Junkies? Think Twice

Call center agents has always been tagged as party animals, simpletons or much worst, junkies. At first, I ignored this unfair practice because I am pretty confident with myself and my reason why I joined the BPO industry.  I sure minded my own business for some time.

A disastrous truth dawned to me when I heard one of my colleagues shared her sentiment on how call center agents are being castigated by false labels and how she is affected by them. I started pondering. I have always made my point that I am not to be stereotyped, that no one has the right to. But what about those who cannot really express their opinions in the most objective manner? Should they just sulk and embrace the unnecessary criticisms and allow others to belittle them? Not in a million years.

That’s why I am writing about it and air the long kept sentiments of most of us, call center agents to be heard once and for all.

Here are some of the inevitable facts:

·         Not all are half-witted losers. Some are BS graduates but unfortunately the right job for their courses, just don’t pay as much. Others are just too young for retirement that they decide to make use of their time and earn too. We do have a lot of nursing graduates who passed their Board Exams already but can’t pay the fee in order to gain the experience required before they can work abroad. To those who just love to feel that they are above others and believe they have strong opinions to shake those with positions should address this concern because not all who dream to seek greener pastures have the ability to work in a call center. I think that is one issue worth talking about.

·         We may be considered moronic sometimes but hey, we pay taxes and we are much better because we don’t steal ‘em.  Bright people is more prone to corruption that less-complicated ones. That makes us better, don’t you think?

·         We can’t afford to spend time checking what’s on the news and be kept abreast. Why? We need to sleep in order to be alert on our jobs that feed us. Need I say more?

·         We mind our own business. Why so? Because we’d rather spent our spare time sleeping than questioning other people’s capacity or even just read their characters and categorize them. Gossip in call centers are common. But at least I for one say it upfront to those concerned. Seldom do we hear libel cases filed against perpetrators because we just don’t meddle too much on others.

·         Not knowing who’s running for office does not imply ignorance. I choose not to care because most of my schedule does not permit me to vote. Besides, issues like vote-buying and ballot box swapping should be discussed by those in the media in order to strengthen the campaign on vigilance to protect every Filipino’s right to suffrage.

·         We are not really into highfaluting words because we just want to keep things simple and be understood by all, not just by intelligent ones with an IQ of over 200.

Again, I would like to reiterate that we can’t be judged because we chose the simpler equation of life instead of being socially concerned. Why? It is because we don’t have the luxury of being constant critiques and leave our family with a great deal of insufficiencies. One thing’s for sure though, we demand an equal amount of respect simply because we deserve every bit of it.

To the smart ones, it’s really none of our business if you think you’re above most of us but let me just remind you that before you clear out our issues, deal with yours first. I totally guarantee that it will do you wonders.

Smarty Pants Alert! (What To Do and What Not)

Have you ever experienced being bugged by people who think they know better than you? The constant blabbering without making much sense seem to fill the entire room and you feel that there is no escape, is this somehow familiar? What would be a workplace without the annoying, sometimes intrusive smart-alecks?

Unfortunately for me, I seem to be sharing an 8 hour training with smart-alecks that sometimes I just can’t help it but lose my cool. On my very first week, it was like an endless torture that the only way to keep me sane is my mantra “Happy Thoughts”. It didn’t really seem to help because I would end up going home stressed. 

On the second week, I had to figure out how to survive. This time, I decided to know the enemy deeper. I tried to discover why they are like that and based on my observation, I guess what they lack is acceptance. One is a single mom, just trying to squeeze in by armoring herself of knowledge overload without realizing that too much of it just kept her away from understanding the lesson resulting her to ask irrelevant questions that put her on PDI mode. (PDI: Public Display of Ignorance). The other is simply disillusioned into believing that he is a hunk and that girls should be swarming because of his unique skin color.

Since I would still be exposed to them for the next 3 weeks, I came up with a plan on how to stay composed despite their inevitable presence.

·         As soon as they start opening their mouths, I would have to look away and busy myself on the different notes my seatmates have. (Actually, that would also save me from copying unnecessary information from the powerpoint presentation.)

·         When, one starts to read with his or her mouth while digging in on assessments, I would politely request that he or she read the test with EYES ONLY.

·         If one would start asking senseless questions, I will be excusing myself to go to the john which will be very good for my bladder.

·         If one would start singing, I would courteously suggest to get an early break.

·         If they just won’t stop and I’ve ran out of tactics, I guess I’ll just have to pray hard for a miracle, particularly the trainer, to call their attention and ask them to refrain from over-expounding on senseless points.

I’m not really sure if I am that equipped to survive this ordeal but I’m just keeping my hopes up. For the meantime though, I just hope I don’t find myself saying, “Talk to the hand…PLEASE!”