[ffsm8]

> So I don't think customer opinions on the matter are 100% justified and fair.

Neither do I though? I said it's understandable. Abusing people - even just verbally - is pretty much never justifiable.

But that still doesn't make the people doing so racist.

They're just angry (justifiable) and venting it at the representative of the company they're angry about (less so). Framing this issue as racist will just alienate all discourse, that was my point.

[ryandrake]

It's unlikely to be racism, since the customer likely has no idea what the representative's race / skin color is. OP's point was (I believe) that the customers he's talking about would not behave that way if the representative sounded sufficiently native to the customer's own nationality. "Xenophobic" might fit better.

[bearcobra]

I worked in call centres for Telus and Shaw. I’m a white guy from southern Ontario. I’ve had at least 100+ calls where a customer went on a racist tirade directed at me. I think you’re underestimating how much of a role racism plays