Tag Archives: telephone

Call Centers and the United States

I belatedly learned about Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s proposals regarding call centers. But it’s important to note that there are three different proposals, each with different impacts.

  • “First, the FCC will vote on reforms that can encourage businesses to bring call center jobs back the U.S.”
  • “Second, the FCC will explore ways to improve customer service at existing call centers, including a proposal to require call takers to be proficient in American Standard English.”
  • “Third, the FCC will address illegal robocalls that originate abroad by seeking comment on the targeted use of tariffs or bonds.”

Americans

Regarding those prized call center jobs that Americans hunger to fulfill so much, will the “reforms” include the abolition of the national $7.25 an hour minimum wage to make U.S.-based call center positions more attractive to employers? Well, employers in states that don’t have a higher minimum wage, anyway. Because call center jobs are a prime example of the jobs that Americans DON’T want to do. They’re worse than the data labeler jobs that require you to watch adult content.

English

Plus, many of these $7.25 an hour minimum wage states are in places where “American Standard English” is not widely spoken. Take Georgia and Oklahoma, each of which have a state minimum wage of $5.15, but that wage is overridden by the higher federal level.

Will the FCC consider Okie Talk as American Standard English?

How To Talk Like an Okie.

Or will companies be required to import Yankees to make those calls? And offer unsweet tea options in the break room?

Robocalls

Which brings us to robocalls. Most people hate robocalls. (My secret: when someone from a random number calls me about my Google business listing, I immediately turn on call recording and the accompanying announcement. That shuts them up.)

But when thinking about possible ways to battle robocalls, the first answer that doesn’t come to mind is tariffs. That’s about as effective as…well, tariffs. Ask Jack Daniels and Jim Beam how tariffs have worked out for them.

Of course, both companies could solve their income problems by setting up call centers to call Americans, in American Standard English, and urge them to buy American…

…well, except that both Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are age restricted products, which makes calling somewhat difficult. I don’t think ANY company is pioneering age estimation by voice.

From Flip Phone to Smartphone to No Phone?

I remember the first time I saw someone talking to himself.

I was working in Motorola’s Anaheim office at the time. For those of you who remember the “triangle” office, I was walking down the hall from the factory floor to the lunchroom. And there was someone I didn’t recognize walking the other way down the hall, talking to himself.

Or at least it looked like it.

In reality, he had an earpiece in his ear which could also pick up his voice, and he was talking on his phone. The phone was presumably tucked away in a pocket and couldn’t be seen, so if you didn’t see the earpiece, you’d assume that he was talking to himself.

This was probably in the middle of my time at Motorola (2000-2009), and smartphones hadn’t really taken off yet. Perhaps the guy was using a smartphone, but my guess is that he had a good old flip phone.

If he had a smartphone, he’d be looking at it.

While I happen to be typing this post on a laptop, I just as easily could have typed it on my smartphone. Those devices are so prominent today.

But ZDNET asserts that smartphones will go away.

“Right now, mobile phones are the main hub of our personal device ecosystem. But as AI integrates into glasses, rings, headphones, and portable form factors, we could see our very own handsets step off center stage, and these wearable devices take their place.”

ZDNET’s assertion appears in article about Qualcomm, a leading manufacturer of the chips that drive these newer wearable devices. These new chips offer greater computing (seven times faster), less power demand, and therefore longer battery life (coupled with the ability to charge up to 50% in 10 minutes).

With these more powerful wearables, ZDNET anticipates that the wearables will become less of a smartphone accessory and more of a smartphone replacement.

But if the smartphones go away, then my future blog posts will be written as I walk down the hall.

Talking to myself.

Google Gemini.