"Dell support, Molly speaking..."

"Dell support, Molly speaking, how may i help you?" Molly huh, i bet her name is something like Madhuvanthi. As i try to explain my problem to her she keeps asking me to repeat myself. Now i'm already angry that my laptop isn't working but having to constantly repeat the problem to someone who doesn't understand english is making me even more angry. I hate DELL!!! i hate them for makin crappy machines that constantly fail on u and "molly" is not making the situation any better!!! She directs me to 10 different people who also don't speak english very well until over an hour later of mostly waiting on hold i'm told my problem is with Windows not Dell!! WTF!!!!!! I may have just been on facebook when this happened but regardless i COULD'VE been working on something important and Dell doesn't know that and neither does "Molly!" I spent money on the product and if it malfunctions by no fault of my own, i'm OWED fantastic customer service!!! customer = customer service, what part of that equation does "Molly" not understand?

Does the situation sound familiar?

Well during my study abroad trip, i had the opportunity to learn more about, "Molly." Not "Molly" in particular but more like call centers. We visited WNS in Hyderabad, one of the leading providers of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) services. They have many services, but call centers was our main focus. With the entire stigma surrounding call centers, our presenter assured us that WNS is "far more sophisticated and decent than the others." For example, at WNS those who work in call centers do not have to change their names, unless of course the name is extremely difficult to pronounce (Madhuvanthi- don't ask where i got that from). They also work in an extremely fun, cooperative environment. The facility consisted of completely open workspaces and there were many rooms for recreational purposes (ping pong tables!!). There was a huge cafeteria and gym- and the whole facility was very colorful, for a second we forgot we were in Hyderabad except of course for the cows and homeless people passing by the windows. As we viewed the facility we noticed many women working and the environment and WNS seemed to employ those within their mid-twenties.

Indian call centers have had a growth rate of about 60% in the last three years and WNS has greatly contributed to those figures. As we viewed the facility we noticed many women working that seemed within the age range of mid-twenties. The reason more women are employed is because call centers have generally been labeled as “women’s work.” Our presenter even said that as a woman there are certain aspects of femininity that need to come into play when dealing with irate customers. As a result, men are not as dependable to do such jobs. Admin jobs are also favored women, even though most have at least a college degree. They are the lower paid half of the industrial workforce, they earn only about $120-$220 a month. However, women tend to think of it as an IT job, more comprehensive than just service. Men see it as a waste of intelligence, and label the occupation as a sophisticated telephone operator.

They go through a lot of training to work in the field, process based training, accent training, & good customer service; empathy training. The empathy training is mainly due to the irate customers. It was mentioned that a "normal" part of US culture, is to say "what the hell are you doing?" They say it may be so common in the US but they find it extremely offensive in India. Part of the empathy training is to deal with this aggressive behavior that is so common in the US. So i guess we're known for being assholes!

Another problem is that English is a second language for them and while they learn proper english and we speak incredibly fast in slang, there is a HUGE communication gap. So basically dell is settin up these customer service calls for disaster.

I couldn't help but think, for a woman to have a college degree and yet work at a job in which she must deal with irate customers all day who belittle her, while a man with the same education has the right to have an actual IT job is absolutely absurd. So here i'm gettin pissed at "molly" and treating her as if she's incompetent when in reality if it weren't for the language barrier and my insulting tone, my problem would probably have been resolved in a shorter amount of time. I guess if you think about it, if Madhuvanthi grew up in the US, with her education we probably would be working for her, and most likely she would see us as incompetent dumbasses!

birthday bitch

Sorry it’s been awhile, with the vegas trip and finals my time has been limited. But I just read that last post before I started to write and it’s so funny how quickly things changed. I’ve been such an a-hole the last couple of weeks!!! I’m so sorry for those of you who have been annoyed with me. I especially want to apologize to my wonderful co-workers who not only have to deal with me on a daily basis but who have also been (moderately) tolerant of my cranky-ass.

But its only been a month and India has already left me, I’m back to complaining about petty things, excessive road rage and spending ridiculous amounts of money I don’t have, on frivolous things.

This post was supposed to be about call centers but I’m afraid I won’t give it justice in my current state of mind, it may be better for me to blog about nothing.

So what the hell is it? What brings me back here again? Is it my environment? I have to factor in the fact that my birthday is slowly approaching and I will hit “that” age, the age that I will either lie about or no longer reveal. I do always get a little crazy during this time of year.
But what was it about India that made me happy that I no longer feel anymore? What is it about my life right now that I can’t feel that way all the time?

I guess i would love to blame it on my environment. I would love to just btch about the fact that i get up in the morning go to work, study, go to school, study, annual bridesmaid duties (different brides) and sit in Rt. 1 traffic for over 50% of my day. This is all i do (along w/occassional drinking/goin out during breaks), how is it possible for me to be in a good mood ever!

But then again thats a choice...

Then again i love my job, i just had the best semester of my life, i love being a big part of a wedding & awesome bachelorette parties (bahamas, vegas, miami) and sittin in traffic is the only time in the day i get to myself.

So then again its really pretty great, but yet i still btch

I think it really has to be a conscious choice, i would love to be that person that is always in a good mood but i know its impossible. I just have to remind myself to make that choice every morning...

do i want to be the villian or the superhero today?

(that's it there's my epiphany, i needed this, thanks for listening!)

sweet november

WARNING: I’m having one of those days where I have so much to say & not enough time to organize. I hope you are able to follow this post as it takes many different turns & doesn’t even conclude properly, but very personal…read at your own risk…

There’s this scene in the movie Sweet November where Keanu Reeves is at a restaurant with a client I think and the client is someone that could make or break his career. The waitress serving them manages to spill on the client. At this point the client is infuriated and tells the waitress,

"we are what we do in this world, sweetie, and you're a waitress. All that requires is that you bring the food and drink to and from the table without making a mess. That's it. So when you screw up something so incredibly simple as that...well that just doesn't say a whole helluva lot about you, does it?”

(Yes, that's the exact quote) Its actually a pinnacle point in the movie b/c Keanu realizes that he does not want to become this guy and refuses the job, which then changes his life. Anyway, forever I have had the same attitude as the client , I had absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for the waitress who ran away crying. Granted I was ashamed for thinking that but still no sympathy. Infact everytime I would receive bad service and get angry about it, I would refer to it as a “Sweet November moment.”

I began to explore the deeper meaning behind my low tolerance for bad service. I usually just chalked it up to the fact that I used to train on customer service and so my knowledge of the subject caused utter disgust for bad service. But then I realized the low tolerance turned into aggressive behavior and it was definitely much more than just having an attitude problem.
Okay so through my soul searching I realized that most of the racist moments in my life center around those in service. Before you jump on that statement, let me explain, I was born in NJ in the 80’s, before Indian infiltration, it was very different back then. There were very few Indians in central jersey at the time, infact Oak tree road didn’t exist, well it did but it wasn’t little india back then. Anyway we experienced a lot of racism/unwelcomed behavior back then.

I remember the day very vividly, an A&P had opened up in the area and my parents along with my extended family decided to take a trip to the grocery store together to prepare for some party. I remember we were passing through the coffee aisle and I remember how desperately I wanted to push the big red button to grind the coffee. I had this tick at that age where I NEEDED to push any and every button I ever came across. The torment of that shiny new button, untouched by me, I couldn’t resist, I HAD to push it. My cousin noticed the look on my face and immediately stopped me by pointing to my dad who was nearby. Okay now let me explain my dad, he’s a man of few words, slightly militant but BRILLIANT. He’s extremely intelligent and has an aura about him that demands respect. I was never daddy’s little girl growing up (& I totally appreciate that) and if you ever met him you would realize how that sort of relationship would be impossible. Anyway so my rebellious nature and boastful attitude, lead me to push the button when my dad’s back was turned.

Later, at the register the cashier starts a public fight with my dad. Now this is unheard of, I’ve never seen anyone talk to my dad that way and didn’t understand why. I remember immediately thinking that my dad’s going through this b/c I pushed that button. All I could think about was that moment when I decided to push that button and ruin this family trip to the grocery store. These thoughts assisted in blocking what was actually being said, so I can’t even tell you how the fight started or what was even said. Anyway, I confessed to my sister in the midst of the rant, who responded with “no stupid she’s just racist.” My dad handled it very well, he lectured her which made her look like an idiot then used the opportunity to teach us a valuable lesson. That was my first ever encounter with racism, as early back as I could remember, it was initially very difficult to understand that sort of hatred. There were many other moments in my life too, to which I began to notice some trepidation on my mom’s part when dealing with anyone within the service industry. I also noticed her getting increasingly self conscience about her accent. This always infuriated me; these people caused my mom to feel this way. I personally never wanted to feel that way, unwelcomed in my own country, it was after this I consciously vowed to make sure my parents never had to go through that again and make sure I never did either. Thus began my animosity towards anyone and everyone within the service sector of the US economy.

So before I go on, do you think this makes my current actions at least somewhat excusable? Better yet, when comparing the client from the movie or the cashier from A&P, whose actions do you feel is more excusable? It would seem to be the client of course, so what a waitress has to deal with an unruly customer but racism is totally inexcusable. What if the waitress lost her job, couldn’t pay her bills and her life thereafter was totally ruined? In my story, I learned a valuable lesson and developed an attitude problem but otherwise lead a very content/successful life, my dad was generally unaffected in the grand scheme but loved opportunities to teach valuable lessons and my mom although somewhat affected, did not stop her from becoming head supervisor of her own laboratory and overcoming her fear of the accent by recently starring in a promotional video for her lab. Does the outcome of the stories change things?

Keep in mind that this may have been the reason why my animosity began but not at all the reason why it withheld. The anger grew into its own monster and I forgot where it started and just blamed my rant on bad customer service, scratch that not “bad” customer service, but service that did not revolve around my life. The reason I say that it grew is b/c my rant wasn’t race-specific, my anger was no longer or nor was ever geared to any specific race, infact most of it was mainly geared towards gas station workers – who are predominantly Indian (and were impeding on MY busy schedule). I wasn’t trying to amend the racism my parents went through anymore; I’ve just become a spoiled brat. And even if my “not so tragic” racism moment was the initial reason for my rant, my need for redemption was fueled by a negative emotion and so regardless it was not at all justified.

Anyway there is a point, I swear, it will all come together real soon…

I’m not the only person in the world that acts this way. Most people may have a more tragic story and use it as a reason to act like an a-hole. We find excuses and reasons to justify our selfish behavior & lack of empathy towards other human beings. It has become sort of a cultural thing, and by culture I mean American, this type of behavior. We have lost our camaraderie with others within our community or even country, does social standing or race really matter? And our lifestyle here in the US has become a lifestyle of abundance. We feel we are entitled to get what we want when we want it and we won’t let anyone stand in our way (I’m totally generalizing, I understand that). Think about all the other ways that we portray this selfish/aggressive type of behavior. Road rage- we’ll cut anyone of/tailgate and drive aggressively not caring about anyone else as long as we get to work on time. Obesity- we’re pigging out while the rest of the world and parts of our country are starving. In the workplace- there is always a Machiavellian type who steps on everyone else to get to the top.

In the end it really doesn’t matter what events in our life shaped us or make us behave this way. Everyday you make a decision whether to be an a-hole or not. Although in this world you are just one small person, everyday someone else is affected by your behavior. It’s the little things that take absolutely no effort on our part but can have an enormous effect on someone else’s life. We think we are in our own little island, striving to make our own life easier but neglecting others in the process. What if you smiled at that random guy that stares at you all through class (ooo just did it- creepy), im’d someone you havn’t talked to in months- just to say hi (remember me?), stopped cutting people off on the road (must resist givin the finger) or even remained calm and friendly when calling for dell support, what sort of effect could you have…(to be continued).

The Mughal Empire

I could just show you pictures of all the different landmarks during our sightseeing tours in Agra but I think it may make more sense if I give you the history as well, it’s really interesting.

Babur was the first of the dynasty and ruled for 4yrs. One of his greatest stories was his willing to sacrifice his life to save his sick son, Humayun. In his daughter’s memoirs he was quoted to have said, “Although I have other sons, I love none as I love Humayun. I crave that this cherished child may have his heart’s desire and live long because he has not his equal in distinction.” He prayed for God to take his life to save his son’s and that same day he fell ill. Not much is ever accounted for Humayun’s reign due to his son’s accomplishments, but that he ruled in exile. He ended up dying by accident; he fell down the stairs of his library, but his tomb is considered to be an important milestone in Mughal architecture.

Humayun’s son Jalaluddin, better known as Akbar then took over the throne but he established the dynasty as an empire. If you haven’t seen Jodhaa Akbar yet I suggest you do, you have probably heard about the recent controversy, keep in mind the controversy is all about Akbar’s wife’s name but the story is an accurate depiction of Akbar’s rule. As far as the love story that makes it bollywood, inaccurate- most mughals had more than one wife.
Fatehpur Sikri was the political capital under Akbar’s rule, it was where he welcomed his new court of Brahmans, yogis, Jains, Jesuit priests, Zoroastrians and Muslim scholars.
He didn’t have any children so he sought after the Sufi Saint, Sheik Salim Chisti and made a wish to have a son, shortly after his wish was granted. So he built Fatehpur Sikri to mark the birth of his son. It was created with Muslim and Hindu elements in the architecture. That’s apparent through the depiction of the faces in the birds and animals which would never been seen in Muslim architecture.
We visited Sufi Saint’s tomb (right) next to the tomb is this fence like structure with strings tied to it. How funny is it that the 4 of us girls were confronted immediately and told to tie a string to wish for “true love” and even funnier that we had all denied.
Akbar’s son was Jahangir, and Jahangir’s son was Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is a tomb for Shah Jahan’s wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Of all the amazing aspects of this structure i find the symmetry the most facinating, not only is the entire structure completely symmetrical but everything around it is as well. She gave him 14 children and was his favorite of all the wives. Out of the 14 I think only about 5-6 survived (don’t quote me on that), most of which were girls. Aurangzeb was one of the surviving sons and he ended up killing/executing the other sons so that he can take over the throne. He hated his father and was against his rule completely, he felt that his need for the architectural extravagance led to a huge increase of taxes for peasants and his need for ruling led to his betrayal of his father. Shah Jahan fell ill and Aurangzeb decided to keep him in house arrest at the red fort. To stick it to him even more, he made sure his father was caged so that he was always in view of the Taj Mahal.

He was the last Mughal ruler.

To give or not to give

Picture this you are in NYC and a homeless person on the street approaches you for some money, do you give a dollar, more than a dollar, or do you just walk away? You start to justify not giving money by assuming that the person will use it to buy drugs or alcohol. Now picture you’re in India and there are thousands of beggars in all different directions ready to pounce on you as soon as you walk out of the airport. They won’t go away and they are all children who did not choose this life but were given this fate, some less than 5 yrs old. Your heart breaks but at the same time you know if you give some money to one about a million will come out of nowhere and harass you some more. You know you can’t help them all and with all the hassle of helping one, you realize the easiest thing to do at this time is to just walk away.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying you’re a horrible person for making that decision, in fact most of us do. Its that constant struggle we go through in our minds, do you reach out a hand or do you ignore what’s in front of you. Its human nature to want to help, to instinctively reach out a hand when another is falling. We also love the feeling of knowing we made a difference in someone’s life. At the same time when you know that you cannot make much of a difference and after you assess the pros and cons, its just as easy to say no. But the thing about living in the US is that we barely have to go through that struggle in our minds, to wonder if we should. How often do you deal with that issue of giving? We get so consumed in our daily lives and our own problems that we forget how the rest of the world lives.

I know before this trip I felt so sorry for myself and my financial “problems.” By financial problems I mean that since I decided to take the job I love I have had to pay for my mba on my own. So I moved back home to my parents to save some money. By financial problems I mean that I was actually upset that I had to decide against buying an Ed Hardy t-shirt at the moment but considered what I can forgo to get that t-shirt before the summer. Those of you that know me well know that I’m a complete label whore and know how much I’ve been complaining about changing my lifestyle to deal with my recent financial issues.

Now after thinking about that, what does it really matter what that few dollars I give away will be used for. I’m obviously not using it for anything important. I think that the chance that the money I earned can be used to save someone’s life (may it be slim) is still worth the effort. Even if it’s 1 in a million, at least using the money for the sake of that 1 chance is more worth it than for an ugly t-shirt w/a signature on it. After doing some research on www.giveindia.org I realized that what I would’ve spent on that 1 tshirt I could help educate 5 illiterate women. Or to http://www.sksfoundation.org/ where I can help with microfinance loans to women in villages (more on that to come).

What if we did that, went through THAT struggle in our minds before spending on some frivolous item- what sort of difference could we make?

As you start to calculate your tax-refund and think about what you will be spending it on, all I ask is that you at least take a look at the sites.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world…” -Gandhi

Nandita Das

Nandita Das is an actress, I’m not really sure about most of her films, but I know she was in Deepa Mehta’s “Fire,” and “Earth.” It was absolutely necessary for me to do an entirely separate posting on her…
She discussed issues that are prevalent in India and social issues she contributes to.

• Dowry Deaths
  this is when a wife’s family cannot pay the dowry promised to the husband and so he kills he wife if the dowry is not met. Most of the time he drowns her or burns her and then claims it to be an accident.
  The husband usually gets away with these murders b/c of the corrupt system and the culture which usually favors the man.
  There were about 6,000 this year which was a vast improvement. But that’s just what was able to be quantifiable, think about all the obscure villages and/or cases that were not proven to be dowry deaths. So how can this number accurately portray the amount of dowry deaths throughout the entire country?

• Female Infanticide/Sex-selective Abortion
  killings of girls soon after or before they are born.
  This is done for socioeconomic and religious reasons. A son carries on the family name, a son can help with the family income and a son brings a wife/dowry. A woman will just marry off and leave the family and is more of a liability than an asset.
  While most think this must be something that is prevalent in the villages or amongst the poor and uneducated, think again its taking place in the most affluent parts of India. Because you need $ to find out the sex of the baby and to get an abortion.

• Bollywood
  Nandita Das usually selects roles that tie into her social work at the time
  She spoke about the current state of Bollywood and discussed how much it has changed for the worst.
  She made a point about how the hero is not connected to the “real world” anymore and how the hero lives in a palace and how most movies only focus on a particular class.
  We got into a discussion on Rang De Basanti, I have not seen the movie, but I remember how desperately I wanted to see it when it came out. But Nandita was completely against it, she talked about how Bollywood is starting to give such simplistic answers to complex problems which in turn does not encourage thinking and discussion.
  Now imagine how big bollywood is and imagine “AbhiAsh” in a Deepa Mehta film. They’re influence on the society could make a huge difference but instead they focus on the same theme in every movie, falling in love.

• Indian Men in America- “oh yes son, I’m talkin to you”
  How funny is it that Nandita Das had something to say about you guys! She brought up the issue of caste and how it is still prevalent throughout the country. But even more astonishing to her was the behavior of Indian guys living in the U.S.
  She talked about how stupid it is that you guys are coming back to India to get married and how you are digressing and a disgrace. You are giving our generation a bad name and keeping the caste/segregation system alive and well. She was disgusted how you would come to the US for your education or how your parents came to the country for that reason but how you choose to marry a woman from India that is of the same caste- regardless of her education. How your only criteria for marriage is to find a woman of the same caste to take care of your kids, your parents and yourself.
  I know a lot of my friends and even family members plan on doing the same, but you claim the reasons are different and have nothing to do with caste. But whatever the reason, the underlying issue is that you don’t regard women as equal. Whatever the claims, lack of culture, too much “experience,” etc, you embody all these things as well; but believe its okay for you, just not for the woman you marry. Anyway, I hope for the sake of all the educated woman out here, you do marry out there, the less of u in the pool the better. But please don’t pretend its noble of you to do so and that its for your parents and not you; there is absolutely no nobility in keeping sexism and segregation amongst Indians alive.
  She loved that my sister and I were there and that she got our POV; however, there was also a guy w/in our group that was Indian and had plans to marry in India. He was astonished that he needed to defend his future plans and didn’t even see anything wrong with it. So she was very diplomatic about the issue and ended the discussion before a war broke out about the issue, my sis was about to go crazy!!

• Giving
  We discussed the corrupt system in India and how difficult it is for us to help out. There are about 20,000 NGO’s in Delhi but we can’t even be sure how many actually do the work. She suggested using http://www.giveindia.org/ to donate. I have yet to donate so I don’t want to promote just yet but I’ll give more details on the site once I do.

CII

I woke up around 6am completely refreshed even though I barely had any sleep. After breakfast we headed to a meeting with CII at India Habitat Center, Lodi Road, New Delhi.
I’m going to start off with a brief, straightforward overview of the panel, for those who are interested…but don’t get discouraged if you’re not, this blog will not encompass bullets and facts but I promise will have more personal insight, passion, and of course some controversy, just keep reading!

Perspectives on the “Indian Economy & US Businesses” in India.
Speakers:
1. Mr. Ashwani Gupta, County Director, Honeywell
2. Mr. Naveed Hussain, Director of Research and Technology, Boeing India
3. Mr. Marut SenGupta, Senior Director, Confederation of Indian Industry
4. Ms. Nandita Das, Actress and Social Worker

Mr. SenGupta spoke first, he had a slide show and discussed the current state of the economy in India. Some of his key points…
· India is the 4th largest economy in the world
· GDP 8.73%
· Mining and Electricity are controlled by government restrictions so they contribute a low GDP
· The economy is driven by the Service Sector, with the Industry Sector coming in second, and the remaining to Agriculture
o There are current issues going on with Walmart wanting to set up shop in India but the effect it would have on the economy would be drastic. (I’ll get into this more in my later posts dealing with an economic evaluation and the informal sector).
· India is competing with a major player, China and although India is not able to produce cheap goods in mass amounts, India is still strong due to technology.
· Investments are driving the economy
· Public sector was negative in savings for awhile but now the public sector is turning very profitable
· Domestic Savings Sector- “India has yet to use credit cards like the US”
· Average age of home owner went from 50 to 37 in 2 yrs.
· Currency Rate= 39.7 US

Mr. Gupta from Honeywell was next, his section mainly focused on Honeywell products and their contribution to the GDP, he also discussed Honeywell’s Energy Performance Contracts but he contributed much more when debating with Nandita Das. Mr. Hussain was next, he discussed Boeing and the growing consumerism – people want to fly these days, they no longer want to take the train. Every plane but King Fisher in India is a Boeing. They are currently competing against Lockheed and European Markets- India has a great army but is poorly equipped.

That was a very brief overview just because I’m dying to tell you about Nandita Das, how odd that out of the entire panel this lady captured and inspired all of us. If you would like more info on the panel please let me know and I can fill you in on the entire discussion. But the main point is that they provided a very optimistic view of India. Which is the POV we had throughout the trip, it was only Nandita that gave us a more realistic view of India.