September 7, 2011

September 7, 2011

It’s been so long. I’ve been living quietly offline for a while now. Life has been pretty steady. I realized that in the turmoil filled world we live in to be able to live a quiet life is a huge opportunity. Therefore instead to feel bored I should rather be thankful.

Last July I’ve completed my one year bond in the company. I was so determined to fulfill the terms of my contract that it actually pushed me through the most stressful days in the office. Afterwards, I thought that it was already time to move on and find another adventure.

I’ve already informed my bosses of my intention to resign. I’ve had meetings with my operations manager, the boss of my immediate supervisor, several times. He convinced me to decide otherwise but I’ve already made up my mind.

A week before the thirty-day service that I was required to render ended our project manager or the big boss scheduled a meeting with me. Honestly, I was surprised. I didn’t think that they would really make an effort to change my decision. A few days before that meeting I’ve heard the news that some of my colleagues were terminated because of performance or attendance issues. Our project manager told me that she didn’t see my resignation coming and she asked me to stay.

Actually, the main reason I planned to resign was because I wanted to enrol in a law school. I’ve already told my family about it and they were more than happy to back me up. However, my friend who’s already enrolled advised me that the school is no longer accepting new enrollees during the second semester.

Again, I weighed my options and decided to put my resignation on hold. I made up my mind to stay. Anyway, our project was about to close and we’ll be redeployed to another projects in the company. In short, things are about to change even though I’ll stay in the company.

So there I went back to the job and made peace with it. Before July ended we were advised of our performance ratings. I actually did well, surprisingly. Thank God. Though our ratings are supposed to be confidential we can’t really hide it with friends. We were like high school students who gossiped how we fared in the score cards. A friend remarked “anong pinakain mo sa OM mo bakit ang taas ng score mo.” Another colleague answered for me “tange, based sa performance yan.”

As a result I’ve realized no matter how challenging something can get as long as I ask for His help, put my heart into it and decide to win it I can get it.

Working in a call center is not as easy as it seems to be. We don’t spend our working hours rocking our office chairs while chit chatting on the phone. Rather we are working hard all the time to stay alert and focused so we can understand and be understood, to know the problem and give effective solutions.

One of the most common things people outside the call center industry will say is “Why should you work in a call center, mababa ang tingin ng mga amerikano sa mga Pilipino” To me, such remark is a sign of a Filipino’s low self-esteem. Regardless of your race if you don’t know how to get the job done you can be subject to anyone’s scrutiny.

Yes there are some people who are racist but it’s not our problem or fault. Perhaps we should think of ourselves as global citizens who can work with anyone rather than enveloping and guarding ourselves in a protective cocoon.

I’ve already made peace with my accent. I am a Filipino and I will never try to hide it. When a caller asks where I am from without any second thought I say I am from the Philippines. Actually, that way I thought that I was representing the Philippines. Who says you’ve got to be a pound for pound boxer, a brilliant singer or a rock star to represent the country?

U.S is a multi cultural and diverse nation. There were callers who originated from Europe, Asia and South America. I can also tell based on the way they speak that they weren’t originally from the U.S but I’ve never felt that they were trying to hide it or ashamed of it so why should I be ashamed of being a Filipino?

Since callers are given the opportunity to send feedback about the service we render we are required not only to resolve their technical issues but also to provide the best customer experience we can.

If you are genuinely interested about the person you’re talking to on the other end of the line it isn’t hard to do it. If we really listen we’ll realize that they are just like us though they maybe very outspoken about their frustrations. But when you also get to help them they would also openly express that they are happy and grateful.

I don’t know until when I will be doing this job. I’ve always lived in the philosophy to live life one day at a time. When we get so consumed of the things we want to do in the future we forget to appreciate what we already have. One thing’s for sure though I’ll keep on doing things the best way I can.

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