Recession in Britain 'at an end' - BBC

dfh

hundredk wrote: »

That's because the technology for call centres did not exist then - you were posh if you had a trim phone with buttions rather than a dial. So in the 70's when you called someone you spoke to a person. There are upsides too - I couldn't be bothered travelling to all those counters to pay bills when I can just do so online.

I agree technology is great when it comes to internet banking and such.But when things go wrong I would rather deal with a person face to face that hold a telephone line for ages.Fair enough some people may prefer dealing over the telephone but there should be some face to face service where you can talk directly to a native and get your problem sorted quickly and efficiently without the help of an interpreter !

Actually given what NULabour has done to our country over the last 10 years,I will probably need an interpreter if I go into a branch !

Cleaver

dfh wrote: »

Actually given what NULabour has done to our country over the last 10 years,I will probably need an interpreter if I go into a branch !

Ahhh, that comment makes your view on foreign call centres a bit clearer now.

bluey890

Cleaver wrote: »

Ahhh, that comment makes your view on foreign call centres a bit clearer now.

He prefers talking to people who speak fluent english?
This obviously rules Scottish call centres out.

btw. I am part Scottish

Cleaver

dfh wrote: »

I guess I am old fashioned.I can understand what you are saying about being part of global trade.But surely in the 70's when we did not have the overseas call centres the country was still functioning ok.When we had branches and you could walk in and talk to a native person..

I missed this first time around. You mean that people like this worked in banks in the 1970s:

dfh

Sorry-I meant Native English.Not Indian Americans.

lostinrates

why does it always come back to this?

fwiw, I have a nother little story.

In Milan I stumbled cross a beautiful Indian restaurant fairly central in town. We were heading to meet friends but suddenly had an overwhelming desire for Indian food, so told our friends to meet us there. They arrived and when the Maitre d' brought me a menu in English though we had spoken only Italian. He and I then had a conversation. He had beautiful Italian and English (never been to England though) grammatically better than many ''natives'' and was educated enough to pick up not only that I was not Italian but where I was from.

Of all the things to choose to be nationalistic about linguistic ability,even with our own language, is increasingly not one of them.

bluey890

lostinrates wrote: »

why does it always come back to this?

fwiw, I have a nother little story.

In Milan I stumbled cross a beautiful Indian restaurant fairly central in Town. We were heading to meet friends but suddenly had an overwhelming desire for Indian food, so told out friends to meet us there. They arrived and when the Maitre d' brought me a menu in English though we had spoken only Italian. He and I then had a converstaion. He had beautiful Italian and English (never been to england though) grammatically better than many ''natives'' and was educated enough to pick not only that I was not Italian but where I was from.

Of all the things to choose to be nationalistic about linguistic ability,even with our own language, is increasingly not one of them.

The wee lass is right.

Cleaver

dfh wrote: »

Sorry-I meant Native English.Not Indian Americans.

Ahh, okay. Shame really, because Barclays would be alot more interesting if it were staffed by twelve native Americans. And I'd prefer to deal with chief Dances When Drunk rather than some pimply 16 year old with a wide knotted tie and a footballers haircut any day of the week.

dfh

Cleaver wrote: »

Ahhh, that comment makes your view on foreign call centres a bit clearer now.

When my mother had Alhzeimer;s we had some foriegn doctors who came to see her.I have no doubt they were nice people.Problem is my mother could not understand them and they kept calling her by her surname without a mrs.They could have used her first name.When she went into a home, it was the same.I am sure they were caring but my poor mother suffered as staff could not communicate with her.But I am not blaming them.Problem is that this present generation is workshy and hence we need foreign workers.If our youngsters worked hard we will not need foreign workers to come and do these jobs.

lostinrates

Sheesh.

How many stereotypes can we squeeze into this thread?

I'm too tired for more stories tonight so line up the stereotypes and I'll work on narratives to combat them tomorrow.

ETA: sorry, I realise thats quite brusque...for me at any rate..its just that the answer to these problems is not these same stereotyp[ical responses. There ARE truths in them, I agree, but the truth is like an attempt claim that candy floss is a healthful source of energy for your children when really its fluffy sugar fuel.