, i can't remember the name. oh, plus i used to watch 'who dares wins' until i got bored of it :)
but you know what, they're not strange or hard to understand, at all. the accent poses no problem, actually. the soaps are also more or less the same as indian soaps, just depicting more of an open society. for instance, a high schooler got pregnant in one aussie show, and had the baby. things like this are completely alien to us. people in your soaps react differently to situations that would alarm us, or shame us. individualism is the stronger force there, whereas it's the family bond here, hence more of sacrifices for loved ones, and less rebellion, esp from teens.
that's about all i gathered from the shows. hmm, this could lead to very interesting discussions, but i think i'll stop now. this is not the place for an essay :)
My blog has been hijacked. Comments are fairly spot on though. In Australia it is normally a case of leaving home as soon as possible as the family bonds aren't as strong. Perhaps a little too much individualism in this country.
Blue Water High, maybe? Or was it Heartbreak High?
heartbreak high!! that's it :)
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