Love: Fallacy in the World of a Call Center Agent

first published: 05 April 2010 at 10:05PM

by: Silver

They say or I can say that sometimes the word "love" in this industry is just a game of fallacy. They say one can never be serious in engaging into a commitment. Well, sometimes it is true. In this world created by fabricated imagination, people here sometimes don't dare to intrude inside the boundaries of reality. Thus, making a world of our own wherein rules are subjective and sense driven!

You live, you work, and sleep. This is the pattern that defines the life of a call center agent. Our life! This entirety makes up our mundane days and that is it. As you or we go on, we are consumed by the influx of a force that overwhelms everybody. This force makes us think of how hollow we are. That the truth about the production floor is, it is filled with people but just an empty stage of individuals. But then for a moment you saw a different being, a creature that would make this mundane existence worth living. A color amidst the pitch black carpet of the man-eat-man world that we live in.

There are people in this world of our own. People that we call friends. Unique and identified by the his/her own set of problems. But no matter how we are all separated by individuality, once we hear that beep. We all answer and deliver the undying opening spiel. We say it with care and attention giving out a tone of all out care. With such, the borders of geography is minimized or at least closed. We become one with the customer. For a moment we connect and then they are gone. We wait for the next beep. In a slow fashion people here becomes a used-up brochure with a load of knowledge waiting to be poured unto the next customer. The situation changes but the receiver still remains to be the agent - the call center agent! However, all of these negativity melts away when the person of interest walks into the floor. A newbie that your heart exclaims for!

As days pass. The hollow floor and its empty dwellers seemed to be getting into your nerves. You are on the verge of getting fed up. But in this "hollowness" someone new sets up a challenge.A perfect being that alleviates your soul at every glance. Talking to the person makes you both feel that you are "legos" thrown into world to find each other and be united. It does not matter who the person is. It does not even matter as to what his/her sexual preference is. The person becomes your inspiration. You continue to stare and appreciate. The magic of having that "first-time feeling" causing ecstasy. The feeling that allows you to be rejuvenated. So now you gloat at every smile. Not even considering for a moment that it was not meant for you. You are blinded, dumbfounded and assured that you feel is the real deal!

The following days you make a slow and steady approach. And at the same time being careful that your simple gesture or words would reveal your true card. The conversations with the person became you new favorite thing to do. While at it you enjoy the state of being amazed at every pixel of that picture perfect picture in front of you called, colleague. Then eventually a perfect match is forged as if heaven and earth commanded it to be!

Both of you now confessed about the desire that you have for each other. Hence, you talk, date, comfort each other, and you hold hands as the calls queue up. You finally brand each other as lovers. You thus, continue to be drugged by an invisible morphine making you realize that the things you do in the office's sleeping room is escalating. Weeks passed by and then both of you concluded that lunch breaks are not enough to release your desires and "love". You try to do it in your boarding house but then the old land lady sees both of you. Eventually, you find yourselves in Recto, Quiapo, Pasay, and for those in Cebu there is Colon, Osmeña Blvd or the one near SM. You now know what is the best time to enter with lesser people. You continue to be drugged with the magic of your LOVE for each other.

Months passed and the contacts with the conversations got lesser. You notice that you are comfortable to be away from each other. You both know that the relationship is on its way down the sink. As your last move to patch things up, you meet at your favorite place. And for the last time you made love. But then everything goes sour. It is over! His/her words has no more spark and bubbles. With this conclusion coming into you like waves of guilt, you now think of the people outside your world. You think of your two year old daughter, your wife, your boyfriend or girlfriend  that you left behind outside our world.

Now you lay on you bed, alone! You stare at the dead ceiling. You are thinking of tomorrow because you have to go to the OB GYN secretly. You know a life is inside you and your husband does not know. It was because of the last ditch to patch things up. Now, you fully realize that you should have not entered into the quicksand of fallacy that our world offers. The fallacy of LOVE! Or should I say, the sense and desire driven love...

Call Center agents:Not the Average Juan dela Cruz

by: Silver Cepeda

Call center, the most sought after job in the Philippines. As of March 2011 it ranked as the second (http://businesstips.ph). So there are many thoughts that go with this job. There are many speculations about its nature. I can still remember the amazement of a friend’s father when I told the process of my job. He gave me a gaping mouth followed up with a big “wow”. He could not believe that someone from Cebu can fix an internet connection of a customer in Texas. Well, it is one positive comment! In another case, I attended a friend’s party in Manila. I was filled with disgust when someone exclaimed that mostly call center agents have AIDS.  The thought of using the word “mostly” disgusted me. I am not! I do not hate people who have this disease. But I also don’t have plans to have one. So what are call center agents? Are they the new hero for this country or just the average Juan dela Cruz?

Call center agent, a person who works in a BPO company that takes call. It might take a long while if I would explain what BPO is. Let me put in a very simple flow. Say you have a company in Manila. Let us say the nature of the business is online buying and selling. Now, people would call on a minute’s basis to buy and sell items. Now you want to save money by lowering your labor cost. As the owner of the company you know that people who are hired in Manila has higher pay compared to, if you hire someone from the provinces. You got the same quality but different pay. So you look for a person that has a center, say in Eastern Samar. And that center can provide you with good service in terms of providing you qualified agents to answer your customers’ calls. As has been discussed previously province rate is lower that to a city rate (considering the Philippine set up). There is a plus since you only have to pay them or the site owner in the province and does not need to worry about facility, etc! Hence, outsourcing is born. And the people who are taking calls are center agents. Normally, though the term “call center” is used to address people who are in the outsourcing business. If you understand it, then we are fine if not I would love a comments!

The world was at its knees during the recession period not so long ago. Countries like America suffered so much. Some of its renowned companies that belonged to the fortune 500 lost its luster or died along the way. However, in spite of this unfortunate development, Philippines did not suffer that much. Outsourcing became the trend that time. For a company owner in the United States, it was an assured way to maintain operation while saving some money or lowering down labor cost. While here in the Philippines it was an industry that boosted the economy. Dollars were still dollars and thus we became stable. Now, BPO is an industry worth $14B! This is second to the OFW’s generated dollar revenue. The industry’s (BPO) growth could have never been realized if not for those people who stayed up at night and talk to irate American customers. The industry grew and so did the country. Sacrifices were made and here we are! A few weeks ago a report was shown in CNN branding Philippines as the new call Center KING! That is something…

Thus, I can say that call center agents are not just the average Juan dela Cruz not that I am undermining somebody or what. I am just expressing an opinion. OFWs get a lot of privileges because they more dollars. I think a little bit of respect is fine also for people in the BPO industry. It starts with removing the prejudicial term of “AIDS” infected. Because come to think of it without them or us, this country could never be as such at least economically speaking.  

BPO Companies in the Philippines puts food on the Table

by: Silver Cepeda

The Philippines has been invaded! But before you react to anything, it is best to read the rest of this article. Wednesday, December 1 CNN showed and proclaimed that Philippines is the new call center KING. Are we? The article highlighted a call center wherein agents were taking calls. If my memory serves me right that was E-Business. It is one of the few call centers or should I say BPOs that invaded the country. So let me calm your mind. This is not a hostile invasion. This is the type that everyone loved.

There was a time wherein the employment situation of this country was about to hit the pavement. People decided that it was better to go abroad than be stuck here and rot. It was dark ages. There is a scene that I cannot forget at that time. I was with my family sending my dad to Saudi. He had to work there because in his own words, “there is no more money in the Philippines”. It was a painful departure. So painful that I was committed to make sure that I will not leave my own family for monetary purpose. It was a promise made at a young age. It got stuck and thus I never left the country.

Years after, a dad with a degree in Philosophy – this was where I stood after my graduation. It was tough as I can imagine. The future was blurring. Clearly no doors would open for someone whose degree does not have a concrete “belongingness”. However like a zap of miracle I found myself in a BPO company’s doorstep with a resume. I was there to apply and got hired at the same day. It was my first but definitely not my last. In there I found many people who were like me – lost. They did not know where to go. They only had one thing – English speaking skill. In this place we belonged. In this place we flourished and grow with our family.

BPO companies in the Philippines are such a growing trend. A growth that saves a country called the Philippines. They are like an energy source that rejuvenated the economy of this country stricken with crises. This year’s predicted revenue for the industry is at $14 Billion. And that is not in peso but in shining dollars. Economists would say that it is second to OFW’s generated revenue. Well, it is safe to say that they are the ones responsible for the food that my daughter eats and the high class milk that she drinks every night. Not only for mine, but also for the many sons and daughter whose parents would slip out in the darkness of the night to work. BPO, an acronym which my most precious girl in the world memorized when asked where his father works. I was able to make my promise stand – thanks to my American employer!

On Philippines being proclaimed as the new call center KING – it’s appropriate. It has been the lifeline of many people in this country. Thus, it has expanded. It has built an empire. It has been revered as such then. As I said, it is the only invasion that we have ever welcomed and loved!