h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ok, Call Ceters, twisted byproduct of the information age...call centers are large corporations idea of good service. Here in the states there is an assortment of these inefficient monstrosities of big business. I have found, in general, call center employees are highly skilled, knowledgeable, service oriented, fairly technical & tolerent (possibly masochistic) individuals. The same cannot be said for the bloated clueless beast that is corporate america. I don't know if other countries have this phenomenon, but here it is rampant...hang a corporation around a group of seemingly reasonably intelligent people & suddenly, nothing can get done. Anyhow, back to call centers...1000's of calls a day are routed through one central location frequently under the guise of 'customer service', there are from 50 to hundreds of reps that answer these calls, resolve billing issues, order services, troubleshoot technical problems etc. The goal usually being a happy customer, thusly making the company more money.