CARTOON: An Unusual Cartoon About Call Centers

[UPDATE: In the comments about this item at SepiaMutiny, someone came up with an alternative caption. It's reproduced below.]

As you know, there are a lot of jokes, cartoons, etc, about outsourcing and call centers (including some along the right side of this now-out-of-date SAJA Roundup). But the cartoon below, which ran in today's WSJ, has got to be the first to bring the issue of caste into the call center situation (can't figure out the cartoonist's name except for what appears to be "Nick").

What do you think? Post your reax in the comments section below. See what others (30+ comments) have had to say, too.

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What do you think? Post your reax in the comments section below. See what others have had to say, too.

 

By "chachji" at SepiaMutiny:

The joke in the cartoon is not on the Indian call center operator supposedly asking whether the caller was of the right caste - the joke is in the irony that a cartoon from the very culture that exported the jobs to India also projects its prejudices onto Indians.

"DJDP" then created this:

Comments

[Monica]

Its not even in the slightest bit hilarious. It does not mean anything at all. Kinda Weird!!!

Its ok to make jokes about any social set up .But this is not even funny ...

[Zeeshan]

I agree that it's not humorous, but I also feel that parallels can be drawn with the Muslim world, where certain women will not talk to men - at all - regardless of background, or medium of communication.
In that vein, this cartoon seems quasi-universal!

[Harish]

I always find American humor, considering myself to be an American (born and raised) to be a bit immature and lacking what the British call "irony". Its the same reason why direct physical comedy plays so well and indirect intellectual comedy doesn't. But I digress.

It seems to me that this is a superficial joke that I have heard as a "general" stereotype that characterizes Indians. Very similar to the joke about "what does the dot represent"

The reason why this joke doesn't make sense for Indians is because it lacks a good punchline. I am all about ethnic humor but what is the punchline? "Caste"? That is the buzzword to illicit the comedy?

[AVR]

I think it *is* funny, and quite funny at that (I am desi, Bombay born & raised - Monica (comment above) must be a Delhi-ite, mammals renowned for not having a funny bone). One defn of humour is "the juxtaposition of absurdities," so "kinda wierd" doesn't mean it isn't funny, boss. More than happy to get into a discussion about the ontology/epistemology of humour, aesthetic relativism (re: humour v. beauty), and other "adda-friendly" issues, ideally the next time I am in NY and at whatever place has replaced Lancers as the SAJA watering hole (know I am dating myself here) - AVR

[Ranjan Mittal]

It's not a very funny cartoon. Not so much because it's tasteless but more so because it's ignorant. Even in communities where the caste system is strongly entrenched, its not at all true that people of one caste won't talk to or deal with people from any other caste. In conservative strongholds, people of different castes get along just fine with each other as long as individuals don't cross certain lines, for example lower caste boy eloping with a higher caste girl etc. The cartoonist's goal here presumably is to evoke humor by juxtaposing the two cultures, but he fails because providing tech support is very different from getting married or even physically giving somebody a glass of water.
A deeper irony is that the relationship between American companies and customers and Indian call centers is very much evocative of the caste system. In the same way that the lower castes in India have for centuries done menial labor for the upper castes, including cleaning out latrines, and in the same way that the upper caste (whites) in this country hire the lower castes (blacks) to work as janitors etc, Americans today (upper castes) are getting tedious tasks such as tech support done by the economically underprivileged (lower castes). Globalization has produced a new caste system, but its a system whose future hierarchy is uncertain. In coming years, countries like India and China may well go from being Harijans to becoming Brahmins of the global order.

[Peter R.]

I find the cartoon borderline acceptable. It doesn't work as humor (the overseas interlocutor would clearly not be Indian so why would caste be an issue?); it's a slur at backwardness of Indians. How about requesting a retraction and apology from the WSJ?

[Laxmi]

I suppose this must be in response to a call from a non-Indian, who claims to know a word 'caste'.
Living in US for over 30 yrs, I have faced the question of my caste often.
I assume this response from the call person must be to a question from some one from outside India. I assume the call person is intelligent and confident to stand up to this superficial question by responding that 'I am of the caste' that you can talk to.
Afterall what is a caste?
I interpret that as 'I atleast belong to your level of intelligence to respond to your request and question'.
There indeed is at times a false superiority in certain segment of society, the younger educated generation with perhaps less of it.
The other interpretation of the word 'caste' may refer to 'cultural' understanding.

[Sendhil]

If this is from the WSJ's "Pepper... and Salt" spot, it's not unusual that it's not funny. Those cartoons are funny less often than "Fred Bassett". I have concluded that they must serve some other, hidden, purpose, like sending coded messages about tomorrow's Dow performance to the members of the Trilateral Commission.

[Seshu]

"But I'm funny how? Funny like a clown? I amuse you?"

[grin]

Seshu

[RH]

I think it's borderline funny. But I don't see how the average American would even get this joke. Besides not ALL Indians believe or even follow the caste system. Sikhs for instance have no caste system (I should know, I'm one). So to generalise makes it a bit ignorant of the Indian diaspora. But whatever, there are plenty of jokes that can be poked at White folk in say the Times of India - might as well respond in kind ;)

[George]

I'd say it's mildly amusing. Jokes that play on stereotypes are among the easiest to come up with which is probably why comedians use them a lot. They usually work so long as they don't go too far (a la Michael Richards). I would say this cartoon doesn't come close to going too far. BTW, I would disagree that this necessarily shows ignorance about Indians - just like joking about uptight Wasps or backward southern hicks doesn't necessarily mean you believe that to be true about those communities.

[LT]

I think everyone is missing the point. The point, even if it is presented with a thud because this person couldn't tell a joke if it hit him in head, is that people in America complain about talking to people NOT IN AMERICA. Most often these people are Indian, because I guess corporations can most cheaply exploit the workforce there - paying pennies on the dollar is good for the CEO's. It has NOTHING to do with "Oh, let's make fun of people from India!" -- it has to do with "Many people in the US are tired of calling tech support for a product sold in America and end up talking to someone who's second language is English." It sometimes makes for a very frustrating phone call.

And none of that is racial in nature. Right now I'm in Paris and I can tell you that my knowledge and pronunciation of French means that many natives have to listen to me 2, 3, or 4 times to maybe get what I'm saying. It's a LANGUAGE issue.

As a side note, it also is a sore spot with the American middle and upper-lower class who have been displaced or pinched by the farming out of jobs overseas. It's a disgusting practice that guts our economy.

The way this "humourist" chose to highlight this issue was done in a "non-humourist" fashion, but the message is topical (though more topical about 3 years ago).

I think it's dumb joke, but it's spot on.

[David Branch]

Non-Hindus don't have caste. They're mleccha, if you want to go by hardcore, radicalist, social Hinduism of the Dharmasutras type. The problem is that people reduce Hinduism to cows, caste, and curry, when Hinduism has also given the world the Upanishads, the Gita, Yoga, Tantra, much of the philosophical and aesthetic base of Bharat-Natyam and Indian classical music (based on raagas, taalas, nada yoga en generale).

Additionally, most call-center workers are urban Indians whose English is actually not quite a second-language... having visited Mumbai and Kolkata and talked with Wipro employees, I found that most call-center folk spoke excellent English, only it was Indian-English, meaning their English didn't appeal to Americans who consider English to admit of only two dialectical accent groups: British and American.

To bring up caste is a poor attempt at a joke. It'll probably take India many generations to get past its horrific caste legacy.

[Ana]

I totally agree with Zeeshan...
honestly if the joke was about how we live in a 'dot' com world.... it would make more sense....
the cartoonist probably:
(1)lacks socio-cultural understanding
(2)has never traveled to India (probably not even outside the US)
(3)lacks creativity
(4) is not worth talking about
(5) all of the above.

[Devasish Ray]

If the cartoonist takes a shot at India's caste system, maybe our Desi papers should carry a similar one.. She want's to know before talking whether I am white ."

Really the cartoon sucks and WSJ should be asked for an explanation.

[Jaya Kamlani]

I believe someone at WSJ wanted to take a shot at the Indians because as LT commented there are: QUOTE "American middle and upper-lower class who have been displaced or pinched by the farming out of jobs overseas." UNQUOTE

All along I have been convinced that farming of jobs to India might eventually lead to resentment on the part of Americans, and that could be the sore point here.

Also, if you read Arun Venugopal's blog on "RELIGION: U.S. House resolves to address untouchability in India," you will realize that U.S Congress is looking at the caste and untouchability issue in India as a human rights issue. That news could have trigerred this cartoon.

Jaya Kamlani

[Nupur Sen]

Yes, it's funny, kind of. I can see the same sort of joke -not involving Americans - playing out in an RK Laxman cartoon. Having said that, it's a little difficult to judge the intentions of the cartoonist without having some idea of why they chose to talk about call centers and the caste issue.

I'll have to say I view it as humorous precisely because it's so unlikely to happen. Call center employees in India and other offshore locations are very carefully trained to disguise their accent and their location, to the point that they have to adopt a persona in keeping with the country they happen to be providing service to.

This isn't even a cartoon worth taking seriously. Outsourcing is on the rise, and India's beginning to move up the value chain as far as this is concerned. A number of the call center jobs are going these days to East European countries and the Phillipines as companies look for ever cheaper locations.

Most intelligent Americans also realize that it really doesn't matter where your customer service agent is located. If they're not located in your home town, what difference does it make whether they're in the same country or not? I've had TimeWarner fix my internet speed and connection remotely, and I don't care where the CSA is located as long as he or she fixes my problem and is responsive.

Also, the call center jobs aren't quite the lucrative, high-value job that the outsourcing debates make them out to be. They're boring, repetitive, and stressful. A lot of work has been done on the issue in the UK and Scotland (cf. Stephen Deery, P. Bain and P. Taylor, to mention three researchers).

[And just a comment on the human rights issue, America has plenty of human rights violations to its own credit, and really should be trying to resolve these issues in its own backyard - John Stewart and Colbert do such an excellent job highlighting these issues, that I'm not going to add anything more on that subject. And this is not to deny that India does have a serious problem, and it's especially bad in places like Bihar and U.P.]

[Rohit]

Reflects how innocent even the mainline US press is of the realities of life in other parts of the world--which is the reason for such sweeping generalisations.
On a lighter vein, such cartoons could be WSJ staff's change of heart in anticipation of their new master--Murdoch

[buroshiva dasgupta]

this is not the reality. BPO call centers are a different kettle of fish - new generation workers who hardly care for caste. let us not mix up things with an intention to malign

[Nilofer]

I don't think this is funny. Not because caste and community are not things that have kept us Indians back but because no one working in Call Centres asks such stupid questions.

[Jaya Kamlani]

Perhaps it is time to get rid of the caste system in India and wherever else it has seeped through. It serves no purpose in an upcoming modern India, or in a global economy. By the same token, I hope we can eradicate racism in the U.S and all over the world. These differences only lead to hate and wars all over the world. It is time we accept everyone as an individual for his personal values and skills, and as a fellow human being. Accept others as we would like them to accept us.

Jaya Kamlani

[Saleem Syed-Ali]

The humor, such as it is, is in contrasting the high-tech nature of the industry with ancient customs/prejudices and how they co-exist. Think of using computers to fix an auspicious time for marriage. Or, for Muslims, looking up the date for Eid on moonsighting.com or posting arguments in favor of veiling/burqa on the Internet.
(OK, call centers may not be that high tech, but the oursourced versions are a modern development)

[Preety Kumar]

I think its bizarre as to how ignorant can people be, certainly not expected of a news paer of stature and quality like WSJ. Not only is the line absolutely wrong, it reflects an absolute no understanding on part of the cartoonist and certainly on the editorial staff who let this be published.
There is a general view of how Amercians can be myopic in their own world and general low level of appreciation of the international world. This proves it further.

[Aditi]

I think the cartoon's pretty funny actually.
While many have felt that the joke is a slur on India, I, who write from India, think it's bang on... maybe call-center employees don't use it their line-of-work, but it's rampant every where... i guess it's our kind of racism for the Americans.
And what LT said about the resentment for jobs being outsourced make sense as well...
the cartoon or for that matter any cartoon is not expected to be a true reflection of the indian society... or its myriad complex realities... it is a slice of indian reality that the artist has chosen to work on... aren't we all allowed that liberty of prod and pick what we want to work/write/whine/draw/talk on? Yes, there is a line that no creative license can justifiably cross, but i don't think that is the case here...

[harvinder]

Well, it's funny in the sort of 'vocational or occupational' jokes are. Afterall, in tech support, how does caste matter?