Call Centres, Christmas Ornaments & the Friday Video

The pending closure of the Convergys call centre in Winnipeg has been reporting by the mainstream media (and over at ChrisD's), but one thing that I never saw reported was the closure of the IBM customer service centre earlier this year.

About 15 years ago or so IBM bought Manitoba Data Services, which became ISM, and later just IBM. The helpdesk and IMAC services groups grew to a substantial size, supporting customers all over North America including DOW Chemicals and Nissan, as well as local customers like CWB and the Provincial Government. The helpdesk peaked about five years ago, and began to decline as IBM outsourced as much as possible to Bangalore, India. Then this year they shut down what was left of the operation and moved it to a larger consolidated centre in Toronto, one of four IBM "Global Delivery Centres" in North America . The job loses weren't quite as great as the Convergys closure, but I have seen news stories about much smaller cut backs at other places.

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Hey look! I got another letter from Siloam Mission, three weeks after asking to be taken off their mailing list. This time they were kind enough to send me a cardboard Christmas ornament.

Ooooo, that's exactly what I was looking for to finish decorating my beautiful tree!


They also gave me a lovely note signed by John Mohan. So nice of him to continue spamming me even after quitting last month.

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Ok, now on to the video ...

I give you the song "Hit", the The Sugarcubes. You might recognize the lead singer.



I was at the Pyramid Cabaret recently and was happy to see that they still have the giant Sugarcubes poster up on the wall. Don't ever take that down, guys. Unless it's to give it to me.