In Dave Barry’s article, Technical Difficulties, he laments the fact that much of modern telephone tech support is being outsourced to foreign countries.

As he so eloquently puts it:

THE GOOD NEWS IS: The foreign tech support people are smart, educated and eager to help, and they speak English.

THE BAD NEWS IS: They speak it in such a way that you understand only about every fifth word.

I recently had some experience with this, and it was obvious they were using some sort of script, because they kept repeating the same things over and over again. The advantage was that I good clearly understand them, but every time I asked a question, the person answered the questions as if it was the first time we were speaking.

Me: I am calling to find out how to activate internet on my cell phone.

Tech Support: Yes sir, you are calling to find out how to activate internet on your cell phone?

Me: Yes, please.

Tech Support: Sir, you are calling to find out how to activate internet on your cell phone, so I am going to find the information on how to help you with that.

Me: Okay, thanks.

Tech Support: Okay sir, you are calling to find out how to activate internet on your cell phone, so I have found the information on how to help you with that. Please follow these instructions.

I remember back in the 90′s when call centers first started using computers to answer the phones.  People could often be heard lamenting: “Can I please just talk to a real person?”

In my recent conversation with outsourced tech support, I found myself thinking: “Can I please just talk to a computer?”