Boy, am I glad I work at Fitzsimmons Wireless and not that befuddled AT&T. Their new CEO, Randall Stephenson, made a speech at the headquarters in San Antonio, Texas where he essentially proclaimed that American workers aren't good enough for his company.

AT&T is "trying," according to the article, to return 5,000 customer service jobs to the United States from India. However Stephenson claims that out of the 300 million people in this country he's having a hard time finding 5,000 who are up to snuff. He cites high school dropout rates in some areas of 50%, although he doesn't say where the dropout rate is that high.

Hmm...so people from America, with it's "50% dropout rate" aren't good enough, but people from a country where many have no schooling at all are?

Additionally he let it slide that Americans with university engineering degrees don't cut it, either. "We're able to do new product engineering in Bangalore (India) as easily as we're able to do it in Austin, Texas. I know you don't like hearing that, but that's the way it is," the article quotes him as saying.

Do you think maybe the real motivation here is that while someone doing customer service work for AT&T in the United States makes up to $29,000, the people in India make $2,000? Do you think it's because in the United States we have the Communications Workers of America, where if you feel like you're getting the shaft on your job you have a place to turn to for help, whereas in India they take it up the butt because the alternative is to go back to starving in the desert?

Yeah, "Unions drive jobs overseas." Pardon that engineering graduate from MIT if he has $200,000 in student loans to pay back, a $350 a month car payment, and the average price of a home for his family is $300,000. Don't forget that $50 tank of gas he has to buy to go to work and his $4 a gallon milk. He might have a hard time matching the Bangalore guy's $2,000 price.

I have to question the savvy of a CEO who takes the opportunity at a public appearance to piss off not only all of Lou Dobbs' viewership, but the members of his most lucrative market. What a PR home run!

The comments from AT&T employees on that story are hysterical:

"Why do we, as employees, suffer the consequence of disciplinary action if we talk to our customers for more than 2-3 minutes? Do you not realize, Mr. CEO, that it takes at least the first two or three minutes to let our customers lash out at us about the inadequate processes that have been put in place by AT&T?"

"The training I received was so incompetent and disorganized it is laughable."

"Remember the first 'A' of AT&T? It stands for AMERICAN!"

I encourage you to use the e-mail link below to forward this story far and wide, and keep it alive. Mr. Stephenson will appreciate that America is hearing his disparagement. So will Comcast and Verizon. And Fitzsimmons!