We need to 'take our country back'.....if we could ever figure out who in the hell took it. :doh:

nafta ???

I'm sorry but it absolutely is true. I make the request to be transferred back to the States whenever necessary and it is done every time.

It has nothing to do with tolerance but rather economics. I would prefer to bolster our economy by speaking with a fellow American earning a paycheck here and spending same here.

QUOTE=gomoho;844641]Perhaps if enough people requested to speak to an American call center these companies would consider bringing these jobs back home. I am more interested in growing our economy rather than that of another country. I know it costs more to service people with employees in the US, but sometimes that benefit may outweigh the cost to the company - i.e. customer loyalty.[/QUOTE]

:agree:

According to the last paragraph; "Although the practice is not yet legislatively mandated, some U.S. companies have established policies and procedures of their own that instruct foreign call center operators to transfer calls back to U.S.-based reps upon customer request."

Every time I say that it works like a charm so I guess they don't know it's not true

:You got that right. We are so afraid of being "politically correct" that we're giving it away. Our ancestors must be rolling in their graves.

:bigbow:

Ancestors of US citizens had accents. ;)

Depending on where each of us live, we might think each other has an accent the other can't understand...

For example, someone from New England talking with someone from the Deep South.

Exactly! After all, English is NOT this land's native language.

Big business greed gave it away, so please don't blame a 50 cent an hour employee for this. This is our fault not there's.

Frankly, I'm offended by the idea that my tax dollars are used to pay for translators for people who come to this country and refuse to learn our language. It's also obscene that most if not all of our government forms are printed in multiple languages. I don't believe that there is any other country in
the world that does this unless they have multiple native languages.

Really? Since when? Are you going to argue that because some dopey congressmen who are afraid of losing some vote refuse to make English our "official" national language, that people in this country haven't spoken primarily English for the past 400 years?

English has always been the native language of this country.

And accents and dialects are a lot different than languages.

NAFTA started the move 20 years ago


PS...large corporations job...only job..is to make money for its shareholders...that is all of us with IRA's etc. NAFTA was the catalyst for much of this, not all, but that is what gave the impetus.

I don't feel it is an intolerance of foreign people. For me it is the belief that our official language is English. When I call customer service I should expect to speak with a person who speaks English fluently. It makes no more sense than hiring a plumber to be a nurse. Their job is to COMMUNICATE and if they cannot be understood, they are NOT communicating; therefore they are not successfully performing their job function.

The United States has NO official language. Some states have adopted that stance.

Our government says we must provide access to those who do not speak english

I never understood NAFTA, but it did seem wrong tome.

As I said, NAFTA was the beginning of, or at least an attempt, to begin a world wide economy. An agreement between US, Canada and Mexico to trade as a bloc. Some say it cost jobs, and some say it added jobs. Company I worked for closed a very large manufacturing site to move it to Mexico as a result of NAFTA.

But, I use that as only the beginings. There are many factors to this discussion.

One, and one I think is important is our tax code. The last few elections we have heard a lot of lip service given to this subject....but NO action We actually charged the committee put together to discuss the budget deficit with also looking at the tax code. After millions of dollars and lots of effort, the committee report was thrown aside and just not discussed, I assume because it did not fit a political agenda.

We need to fix the tax code first.

We are not going to protect american jobs until we do that, PLUS convince americans to take some of these lower paying jobs, and or provide incentives to companies to keep these jobs here.

It is not simple, and simply making fun or and throwing stones at large corportations is just plan silly and ill advised. They are doing their jobs...our government is not. Watch for tax overhaul debates in the election cycle and pay attention.

Absolutely. The call takers in foreign countries that do not live here are not citizens.

The native language is American Indian but since we screwed them royally, the language of this country is English.

I was afraid to say it but I give you kudos for saying what I was thinking. If I moved anywhere else I would be forced to assimilate into that society by speaking that language. No one would be printing forms in English to accommodate me. Nor would they have translators to assist me.

:agree:

And how stupid are we for providing it ???? No wonder the world laughs at us now.

That's true from a legal standpoint, but can anyone deny that English has been the native language of this country for the past 250 years?

Juts because a bunch of cowards in Washington decide not to make it "official" doesn't mean that we don't have a native language. We have a native language and I think that everyone understand that and knows what it is.

When our parents, grand parents or great grand parents came here from other countries they made it a point to learn our national language. They understood that to survive here they would need to learn to speak English.

For some reason, (maybe to get more votes) congress decided that it would be better if we all speak different languages and that the government would provide all of it's forms in every language in the world and that they government would provide translators for every person in this country that doesn't want to learn English. Gives the government a lot of power doesn't it?

This was not a country prior to the English settling here. It was open land occupied by tribes. The Native Americans had no common language or system of government.

The English came and established a country on this land.

Yes, they certainly did. But, would you have given them jobs involving communicating with English speaking people on the telephone.

My grandfather came here from Italy and had a very thick Italian accent. It would have been completely foolhardy to put him on a phone to do customer service for a company in this country.

Like I said, would you hire 5'4" 140 pound people to be on the offensive line of your NFL team? That not being prejudice or bigoted against small people. It's simply recognizing that they are not capable of doing a particular job. There are plenty of jobs that small people can do but playing on the offensive line is not one of them. There are plenty of good jobs for people that don't have good English skills, but communicating by phone in English with English speaking people is not one of them.

Some things are just too obvious and simple.

Our ancestors stole the land and murdered the Indians
why should they roll in their graves

Oh, I disagree. Almost every other country in the developed world teaches their young to speak English from the time they start school. We should not do that for the Hispanics and Asians that proliferate our country? Do you realize how hard it is for an adult to learn a second language? It's an established fact that the young learn a foreign language easily, because they learn it from a different part of the brain. Once you reach adulthood, it is an entirely different and more difficult process.

I don't have a problem at all with my tax dollars going to help immigrants who are not fluent in English to understand our laws and their rights.

Seriously? We speak English here and anyone who doesn't want to learn is free to leave at any time. Speak as you wish in your Country or your home but do not expect me to learn your language just to communicate with you. Millions have come here and WANTED to fit in with their new neighbors. What happened to that concept?

No one is forcing the corporations to outsource their customer service. They make that decision out of greed, at the expense of their customers. More appropriate to direct your angst at the root cause of the issue.

They make these decisions because they have one responsibility and that is to their shareholders to make a profit. That is what their responsibllty is.

If they did not, you would be complaining about your IRA or any investment you have going down the tubes.

You do not mention what you consider the root cause of the problem and that might be interesting to hear.

Wrong to blame corporations who are doing exactly what you, as a stock holder, want them to do.

Calls for tax code revision to allow corporations incentives to stay in this country are always greeted with catcalls.....but that is step one.

But allow us what you think the root cause might be.

The only problem that bothers me with this thread is the complaints of the original illegal immigrants.

So confusing, I agree with quirky and Bucco on this. Where is the compromise. I dislike outsourcing but I also would be upset with poor management of my financial interests. What is the solution? Could living with less profit be done with more jobs done by our neighbors. I don't know.

Yes, seriously. The times they are a-changing. I invite you to go try to learn a foreign language at your age and see how difficult it is. Then try to fill out a form in that language. Then go try to hire some Americans to go pick your fruit.

Not sure what you mean by "both ways" ?????

And banks are probably the least off shore companies customer service...if there are actually any of them.

:rotfl: So True!!!

My mother and father were born in Europe and struggled to learn, the English language. I'm sure they were difficult to deal with, back then. They formed a community of friends, that would help them translate when they needed, to deal with someone, or something.

Eventually, they spoke english well. My mother had a second grade education in Italy, and spoke three languages. She just barely, taught herself to read English.

I have mixed feelings in this matter as:
1. If English is not your first language, you shouldn't be put in a customer service role unless you can speak without a heavy accent, or have good command in your use of words. I have witnessed my mother and father search for words in English, to convey what they wanted to say.
2. People need to be given a break, unless they have no intention of learning how to speak english. Grandmother had no interest in learning, as she was surrounded by her children who all spoke fluent Italian. They live in a totally Italian neighborhood, so there wasn't a communication problem.

If I were to move to XXXXXXXXX, I would make every effort to learn that language, and be greatful for all the help, in my conversion.

AGAIN, make those politicians who promise tax code revision do what they say. Allow some reason for companies to not only place customer services offices on shore but to do their base business.

We now live in a world wide economy and we cannot be like we used to be, but so much of our tax codes simply invites companies to move

I lived 11years in Germany, spoke the language and always was accepted for it but found by many to be strange as the Germans all had English in school and found Americans that spoke their language as an oddity. Go figure, but Americans seldom have a second language. Yet most other countries speak two or more languages.

How does, did NAFTA play into that? It's all so complicated to me. Is anyone watching to see that American interests come first?