Rick and I are in Swords, Ireland, a town that most tourists don't quite catch. We are here because of its proximity to the Dublin Airport, where we have yet another ungodly early flight--our 6th in seven days.
We ate at the Old Schoolhouse Restaurant, where the food and anmbience was terrific and figuring out where the actual old school house existed before the building was modified is downright impossible.
We strolled back through the town. In the center--if you could call it a center--was a video store. Some of the shelves stock videotapes. But what caught our eye and motivated us to go in were the two rows of computers--maybe 20 in all--lined up. Each had a Logitech camera and each had headphones. Over half the computers were in use--for an hourly fee one Euro or $2.50 USD. The youngestuser was about eight years old and the oldest was maybe 25.
What was going on was that these folks were video chatting, we heard at least three languages. Most faces were filled with the joy that people have when they are away from home and talking with a loved one.
As we strolled back to our hotel, Rick told me, "this is what we are out here to learn about. This is what we had to come here to see." He's absolutely right.
I've been learning about call centers in part from my Cork-based friend and client Pat Phelan, who through a remarkable dinner in our honor two nights ago. I'll tell you all about that later.
Right now I have this strong urge to talk to my wife Paula.
