....to blog, or so 'they' say.
So what's this blog about? Hmmm, who knows at this stage, I think I will follow my wildest ravings, rants and some deep thought coupled with some humour hopefully until like Monty's Parrot, this blog or even I have shuffled off this mortal coil and ceased to be.
Old? Well slightly past the bus pass stage, revelling in free prescriptions and reduced OAP green fees. It's been a battle to get here and much has happened along the way, some of it fun. I won't bore you with the details, but you will get the benefit of much wisdom garnered along the way. And if you believe that, you deserve to be reading this blog! More like deeply entrenched opinions, which I share freely for the benefit of all.
So I don't have to worry about how to start, as I have already started. The next question is where to go with it? Politics? Sex? Travel? Money? Chicken Kiev (formed from pieces of carefully removed chicken flesh blasted off carcasses with high pressure hoses)? Airport Security? Religion? Airport Security AND Religion? The French? Football? For I have an opinion on all of these plus much, much more.
Ok for the sake of it. let's have a go at Indian Call Centres (though they could be anywhere from the Phillipines to Poland, the point is they are not in the UK). Why do we put up with them? Let's say a company closes down its call centre in the UK and makes 500 people redundant, moving the jobs to India (India is chosen as it is the most popular venue for these outsourced deals, nothing against India or its populace personally). Firstly we, the taxpayer, will need to fund unemployment benefits for a fair few of those unfortunate souls for a fair length of time. Secondly we get people who do not speak English properly, with a difficult to understand accent, and a propensity for following the script every time we phone up to renew our insurance or what have you. And remember if it ain't on the script it don't exist! It is a waste of time to try and short circuit them, you have to hear them out if you want to get anywhere. Who gains? Well the shareholders of the company get better dividends as their operating costs are now lower. Who loses? The taxpayer. Not only are we paying tax to allow the company to pay its shareholders more, we are getting, frankly, sh*t service! Personally I feel if these companies who close down call centres (or move production to somewhere cheaper, etc, etc) were to be made legally responsible for providing unemployment benefit for ex employees for a reasonable length of time, say two to three years, it would not be economic for them to move jobs abroad and the country as a whole would be better off.
What do you think? Are you happy to support commercial organisations with your tax pound? Am I talking the biggest load of..............?
