working - Cerebral Insights

Missed and Not Missed

10 Things I won’t miss in the BPO Industry

I won’t miss the controlled atmosphere. I won’t miss the fact that we need to call CCOD to ask for breaks or that after a break, we must go on auto-in at once lest we go on OB. I won’t miss the 10-minute total CR break for the entire shift.
I won’t miss the AHT, CSAT and QA advisories and audits.
I won’t miss the “Blocked by Websense” and the constant screen flashes indicating that the GTI is monitoring our computers.
I won’t miss the robotic opening spiel and the other spiels that although are unique to each agent, already sounds robotic due to constant over-use.
I won’t miss the unchallenging issues that keeps on repeating themselves day in day out.
I won’t miss the VR Sales!
I won’t miss the irate customers who, eventhough, is understandably frustrated, can’t comprehend that the other person on the line is a person himself and also has feelings and limitations.
I won’t miss the Log Bus and the ultra early pick-up.
I won’t miss the heavy queues or the excessive avail time.
I won’t miss talking almost non-stop about the same topic for almost 8 hours straight.

10 Things I’ll Miss about the BPO Industry

I’ll miss the kind and appreciative customers and their ear-flapping praises.
I’ll miss the bloopers incurred by the non-technical customers.
I’ll miss the daily IS chats with my guinea pigs.
I’ll miss the pizza nights and other apparently absurd theme nights.
I’ll miss Outlook, the email blasts and spams and my uber professional looking signature.
I’ll miss the pantry and the cheese cupcake and Big 250 Apple.
I’ll miss the team buildings and inuman days.
I’ll miss the stolen chats with a particular CCOD.
I’ll miss the fast rides with Kuya Adam.
I’ll miss the rec area and the Fuzzball and internet room.

Comparatively, the things I’ll miss are things I could work around with so as to have them back or things I could do without. The really important things – like work satisfaction and fulfillment are the ones provided by the new job that I haven’t been able to achieve with my previous job.

When I am asked why I left the BPO to become an MT (medical transcriptionist), I give the standard answer below, which I realized later on, is really true.

MT is the closest thing I could get to a medical career. I took up BS Bio with the intention of becoming a doctor but I realized that I could not cure patients and make them feel better for I lack the sympathy and care to do so. However, I am fascinated with the study of medicine. Yet for me to pursue medicine purely for education’s sake is a luxury I cannot afford. MT will give me the education I want while also filling my pocket.

something positive about work

I know that most of my entries about my current job are bordering on the negative. I know that when I blog about work now a days, it’s mostly because I got impatient with a customer or because my mind is rotting away in boredom. But then not all is gloom and doom at work.

I recall an article from Peyups sent to me by one of my workmates which detailed why the kind of job I have is most of the time a thankless one. Yet, though we often receive frustrated callers, there are certain rare gems that can make our heart’s soar in this type of job.

I recall the customer who was so happy because I simply educated her about viruses and how they work, that in the offset of the call she offered a short prayer of blessing for me. I recall several customers who are not native Americans and whose accents are so hard to understand that you have to be patient with them. And though the call dragged on to immeasurable lengths, after the issue was resolved, they thank you profusely for being so patient and understanding to them. Lately, I find my eyes becoming teary-eyed when a customer thanked me profoundly because according to him, of all the TSR he talked to, I was the most precise and the most clear, not to mention that I have been able to clearly explain to him the issue with his computer. I wasn’t able to resolve his issue but then he understood his predicament and he was thankful that I explained things to him clearly.

Then also there are this customer’s who are simply nice to talk too. Those who will chat with you about their jobs and also appreciate the job that you have. I recall the lady who was nice enough to inquire how I feel about my job and to be indignant that I should be receiving a salary good enough for 2 persons. I also recall how she was totally sympathetic that I finished a different course but due to practical reasons had to be in this job. I could never forget the customer who called only to talk about Manny Pacquiao. He knew what to do with his computer, he probably had only one quick question which was answered at the onset of the call but since he wanted to chat, I gave in. We talked about Manny and boxing for 21 minutes while he was at the same time tinkering with his computer and I merely assured him, from time to time, that he was doing the right thing.

Of all the bad calls which I have blogged about, I believe it is but right that I also defend my customers. Not all of them are jerks like the people I’ve talked about in the past. A large majority are also nice people who would be profusely thankful for even just the information handed over to them. The mind remembers the bad incidents, but I believe it is the good ones which should leave a deeper imprint so that they could serve as fuel to move on and continue in this “thankless” job.

This entry is an ode to all the nice customers I’ve had. To all those who’ve given me high marks in the surveys and to whom I owe my high metrics. May they continue to be nice and understanding to all the people they meet – customer representatives and all.

intregrity compromised

Ganito ba talaga pag nagtratrabaho na? Darating ka sa isang punto na mamimili ka kung konsensya o pera ang paiiralin mo? Kung magiging practical ka o gagawin mo ang alam mo na tama?

Simple lang naman ang nangyari. Wala naman holiday last payroll, at wala din naman akong approved OT last payroll pero sa payslip meron akong additional 152 pesos dahil sa special holiday OT.

Masaya di ba? Nadagdagan ng 152 ang sahod ko. Pero nakakalungkot. Kasi pakiramdam ko nasusukat ang integridad ko bilang tao. At sinusubukan ang pagka-Kristiyano ko.

Oo na. Inaamin ko. Hindi na ako mabuting Kristiyano kagaya noon. Hindi na ako nagdadasal at matagal na matagal na since huli akong nag-quiet time. Lasingera na rin ako at hindi na nagsisimba. Pero buo parin naman ang loob ko at and konsensya ko at ang bagay na to, sobrang hindi kinakaya ng sarili ko.

Nagsabi na ako sa sup ko. Sabi ko hindi kaya ng konsensya ko na wag magreklamo. Ikinagulat nya yun. Kung nabawasan ang sweldo ko ng hindi tama sa oras, alam ko na magrereklamo talaga ako. Aba! Wala naman may gusto na maging underpaid di ba? Pero bakit kaya pag overpaid ka, walang gusto magreklamo? Sabi ng sup ko, nangyayari talaga yan. Pabayaan ko na daw kasi di ko na yun problema. Wag na daw ako magreklamo.

I guess I don’t have much support from that area. But then again, I cannot take this. My conscience is screaming at me! I feel like if I passed up this situation, my integrity might be, again, corrupted. (I feel that it has been corrupted by all the cheating issues back in trainig days and with the required exams we need to take).

And once corruption starts, it will continue on. It will be like a worm, first eating a small hole that would gradually grow larger. If my conscience can take to be silent on this small instances, what would happen when the amount becomes larger? Or the instance becomes graver. Isn’t this exact scenario the case why there is corruption in the country.

Being dishonest in small things lead us or train us to become dishonest in bigger things. You may say I am over-reacting over a meager amount of 152 pesos but the fact is I am really disturbed. I am. I even had to go on break and blog about this just so I can air out my sentiments.

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Apologies to those who I know would be shocked by the outburst on my spiritual state now. Friends, I am but human, and though I know this is not a valid excuse, forgive me for I do err.

Pride and Work

Pride is a dangerous thing.

It is a dangerous companion – a dangerous sin. Pride makes one careless and reckless. Pride blinds one to the realities of things and how things are actually meant to happen. Pride blows up the ego and makes one resent authority or rather invalidate them. Pride is a dangerous thing.

Yet what happens when one is bored out of one’s mind? When one can attest to solving most issues and one can really manage to play with one’s AHT and one’s performance? When one has achieved a sort of peak in one’s current state, one must learn to move on and proceed to the next level with a different high and a different challenge. When there is no challenge in ANY thing at all – no OBs to explain for, no AHT to account for, issue resolutions to bring notice to… what does one do? Where does one go? Nowhere I guess.

This is afterall, employment wherein one’s climb, one’s ascent, is governed by administration, by the circumstances surrounding one’s work. This is employment, wherein one’s success is not solely determined by one’s capabilities but also, largely, by one’s company. This is employment. And this is in the industry I am, unfortunately, part of.

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Note:

I recently discovered that I can actually email the articles I’ve spanned during my free (or avail) time at work without incurring an infraction or grounds for termination. Let’s just say I discovered how to use a certain tool to that advantage. Hehe. So I guess, I’ll be able to post more items here.

Braindead

Some people ask for promotion to gain more power or more influence. Some ask for promotion to get paid a higher salary. Still some ask for promotion to gain more popularity, credit or prestige. Not me.

I want to be promoted to ask for more workload; more assignments; more responsibility.

Call me work alcoholic, or insane or addicted. Call me whatever you like but deep down, the reason I want promotion so much is not so I could earn more, or be powerful or prestigious in the company but because I am so dead panned bored in what I am doing now.

I can say that I am a very adventurous person – well of course to a certain limit. But I like adventure none the less and I like feeling challenged most of the time. My life as a student was not a tad boring – I went out of my way to try various things to spice up my academic life. I was not content to just study my lessons and pass my exams (or even ace them). For me student life is to be defined by the number of activities you got to try; the number of places you got to visit in the name of academic exposure; the number of people you get to meet in various settings brought about by your extracurricular activities.

No wonder I exposed myself to student bodies and organizing committees; to school papers and school productions. No wonder when I was in college, I applied for 7 organizations in my first semester! Imagine seven! Each organization in UP has a set standard for how you will become a member – tambay hours, service hours, sig sheets, talent nights, costume weeks, etc. And to top all this I still have my acads to attend too. That was how busy I made my life as a student be.

There was never a dull moment as far as I’m concerned because I was always busy with something. My social network expanded like rapid fire due to the various and different natures of the orgs I was part of.

There were times when I became tired of all the hectic-ness (?) I turned my life into. There were times when I wished I could have been just a simple person, with simple wants, and living a very laid back and simple student life. But then right after wishing and dreaming of those things, and perhaps spending a day or two in quiet isolation, I would be back on the hectic midst of it all. I revel in the busyness of my life back then.

Imagine, my chagrin, when after merely 4 months into this job, I was already bored out of my mind. To think I even defended my line of job from my other friends who were also BPO agents, telling them that being a TSR is the most challenging of all accounts in the BPO industry since the TS issues are never same. Well, look at where I am at now. Yes, I am not handling account issues of customers (which I believe I won’t last a month of) but the technical issues they have are also pretty much the same. There are even times when I would already preempt the customer for the exact error or the exact issue since admittedly different individuals have different ways of describing the same issue.

And the very occasional, once-in-a-blue moon, unique issue – a question perhaps on how a less common feature of the product works – is like an oasis in a parched desert – bringing refreshment to my otherwise dead neurons.

I do not mean to brag. One might think I have perfect metrics to be claiming that I am bored with what I am doing – I don’t. My metrics are not perfect. There is still room for improvement, I know. And I still have a lot to learn – there is in fact a promotional post that I deem unworthy to aspire for due to lack of technical knowledge and skill. Yet the fact remains that with where I am at now, I am already bored.

And without my blog and the books I’m reading, or at least trying to, my neurons might be rotting away from lack of exercise; my soul from lack of challenge. And it doesn’t help a bit that I am without any extra-work activities (a parallel of my extracurricular activities) at this point in time. The culprit: my schedule which my body, I believe, is still adjusting to.

This, I guess, is part of the real world I have longed so much for when I was a student. Well, then, I guess all I could say to myself is: Welcome to the REAL world.

work hang-ups: part1

Disgruntled. Dissatisfied. Depressed. Disillusioned.

What do you do when you have a dream – a dream that is eating you up every second of your waking moment? A dream that threatens to engulf your every thoughts and make you dissatisfied with what you have. I am a naturally content person with simple wants and simple dreams. Yet the point is – I have a dream – a dream I long to follow and see if it would suit me. A dream that I know would haunt me for the rest of my life if I don’t do anything about it. A dream that I would always want to pursue, have always wanted to pursue.

I dream of writing to my heart’s content. I dream of reading my name in print – be it as a byline in a newspaper or a magazine I dream of having my own byline I dream of something else – something that is not what I have pursued in my 5 years of college education Something that is not what I am doing now.

Back in university, I live by the maxim: DO NOT LET YOUR EDUCATION INTERFERE WITH YOUR LEARNING. I’ve learned all I can despite that my education was something I really didn’t want. I’ve learned all I can despite that my situation was something really far from my heart. I made do with what I have, confident that I could use my learning, if not my education to pursue my dreams, my ambitions.

Now I have a job, a job brought about by necessity, a job brought about by practicality Now I have a job, a paying job, a job like any other jobs – at least I am not unemployed. For this I know I am thankful. For this I know I am blessed. Yet this is not the job I want nor the job I’ve dreamed of. Should I go on living the university maxim? Should I apply that to this scenario? Would I always go on learning under circumstances I do not wish for nor long for? And would the time ever come when I would be learning under circumstances I’ve dreamt of?

My heart yearns to write, yearns to learn how to write, yearns to improve and develop her own unique style. My heart yearns to make a mark on the publishing world. My sense of challenge yearns to face the challenges of a struggling writer. I yearn for something else.

This dissatisfaction won’t serve me If this continues I will forever be disgruntled,dissatisfied, depressed and disillusioned.

And it wouldn’t be healthy at all.

job fulfillement

job fulfillment. what is it really?

when i was young, i was idealistic. thinking that i could change lives through my job. not withstanding the salary. i had dreamed of being a barrio worker – a doctor perhaps. so that i could change lives. i believed service would be enough.

now i am more realistic. being in this industry, wherein fulfillment seems wanting. but salary is promising (if promotion is attained) – all hopes and dreams of service has been long erased. memories of a distant past. long forgotten.

but perhaps still awaiting some resurrection of sorts.