Adventures in Protectionism

This is the kind of ignorance we're up against.

Pride Goeth Before A Deal

Call Center | Edmonton, AB, Canada

(I work at a call center in Canada dealing with American cell customers. This is a call from a customer in Seattle.)
Me: “Hello, thanks for calling [Company Name]. How may I help you?”
Caller: “Does your company outsource to India?”
Me: “I don’t know for sure, but I know it does hire companies out of the USA.”
Caller: “I’d like to cancel my service, then.”
Me: “I can do that for you. May I ask why you’d like to cancel?”
Caller: “I don’t support companies that don’t support America. If they’re hiring out of America, then I don’t want to support them.”
Me: “Alright, I’ll process that cancellation for you.”
Caller: “Am I calling to India?!”
Me: “No. I’m actually in Canada.”
Caller: “Oh, I love Canada! I do all my shopping there. Everything is so much cheaper!”

So tell me, Watson, would you be happier if he recognized that Canada is not part of the USA and didn't want "our" jobs to go to a bunch of Canucks?

I don't think consistency is really what I'm worried about, Holmes. Educating this person that Canada is not part of the US might actually make his effective protectionism worse instead of better. A little more education can also be a dangerous thing.