Call(center) Boy's Christmas Eve Message

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Today is just routine for me though it's Christmas Eve but I'm just at home doing exactly the same things I am doing at any other regular day. I would be sleeping after I post this, would still be working later at 9PM so that means I have to spend Christmas working, answering calls, giving excellent customer service as much as possible. <smirks> It is expected there would be some watery eyes among officemates later in the office in the moments right before the long-hand of the clock strikes 12 midnight, especially those callcenter moms who have to go to work as they're unable to file their holiday leaves on time or that the  leave/s they've been requesting had been denied. It's always been that way for me for some years now. And the comfort I get from this is that on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (at least on the part of the world I'm in), I am helping people with their issues with the product/services they get from the company I represent.

Amidst the things that upset us or make us sad, such as the most recent Typhoon Sendong calamity, for those of us who have generally been doing ok, or are finding Life boring at least, we should feel blessed and that we were not those who have been through painful ordeals. I feel so sorry for the flood victims. The best I was able to do was to send some of my stuff, including the used clothes that our christian community had originally set aside for our rummage sale as fundraising, with the approval of our community head of course; I wish I could do more though... If we think our own personal life is a mess, it could've been worse. We are all still blessed, one way or another. It's just that we usually don't realize that we already are. And it's really good to share especially at Christmastime.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
<signed> The Callcenter Boy

A Hold-up Story

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I have heard lots of crime stories involving callcenter agents. Some were tragic and some were just plain funny in a way. The most recent I heard was about a guy wearing a dark jacket (I guess it was a stylish one, LOL). He was standing alone near a street lamp, waiting for a jeepney ride I suppose. Maybe he is on his way to a party, when a man stopped him and held him at gun-point and demanded for all his valuables. The surprised guy said he doesn't have anything valuable apart from his wallet; the gunman retorted that he must be hiding something more than that. The guy said how come he think that way; the hold-upper replied, "You must be a callcenter agent! You're wearing an expensive jacket. Apparently you're on your way to work!"

That ends the story. No one seems to know what had become of that poor guy; not a tragic one I hope. It is quite amusing how these low-life criminals think that callcenter boys and girls are all rich and laden with "goodies" for them! Funnier still is when these guys associate things with the callcenter boys and girls like, an expensive or stylish jacket, mug or any liquid tumbler (especially if it bears the  name STARBUCKS, beware you guys!) or even a pair of shades. Isn't it funny? <Laughs!>   

Till here, next time.
<signed>
The Callcenter Boy

Lost in Time and Date (or, How does your job change you?)

Look how time flies!
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There are 365 days in a regular year (except on leap years); I suppose holidays or other special occassions are redmarked on everyone's calendar. But not me, not on my calendar if I ever even have one. I just rely on my cellphone's date and time. To me, the days are all the same when I started a call(center) boy. And I'm bad at remembering birthdays. The times I was able to greet some friends were those when I was able to read their birthday notifications on social networking sites, almost always on the unavoidable (LOL!) Facebook. For one who works even during holidays, every day of the year seems to be the same as any other. Even the spark of Valentines Day and the feel-good atmosphere of the Yuletide season don't sink in to one's core anymore.

I don't even celebrate my own birthday, especially when it falls on a workday. So I just spend the day sleeping, as I'm always (and I guess, forever will be) on night shift. It might sound pathetic to some but for me, always having this grateful mind especially on one's birthday is just about enough. On the contrary, I don't feel sorry for myself for not having to celebrate it, much less with other people since there are always other days to do that. Aside from being able to save some bucks in doing so, I would rather sleep or rest than to go out and have fun. I bet a lot of "call" boys and "call" girls agree with me on this one. <chuckles>

Some say I'm an individualistic person and I respect what they think. Anyway I guess it's just my own way of evolving with my current work. We have to know how to adapt to anything, especially to things as essential as our jobs.

What's your job and in what way/s does your current job change you?

This Clicking Life

I had chanced upon a former officemate not too long ago in a mall. After the usual pleasantries, our talk went into the topic about work. I quite proudly said to him that I'm still with the same company, even joked about me getting a loyalty award or something of that sort. Then it was his turn. He just said he just "click" to work. And I was like, "Are you sure what you're talking about?" Like, "No way would it be that easy! Sure, I also click on the mouse at work in the office.." But then he further clarified that it's from the comfort of his own couch, chair or wherever he is sitting on at home, just clicking on advertising pages being sent to him. I sure do hear about these online jobs, work-at-home part-time jobs mostly. But I never really had gotten myself into that trend, not yet. Then he encouraged me to try it and gave me a website link of which you can see below.   

http://www.clixsense.com/?3819350

After giving it much thought, I did finally click on the link above and signed up. Actually my main reason why I hadn't tried it before was the fear of malicious programs that might infect my system. So I basically did make sure first that my laptop (I don't have a desktop, by the way) is completely covered by a very trusted antivirus program. And then I fully convinced myself that I'm not that stupid to give anyone who's asking for my own account password online, or other personal information. I guess it's really common sense and the gift of hunch that spare us all from being victims to these pathetic hackers.   

It was tough going at the start, and as with everyone else, I also started on mostly on $0.001 per click per advertising page. But that didn't discourage me. There were times I felt a bit bored just clicking on some random advertising pages being sent, but just imagining how much would I be getting at any targetted time is enough to keep me back on track. I realize how easy can this job be!  And besides, clicking on some pop-up advertising pages is way less stressful than explaining to a customer over the phone on how to resolve their own problems with the product we, as "callboys" and "callgirls", represent. THAT realization definitely made me stick to this PTC (Paid-to-Click) job. Since then I have been earning. Yet, not that much that it levels up to my current pay in the callcenter business for now, at least it's a welcome addition to my funds, some little extra money to put into my "gimmick" or recreation. <chuckles> And maybe in a year or two if all goes well with it, I might even do this full-time. <Smiles>   

Looking back...again.

The first time I've heard all about these callcenters was through a friend's friend who had applied to one. And true enough even before then, "BIG PAY!" was its official slogan. <smirks> And I guess I admit rather hesitantly, that it's the biggest factor why I'm drawn to this industry although the difference between my 1st pay of my company and my job prior to this (in an architectural/construction firm) was just almost a thousand bucks shy. But I grabbed at it anyway, since especially they said all I need to do is to just sit and answer calls from people. At that time, the "people" I'm refering to is almost exclusively Americans since U.S. companies were the first ones who had pioneered the outsourcing concept.

Without thinking about the work hours which are almost always graveyard shift, I jumped into the bandwagon. And boy, what an adjustment was that for me! I always consider myself a day person and an occassional insomniac so it was really a struggle. I literally dragged myself out of bed in the first few months. And when I had my insomnia attacks, I'd just party the night away if its on a restday (I have since moved on from that phase in my life, hehehehe) and end up feeling so wasted and tired during office hours the workday after. Or if its in the middle of a workday, I would render OT's if at all, because OTs (this means "overtime" by the way) weren't rigoriously tracked then. You can just do OT all you want, even if it's not a very busy day and you get paid for it every minute! I know any old-timer in our company love to reminisce the days when anyone can just render OTs just that easy. And that's one of the things I still miss on those good 'ole days.

At first I thought I'd just be a callcenter boy or call-boy for a few months...and almost everytime when I felt sooo stressed or beat out, my mantra is, interestingly, "Don't quit, loser!" And I guess that was very effective for my psyche because right now I realize I'm already quite a bit overstaying in this fickle, changeable world of call-boys and call-girls.

Bravo to us!

Looking Back...

It already has been exactly six years, five months and twenty-nine days since I first chanced into this world of night-owls, eye bags, coffee overdose and voice actors. And is continually one helluva ride! I just recently thought about doing this, writing everything what happened (and is happening and might happen) in this life I have chosen these past few years. Some things are not good to mention, I suppose but there are a lot more things that I think needs sharing...especially if in doing so would make any regular Juan (and Juana, how cliche, isn't it?) understand at least on some parts, the nature of the kind of job a sizable percentage of  working Pinoy nowadays had gotten into.

This is all for now. It is just an introduction anyway. Besides I need to sleep now for I still have work later at 1 A.M. Call(center)boys and girls are quite a kill-joy bunch, my friend told me one time, especially when it comes to their sleeping habits. LOL!

Till next time.
the CALL(center)BOY