A New Life

In my last blog entry last 2013, I told you I already resigned from being a call center girl and promised to post another entry to tell you where I currently worked however, I was not able to do it. There has been a lot of things that happened that made me somehow "abandon" this blog. But I now have all the time in the world since I am now enjoying my maternity leave three weeks earlier than the actual delivery. Yup, you heard it right. This girl will now be a mother in 3 weeks! This pregnancy was really unexpected since I just lost my father last November 2015. But God moves in mysterious ways. He never let me be sad for a long time and gave me an unexpected gift...my daughter. You can check on my pregnancy stories on my other blog A Nanay Journey.

Anyways, after I have resigned from my call center job, I have worked in an IT company as an IT Analyst. They pay was way lower than my previous call center salary but I still took it since the office is closer to where I currently reside and second, it's a "no call" type of job. I stayed there for almost two years and I has been promoted as a second level of support before I left. It's just so happen that another opportunity presented itself to me to work as an Account Manager in a software company where most of my friends from the call center industry currently works. The pay was twice of what I was earning as an IT Analyst and of course, the job description is very different now. The only downside is that the office is very far from my place. Good thing, I already have a car service and going to and fro the office will not be that hard anymore.

Even though I am not working in a call center anymore, I will still continue to be support the call center industry. It has been my bread and butter for seven years and I have learned a lot from it. I've experienced the best and the worst...and have gained wisdom and understanding and a lot of  friends. So expect that I will still continue to post call center industry related blog posts. Hope you continue to support me and my blog. Till next blog post. Aja!

No Work on Barangay Election Day!

Yey! This is the second time we didn't have to go to work because of a Philippine Holiday. Woohoo! This is what I've been dreaming of for the longest time - to have a normal life. Normal meaning, a usual Saturday/Sunday restdays ; usual 8am to 5pm work and no work during holidays. I love it! Never thougth I would experience this in my professional career ever. As you all know, I've been stuck in a call center for seven years and call centers don't usually have holidays off. If you're lucky, you can get a weekend off and a morning schedule but the probability of you being included in the "lucky circle" is very rare. Remember when I told you that I'll post about how I came to a decision of leaving my Call Center Career? Well here it is.

To be honest, I don't have any plans of leaving my current call center job at that time - I have a good relationship with my team and with my superior, however, there has been an opportunity that came knocking that is very hard to resist. I thought I would stay for another three years in my current company and I have already informed my TL about my plans of pursuing a TL role in the future. He is already honing me to become like him and I've learned a lot. I believe that if given a chance to get a TL role, I would be able to pass the interview in a snap - that is how I'm confident on how I can manage that role. Everything is in it's proper place...all plans are in tact, until my friend Ice - who's been my friend for almost seven years informed me that she would try to apply in HP - a company where our friend GK is currently working. She encouraged me to apply...she made me realize that there is still an opportunity for us to be able to get out of the call center profession we are in. I don't regret being in this industry but the stress, the work location and the shift time is almost unbearable for me. I do love the people but the circumstances I dread. So I've decided to try it out, with no high hopes and just so blessed to be able to make it...and until now, no regrets. I am happy I took the risk and got this chance to see what other things I can do.

Not A Call Center Girl Anymore...

Yes that's right...but still, I will maintain this blog. It's been ages since the last time I posted something in here. But since I promised myself I would go back to my money making scheme.. you will see a lot of stuff here again. Just an update on what happened to my Call Center Career , I have been promoted as an RST (Resolution Support Team) last February and our main task were to help a TL of a certain team in managing the team's stats, taking Supcalls, Escalated Calls and answer technical/process questions of agents. I decided to apply because one, the TL who handles the RST team is my former TL KC and two, I believe it's high time to go up the ladder and see what else is in store for me. I was endorsed to one team. Good thing about it is that I already knew some of the agents in there as they used to be my teammates so the adjustment period is not that long. Since I've been an agent for the longest time, I long to be needed and to feel important...and that's what this position gave me. My team gave me importance and I know that I have earned their trust and respect as time goes by. Though at first, it's really tough. The TL who handles my team took a two week vacation which means, I need to adapt his position and take care of the team. Though it's really hard, as far as managing my time is concerned, I have learned a lot. I've even dreamt of being a TL one day because I want the challenge and I feel I would have lots of opportunity to share what I know about the process and such if I am a TL. Having that in mind, I told TL KC about my intention to be promoted as TL soon and he supported me by giving me coaching sessions and giving me his best practices. He is really the best TL for me because he knows how to motivate his employees. Those were my plans before...until one opportunity knocked on my door one day…

 I will share with you how I ended my Call Center Career on my next post. :)

Annual Appraisal

Yesterday we had our annual salary appraisal. It's a monumental event for all of us because we will be appraised and will be judged according to our performance. The higher the rating, the higher your salary increase will become. When my supervisor coached me about my performance, I am really anticipating a high rating. I only failed two scorecards so I feel I would get at least a ten percent appraisal. To my dismay, I only got 5%. Well, he said it's because somehow, we are having issues with the budget and that the highest rating anyone could get in our cluster would be 6%. To be honest with you, though I'm really grateful, I feel I deserve more. Maybe I feel the pressure of getting a higher salary because I now would be paying the amortization of my new house. Oh well, 5% of my current salary is not low at all. Maybe I just expected too much. At least my salary is still a thousand less of the ceiling salary of a senior specialist so I guess I can live with it.

Obama on Call Center Industry Offshore

"it's time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas..." - OBAMA

Just watching Obama's presscon in Capitol Hill and to be honest with you...it scares me. Thousands of call center professionals would lose their jobs if this would happen. Foreign companies who put up call centers here in the Philippines would definitely be affected by this. If they move their companies back to the US and hire locals, what would happen to Filipino call center professionals. I can't and don't want to imagine. Call center industry has been my bread and butter for more than five years and I don't know if I would like to go a different way other than this. It pays well and it's the industry that provides food on our table. If this thing will happen and call center professionals would be out of their jobs, I doubt if the government could provide same amount of jobs to people as what the call center industry provides. I understand his dilemma but I also believe that those companies who invested here in the offshore are really helping not just millions of people worldwide but are also helping themselves survive. They are saving millions if not billions of dollars by getting cheap labor. Outsourcing jobs to cheaper providers abroad allowed American companies to stay globally cost competitive. I hope Obama can see not just the negative aspect of getting offshore jobs. My heart is heavy as I listen to his speech. God your will be done.

Best Religion Essay

Are you a student who finds it hard to complete an assignment especially when it comes to essay writing? I could tell as I used to be a student too! Whenever my professor gives us an assignment that would require us to research and give our personal opinion about a certain topic...it takes me a long time to finish it. Good thing, there is a site the helps students and even professionals with their essay needs. Best Essay Help is a site that provides 100% plagarism free articles depending on your essay needs. I once had an assignment about religion before and it took me one week to finish such essay. With bestessayhelp, you can get a neat and professionally written religion essays. They do even provide free religion essay examples. This is really a great help especially for college students. For you to be able to get a clear understanding on how their website works, check on their free papers sample for more information.

Philippine Call Center versus India Call Center

Just stumbled upon this video on you tube and I totally agree with the speaker. If you'll gonna compare India vs. Philippines when it comes to call center skills, I would go for the Philippines. We have been under US Colony for nearly 50 years and almost everyone here speaks English. I really don't have anything against Indian agents but since I've been with the call center industry for more than five years now, I can say that I myself rarely understands their accent. Maybe because they weren't born having English as their second language unlike in the Philippines wherein English was being taught to children as young as 3 years old. Check this video to see why Call Center in the Philippines are better than Indian Call Centers.

Call Center Prank

I stumbled upon this video from the Facebook page of my officemate and just to be honest with you...I felt bad. First, because I feel bad for the caller and secondly, I know this is not a usual scenario in a call center. We do value our customers and we don't usually make a practical joke with them because we try to be as professional as possible. It breaks my heart to see anybody degrading our profession by making prank jokes with their caller. I do value my job, I find dignity on it. It's the sole source of my income. It gives me a comfortable life and I was able to help my family because of it. I really feel bad knowing one person can change the perception of so many people about how call center operates.

I admit, at first I thought it was funny. Imagine a Filipino call center agent asking five bogus security questions to an American client such as "how many bones do you have?", "who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?" and "what is the biggest bird?" Good thing about the call is that the caller is not irate at all. He just laughed about it and didn't paid much attention to the questions. But then again, it's a NO-NO for call center agents to make such jokes even if the caller didn't mind. Some call centers also doesn't allow any electronic devices on the floor. I bet this agent would be given a disciplinary action if not terminated. I hope our US clients won't take this instance against us - call center professionals.

Online Cash Advance

Yehey! Today I'll be celebrating my 5th year anniversary! I've been working for the same company for five years now and I can now get my early retirement fund anytime! Woohoo! I can't describe how happy I am. I plan to celebrate this day with hubby and I'll gonna buy myself a beautiful bag. I also promised my mom that I'll gonna treat her for lunch the day after tomorrow...however, my budget isn't enough until next payday after paying my housing mortgage. Good thing, I know an online payday loan site that provides quick cash to employed individuals who needs emergency funds. What's good about this loan is that you can just fill out an online form, take note, all of these transactions are done online! You can fill it out in the comfort of your own home! Mostly their only main requirements is that you should be a US Citizen, at least eighteen years old and is currently employed. They might also require you for proof of identification and a proof that you are a working professional. You can expect approval in seconds, no credit check and no faxing of documents! Unbelievable! Those online payday loan sites normally do have high approval rate so you can get your cash at no time! I’ll try to apply for one tonight as I really need to have a date with my mother. I’ll just gonna pay it this coming payday. I wonder where well go. Hmmm. It’s been years since I’ve dated my mom and I really want to make this date the best one. She’s the one who took care for me and made sure that I would finish my college education by hook or by crook. She worked hard even up to the age of 60 just to provide for my studies. This would be my simple way to say thank you for all she’ve done for me and helping me get into the place where I am right now. If it wasn’t for my mom, I would be nothing. Nothing at all. So I really need to make sure I’ll get the money for our date and hopefully I can get approved for my loan.

Well, if you want ot know more bout Payday Loans Online | Online Payday Loans | Payday Loans no Faxing, check on http://paydayloansonlinehub.com/ for more information. I’ll update you about my own online application on my next posts.

Free Movie Tickets!

Yey! I won two free movie tickets! We had a celebration in the office that time and our managers put in some stickers under some of the stations and I was the lucky one who got one of those stickers! Me and hubby used this tickets supposedly to watch Johnny English 2 in Trinoma but it's already fully booked. The next screening would be at 8 pm and it's only 4 in the afternoon that time. So we ended up watching "Dont Be Afraid of the Dark" which is a horror film starring Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, and Katie Holmes. It's not that scary for me, it's more of a children type horror story but some scenes are indeed creepy. Though were not able to really watch the film we wanted, just being with my hubby and bonding the whole day definitely makes it worthwhile. I'm a one happy call center girl!

Attention Sports Lover

If you are a sports fanatic, you might be interested in this post. Just stumbled upon a site that sells tickets online about famous professional event tickets such as concacaf gold cup tickets, dallas stars tickets and lindsey buckingham tickets. Check on ticketamerica.com now for more information.

Wordpress Blog

I've heard so many good things about having a website with a Wordpress platform and honestly, I am thinking of having one as well but I still doesn't have the time to learn about how to go about getting it. I know a number of bloggers who recommends using Wordpress blog engine because of its simplicity in usage and set up and flexibility. There are also a great number of plug ins available plus there are a lot of websites that also offers a number of wonderful Free Wordpress Templates! I would definitely consider getting one soon I just hope I can find time for it.