The Call of the BPO's

Well, after all the Hue and cry in other countries against outsourcing, I thought I should share an anecdote on my experience with two outsourcing companies.

I happened to go to two BPO's here in Pune with a friend of mine. And I must say, the buildings they are housed in are quite snazzy, and visually pleasing.

What did surprise me was the amount of security they have there! I mean it's crazy. I don't think any of my country's government institutions have that much security (for e.g. I was able to stroll around quite freely on one occasion at my local post office. I could literally steal anybody's Diwali card!)

It starts at the security gate where you are asked "What do u want here(in hindi)", very charming and polite I must say. Then u go inside to the lobby. There you have a registry entry, (if u come with someone else then u are that person's name + 1). After that, you have a metal detector stage. Here is where things get a bit weird, He searched me and the detector beeped when it came across my keys. I carry an asthma inhaler, which in my pocket looks like an "L" shaped bulge, so I'm thinking he will ask me what that is (could even be a gun!!). But what do you know, he passes over that. No questions.

But, he does however ask me to remove my mobile phone. So remember do not take electronics with you into BPOs, guns, knives that kinda stuff is OK.

What could I possibly steal from a BPO, I wondered. Well maybe their secret opening phrases?? Naaah, don't think so. Their head phones, why would i want that? Stationary? I can do better.

At this point i was curious to know why they have so much security. I asked the guard. He told me that people come and steal RAM chips.

Now why would someone walk into a BPO to steal Ram chips. I can just imagine, walk in spend 5 minutes opening up the comps, in full sight of the entire staff, then walk away with the RAM chips!!

Then you get to the concerned floor for whatever work. Here you get a name tag and them another registry entry.
Interesting observation, for every minute of actual work, they waste ten minutes of yours, 7 minutes in security checks and 3 minutes in making you wait!

After meeting the concerned person, return all the tags and then a final registry entry (and of course a RAM chip check). You could write whatever you want in the registers, I did.

Name: scribble something indecipherable + 1
Kind of work: Stuff
To meet: Mr. Archana Rampal
In time : 3:30pm < my time < 4 pm Out time : bye bye signature: PEvents + 1 One last observation. These BPO employees are all freakin' 5 years younger than me and make much more than me (and quite a sizeable amount too!). I actually walked in there and saw a group of people sitting on the lawn playing Antakshari. Some of the ladies there were very attractive too!(translate HOT!) Reminds me of my favourite Dire Straits song "Money for nothing and the chicks for free..."