Threats and Violence

I had been in a call center where in they have this “extra pay” that they called as hazard pay. First time I heard about it, that’s a good idea. But what does it do if you have already been mobbed or something terrible happen to you.

I had a neighbor in which her end of shift is at 3 a.m. She is not afraid to go out of the building during that time. Plus, the fact that it was salary day for her. When  she took the jeep, there were two men already inside and these two men wasted no time telling her that they would take all of her money. She fought back so one of the men bang her head on the rear end of the Jeep until she felt dizzy and can no longer care if they took all of her belongings. Fortunately, she was able to come back home.

Three months past. And this girl is already jobless. Now, she is just sitting in the wheelchair, can no longer move and when she look at you, tears are falling from her eyes.

The sad truth is, you are working in a call center that is high paying and has a lot of incentives but are we really safe at all? Are we covered with all of these incentives?

I don’t care if I will be put in a shift wherein I had to go to the office by 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. This is the job that I chose and I swore during my employment that any day / time is ok with me. However, my concern is my safety. Our place is not a 24/7 place. At this wee hour of the morning, you’ll get lucky if you can get a tricycle or jeep that will take you to where the company shuttle stops. And you are even lucky if the shuttle is still there.

I think that there is a much more needed program to combat these kind of situation. In my mind, it may be kind of impossible but how about giving a place to settle for these agents while they are still in the odd hours of their job? Of course, if you are already in the safe hours, you are no longer allowed to stay in that place. That’s too abusive of you hahaha. it may be impossible but one of my friend told me that their company has this kind of setting but they are located in Pampanga. Whew!!! That’s far from where I live.

Rants and Complains

First day in the call center and I got a customer shouting at me and telling me “this computer sucks! Eversince I bought it — it’s already a burden! No wonder people are choosing blah-blah-blah over your computer!!!”

I almost believe my customer. Well, it is believable really. I know this because I also have some things in my possession that when I first got it, it is more of a burden than a happiness to me.

But then, I got suffocated handling voice calls. Luckily, I got into email support for another brand of computer. Guess what? An email saying ”this computer sucks! Eversince I bought it — it’s already a burden! No wonder people are choosing blah-blah-blah over your computer!!!”

This is when reality hits me. In the course of my work, I have encountered a lot of rants and complains and they are just usually the same thing. Kind of stereotype already.  This just goes to show that there are various kind of people in the world. There are those who complains a lot, the one who doesn’t complain at all but will just switch to another brand because of dissatisfaction and the one who promotes the product a lot because of satisfaction.

So where do you belong?

For Real or Alibi?

In our company, we had a nice way of tracking why you were not able to report for work. All you need to do is call a number, give all of your employee information and the reason why you are going to be late or absent from work.

I usually have my migraine. It is kind of severe. When it usually “attacks” my visions are so blurred and my head aches really bad. But one day, I had a really nice laugh when I see the reasons why some of them will be late/absent from work. Now these ones are the reasons that got me thinking so far:

1. Fell down from the stairs
2. had to change clothes. Got dirty when a scavenger’s truck passed by and some of the trashes were thrown at me
3. Had to bring my kid at school or he will be late. Ill be late for an hour [blood is thicker than work --- ]
4. my alarm clock did not ring. Ill be late for an hour [alarm clock fell asleep?]
5. Got soaked in the rain. Need to change clothes [another version of #2]
6. Dysmenorrhea [now this one i noticed that has been entered thrice in a month for the same reason. This one really needs a doctor]
7. Fever [this one agent has been calling for fever for three months in a row]
8. No one is going to take care of the house.
9. Traffic. I’ll be reporting the rest half of the day. [Half day late? Where are you coming from, anyway?!?]
10. I’ll be late. Shoe is broken. Had to replace it.
11. Left my office ID. Had to go back home.
12. The worst part is I was listed as the one who is absent for that day when in fact I was in the office the whole day. Jeez!!!

Odd Hours and Holidays

I had the chance to interview applicants since i was a supervisor before in our call center company. Doing this, I can see myself to them.

Interviewer: This is a 24/7 industry that means you can be assigned to odd hours, are you ready for that?
ME: [odd hours?!? --- oh no] Of course!
Interviewer: Oh that’s good. Coz here in our company, we have international clients and we have to have agents assigned during their usual daytime and blah blah blah … So do you think 2am is just ok with you?
ME: {jeez!!! 2am i might come across a rapist or something scary] Oh yeah
Interviewer: And holidays — we don’t have it here. So even New Year’s Eve, you might still be working. Is that still OK with you?
ME: [Of course not!] Oh that’s not a problem. I am single and there’s no any one who can stop me from working.
Interviewer: [Laughs] Oh yeah. That is the usual reason we are getting.
My kid needs me here. There was a family emergency …

And then blah blah blah

ME: as the interviewee … This is a 24/7 industry that means you can be assigned to odd hours, are you ready for that?
APPLICANT: Of course!
ME: [kinda lying .... hmmmm] Oh that’s good. Coz here in our company, we have international clients and we have to have agents assigned during their usual daytime and blah blah blah … So do you think 2am is just ok with you?

APPLICANT: Oh yeah
ME: [I'll take that lie,  hmmm ...] And holidays — we don’t have it here. So even New Year’s Eve, you might still be working. Is that still OK with you?
APPLICANT:Oh that’s not a problem. I am single and there’s no any one who can stop me from working.
ME: {Laughs … let’s see when you are already on the floor ….  hahaha]

New Year’s eve. its just one holiday i can’t say no to it. Even if it still going to be a double pay. Even my birthday, it is ok for me to be at work.  But from what i observe the most, its ok to be working on or before New Year’s eve just don’t assign us on odd hours or else…

The bottom line is who wants to work in odd hours and go to the office during holidays when everybody is just in the house because it is a non-working day?

But hey I am in the call center industry!

Boredom at Work

I’ve come across a site that says “an average call center representative stays in the job for 13 to 18 months.” The reason for this is the repetition process in the workplace.

In any call center company that you are going to work to, you will be handling a certain account: billing, technical support, sales, etc. And what you are explaining and telling the customer this day, you will still be saying that thing in the next few days, weeks, years [if you even reached one year in your job just like me. Im on my second year on my job now]. With a lot of agents on the floor, there is a very small of chance of growth and career advancements.

For an average person, repetitions or doing the same thing over and over again will be, in the long run, conventional. It is like hitting the dead end. What else is there to know? What else is there to be so excited about? There may be an update to the account you are handling but can you call it brain enhancing type of development? No. You can feel stagnant at what you are doing at one point in time while you are sitting in front of your computer and just waiting for your call.

In our call center, we have our own game room. We also organized charities. Somehow, I am looking for something that could also improve our creativity. Something that could broaden our horizon. Like for example, I hope there is a program where they can enroll you to an establishment that will teach you how to play a certain instruments, reach out to other hobbies like mountain climbing, discounts to learning centers if you want to learn how to cook, dance, add skills on computer or giving you a vacation leave that will take you to a new place — hmmmm this last one …. me likey so much!!!

Don’t you think so?

Phonetics 101

Me talking to a customer who has always wants to spell out all the website we want to go to.

ME: Please go to abc.com [I put the phone to mute after one hour of
troubleshooting, we can now connect to the internet because I am already tired, exhausted and sleepy]
CUSTOMER: Can you please spell that to me?
ME: Oh sure. A as in apple, B as in cat and C as in boy
CUSTOMER: Oh I am confused. I got the A but the next letters, B as in cat and C as in boy?
ME: [Ooppss...] Let me repeat that, Sir. A as in apple, B as in boy and C as in Cat
CUSTOMER: Ok — that’s better. I think my hearing is failing me again
And I just laughed with my customer…

Call Center Everywhere

Gone are the days that the only option of your place to work for call centers are Makati, Ortigas and Alabang. Now, everywhere you look, there are building constructions especially made for call centers. Even here in Quezon City, there are lots of traffics more. Because of the ongoing building constructions and the applicants wanting to get a seat in the company.

I am relieved at the thought that I don’t have to kill myself of two and a half hours of travel just to get to where I am working. I cursed those days already. Good thing my prayers were answered. Now, it only takes me thirty minutes to get to the office – most of the time less than that. That’s deducting the two and a half hours before.

High pay and just near your place — now that’s what you call cool!

Sex Crave

Stereotype nowadays is that sex is so rampant when you are in the call center industry. It was even discussed in Marie Claire’s Philippine Edition last year, that well, brought me up in writing about this. Why just react now? I just bought the back issue of the magazine — lol.

Well, as they say, that is their opinion. But then, it is no one’s opinion anymore if it’s being talked about by many of us already. For someone like me who has an open mind about these things, I just tend to ignore the issue because ‘I’m not one of you’but in the long run, one cannot just ignore it. You are labeled,  you are tagged, you are being viewed at and you are being looked at — that way.

Just as my POV, with the call center booming nowadays, everywhere you look at there is a building being built for a call center company, you tend to meet a lot of people with mixed lifestyles, perspectives and attitudes. Especially most of these companies are owned by, not the locals, but by foreigners who has a different way of life. We are influenced, sometimes we are taught to be like them and act like them so we can be really one of them. some are crossing the borders mindlessly. Some are just being carried away. Some still choose what is real and reel or what is right and what is really, really wrong.

Fast changing world — that is what the real deal in a call center. If you can’t go with the flow, that happens every minute, hour or day, you might not take it. However, the bottom of the issue is it all boils down to the real character of the person.

If you already experienced having sex, in reality, you can do it over and over again whether you are working in our industry or not. If you are a man/woman who has an overwhelming sex appeal, you will really have someone among your admirers to go to bed with you – and I’ve seen this happens even while I was working still in my early years of working [imagine the shock?!?]. My dad’s friend has gone to bed with 3 other women in their same department and they are working in a newspaper company. He even ended up leaving the original wife over the third wife [now -- what happens to the second?]

We are in now in the state where the influence of the modern is sooo getting in to us. We are so exposed to vulgarity, obscenity, violence and much more other things. At the end of the day, only one thing matters: it is your choice of how you will live your life.

Call Center Jobs Anyone?

I am an IT person but I am working in a call center.  Why? Because they pay higher than when you are really doing your supposed to be job. I do the IT thing as my part time job. With it, you can always work at home.

 But, at times, I am saddened with the fact that many of us who had degrees in different field, will end up in a call center. I have met a teacher, a nurse, a top notcher journalism student in her school before she graduates, a political science graduate and a parent who also has some siblings working in a call center.

I don’t have anything against working in a call center. This is the reason why our store has expanded, my beautiful floor, my gadgets, my out-of-town trips came from. However, from what I can envision, is this the only future for our graduates?
There is a recent movie that tackles about working in a call center. The mother said that she is teaching her kid in speaking in english [in which her son is speaking fluently in English!] because when he grows up, he will be working in a call center. Isn’t this right?

Passion vs. Money. this is the rivalry now. even if your passion is in teaching if it doesnt give you money, you will be forced to switch to the call center industry. Which i always notice. whenever there is a new blood on our floor, I always asked them
what made you decide to switch to call center? and the answer is, I think, you very well know….