Few Americans have heard of the 35=10 rule, but for many Indian outsource companies it is the critical first lesson they have learned from dealing with "stupid Americans".

The 35=10 formula isn't based on fact, or science but  is instead based on a popular novel. It could be a lesson in what Indian executives have learned from observing American officials and corporate execs.

I learned about the 35=10 rule from from a report in ITExaminer.com by Subhankar Kundu. The reporter takes excerpts from a popular novel to illustrate the disdain to which many Indian workers hold Americans.

“’35 = 10’, the instructor wrote in a big bold letters on the blackboard”

“‘Remember’, the instructor said to the class, ‘a thirty-five-year old American’s brain and IQ is the same as a ten-year-old Indian’s brain. This will help you to understand your clients. You need to be as patient as you are when dealing with a child".  

As an American, this angered me to the point of frustration but it does explain why Indian phone workers seem so condescending and arrogant. It doesn't explain why Indian companies have such a low opinion of their primary customer.

Indian executives may have formed the low opinion while dealing  with their U.S. counterparts. After all, how stupid can an American exec be to believe that staffing the company's consumer service department with people who can barely speak English would somehow improve costumer relations?  

India's belief in the stupidity of Americans is reinforced by officials in the US, who, plagued with identity theft by foreign criminals, warn Americans to guard our private information on the Internet, while state and county officials recklessly post the same data on government websites and call it a public service.

Comparing a 35-year-old American to a ten-your-old Indian child isn't hard to imagine when observing state and county officials in the U.S. carelessly playing with their new internet toys (and the lives of citizens) by recklessly dumping constituent data all over the internet. Indian data mining companies routinely mine sensitive data from official US websites and marvel at the stupidity of government officials who never seem to understand the world isn't entitled to U.S. "Public Records".

American officials should know this. Indian officials certainly do. Officials in India do not post their constituents private information online. But they have no problem with encouraging their citizens to exploit the childish behavior of some U.S. state and county officials. Indian data mining companies routinely mine the data and take the position that if Americans are stupid enough to post the data online, Indian companies are smart enough to lap up the free data.

Datamining isn't limited to Indian companies. Now their employees are getting in on the feeding frenzy. A BPOIndia.org post tells how "Identity theft and Phishing are being promoted within BPO employees."

The short BPOIndia report says"...[Identity Theft} has become more prevalent as easily accessible information about people has become more prevalent".

It seems apparent that India's low opinion of American intellect is derived from what outsourcing companies have learned from naive US public officials and greedy corporate decision makers eager to find cheaper ways to exploit Public Records compiled at taxpayer expense.

The 35-10 formula taught by Indian trainers was first seen in One Night at the Call Center: A Novel by Chetan Bhagat where the lead character recalls his training days as a BPO employee. The book is a best seller in India.

While outsourcing companies may deny this arrogant and racist attitude was developed by observing U.S. officials and corporate executives in action,  it continues to be taught to employees in India.

The instructor concluded his first lesson to new Indian recruits with, "Americans are dumb, just accept it".

Are Americans really this dumb or childish? No, but judging the intelligence of all Americans by the simple-minded decisions of a few U.S. politicians and corporate executives makes it is easy  to understand why Indians might believe we are a nation of stupid and childish people.

The book says 35=10 helps Indian agents adjust to American callers. Maybe the American consumer needs a similar rule to help us adjust to government and corporate leaders who seem determined to export American jobs and assets to third world countries at taxpayer expense.