MMMiii!

I just realized that yesterday was a Monday, but since I work on EST and it’s still Monday in EST, … Well… Yes. So. Yeah. You’re right. I AM making excuses. But it’s true! It’s still Monday in EST!!!

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I had a call earlier (expect me to start with this phrase all the time) and this guy was calling for a friend. He said that he wanted to cancel their order for a new modem. I told this guy that it’s not possible to cancel an order, but he asked me to try to find a way. And so while I was chatting with Tier 2, asking what I could tell my customer, this customer asked “How’s Manila?”

Now, we have a rule. We’re not allowed to say we’re in Manila. We can say that we’re in the Philippines but never in Manila. So I wasn’t really sure how I was going to answer that. I floundered and said, “It’s night time there.” And this customer said, “Yes, of course.” I didn’t elaborate. I didn’t want or need to explain that I can’t say where I am for security purposes. Let him feel that he assumed.

After that, I told him again that we can’t cancel it and it’s really not in our system nor in our tools to cancel an order that has already been placed. I do understand the logic of not canceling orders since this could truly mess up a system. I told him to just decline the package when UPS comes but he didn’t want to hear me out. So anyway, Mr How’s Manila asked me to let him speak with a supervisor. I told him that even a supervisor will not be able to cancel his order. He said, “Mimi, sweetie, let me speak with a supervisor.” And of course, I can’t deny him that. Protocol says so. So, I said my usual “One moment please” and before I put him on hold, he said “Salamat Po. (Thank You.)” I just said “You’re welcome” and immediately put him on hold. Good thing there are Tier 2s available. I told him that he’ll need to explain that to the customer (that we can’t cancel orders).

And so, end of the call, normally I shouldn’t need to care. Once a call is done, I can forget about it. But I’ve got this habit of checking on my past calls of the day to see if the customer called back in. Well, Mr How’s Manila didn’t call back in. I did see that my escalation lead to another escalation. Mr. How’s Manila requested for a US-based agent to cancel his order. And he got the same message. That we can’t cancel his damn order. Then, funnily, probably sarcastically, the US-based agent put in her notes that Mr How’s Manila said we should have it in our system to cancel orders.

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It’s annoying sometimes when these people ask for American agents as if we can’t do the job. True enough, some of us offshore agents may be blundering and not doing our jobs well enough, but it’s not like we’re any different from the American agents. I sometimes read through past interactions of a customer especially if they mentioned that they’ve called more than once and it’s not only the Indians or the Filipinos or the Mexicans who make mistakes. They make mistakes too. Even the technicians they send out for house visits. These customers end up calling tech support again because they didn’t do their job well.

I do feel inferior sometimes. But I just put in my mind that I’m following the same process they’re following, using the same tools they’re using, having the same customers they’re having, and so on. HECK, we’re following the same TIME they’re following. We eat McDonald’s too. Probably the only real difference is that we’re on the other side of the world, and English is not our native language.

It doesn’t matter, it SHOULDN’T matter if you’re Indian, Mexican, Filipino, Dog, or what not. What’s important is getting the job done, being able to help the customer out, satisfying the customers needs within justifiable reason. Sure, we don’t go on cruises or eat at Red Lobster. Sure, they may be receiving excellent customer service in some places and they feel that we just can’t. Sure, we’re just little brown people trying to speak Standard American English (is there such a thing?). But we do our best to get the job done.

Omega always says that we’re stealing his people’s jobs. It’s not our fault if we’re cheaper :D

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