5 Seconds

i got a very kind customer who, out of the blue, just asked me if i go to church.

i was stunned.not only she initiated a converstation but more importantly, i was not prepared for such kind of question.i thought it was a strange thing to ask coming from a person on the other side of the globe.

(and usually, in building rapport, we, as agents are the ones to open up a discussion to avoid placing the customers on hold or on mute and to build trust and confidence as well especially if we are going to pitch for a sale or to do any modification in the account. It's one in a million if its the other way around)

after about 5 seconds of silence, i reluctantly answered,"yes, i do".

her reply was followed by another question, "then you know Jesus Christ?".That seems illogical, i thought.all church goers are definitely aware of Him. Perhaps she was not convinced that i really am going to church.

i suddenly realized that it was my voice and the way i delivered my response! That was very easy to determine.Even i was not sure of it.

feeling the need to reassure her, i immediately said, "of course".

******************************

i felt guilty after that call because i lied. i lied to avoid inconvenience. i lied because of the personal urge to end the call asap. and it took me only 5 seconds to do that.

i was guilty. and it's 2 counts of lying.

First, I do not go to church.

Second, i do not really know Him. ONLY by name. and i guess knowing Him by name alone does not give me any clue as to who He really is.

************************************

But then again, who among us does not lie for our own convenience?or for others' sake?

Perhaps this is not a valid excuse for not telling the truth but this is ONE piece of reality that we can't just negate easily. In fact, this reasoning is becoming a truth in itself.

The Long (?) Wait

Now is the 22nd of the month.
Our payday is still on the 28th.
5 more days in-between.
The wait is very far from over.

5 days.

My friend told me it isn't such a long wait after all.
I responded, "Not if what you are waiting is your salary."

I feel like its been more than a month now since i got my last pay for the hard work that i suffered even if we just had our last pay day on the 13th.

For Younger Generation

"It takes a great deal of courage to follow another person's lead."

-Bill Hybels

Cowardly Lion

"i have always thought myself very big and terrible. Yet such little things as flowers came near killing me, and such small animals as mice have saved my life. How strange it all is!..."

-The Cowardly Lion from Lyman Frank Baun's The Wizard of Oz.

Such a great literary piece! This is a must-read for everyone.

Discovery I

It started from Harry Potter series and it eventually became a habit.

I was a 4th yr High School student then when i asked my classmate if he could lend me JK Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Philosopher (or Sorcerer's) Stone". I wasn't really interested in reading it, i just got curious why suddenly most of my friends were talking about it like it was one of our subjects (their actually more interested in discussing what happened to Harry than what transpired in the class).

I had a doubt that i was going to finish reading it because it will really consume my time and my priority then was to watch my favorite animes. But after reading its last page, i just realized that i enjoyed the story and like my friends, i had too many questions (and theories) which were left unanswered.

Before the schoolyear ended, i already finished reading its four books ( the Order of the Phoenix was not yet published) and thereafter i waited with excitement and eagerness for the next book to come.

That was the time when i discovered my passion for reading.That was the time when reading became part of my being.

To be continued.

(shift is about to end, needs to go home asap)

What?!?/

what we're afraid of:
-sun
what we brag about:
-salary
what we cant live without:
-a decent sleep
what we like and usually demand:
-auxes
what we're not sure of:
-schedule
-TLs or coaches
-teammates
what our body needs:
-health insurance
our most precious asset:
-throat
our bestfriends:
-for feeling rich - starbucks coffee
-for those who are saving - nescafe
-1-2 pieces of cigars every break
our enemy most of the time aside from the customer:
-payroll dept
what we're hard to get rid off:
-mag-tagalog
what we always do in a call:
-hold
-mute
-chat with teammates
-browse the net
-cURSE the customer
most common curses while phone is on hold or mute:
-anG bobo mo!
-stupid!
-BItch
-f____ you!
*all lines directed to customer
what we ALWAYS need to improve:
-csat
-Sale
-aht
-pee breaks!
-hold time
-mute
-magtagalog
what we always envision:
-Vacation Leave
-VTO
-Holiday with pay
What we secretly want:
-not to take calls
**how to do it:
-go to clinic and complain of
_headache
_stomachache
_LBM
_toothache
_at ibpang aches

things we're usuallly associated with:
headset/
mug for coffee or water/
jacket or coat/
pack of cigarette/
shades/

most common lines from customers who are venting out:
i cant understand you...
i cant hear you properly...
where are you calling from?
pls transfer me to someone who can speak english..
your service sucks...
i need a credit...
your company is robbing me money...
transfer me to your supervisor or manager now...

universal spiels for call center agents:
Thank you for calling...
Thank you for choosing..
How are you today..
I apologized for the inconvenience..
I understand your frustration...
Let me see what i can do for you..
is it ok to place you on hold for about ...

end and beginning

its a quarter of an hour before my shift starts and what better way to spend it than to blog.
I've been working for more than a year already for the same company and it will not last long enough for me to receive another 13th month pay.
Last two weeks, i told my boss that im going to resign.This day, i just finished making my resignation letter. I didn't know how to write a resignation letter so it resulted to only 4 short lines.
The first line is the word Greetings!
The last line says "Thank you and more power".
The 2nd and 3rd line indicate that i'll be resigning from work effective on 13th of April 2009 because i had to focus more on my studies.
The letter only occupied 1/4th of the small bond paper.
What i wrote in the letter is not entirely true since the reason is incomplete. Yes, it is right that im going to focus more on my studies but i did not indicate there that im still going to work.
I want to get a day job.And i want that job to be related to what im currently studying.
Last week, i had an initial interview with a foreign litigation company. Since i passed the initial screening, ill be having the final interview next week and hopefully ill be able to make it as well.Tomorrow, ill be having another initial screening with a local company. They told me i need to be at their office at 9am for company orientation. My shift ends at the same time so definitely i'll be late. My gut tells me that the orientation will not start at 9am and so its just ok for me to be there 30 minutes after.
Its already 10 minutes before 12 mn so i have to say bye for now.

She doesn't know.

honestly, i already forgot that i created this blog 3 yrs ago...i never thought that it is still existing after not updating it for ages.

I have to thank my lovely, gorgeous and intelligent mentor whom i always call Mam Daye because if not for her blog which provides a link to my own site, i would have not thought of reviving this one. It happened last Saturday while i was working, i decided to browse the net. In google, i typed her name and it promptly provided me a link to go to her well maintained blog. And in the links section i just noticed my name.

Mam Daye is also one of my few inspirations why i took up law while also working. She successfully passed the bar only last year. Just imagine, durng the time that she was in lawschool she had a full time job as an Executive Assistant to SC Justice Nachura and she was also a part time professor at PUP. Moreover, she was and still is, very active in two organizations where im also a part of. Her dedication to her work, studies and orgs is really something that is worth emulating.I just read in her blog that she already resigned as an Exec. Assistant to Justice Nachura and is now working in Makati.

I met her at Liberal Party HQ after i and my classmates joined the Kabataang Liberal ng Pilipinas. On my second year in PUP, she became my professor in Constitution. All of my other professors then were somewhat old and boring so our class was kinda "saved" from deterioration when she came. We had 8 subjects then (our class was a bolck section) and it seemed that during that time hers was the ONLY one that we had. The subject was complicated and therefore a little hard to understand for most of us (not for me though since it was (in PUP and now in lawschool) my fave subject- not bragging!) but it was well compensated by her intensity, knowledge and dedication to teach. Learning was not compromised.

i can write all day just about her but i guess that is not necessary anymore..she knows that i, together with so many other young people, respect and love her.

I just thought that i need to sincerely thank her for paving the way for me to finally decide to revive this blog. She is indeed an inspiration!

revival

after only 1 post for about 3 years since this account was created, here i am again.

Though this is only going to be my 2nd post, i definitely hope that it's not going to be years (again) to come up with another one.

And i hope i can continue to do this ..not because it's really necessary but i guess it'll be a very good training for me to finally hone my writing skills.

Yes, that's right. I seldom write but with the career that i chose to take it's an advantage to properly put into writing all the ideas that i have in mind. ..( for sure, i'll have one post exclusively about how and why i always have a hard time writing).

I guess i owe this blog of mine an explanation of why i failed to update it..and how i suddenly realized that i can work this out this time around.

That means i have lots of explaining and writing to do. Unfortunately, i can't do it at this moment.

I'm in a computer shop and i only intended to be here for 1 hr to make my resignation letter (another subject that needs to be expounded) and to check my email.

So bye for now!