My Name is Peggy

I've previously told you that I am one of the rare individuals who actually watches commercials. I have noticed a sad trend in commercials lately. Companies are telling us that their customer service department is in the USA. They actually have to announce this fact. 'USA Based call center'. There was a time, not so many years ago, that we didn't have to announce this. You may have gotten someone who asked 'How ya'll doing?' or who answered with 'Aloha' rather than 'Hello'. But you knew the person on the other end of the phone was sitting in an office that was built on American soil.

Now, it is a selling point for companies to draw customers. The most recent company I saw doing this was GoDaddy.com . I guess Danica Patrick wasn't bringing in enough customers any more. I have mixed emotions when I see or hear a company touting its base in the US. I am pleased they have not taken the cheaper route and outsourced jobs. But I am sad that there is the need to tell the public they are a US based company.

Outsourcing has become such a part of our culture that it has gone from being a bad word to being a source of humor. Everyone has a funny story of talking to someone from far away who doesn't quite understand your problem. There is a new sitcom this fall about this, and in fact I think it's called 'Outsourced'. And one of my favorite new commercials is the Discover card commercial where the guy (who appears to be in Siberia or some similar location) answers and says 'This is Peggy'. We all understand that-which is why we laugh.

I don't want to sound like one of those Angry Americans. Outsourcing affects other countries. Here in Southwest Ohio, there was a news story the other day about a German company that was moving to our area. The newscaster actually said 'this prevented the jobs from being outsourced to Mexico'. Erich and I said at the same time, "But they've been outsourced from Germany to the US". Somewhere in Germany, people have lost their jobs, and are wondering what will happen to their families. Perhaps there are other German companies creating commercials emphasizing their roots in Deutschland.