When I think of outsourcing, I think of big business. I think of the manufacturing of auto parts and assembly line products being stated in a foreign country to lower the expense of the product. I think of shoes, many which are manufactured with American parts and shipped to China to be assembled there. What I don’t think of may be the outsourcing of a local newspaper.
I mean, come on. Can be your first thought when you hear the voice and accent of someone from India, that you’re going to get the score of yesterday’s Little League baseball pool result game or that you’re going to be told which organization is holding the Pot Luck dinner to boost funds for uniforms for your child’s senior school marching band? No, it’s not.
My first thought was that I got the wrong number so I hung up and dialed it again. And yet again, I was put on hold and yet again, I got a woman from India taking demands the Circulation Department of a local newspaper.
When she asked me how she may help me I told her that I want her to prevent the newspapers from being brought to my home because I can’t bend down seriously to retrieve them and that whenever they’re permitted to pile up in the driveway, it makes it seem like your house is abandoned.
It went in a single ear and out another ear. She kept telling me that the newspapers are complimentary and I kept telling her I don’t want them. Then she explained that she will have to lookup the info from my subscription before she could cancel the order and I told her that I don’t have a subscription. She said, “You must have a membership; you’ve been receiving our newspapers for a year” and I told her, “I’ve never had a membership and I don’t want to receive your newspapers.”
Does the average American cringe when one of these simple online ads wants the annual income of anyone? Probably, but only when a totally free gift isn’t being given away.
It doesn’t seem to make any difference how smart an individual is, the lure of getting something for nothing overrides a person’s wise practice and he is quite prepared to divulge personal information in trade for getting something free. And, on another hand, he can be heard railing against the federal government for invading his privacy.
With this particular at heart, I shouldn’t have been too surprised that the lady from India in charge of the Circulation Department of our local newspaper kept emphasizing that the newspaper is complimentary as a reason for not stopping delivery. She must have thought, “Stupid American. I told her that it’s free and she still doesn’t want it.”
No wonder we have this unfavorable reputation around the world regardless of what our politicians would have us believe. We are usually seen as arrogant and grasping, taking issues that don’t fit in with us and building our fortunes on the backs of our workers.
by Connie H. Deutsch
Connie H. Deutsch is definitely an internationally known business consultant and personal advisor who features a keen understanding of human nature and is an all natural problem-solver. She is known around the world for helping clients find workable methods to complex problems.
Connie has hosted her very own weekly radio show, been a regular guest on a day radio show, done guest spots on radio shows around the united states, and appeared as a guest on a wire television show. Connie wrote a regular newspaper Advice Column for sixteen years and has been invited to speak at local colleges and given lectures across the country. She also wrote the scripts for a regular financial show on cable television.