Listen to your body

I am sick and i don't like it even if it means a sick leave. Rest.

I spent my whole week scouring Metro Manila for relatives that my father wanted to visit while he was here. I understand his need to reconnect with his old friends and relatives here since the last time that he saw them was way back in 1973. Can you imagine that? It does not mean though that he never visited Manila in all those years. He would usually come here for business porpuses. Strictly business. Those would usually last for a couple of days at the most.

While i was with papa visiting relatives during the day, i would come to work at night. I would usually get 2-3 hours sleep. Imagine me dragging myself from my bed after only 2-3 hours of sleep. Believe me, its not a pretty sight and my father pitied me for it which i don't want because he might decide to cancel all his visits to the people he missed for several years.

Up until now, i am still aching all over from all those travels by bus and jeepneys. Then on Tuesday i my voice started to sound hoarse which i simply ignored. I just kept on drinking lots and lots of water and still continued taking my vitamins. Contratry to my usual overyly late meals and unbalanced diet, i was eating nutritious and deliciously cooked meals because papa is one superb cook. Also, I cannot remember a single minute wherein i walked under the rain so i did not worry about getting sick.

That hoarse voice escalated to severe colds and now every single word uttered is an agony for me. i have a very inflamed throath that my agents are starting to notice already. My ears us even affected already. It is such a pain speaking but i have no choice but to talk because i have to do my coaching session. I was already offered by my OM a sick leave yesterday so i can rest but i declined. However, i ended up going on half day yesterday. I went home at around 2 am. I slept the whole time i was at my place. That was more than 15 hours but i woke up with a throbbinh head ache. I tried talking to my self to test my voice but the first few words i uttered were soundless. Nice try Marigold!

On my way home, i cannot control my coughing no matter how much i try for the benefit of the 2 years old cute girl sitting next to me. The fx driver had to ask me to repeat myself twice while i was asking him to drop me off at Textite because he wasn't hearing me. I was speaking soundlessly again.

This is the first time that this has ever happened to me. I used to have painful sore throath but i never lost my voice. I planned to only work on paper works and Jb will do all the talking but it is impossible. I know that as long as i come to work, my situation is bound to get worse but i don't feel comfortable not being around.

I feel helpless like when my outlook is not working or i don't have a calculator beside me at work. But this time, its not just psychological but physical pains as well.

I am already being teased for not being the "usual" me.

I have always prided myself to be one heck of a strong lady. I rarely get sick even though i am only 95 lbs. I am not known to take any precautions, i eat what i like, i was always in need of sleep and i hardly rest even if i am always tired. I thought of my self incapable of getting sick. I thought only "weak" peopke get sick. I was mistaken.

Obvioulsy, i am taking my health seriously already. I hate being told by every one that i look tired and haggard. Its not very flattering but what can i do if i am coughing all day long. .

Helpful reads for Insomiacs

While browsing http://www.inquirer.com/ for interesting aricles, I came across a these articles that I know will be helful to a lot of insomiacs. There are a lot of new tips coming from a professional that sleep deprived people might consider doing:

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20081125-174142/Cant-sleep-Shut-your-busy-mind

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20081125-174141/Whip-up-these-recipes-for-good-sleep

Have a restful sleep! :)

Some frustrating facts about Call Center life

I just arrived from a 2-day off and the first thing i did was to check my emails for updates and reports that needs my attention the most. Here's my list:


1. QA audits for this week encoded on the client's tool.
2. Proximity cards for OJV.
3. BINS
4. Annualization review for the rest of the team.
5. Reply to the emails that needs answer while i was on rest day.
6. Send email blast to the team - Running stats.
7.Update 1 (cannot be specific for security reasons)
8. Update team schedule for next week.
9. News Bulliten
10.Update 2***
11. Sympatico idol prizes 11-07-2008
12. Important Update to the PC Care order Process and Product Description
13. FUTURE SHOP promotion
14. New *** Sign Off Sheet
15. Clean up and sort important documents for the OJV transfer.
16. Send email blast for the commendations received by my agents.
17. Follow up salary increase for***
18.Follow up salary increase for ***
19. Qoutation for id lace.
20. Leave Credits for Ayen.
21. Back up all files.

Of course, not to mention the manager calls and immiediate coachings that i have to do within the shift. These two things does not have to be listed as it is essentially part of every single day.


With that, i set about monitoring calls and this is what is happened. As my audits increases, the frustration and disperation almost bordering on anger is slowly boiling up. Of course, there are moments that makes me smile and proud because so and so did a great job on his or her call however, the dismay is heavier.

What's so frustrating is the fact that they have already memorized the call flow by heart yet still misses on a lot of things. Offering an ownership and apology statements no longer requires them to navigate thier tools or memorize a spiel. In fact, it comes as natural as saying thier names at the opening of each call but they have not perfected it yet. If they happen to do those things on thier calls, there are surely some other part of the call flow that will be neglected or forgotten. It may be offering a recap, an effective probing, ticket writing, etc... I know i have always been considered as "too strict, harsh and expecting too much" but what i find hard to accept is the fact that they know how to do it but can't seem to do it right all the time. Also, they are already working hard and exerting efforts in what they are doing, so why don't do it right? Besides,they are perfectly aware that every single call is captured by the recording system and if at least one of thier less-than good calls are monitored, they will receive coaching logs, care form or even termination depending on the gravity of the offense, yet they still do it. Not to mention the fact that, if they receive any of the corrective actions mentioned above, they will argue, complain and or be overly bothered by them yet they still do it. For sure, no one wants to lose his job yet they do things to endanger thier job security.


I know that they would say that its hard to perfect every single call because the issue and the mood of the callers varries. My answer to that is, a caller's mood can be swayed, changed, or aggravated depending on how they handle the call. Its not that, they have not received a lot of trainings and refreshers for these things. A customer can be educated, angered, consoled, amazed, feel insulted and uniformed. The list can go on and on depending on how a rep handles the situtation.

Recession in 2009?

I was about cap my day by visiting http://www.inq7.net/ for my daily dose of news. The first thing that i saw was this "Recession in 2009." That got me worried even without pouring myself through the details of the said article. The words were enough to get me thinking of what lies ahead. I believe this is just a normal reaction coming from a middle class citizen like me. I may be single but that does not mean that i have to worry less than the married ones. Just like most people, i also pay my rent, bills, my daily expenses to get me throught the next pay out, etc. The most troublesome thought is that my sister has not finished college yet and i proudly told my father that i'll take care of her till she finishes college. That is my own way of showing my gratitude for all the sacrifices that he and mama has to go through just to send me and Baby to school. For me, that's paying it forward.

Even after NEDA secretary Ralph Recto has assured the public that the Philippines will not be affected by the global recession, we should still take some precautions. We have to be prepared.

I may be working for the biggest BPO company in the world but it does not mean that i have to take it sitting down. I know that i have to start budgeting my money, make sure that i have enough savings on a bank to back me up just in case i lose my job. I may sound too fatalistic but its better than being caught unprepared and suffer the worst.

No matter what actions we take, i guess the most important thing there is we will still survive even if it the feared recession becomes a reality.

Below is the latest article on Philippine Daily Inquirer about the impending economic horror:

GOV’T ECONOMIC TEAM‘Slowdown, not recession’
http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20081112-171745/Slowdown-not-recession

What to give myself? Jewelry, clothes or simply open a savings account...

I've been thinking lately and realized that i have been working myself to death for the past 4 years. I have never went on a vacation, never splurged so far, except for the occasional trip to the spa for my much needed massage to relieve the stress that has never left my life since i joined the call center industry.

I have helped papa send my younger sister to college and she is now teaching at a public elementary school here in Quezon City. I am doing the same thing to my youngest sister who is on third year college taking up B.S. HRM.

Come to think of it, what if i never marry? Will i end up alone and miserable having no kids to look after me? I surely won't want that to happen to me. I have invested all my earnings on the education of my siblings who will someday marry and won't find time to be with me. I know that as thier eldest sister they love me and are naturally concerned about my welfare. However, i also am aware about the fact that thier future families will be thier utmost priority.

With these possibilities, i have to start thinking about my own self without negating my responsibilities to my own kin. My birthday is soon coming and i think it is not selfish to give my self a little treat. I am thinking of buying myself a laptop, or a good and durable wristwatch, or simply open up a savings account.

My 13th month bonus is soon to come and i have to be careful of where it put it or else might find gone without me being able to invest on something worthwhile.

Passwords

This has not been a good day. 1.Two of my agents locked out thier Network logins. 2. I cannot use one of our billing tools because my password has been locked out. Whether these password lock outs are intentional or not, it is already getting into my nerves. Why? This adds up to my load, delays work and having them reset is such a hassle. I already figured out a way on how this can be avoided on the network access level. Every time somebody says that thier's have been locked out again, i would usually ask the service desk permanently reset the password, that is not to prompt my agents to create their own. By the way, calls to service desk are far from an enjoyable experience. It would usually take you forever before you can get someone live to fix your problem. Now, I can already understand why most of our customer are so frustrated by simply talking to our automated system. Throughout the years, i've managed to have more than 20 accounts on different sites. Here's a few of those. Others, i've completely forgotten: 1. Yahoo email 2. Hotmail email 3. Gmail account. 4. Tagged 5. Fanbox 6. Live Journal 7. Friendster 8. Multiply 9. blogspot.com 10. numerous log ins for account's tools***with passwords that expires after a certain timeframe. I would difenitely go nuts if i would have diffirent separate passwords for each account. Now, that may not be the safest action plan one can have, but it definitely makes my life a lot better. Besides, i don't give out my passwords anyway. For account specific log ins, i can follow a certain technique, that is by simply adding the next number after the latter has expired. Say, password01 then passowrd02. Technology has defintely made our lives a lot easier but i could also ruin our lives as well

Shadow

I once had a diary named shadow. Mushy as it may sound but the reason why I came up with such a name was that, a shadow is something that knows everything about you, me, ALL of us. We cannot hide anything from it. It has all the inside scoops. Shadow knows our true self, things that even our best friends does not know about us. And the best or worst of it all, (that depends on how you see it) shadoW sees things without bias, knows even the things that we dump on our subconscious mind because it is something that is not socially accepted or we force to forget or deny ourselves. There, that's how shadow came to life - at least on the pages of my little diary. Sad to say, shadow is nothing but a heap of ashes right now. That little notebook had the best and worst of my high school and college life. After graduation, i hid it on a box that contains all the mementos of all those 8 bitter-sweet years. I finally forgot about it and one day, without meaning to read it, i opened that said box, looking for something. There it was waiting to be read again. Going through those 8 long years again wasn't easy. It literally gave me a heartache. I cried myself to death, laughing here and there. I was short of being called a lunatic. The short of it all, I burned it because of some of really awful memories. I lost my mom when i was in 3rd year college and shadow had the worst of my life in those pages.I wanted to rewrite my life. And for sure, the few free spaces here will show us a glimpse of it...

Sleepless nights

I wrote this 3 years ago out of boredom. To this day, this still remains true...Its half past 2 in the afternoon and yet I’m still wide awake. I have been tossing and turning on my bed for hours now. Sleeping is an everyday struggle for me. I usually leave Sitel at 7 in the morning; take my breakfast, sleep for a couple of hours and would wake up, watch TV, take my lunch and would begin praying that I fall asleep immediately. To others, sleeping may come as quick as a lightning but for me, its more of a struggle that I haven’t conquered yet since high school. I’ve done a pretty exhaustive research on "insomnia" for more than a decade now. It’s true! I’ve been doing a lot of readings on it, most often than not, getting into conflicting theories or suggestions on getting a relaxing sleep, all of which I’ve tried in vain.I’ve tried all sorts of the so-called "remedies" to no avail. My attempts ranged from taking a warm bath before bedtime; drinking a warm cup of milk and even counting (it may sound absurd but yes, I tried it.) Reading before going to bed, making sure that I exercise hours before bedtime or else the adrenaline would shoot up, etc. Believe it or not, I’ve even tried saying the rosary before sleeping in contrary to me saying it upon waking up, for it usually makes me sleepy (I stopped doing that a long time ago for my conscience haunts me). Lately, I have e been listening to classical music as suggested by Reader’s Digest even if it is conflicting with their other suggestion that there shouldn’t be any electronic gadgets on the bedroom because the radioactive coming from it makes a person restless. I’ve also been maintaining a sleep-friendly diet. I’ve completely refrained from drinking coffee and soft drinks, I don’t eat those much fatty foods as well nor do I take a heavy dinner. You see, for ages now, I have been trying to gain some weight, but that, i am willing to forego. Here's the catch, at one point I’ve also tried having a bottle of beer to induce me to sleep, even if I am not someone you can even call a social drinker.Its 4pm, I’ve already taken a bath, I have fixed my spic and span closet once again, our bedroom is still immaculately clean and in order ( to my roommate’s delight!) I’ve turned on and off the television for the nth time and there’s nothing to read anymore.I told myself that I will never take any form of medications to induce me to sleep but lately, I have tried both Tylenol and Slepasil. Tylenol was a sweet gesture from my co-worker. It did work but apparently its not available locally, she got it from the States. I took Slepasil as a substitute. Its available at Watsons but its not as potent as Tylenol and stopped working after a week.I am planning on joining a yoga class by next week. Hopefully it works permanently this time or else, the depressing battle continues...

A day at work

Right now, I am facing my workstation. I am tired but nevertheless happy. I have just finished a manager call from a very difficult customer, sigh... These days, I am noticing that when most of my agents gets an irate caller, encounters a complicated issue or simply gets tired, the call automatically gets dumped on me, of course, disguised as a manager call. But let's forget about that, I’ll deal with it during the end-of-shift team huddle. I have just received a confirmation that papa is coming over for my birthday. That’s what made me put up with everything that has been thrown at me by today's work. I am not my usual “cranky” team-lead to my agents’ delight!1. I took almost 90% of the escalated calls while my team's support did other stuffs.2. I managed to finish coaching all 16 agents under me. To thinks it’s not even the end of the week yet.3. I finished updating the team's board.4. Had a very serious talk with one of my agents who have been behaving "oddly." I've been putting it off for more than a week now for obvious reasons...5. Closed all of my pending tickets.6. Finished my PowerPoint presentation for tomorrow's business review. :) My team did great last week. :)7. Finished the annualization review of at least 5 agents.8. Submitted the payroll for the cut-off.9. Attendance incentive for the first 15 days.10. Conference call with the client.Whew! Looking at the list, I can't believe I was able to accomplish this much during the last 9 hours. I felt like I could have done everything when I heard from my cousin that papa will be coming over for my birthday. I miss him that much! After all, he is all that is left of me aside from my 2 siblings. I love him so much and I wish I can be more vocal about it. I think and I know that I can do everything just for him.Right now, my mind is already very busy planning the activities we will be doing with my sister, Maripearl and papa. I just really want to make the most of the time we're together.