Yep. I was one of those customer service reps ...a senior one. I knew the signs of times to come at HP when I requested training on VMware,about 6 years ago. It was approved. Then It was denied. I was told that this training was available only to the "xxx" group.(costa rica) The tragic comedy began about a year later. I discovered by talking to one of the Costa Rica personnel,that the long wait times on the phone were due to many employees leaving...and going to Intel....whom was also in Costa Rica. I have been in IT for a very long time. Here are some management tips to live by:
Management is unable to correct themself and stupid mistakes they made along the way,the higher they are on the ladder,the more this applies.
Upper Management does not comprehend that ex-workers talk to each other ,regardless of which company they now work for, because chances are pretty good that they used to work with each other and realise that they may be working with each other again in the future.
Sometimes a company is successful because of management and sometimes a company is successful IN Spite of management.

I now work for the competition. I am way too busy.A big part of this "busy-ness" is due to working with the offshore people. I spend hours ,just waiting for the offshore person to figure out the simplest stuff.Its not my job or position to mentor or train him or her.(differant company,differant employer , differant country and culture) They are doing what used to be MY job,they are the leader....the decision maker I am the subordinate...but now I get paid much overtime to WAIT for them to figure it out!!!!! (dont tell anyone.....keep it a secret!!!)