OUTSOURCING AMERICA

I need to apologize in advance for this tirade. I know that I've been writing about news stories, and the basis of this blog is just mindless ramblings of me. So here is one for you; one of our big problems today is our unemployment rate. Could the problem be blamed on the fact that our companies are outsourcing? Meaning, are they hiring in India to handle all of their customer service needs and paying them a lot less than the average American will make in that department? For example, I recently called Comcast because there was something wrong with our Internet. At first, I had to deal with an automated system, which is a whole other story. Then, when the automated system couldn't help me, I had to hold for the next available representative. Are you kidding me?

I finally get a representative, and the guy could not even speak English! The gentleman was clearly Hindu Indian. If he was Chinese or something, I would have been shocked! So, he was clearly Indian, and it's no secret they have strong accents. Why would you hire someone for customer service that the majority of your customers simply won't understand? I just don't get it. Customer service is about serving the customer, and not aggravating them because they can't understand a word they are saying. Then when you outsmart them, which I try not to do but I need because they are so cocky, they start stuttering and stammering. This is not someone that you want handling your customer service! Companies need to smarten up and hire unemployed Americans because trust me, you can get them cheap now too! At least, you can understand Americans, and it you screen them right, you can even find the smart ones. 

The automated operators are the worst too! Companies, I am sure, are spending top dollar to replace human reps with computerized ones. Is that right? I can't count how many times I got angry because I couldn't speak to a human. I've even caught myself saying, "What? Nobody wants to work anymore?" In some cases that may be true, but when you really need to talk to somebody they're never there anymore more because the automation has taken over. I mean, if you're checking your bank account or something, automation is fine, but when you’re calling about a service? Oh, my God! 

I guess what I'm saying, America, is that you have a high unemployment rate here at home. Quit the outsourcing and hire Americans to handle your phone customer service. The keyword here is "customer". If the customer is not happy, you will lose them and your front line of defense is your customer service, so I would think that would be most important! Just a thought!

I'm off to Argentina, so blogs may be scarce next week or you may get a blog everyday, almost like a diary of my trip! We'll see what kind of Internet service they have!

LOSING FACE-BOOK......

So, not only is Facebook helping to find friends, criminals, and background checks for jobs, now you can get a $100 fine for using the popular Social Media outlet. Well, that's if you're a student at this all-girls Jewish school in Brooklyn.

Apparently, the head of an all-girls Jewish school in Brooklyn thinks Facebook is not "modest" enough for his students, so he fined 33 of them $100 for using it. The teens from Beis Rivkah High School in Crown Heights were also ordered to delete their accounts last week. Wait a minute! Brooklyn is still in America right? It wasn't moved to Israel last I checked. Okay, I get the whole banning it from school thing, but fining the children a $100, and forcing them to delete their accounts is absolutely ridiculous! You can't stop a student from using Facebook on their own time at home if they found entertainment and enjoyment out of it. By asking them to delete their accounts, that's what you're asking, and that's wrong!

According to the school's head administrator Rabbi Benzion Stock, the school has had an eternal ban from whenever Facebook started, so this is not a new ban. He went on to state that Facebook is not a modest thing for a Jewish girl, or man or woman or student, or father to be on. He feels there is a lack of privacy and dignity. Though, these might be true, who is this Rabbi to tell people what they can or can't do? I'm not really well-versed on the Hasidic Jewish faith, but man, are they a bossy bunch, huh? Shouldn't it be up to the parent or the person, themselves, to decide whether or not they want their private information out there for the public to see? Or shouldn't it be their decision to say what is modest or not for them, and not the head of their school to decide? Am I making it a little obvious that I am totally against this?

The Hasidic school has had a ban on the site for several years, but as "liking", "friending", and "poking" became more popular, all 495 students were told to sign a formal contract not to use Facebook this year. Well, here is where I say the girls are wrong. If there was a contract not to use the site from the beginning of the school year, just wait till you get out of school to use it. Apparently, administrators cracked down last week after receiving word that girls were still updating their statuses and sharing photos while in class. Well, duh! No, wonder they got caught, but $100 fine? Really? All 33 girls agreed to delete their accounts and they paid the $100 fine that will be returned at the end of the school year.

Not all students were opposed to the strict ban, though. One 14-year-old stated that she thought the Principal was right, and that it was about modesty, which is part of their religion. She went on to say that all of her friends, who had a Facebook page, took them down because they had everything they needed: they already had their friends and their Gmail accounts. Hey, that shut the rest of us, Facebook users, up, huh? But, if I'm not mistaken, didn't one of the tribe create Facebook? Mark ZUCKERBERG? I guess word "modesty" wasn't in his Torah!