I’m sure you’ve seen many of the same stories I have about call centers in India. They talk about call centers creating new opportunities for Indian women. We hear about young, educated call center workers in India flush with cash, eager to spend, creating a new consumer culture. There are quotes from analysts describing how call centers are powering growth in India’s world-class services sector.

That’s what I had read about call centers; that’s what I had seen on TV. But the reality I found in India was different. “Don’t call us a call center,” said a worried PR rep at a company known as, well, a call center. “We’re a BPO,” admonished another worried corporate media type. BPO is short for Business Process Outsourcing, which includes call center work and also business tasks ranging from processing payroll to customer tech support.

Call centers, I quickly learned, are considered the factories of the developing world’s service economy. They’re home to repetitive, dead-end jobs that offer a decent income by Indian standards, but no chance for advancement and little prestige. Turns out, most Indians don’t like interrupting American families at dinnertime to read a script pushing a new credit card offer.

Think about this: when it is 6:30 at night in Washington DC, for the Indian voice on the other end of the line it is 4:00 AM. Would you want to be reminding someone to pay their bills at 4:00 AM? Neither do many Indians.

Call centers are also considered pressure cookers. Productivity is closely monitored. Calls clocked, results carefully tallied. The most visible manifestation of this new culture is the “call center cab.” These cabs, white and compact, cruise along the main highway leading to Delhi’s Gurgaon suburb, a key hub for offshore call centers. The time pressures are so great, the drivers slow down just enough to pick up passengers. Four or five young men carrying backpacks or biker briefcases will pile in, and before the door is even closed, the driver accelerates. Don’t get in their way. Even by India’s chaotic driving standards, call center cabs are feared. The message is clear: If you’re late for work, don’t bother showing up.

The main reason Indians don’t like call centers is the same reason Americans don’t like working in call centers. They are mostly dead-end jobs. Indians, just like Americans, want a chance to learn, to grow, to advance. That’s why firms in India are talking about Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). These are jobs that don’t just require answering calls about someone’s airline reservation. KPO workers process information and add value by applying industry-specific knowledge or analysis. It is more difficult, more interesting work.

The only problem is many American companies don’t want to send that work overseas. A U.S. insurance company rep I met in the Bangalore airport told me he was on his way to check out one of India’s premier BPO/software firms. He said this company was able to train massive numbers of people quickly, a big plus when it comes to processing insurance company forms. However, the Indian firm now wanted to move from processing contracts to helping with the underwriting for small business insurance policies. “We think we know something about underwriting,” the rep told me. “That’s our business.” In other words, KPO is less likely to go oversees than BPO or call center work.

In a way, Americans worried about offshoring should find the Indian distaste for call center work both encouraging and frightening. Encouraging because Indians will not be endlessly content to take any American job at a fraction of what an American would make. It’s a bit frightening because Indians are demanding a chance to climb the skills ladder. They don’t just want to sell us a credit card. One day they’d like to have an interesting enough and lucrative enough job to actually have someone else sell them a credit card. And if we don’t stay competitive, one day we might be the ones calling to interrupt dinner in Bangalore with “an exciting new offer.”

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