From the NY Times:When Deep Vashishta, a silver jewelry importer who lives in Flushing, Queens, arrived in the United States three years ago, the first thing he wanted to do was call his wife back in New Delhi to let her know he was safe.
So he picked up the phone and started to dial — first the country code for India, which is 91, then the start of the city code for New Delhi, which is 11. But before he could finish punching in all the numbers, the voice of a woman speaking in English came onto the line.
“I said, ‘O.K., wrong number,’ and I put down the phone,” Mr. Vashishta recalled. Two minutes later, there was a knock at his door. It was the police.
Mr. Vashishta had forgotten to dial the international calling code 011 before calling India, and he is hardly the only South Asian immigrant who has done this, as was evident from an informal survey on the streets of Jackson Heights, a heavily Indian neighborhood in Queens.
5 comments:
Does not that image sum merchandising Queens style?
Perhaps Bloomberg can set aside $10 million in the budget to have special training for immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka on how to use the phone properly. He could set up a special city department, appoint a flunky/crony to head the department at a salary of $125,000/year, and then appoint say 15-20 people from the aforementioned countries at salaries of $85,000/year to provide counseling and courses on how to dial a phone properly.
Oh, and one more thing. Bloomberg can also appoint a "diversity officer" at a salary of $100,000 to ensure that no persons of European origin are hired at this agency.
Just think, Bloomie would be "stimulating" our moribund economy!
wade: on target!
What a crock of shit!!! More taxes for these "special pamphlets"...we're screwed...
What's the crime? Whats the harm? the guy didn't know, he knows now.
Post a Comment