History Main / OperatorFromIndia

* In the curry episode of ''GoodEats'', Alton Brown is trying to prove that curry is ''not'' really Indian cuisine. So, he calls the customer service number on his credit card, and asks "Bob" in India about where the best place to get curry in Delhi is. "Bob" replies that he has no idea what Alton is talking about.

* In Spain this trope is known as [[OperatorFromIndia Operator from South America]]

* ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'': a distress call from a US Army soldier in Qatar is redirected to a disinterested Indian operator. According to director Michael Bay, however, this was based on a true story, presumably minus the giant robot attack.

* ''The Other End Of The Line'' is a romantic comedy where a woman with this job falls in love with an American customer she first contacted about... well, it was something about identity theft, but that was just to get the plot rolling.
* In ''The 40 Year Old Virgin'', Andy calls customer support for Viagra-like drug after having an erection for more than four hours. Of course, he never actually took the drug.
* Outsourced, both the film and the TV show, feature these call centers.

* ''Hello Mumbai'' is a Work Com based in one of these call centers.

* ''The Wedge'': This Australian sketch show featured a recurring sketch set in an Indian call centre.[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPWyfDYa8Tw]].
* ''Comedy Inc'': In a sketch, an operator ''pretends'' to be an thick accented Indian to avoid having to actually help the person calling.

* In ''The 40 Year Old Virgin'', Andy calls customer support for Viagra-like drug after having an erection for more than four hours. Of course, he never actually took the drug...

A [[RaceTropes Race Trope]], where phone calls are redirected to operators in territories of the former British Raj, most commonly India. The implication is that the operators have been outsourced by Western telecommunications companies.

TruthInTelevision, of course. A lot of Tech Support and call centers ''have'' been outsourced to India. Odds are within ten years, they'll have been sourced somewhere else (The Philippines are a common destination, on account of American colonialism there).

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Done in the [[TransformersFilmSeries 2007 Transformers movie]], with a distressed call from a US Army soldier in Qatar being redirected to a disinterested Indian operator. According to director Michael Bay, however, this was based on a true story, minus the giant robot attack.
* In ''SlumdogMillionaire'', Jamal gets an internship at one of these places. The workers are supposed to pretend to be British, and are even briefed on British soap operas to maintain their guise. They don't seem to be very successfuly. At one point Jamal claims, "I live near Loch... Big... Big Ben. Loch Big Ben."
* ''TheOtherEndOfTheLine'' is a romantic comedy where a woman with this job falls in love with an American customer she first contacted about... well, it was something about identity theft, but that was just to get the plot rolling.
* In ''The 40 Year Old Virgin'', Andy calls customer support for an ED drug after having an erection for more than four hours. Of course, he never actually took the drug...

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* On [[{{Reno 911}} Reno 911!]], the Sheriff's Department outsources 911 to India, [[HilarityEnsues with predictable results.]]

* ''HelloMumbai'' is a Work Com based in one of these callcenters.

* The Australian sketch show ''TheWedge'' featured a recurring sketch set in an Indian call centre.[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPWyfDYa8Tw]].
** Another Australian sketch show (dunno which) showed an Indian couple getting a phone call... It's an Australian telemarketer, who tries to convince them he's really Indian.
** And another sketch on the Australian show ''Comedy Inc.'', where an operator ''pretends'' to be an thick accented Indian to avoid having to actually help the person calling.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* It seems a lot of Indian call centers make outgoing telemarketer calls as well (I am a receptionist, I get more telemarketer calls each day than legit ones).
* Some UK and Australian companies are now explicitly advertising the fact they have local call centers. Ironically, they still contain many Indian immigrants who simply moved to take the job.

[[AC:StandUpComedy]]
* One sketch on ''LateNight'' had Andy Blitz attempting to fix his computer with the help of an Indian telephone IT technician… And traveling to India with his computer (in RealLife!) to pester her.

[[AC:WebAnimation]]

* One of the reoccurring characters of NeuroticallyYours is an Indian tech support operator, until he's fired and becomes a...[[JerkAss less than helpful]] suicide hotline operator. [[spoiler: His cure for all depression is 'Just shut the fuck up!]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_16229_25-rejected-ideas-from-grand-theft-auto-iv.html Rejected Ideas From GTA IV: Calling Dell Tech Support]]. You'll have to scroll down a bit to #19.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* Turned up in ''{{Achewood}}'' when Nice Pete is trying to get tech support for his DeathTrap.
* Subject of three [[NeuroticallyYours Foamy the Squirrel]] animations, the Indian Tech Guy is the only one working at his company. He works 24/7, and if he works too slowly he gets zapped by a monkey holding a tazing rod.
* In ''{{pictures for sad children}}'', Paul works at a call center that takes overflow ''from'' Indian call centers. The company can afford to do this by providing even poorer work conditions than Indian call centers.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* [[TheSimpsons Apu]]'s cousin in India makes his living as an operator for several American companies, each with a matching American accent.

* ''MonkeyDust'' had a sketch where a woman phones her bank and is answered by an operator in India (who pretends to be the bank manager in Britain.) She complains that the bank is too large and impersonal, and asks to close her account so she can move her money to a small, Scottish-run building society. She calls the building society - and then another operator in the same Indian call centre answers, doing a very bad impersonation of a Scottish accent.

<<|RaceTropes|>>
<<|TruthInTelevision|>>

* Done in the [[TransformersFilmSeries 2007 Transformers movie]], with a distressed call from a US Army soldier in Qatar being redirected to a disinterested Indian operator. According to director Michael Bay, however, this was based on a true story...
** It should be noted that said distressed call was happening [[{{CrowningMomentOfFunny}} in the middle of a giant robot attack]].
** Well somewhat more justified given he was calling from much closer to that region then the U.S.
* In ''SlumdogMillionaire'', Jamal gets an internship at one of these places.
** This one reflects another possibly TruthInTelevision- the workers are briefed on the current events in British soap operas as they are pretending to be British.
*** Hilarious example:
-->'''Jamal''': I live near Loch... Big... Big Ben. Loch Big Ben.

* Some UK companies are now explicitly advertising the fact they have UK call centers
** Its the same thing with Australia. This Troper works for a customer service benchmarking company, so we call A LOT of call centres. Majority of them are based in Australia, but you still end up getting people with Indian accents because they're Indians who have just relocated and being a call centre agent is their job.

* Done on ''TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'': When Zack and Cody go to the top of an Indian mountain (Cody hopes to meet a religious man who can help him reach nirvana), they discover that the so-called 'religious man' actually runs a technical-support center for computers...[[CrowningMomentOfFunny the same one that Mr.Moesby has been trying to contact so that he can fix his computer]].

* On ''{{Reno 911!}}'', the Sheriff's Department outsources 911 to India, [[HilarityEnsues with predictable results.]]

** Also somewhat more justified since he's calling from NotIraqistan so is a bit closer to that region then if he was in the U.S.

** Also somewhat more justified since he's calling from NotIraqastan so is a bit closer to that region then if he was in the U.S.

* RobinWilliams has a routine about how he got to one after breaking through the ForInconveniencePressOne maze. The operator calls himself "Thomas Edison", and when Robin threatens him, he replies, "Don't fuck with me, Mork, ''I know who you are!''"

** The operator is actually Judd Apatow doing a fake Indian accent. [[WallBanger They couldn't even take the trouble of hiring an Indian voice-over actor?]]
*** [[FridgeBrilliance They didn't want to outsource the voice work.]]

* The Australian sketch show ''TheWedge'' featured a recurring sketch set in an Indian call centre. With white actors in makeup. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPWyfDYa8Tw Yeah, really]].

* Some UK companies are now explicitly advertising the fact they have UK call centers.
** The worst thing you can do when calling a UK company is comment on the call center being in India. You will inevitably find that the Indian you are speaking to has lived in South London all his life and the best you can hope for is feeling like an idiot.

* One sketch on ''LateNight'' had Andy Blitz attempting to fix his computer with the help of an Indian telephone IT technician… And traveling to India with his computer (in RealLife!) to pester her.

* One sketch on ''LateNight'' had Andy Blitz attempting to fix his computer with the help of an Indian telephone IT technician… And traveling to India with his computer (in RealLife!) to pester her.

* An episode of ''{{Zoey 101}}'' had Chase and Zoey trying to communicate by webcam across the Atlantic, the picture fizzing out, and calling tech support. The guy on the line is clearly an Indian by his accent, and he has no tolerance for fools -- which Chase most definitely is. OrSoIHeard.

* One of the reoccurring characters of IllWillPress is an Indian tech support operator, until he's fired and becomes a...[[JerkAss less than helpful]] suicide hotline operator. [[spoiler: His cure for all depression is 'Just shut the fuck up!]]