Basic Trope: A character calls a customer service line and gets, well, an operator from India.
- Straight: Alice needs help with a computer problem. When she finally gets through to tech support, someone with a distinct Indian accent answers.
- Exaggerated: The operator in question speaks only his/her native language or dialect and does not understand Alice's English.
- Downplayed: The operator speaks perfect English, but there are slight hints of an Indian accent.
- Justified:
- XYZ Tech has outsourced its tech support call center jobs to India
- XYZ Tech is actually based in India.
- Inverted: Amrit needs help with a computer problem and is redirected to a tech support call center in America.
- Subverted: Alice complains about Indian operators, but she gets a call center in California.
- Double Subverted: But the call is answered by someone with a distinct Indian accent.
- Parodied:
- The call center in question is in outer space, and its employees all have a distinct Indian accent of some sort.
- The hold music is Bollywood Filmi Music
- One operator works for several companies, and fakes a US accent for each state that each company is (allegedly) located in.
- Alice is talking to someone similar to Peggy.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice calls tech support and is redirected to a call center in Eagleland
- Enforced: "How 'bout some commentary on outsourcing?"
- Lampshaded: (distinct accent) "Hello, you have reached tech support, this is Bob, how may I help you?"
- Invoked: XYZ Tech decides to outsource its call center jobs to India.
- Exploited: There are Indian scammers probably related to worse scams who pretend to be from XYZ Tech call centers and do the usual remote desktop scams, all the more effective because there are actual Indian employees in XYZ Tech.
- Defied: XYZ Tech refuses to outsource, and keeps all its call centers in America.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Why are all these techies located in India?"
- Deconstructed:
- Outsourcing may be helpful in the short term, but in the long run hurts economies because jobs that could go to people in XYZ Tech's home country are being sent to people in other countries. And if XYZ Tech is more concerned about its bottom line than about its employees, that could cause problems too.
- Alice gets her credit card info stolen in an Indian remote desktop scam that might not have worked without the extra element of deception, that is the fact that XYZ Tech has Indian employees and the scammers use that to their advantage.
- Reconstructed: XYZ Tech opens up call centers in its home country. Only if XYZ Tech has offices in other countries (as a worldwide company) will it have call centers elsewhere. And wherever its call centers are, its employees are competent, courteous, wonderful people, and XYZ treats them as such.
- Implied: Alice hangs up the phone, and angrily complains about Indian accents.
"Thank you for calling Operator from India. Is there anything else I may be helping you with today?"
