It was only a matter of time...

...before call centers became service providers to the fast food industry. Read the article on USAtoday.

Now when you order your burger, fries, and large diet coke, or a #3 meal, your call may be routed through a call center located virtually anywhere.

This can only point to a trend I've noticed: the rapid emergence of the specialized call center outsource service industry. I've seen a surging number of new call center service providers crop up, not only internationally but also domestically. Latin America has also become a major player in this area.

In a mostly unrelated topic, I've just returned from my honeymoon in Mexico. We were in the Cancun region. Everyone in that hundred mile region seemed to be involved in the tourism industry (I discovered, thanks to our tour guide, that Cancun was only 20 or so years old). Everybody was extremely friendly and everyone seemed to take customer service to the next level. If Mexico ever wanted to diversify their regions' marketscape, I would highly recommend the outsourced call center business model.

Who wouldn't want to answer customer service phone calls when they had an office view of the Mayan Riviera?