# Nominee for A-hole of the week



## submoa (Dec 16, 2007)

How about hiring back people you laid off to send jobs to India in the first place?

March 27, 2008

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.

"_We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs_," *AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson *told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Gone are the days when AT&T and other U.S. companies had to hire locally, he said.

"We're able to do new product engineering in Bangalore as easily as we're able to do it in Austin, Texas," he said, referring to the Indian city where many international companies have "outsourced" technical and customer support workers.

"I know you don't like hearing that, but that's the way it is," he said.

Stephenson said neither he nor most Americans liked the situation, and the solution was a stronger U.S. focus on education and keeping jobs. Business needed to help, such as AT&T's repatriation of service positions and education grants, he added. ​


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## hawcer (Feb 22, 2008)

I second that vote!

Not to steer this thread in a new direction.....BUT.

I would like to see the statistics on those 3rd world countries on how many of their children actually attend school....If you don't attend,you can't drop out!

lets say 50% of India's children actually attend school and 90% graduate.
That's a greater non-schooled percentage then the(exaggerated Imho) 50% drop-out rate in the US,stated in the above post.Remember that ALL US children HAVE to attend school....

...Even drop-out's can work and many are smarter than the ones that graduate!

P.S. Now I know why,every time I have to call customer service when I have a problem with my DSL I get someone on the other end I can't understand(can't speak a lick of english),has a piss-poor attitude,and never seem to help....why would any company use this sort of person for customer relations/assistance....I don't get it.


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## Charlie (May 13, 2006)

submoa said:


> How about hiring back people you laid off to send jobs to India in the first place?
> 
> March 27, 2008​
> 
> ...


 Maybe so, but he probably has more control over the raw product he starts out with. Public schools cannot "shut themselves down".


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## submoa (Dec 16, 2007)

> "If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.​


In many places in America, public schools are the only choice kids have. Offshoring jobs reduces the hope of a stable future for these kids and makes his anti-American opinions a self-fulfilling prophesy.

To the thousands AT&T and others have laid off to offshore jobs, this A-hole's comments are a slap in the face.


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## john doe. (Aug 26, 2006)

I'm not real happy with public education but it is up to me to make sure my kids get a good education even if I have to help them along. That's one reason i won't live in a big city-seems they have more problems that way.


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## Charlie (May 13, 2006)

tnoisaw said:


> I'm not real happy with public education but it is up to me to make sure my kids get a good education even if I have to help them along. That's one reason i won't live in a big city-seems they have more problems that way.


In general, I couldn't agree with you more, especially regarding big city districts. Having been involved in education for 29 years as a teacher, vocational director, asst. principal, and alternative school director/princpal I can tell you most of the problems I see originate at the state legislative level. I infuriates me that state legislators (with absolutely NO educational training or experience) can sit around on their butts, drawing big salaries, with huge expense accounts, and make sweeping madates costing hundreds of thousands of dollars that usually fail (so they get to try again in a couple of years!). Oh did I say they have free medical, and retirement for the rest of their lives (to match or exceed their last salary) even if they serve one ONE YEAR in the senate or house. I better quit now...............Rant Off. 
:smt076:smt076:smt076


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## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

What chaps my rear side is here in Fla the County School Board Building looks like the Taj-Mahal inside but our kids go to school in trailers. :buttkick:


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

submoa said:


> How about hiring back people you laid off to send jobs to India in the first place?


I'm not sure I'd feel confident taking the job back. Heck, as someone who never worked for them, I'd be a little uneasy taking a job from them. What happens when they find another country to move to?


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## Charlie (May 13, 2006)

Baldy said:


> What chaps my rear side is here in Fla the County School Board Building looks like the Taj-Mahal inside but our kids go to school in trailers. :buttkick:


And Baldy.............that's only what you can see!!!


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## JeffWard (Aug 24, 2007)

My Fiance's kids go to Florida (Orlando) public schools.

They SUCK!

To start with:

- Children are allowed 14 UNEXCUSED absences per year, with no negative impact.

- There is NO restriction of kids leaving school at any hour, and the parking lots are unpatrolled, even on school property. The kids with cars (or with friends with cars) can leave any time they want, unquestioned.

- With 1500+ students in a class, her daughter has to make an appointment a week+ in advance to see a counselor.

- Many first period teachers don't both to take attendance, since only 50% of the classroom is full... It would take the first 20 minutes of a 50 minute class to take roll and record absences...

- Many second period teaches don't take roll, since... hell, roll was take in first period! If they were there then, they're here now!!!

This is from my fiance's daughter, a senior, who may not graduate on time... for attendance issues...



I guess I'm just OLD, at 37. When I was in school, in Upstate NY, with a class of 48... You got there at 8am, you left at 3pm. There was no exception. You were not allowed near your car until then. If you needed to contact your parents, you went to the office and they called them FOR you. No one had a cell phone. No one had a pager. No one had a blackberry... There were NO unexcused absences. If you were not there, and you did not have a note the next day, you're parents got a call... If you were late to much, you were expelled. And you got a job pumping gas... I guess w need to bring back "service" stations... as an incentive... lol

They cannot do this with 1500 students in a class...


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## kev74 (Mar 22, 2008)

submoa said:


> "_We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs_,"


...for the wages we're willing to pay.

You can't offer to hire someone for $8.00 an hour and expect to get the cream of the crop.

The company I used to work for hires new production workers for $10 an hour and wonders why they can't keep anybody. $10 an hour sounds good untill you think that an apartment in this area is going to cost at least $800 a month, gas is $3.35 a gallon and car insurance is going to run at least $100 a month (if your licence is clean).

The $1600 a month these guys would make turns into about $1100 a month after the tax man gets his share. That doesn't leave a whole lot left over for groceries - nevermind health insurance or saving up a little nestegg.


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

SuckLead said:


> I'm not sure I'd feel confident taking the job back. Heck, as someone who never worked for them, I'd be a little uneasy taking a job from them. What happens when they find another country to move to?


Read my mind, almost word-for-word...

...so naturally I agree totally with your insightful posting. :mrgreen:


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