MMMiii!

I knew there was a typhoon because I saw someone mention it on Plurk. And I knew its name was Frank because I chanced to watch on TV that there was a typhoon building up and that if it did, it was going to be named Frank.

Yesterday, we were supposed to be stranded at PBCom Tower. In the middle of the shift, the power was fluctuating and at one point, one of the elevators even started free-falling for a couple of floors (We’re at the 50th floor). We were also advised not to leave the office because of the strong winds and rain. The company even hired a transport service … a shuttle bus, maybe, to pick up the agents and drop them off on drop-off points on EDSA.

It was a nice thought that the company was thinking of our welfare. However, the bus would be picking us up around 2pm. What time do they think we’ll be able to go home if we waited for the free ride?

Knowing me, I was tempted to wait for it. Free ride. I love the word free. However, I also love the word sleep and rest. So I decided to go home. The winds were strong, but not strong enough to faze me. I went home anyway and I arrived home safely.

On the way home today, I noticed that the big billboards had their tarps rolled down (or to the side) anyway which was what actually scared me yesterday. I even had visions of a billboard flying and cutting the bus in half (top half, mind you).

Then I also started thinking about my insurance. Now that my basic salary is bigger, my insurance would also be bigger if anything happened to me on the way home from work. My mother could probably set up her own business with that money.

On the way home as well, I saw that BPI had a new product. The Direct Save-Up with automatic something. It looks pretty neat. The interest rate is higher as well. maybe I’ll finally be able to save up. I’m not interested in the life insurance though especially since I do have insurance with my job already. I might check out their life insurance quotes though.

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I got regularized already! Technically it will start tomorrow, June 7th, and we signed the papers today. To celebrate, I ate this expensive instant ramen bowl that I bought yesterday.

I would like to get something for the whole team as well, like a commemoration that we’ve made it this far. From 21 at the start of training, to 15 who made it on the floor, to now just 7 (6 in our team and one in another team). I’m so happy for us.

Tom got us cheap pens that could be attacked to the ID lanyards. Although, it wasn’t as a reward for a job well done. He just got that after he came back from his vacation.

I got a 6-pack of some kind of cookies. Maybe I should just give that? But I want something useful like Tom’s pens.

*sigh*

Well… Congratulations to me! Regularization also comes with a raise! I got a 25% raise from my previous basic salary. It’s so AWESOME! Mama said I should start saving already. *sigh*

Anyways, enough for now.

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I was talking with my Team Leader (TL) a couple of days ago about my career path. The site near UP is almost finished but my company will start operations there next year. And he’s strongly urging me to transfer there once we get our office there. Of course, the account there wouldn’t be the same one as what I am on now.

I told my TL … “I will transfer there by next year and it won’t be as an agent. Definitely not as a mere agent.”

I sometimes wonder where I would be now if I decided to be a teacher. Is that even worth asking? If I did, I would just be starting now. I will be regularized at the end of the week at my current job with a lot of career advances available soon.

Anna told me once that she wanted to go to California, and become a doctor there. If she stayed here, she’d be earning the same as teacher’s wages (read: a very small amount for a professional). She said she’d take me with her if I wanted. I’m not really taking that seriously, but there’s always that “What If?” that goes in my mind.

If I did go with her, I wonder what jobs in San Francisco or Los Angeles or one of the bigger cities in California would I be able to get since I can’t freeload off her forever.

I asked Yu the same question.

I could be a Tagalog teacher. A waitress. A pizza delivery girl. An illegal maid.

A DOG WALKER! A babysitter?

Meh… I don’t think I will ever be a professional. But at least with my current job, if I work really hard, there’s only one way but up.

p(>_<)q ?????

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I wonder what kind of accidents will qualify for the life insurance thingie with my company? Because upon signing up with the job offer, we also have life insurance.

Our new schedule is 2:30am to 11:30am for this month of June. And because of the time we have to be at work, we have an additional P2000 hazard pay which they call “Night Shift Allowance” or something like that. This is helpful to me because I will be taking a cab from Buendia to my workplace for the whole month unless I could figure out a cheaper way. I’ll probably have to ask my crush at work since we practically come from the same direction.

Now, does my life insurance cover super-speeding buses on the highway? Or just accidents like someone happened to come along and stab me?

I like speeding buses at night (or rather, early morning) because of the nice cold wind on my face on my way to work. But I’m also kind of afraid because it’s like a roller coaster ride.

We didn’t really have an option what kind of life insurance we could have. I don’t remember having to read any fine print. It’s not like in auto insurance comparisons that you have to read each and every line carefully to make sure you’re getting the best of what you need or something. There was nothing to compare with. Just a line to write our names on it and sign.

I guess there was no real need for a choice anyway. They were going to give it to us. It’s not like we had a choice.

Meh. My head is messed up. I haven’t had a day-off since Monday last week. I’m going to be working until tomorrow. That’s like 8 days of work. Oh well. Happy Happy Life.

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I mentioned a couple of days ago that this year was the worst birthday I’ve ever had, but that was just the day itself. The days I spent celebrating it was one of the best, and the highlight of my 3-day birthday celebration was the time I spent at the Wensha Spa in Manila. We only had the Wensha Full Body Massage or whatever you call it but at that time, I thought that everything was so worth it.

We started our Wensha experience by getting naked. Yup–Naked. Inside the jacuzzi/hot water pool, you have to be naked. You can’t wear anything except the bracelet thingie for the locker (which was cool, by the way. It was magnet operated). At first me and my officemates were shy around each other but we didn’t want to miss this experience so we just went along with the flow. After about 10 minutes in the pool, we were walking around naked already.

After the soak, you have a choice of either a sauna or a steam bath. We tried both, but I really couldn’t stand the steam bath. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I could hardly see a thing as well. I was feeling claustrophobic so I didn’t last long inside that one. In the sauna, it smelled awful so … I wasn’t sure if it was really supposed to smell like burnt wood. Either way, I didn’t stay there long enough either. After an hour and a half in the jacuzzi and sauna and the steam bath, we went back to the lockers to wear our robes and proceeded to the women’s full body massage area.

At first, I thought that we were going to be wearing our robes for the massage, but no. We had to get naked as well. After more than an hour of walking around naked, you kind of lose any shyness or shame so it didn’t really matter anymore. Besides, the room was darkened so they couldn’t really see anything. And they did cover the parts not being worked on with towels. Wensha’s Full Body Massage meant what it says. It’s a full body massage from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, from your back to your front. Imagine the culture shock I got for today. I can only laugh about it right now, but looking back now, I feel a little embarrassed. Oh well.

Next stop was the dining area. I almost lost my ring in the locker and I only noticed it when I went to the dining area already. It was no designer jewelry, but I love my puzzle ring. Good thing I was still able to get it from my robe pocket. Anyway, in the dining area, there’s free eat-all-you-can hotpot buffet (but it’s not really free, since it’s included in the fee you pay for) and I kind of just ended up eating mostly the noodles. I like hotpots. The first time I ever experienced eating hotpot food was that party my Japanese students held for thanking me.

All in all, it was a really nice experience. But a day after that, my body ached. lol. Had to crack a lot of joints. I don’t really know if that’s how it should be, but I enjoyed it anyway. I even want to go back and try the other things they offer like the glass thingie with hot air.

What I just don’t like from Wensha was they didn’t give us a receipt. Sure it was an oversight on our part, but when we asked for a receipt about a day after, they didn’t want to give us one. Their reason? Their receipts have to be in chronological order so they can’t give us one. And since this was a company thing, we needed the receipt.

Any ideas on what we could do? Our team leader said we could get BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) or maybe DTI (Department of Trade and Industry). Anyone who’s got an idea for legal action regarding this?

P.S. Wordpress broke and is being stupid. I don’t have time to fix this. -_-

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I was reading blog posts from Google Reader when I came across Dawud’s latest post “Are Your Readers Morons?” and I remembered what happened at work. Although it was first about how your blog readers could be morons, it’s pretty open to every kind of relationship, be it your clients, readers, customers, or what not. And like he said, “it all begins with building relationships.”

We had a discussion at work today last night. One of my teammates was asked why he was on a call for over an hour. He replied that his customer was stupid and couldn’t follow his instructions. My team leader kind of lectured him and told him to put himself in the customers shoes. Is he properly guiding the customer? If the customer is hard of following, shouldn’t he do something about it? And these “stupid” customers call because they don’t know, that’s why they need help. And these people are the reason why we tech support people exist. It’s because of these “stupid” people why we’re here and we have this job, and we’re earning from these people’s “stupidity.”

Now, we shouldn’t really call them stupid.

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A customer called in once and asked what was the grade of the wireless modem router (gateway) they have from us. I told her it was a Wireless-G. Then she asked about Wireless-N because her son mentioned it and that he was a serious gamer and he needs one like that. I told her that it has a wider coverage and a stronger signal. She then asked if her Internet will be faster. I said that it really depends on her speed plan. A better router doesn’t necessarily mean faster internet, which a lot of Americans seem to think.

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I was late today at work. My shift starts at 7:45pm. I arrived at work last night around 6:40pm. I set up my station and then went to the lounge and slept.

I like the lounge couches. They’re so soft. They shouldn’t keep office furniture like that at work. I mean, people use those couches to sleep in, and it’s dangerous. I wasn’t able to wake up in time. I was 8 minutes late at work. GOOD THING I WOKE UP! Like OMG! OMG! I OVERSLEPT! I was late but I was at work already. -_-;

You know what’s funny? Every time I sleep in the lounge I dream. I dream dreams about call center empires or calls or what not.

The first time I slept in the lounge I dreamed that the Philippines was a call center empire, people were marching about going to work. And then there was a computer station shortage. I saw some old high school classmates and friends, and they were all call center soldiers.

I don’t remember my second time, maybe because it was just like 15 minutes. The first one was a 30 minute nap. My nap last night was almost an hour. Maybe that’s why I didn’t wake up to the vibrations of my phone. I woke up 7:52 and was logged in by 7:53. Still groggy and half-asleep. Good thing my first call came in after 8 already. High avail for the win!

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I’m going to start a new category/segment on my blog. Moronic Mondays. Every Monday, I’m going to write about memorable experiences from my calls at work. Being a tech support is really an exciting kind of job. You get to experience techies, wannabe techies, idiots, irates, shy, scary, and what not. You get to talk to people with ages ranging from 10 to 85. For me, there are two things I like feeling accomplishment from–getting an irate caller what he wants and at the same time not going outside my scope of support or company policies and calming down in the end, and being genuinely appreciated. I’m an emotional person and there have been three times when I cried on the job–not because I was scared or anything, but because I was so frustrated that I can’t help them.

There are also some pretty funny experiences on the job, like one of the calls I’m going to feature for my first post. The format of this is going to be as follows: The issue (ISSUE), the resolution (RESOLUTION), and what happened that made it memorable (EXPERIENCE).

Without further ado, Mellow Mondays 001

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