Anger after 118 118 service sends racist jokes

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 27-Nov-08, 11:30

LONDON - A Muslim student texted the 118 118 joke service and was sent racist gags, including "What's the difference between ET and an Asian? ET got the message and went home".

Kameron Abbas was shocked when he received the bigoted message but requested another and received a second racist joke.

The text said: "How do you save a drowning Pakistani? Take your foot off his head."

Abbas said he and his friend Imran Shah had texted the service for a laugh after seeing an ad promoting it on TV.

He said: "We couldn't believe the response. It was like Bernard Manning. These jokes are not funny. They promote racism."

The service costs 60p per joke and is operated by 118 118 from several call centres.

A spokesperson for the directory service said: "118 118 has apologised unreservedly to Mr Abbas.

"The employee who sent the highly inappropriate text has been reprimanded. We are putting our operators through further training to minimise a repeat of such an incident in the future."

Comments

Jonathan Harris - 27/11/2008

I smell some firings on the horizon and rightfully so.

Charlotte Hamilton - 28/11/2008

I'm surprised and not impressed by the relatively muted 118 response - the employee has been "reprimanded", not sacked, and they're hoping to "minimise a repeat" not ensure this will never happen again...? These are severely aggressive racist jokes, the second of which hinges around killing someone- I would expect a much stronger response from 118 118. Interesting to compare this to the Brand/Ross BBC response to "inappropriate" comments by staff...

Stuart Tunstead - 28/11/2008

Why were these 'jokes' included in the list of those available in the first place? From what I have seen of 118-118 operations, the system is largely automated and doesn't require the employee to select anything specific for something like the 'joke service'. I suspect the employee reprimanded was not actually responsible. 118-118 have an inordinately high turnover of staff from their 3 Call Centres; I can only assume a departing employee actually placed these 'jokes' within the automated system before they left. 60p for a joke is insulting in itself, regardless of whether it's humorous!