Why, thank you, Hasbeen.

>>Pericles, there are some stupid people in this world, & you appear to be one of them.<<

Being called stupid by you, I can only consider to be a compliment.

>>Also typical of the stupid, is breaking an engine that is a little special, & far from ordinary, then deciding to ask for advice after it is too late<<

Here you are referring to the oil, right? There is of course no shame in not being conversant with the correct type of oil. But I do question the need to call the oil company to find out. There are easier ways.

But do tell, did you phone up your new oil supplier before you switched brands? And did you find that the cost of your call was included in the oil they sold you?

By the way, you may know a great deal (not everything, clearly) about oils and motor racing, but you know very little about the cost of running a call centre.

>>If they realise that the few cents saved by sending their call centre offshore is negating this huge effort, I'm sure they will wake up.<<

How about "40%"?

"...few big Australian companies that need extensive call centre services have kept all their call centres within Australia. The cost saving, I read, is about 40 per cent."

http://www.theherald.com.au/blogs/jeff-corbett/overseas-call-centres/1877891.aspx

The article is about Telstra's call centre in the Philippines... renew, please note.

Not the only one, either.

Grafton: http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/story/2010/09/29/grafton-telstra-call-centre-closure/

Ballarat: http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/8728768/telstra-cuts-79-victorian-call-centre-jobs/

East Bentleigh: http://www.theage.com.au/business/another-250-jobs-to-go-after-telstra-drops-contract-20110308-1bm3b.html

Soon, you'll be getting David Thodey when you call Telstra, he'll be the only one left with a phone.

How did this subject get to be about accents. Australia has a bevy of different accents.

This is about the idea of using subsistence labour/sweatshop labour so that those who are paid much more can afford to buy cheaper goods and services, under the myth that this is good for both parties.

I am yet to see an analogy that explains how this an possibly be of advantage for anyone in the big picture or the long term. Clearly it isn't working.

Economic equity is about corrupt governments and corporations and the lack of empowerment of people living in the developing world. Instead of the West assisting in changing that position, we often (sometimes unwittingly) exacerbate it (including some pretty devastating examples of environmental degradation) in the pursuit of greater profits.

How much profit is ever enough? The problem is the system, and Hasbeen's call is one way ordinary people can exercise a bit of power.

Hasbeen I have 2 matters before the TIO regarding Telstra.

(1) They recently advised me in writing that they are about to change they way I am billed.
I have a contract. If I advised them that I was paying them differently they would refer the matter to a debt collection agency.

(2)My wireless service is absolute rubbish. They have claimed to have fixed the problem many times over the last 2 years. The variable speeds and line dropouts still continue as we speak. Instead of ringing Telstra I plug the cable in, which rectifies the problem.
Telstra persist in telling me that paying more money will fix it.

Last time they fixed it, they caused a loss of internet service on one of the computers in my home, they now tell me I need to pay more to get that service back. Whilst I also object to the loss of Australians jobs, I don't care which country the people come from that have taken those jobs. In fact the only reason they have such jobs is because they are even more desperate, disenfranchised and de-valued than we are.

Telstra should never have been Privatised. End of story. Nor should have any other essential service or Govt owned profitable monopoly.

Instead of blaming the poor third worlder on the phone line, you should blame the people who sold Telstra to business interests.

Because they are the very same people who weakened the Trade Practices Act effectively allowing the new private owners of essential services to profit at will, to adjust contracts midstream, to charge 15 cents more for petrol in a 24 hr cycle, to collude and predatory price their competition out of marketplace ala the Grocery Duopoly, to exert power both brutal and unchecked in the marketplace, on the producers on one end and the customer on the other, and so on and so forth. If you get a pay rise, they just whack up your electricity bill.

Any Gov't that has the intestinal fortitude to reverse this damage, has my full undivided attention and support.

As for race discrimination Hasbeen, their is still a law against that, and in my mind,
exists as one of my smallest minded emotions.

While the real villains drive around in Gov't cars, on tax payed millions in pensions, accepting accolades for selling the farm.
Welcome to the third world Hasbeen.

Thinker I believe I am entitled to have my call for service be answered by someone I can understand, otherwise it is me being discriminated against.

Apart from that I find it very difficult to disagree with any of your last 2 posts

Now I know why you seem so cranky all the time, Hasbeen.

You must be discriminated against a lot.