Callwork: Something We Can Finally Call Our Own

Our everyday life in the call centers working as agents are laden with different scenarios and experiences that we can describe to be as weird, sad, happy, outrageous, and the list goes on. As a result, people from the outside may find us acting strangely; but as this call center industry continuously grows, I can say that call centers are now eventually beginning to be a part of the Filipino culture and society.

In a perfectly candid, untowardly funny, and creative manner, Hazel Manzano started to conceptualize the “pinoy call center culture” into drawings two years ago and made Callwork comics. Being part of the call center industry herself for more than six years, she started out as a call center agent but then climbed the stairs to succeed, being a call center manager currently in a top BPO company down south.

Callwork comics can be read every Sundays in the Manila Bulletin, and it will surely make your day, or night, hehe. Now released as a book, “Callwork, A Call Center Life”, this is something we can finally call our own. Truly reflective of our unique lifestyle as call center agents, the comic book “Callwork, A Call Center Life” is something that we can be proud of as part of the bustling pinoy call center industry.

It’s hot!!! Get your own copy now!

(Initially available in Comic Odyssey Robinsons Galleria or you can e-mail Hazel Manzano at hazelmanzano@yahoo.com or me at aftercallblogs@gmail.com to get a copy.)

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Car Loans For Call Center Agents

Jeepneys, buses, taxis are the most common mode of transport for call center agents and the night time shift exposes us to danger in going to work. Criminals are bolder these days and its tragic to know what happened to Tara Santelices and to a call center supervisor Rue Ann Salvador, who were victims of public transport hold ups. May the ruthless perpetrators of these crimes be brought to jail and be punished.

Why not call center companies or the government start giving car loans to call center agents? It is not only providing safe transportation during night time but it may also lessen the instances of tardiness among call center agents. Cars can also be used during day offs to be used for family leisure use or for business use to earn extra income. BPO companies that will be offering this may find long term benefits to them like lower attrition rate, and more productivity from their employees because they are happy and secured in going to work.

But until this happens, we can all just hope and pray, and hope some more.

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Classic TV Commercials

Do you still remember those TV commercials during your childhood days? ( I’m presuming that we are on the same age group here, hehe) There were no cable T.V. yet and you simply can’t avoid them back then. Watching them once again after 15-20 years, made those commercials really hilarious.

Now try to remember these commercials: Seiko wallet (ang wallet na maswerte), YC bikini brief, RA home vision, Juicy fruit gum (mas malinamnam), Caronia nail polish, Master Sardines, Family tootpaste, Lux soap, Gee my hair smells terrific, Sunny Orange, Encarnacion Bechavez, Royco Alphabet Noodle soup, Rhea rubbing alcohol, Bear Brand Sterilized (look at my mole), and the good old cowboy in Dragon katol and have a good laugh.

Tisay Girl: “Ang daming lamowk!”
Pekeng Koboy: “Teypowk sila ngayon… sa dragon katowl…”
Dragon katowl!
Dragon kung umusowk, lamowk seyguradong teypok!”

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Effective Recognition For Call Center Agents

Yup, it feels good to be recognized for your job well done. Coping up with your daily, weekly and monthly metrics is not that easy. But did you ever feel that you were not recognized for all of your hard work? I believe it’s not all because of money (yeah because of hard times, it is, hehe.) that call center agents leave for another BPO company but maybe because of lack of recognition from the management. I got some ideas from the net on how to effectively recognize call center agents.

Managers sometimes use a recognition presentation as a time to talk about how far someone has come, or how they could have done even better. This is not the time or place. Comments must be positive and upbeat. It is also a time to point out specific behaviors that reinforces key values.

I noticed too often by the time an employee is recognized for a job well done, weeks if not months have passed. I think the closer the recognition to the actual performance the better.

Recognition is best presented in the employee’s work environment among peers. Invite the person’s team members and work friends to attend. One good idea is also doing it in your team building activities.

Recognize agents with a cash bonus. (Alright, I made the last one up. hehe)

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Graveyard Shift

One thing we have to live with in a call center agent's job: the graveyard shift. Back in 2006 when I was still with Teletech, work schedules were the weirdest they could get… like 3:00 am shifts. Just imagine what kind of courage and will power you must have, just to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, and go to work.

After kicking the alarm clock, I started to get up, but still I sat and stared at the wall. After a few minutes I had the urge to lie back on my bed and also started to think of a good alibi for not going to work.

But with one quick motion I shrugged off all thoughts of iniquities and jumped on my way to the bathroom. Arctic cold water splashed into my body and I shivered to the harsh realities of this world. What the... ?! hehe.

In 10 minutes I got dressed and went out… to the starry night, or dawn, I should say. I sat inside the jeepney and the driver revved up to the fast lane. The cold breeze on my face made me slumber and I went to lala land. Then after almost falling off my seat, I saw bright lights and I was nearing my destination.

The next thing was the gallop! I ran and found a vacant station, set up the pc and plugged in my headset in a flash. It’s 2:59 am and I’m about to click the “auto-in” button… I whispered to myself “Yesss! 9 hours nalang, log out na!”

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Filipina domestic helpers insulted in a BBC show

What's more annoying are some Filipinos saying that protest actions launched by Filipino communities in the UK is “over reacting”. I watched the video in You Tube and the sketch in question is from the “Harry and Paul” TV show and I found it relentlessly distasteful and racist. Sad to say, this is a portrayal of the real situation of our Filipina OFW's being exposed to discrimination and exploitation.

You can watch the video here and tell me what you think:

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Here comes a new challenger! The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Got the title from the good old arcade game, Street Figher, hehe. But anyway, there was so much excitement when the Apple iPhone 3G was launched couple of months ago, by Globe Telecoms here in the Philippines. I got a chance to try it when I visited a Globe store in Shangrila, and I found it really sleek and cool. Well, Apple has been dominating the digital music market for quite some time now, while Nokia is still king for mobile phones. Nah, just as I thought, the latter would not just let his “territory” be invaded that easily.

Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker launched the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic in London and Singapore to rival Apple's popular iPhone and it should not take long before it conquests Philippine shores. I made some little research and here’s the tale of the tape:

· The iPhone’s screen is a little bit bigger (3.5″) compared to Nokia 5800’s 3.2”. But the Nokia phone has more resolution 640×360 compared to iPhone’s 480×320.

· The iPhone is bigger, on average (a little bit longer 115mm vs 111mm, thinner 12.3mm vs 15.5mm and larger), that means the Nokia is about 25g lighter.

· While the iPhone comes in two versions, 8GB and 16GB internal memory, the Nokia is offering the expandable option through a 8GB and 16GB micro SD card. Which for me, I think is much more flexible than having a fixed memory.

· The Nokia is provided with a 3.2MP camera with Carl Zeiss Optics and dual flash. On the contrary, the iPhone mounts a very basic 2MP camera. You can record videos with the standard Nokia application and make video calls, something not yet possible on the iPhone.

· Battery life: Nokia claims up to 35 hrs. of music time against 24 hrs. of the Apple iPhone.

The price comparison for these two? I’m sticking to my old Nokia N73 Music Edition, hehe.

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Call Center Shaker

It was about past 2am and I was off the phone as my manager and I was discussing about my "performance bonus" computation. Then suddenly my chair rocked forward and backwards like someone is pushing it from behind. A slight commotion on the floor took our attention, it was a tremor! It stopped after making its presence felt for about 8 seconds, amidst the usual buzz of a busy call center.

According to the news, it was an aftershock of a "major" quake that happened Saturday last week that rocked parts of Southern Luzon, including Metro Manila. It registered 6.5 magnitude in the epicenter located near Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro. The October 2 predawn shaker mustered a force of 5.3 magnitude near the same epicenter, while Intensity 2 was felt in Tagaytay City, Makati City, Quezon City, and Muntinlupa City.

Remember this guy, Jucelino Nóbrega da Luz? I texted him about this, but got no replies yet as of now... hehe. yeah, right.

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