Counterpart

Outsourcing: A J Jacobs outsourced all of his "low end" tasks, really interesting and funny article from Smart Money/Esquire  about the outsourcing trend.  Some snippets:

"In America, I barely command respect from a Bennigan's maître d', so it's nice to know that in India I have stature"

 

"Actually, the store was out of Tickle Me Elmos, so Asha bought a Chicken Dance Elmo — good decision."  (and later in the article "I'm still stressed. Perhaps it's the fault of Chicken Dance Elmo, whom my son loves to the point of dry humping,")

 

The system is working — not counting the hitch in the drugstore order: Instead of wax paper, we get wax-strip mustache removers for ladies. My wife is insulted.

Honey's finely crafted emails demand a polite multisentence response. The balance of power has shifted

 

I THINK I'M in love with Honey. How can I not be? She makes my mother look unsupportive....It's constant positive feedback, like phone sex without the moaning.

 

The closest I got to a no was when I made the admittedly odd request that Asha play the card game hearts for me, since I was wasting too much time playing it myself on my PalmPilot. Asha replied that she thought this was a "good idea" but that maybe she would do it after finishing the other projects

"Mr. Naveen? If I put you on speakerphone, would you be willing to read to my son? Oh, anything. The newspaper's fine. Yeah, just say his name once in a while. It's Jasper. Okay, I'm going to put you on now. Okay, go ahead."

A pause. Then I hear Mr. Naveen's low but soothing voice: "Taiwan and Korea also are subscribing to new Indian funds in their markets." Jasper isn't crying. I'm tapping away on my PowerBook. "European Union . . . several potential investors . . . parliament." I glance at Jasper again; he seems perplexed but curious. "Aeronautical engineers and technicians." Jasper seems to like aeronautical engineers. "Prospects of a strong domestic demand." After three minutes, I start to feel guilt-ridden. I've officially begun to abuse my power.

Honestly, I kind of worry about the colonial-esque aspects of these types of businesses; but a business is a business.  I wonder if I can hire one of my cousins?......