They all went to church, except me

Since we're only staying here at our Aunt's for a couple of days, I didn't bring extra clothing with me. Today, I'm paying the price of not doing so.

They all went to church, except me!! I could have borrowed shirt from my younger cousins if that's only the case. But, what I need is an extra underclothing and it's something that I don't like borrowing from anybody. I consider it as a very personal thing. Dreidelle brought an extra one with her, so she was able to go with them. We didn't know that we'd be staying here until today because that wasn't the plan. We were supposed to be home yesterday, but Dreidelle's appointment at her school was canceled so our vacation got extended. Well, I guess we always have to expect some things to happen in cases like this one and be prepared all the time. Just like what my husband always tells me about the five Ps. I should have known better. I should have brought enough clothes with me. But then again, nobody knew this was going to happen. Lesson learned - next time, whether the plan is to stay for a couple of days or longer, bring enough clothes. We'll never know what's going to happen next. It's always a good thing when you know you're prepared.

Right now, I'm all alone!! I'm about to start watching a movie here. My younger cousins rented movies last night and we only got to watch one of them. I'll just kill my time doing so and at the same time while I wait for my husband to e-mail me back. He must be in bed still right now or busy doing something.

Well, have to start the movie now. I will just hop online again later. But before I log off, I just want to say thank you to all of you who never fail to visit my blog and leave me messages. I am so sorry I couldn't reply you because I'm still on vacation and just like what I said on my plurk corner (whatever you call that..hehehe), my time right now is for my family. We don't get to spend so much time together like we've always wanted to, that's why we're making the most out of our short vacation. We're leaving back home today after lunch because classes will start again tomorrow for the second semester. I will just write more about our vacation when I get home. What I can tell you now is, we're having a great, great time here with our family and honestly, we still don't feel like going home. We don't want to, but we have to...

So, I'll see you again :)

At last, we got the itinerary!!

Earlier, I ranted about an agency who took so long to forward the itinerary of my husband's plane ticket to my e-mail. It was all because they didn't know that the staff from their main office who, actually was supposed to be the one to forward it to me, forgot to do so. They told me that he said he would send it and in fact already did, but turned out to be the other way around. Or he might have but to the wrong e-mail. I'm not sure about that excuse. How could he not know where to send it exactly when he already saw an e-mail from me that I sent them on Monday? It's something I find hard to believe in.

Anyways, I went to their office where I purchased the ticket from and told them that I still haven't received anything from them. They were kind of surprised to know the truth because all along, they've been thinking that the other staff has already forwarded the itinerary. Well, he didn't. And up to that very moment I went there, he still hasn't done what he was supposed to do. They had to call him twice to verify. Good thing, though is they helped me while I was there and made sure I got what I came there for before having to leave the place. They even let me use their computer to log on to my Yahoo account to check on the itinerary if whether it has been sent or not. We waited and in between waiting, they'd call the staff from the main office to confirm if he already happened to send the copy to my e-mail. We waited for a good 15 minutes before I actually got it and you can't imagine how relieved I felt at that very moment. I then now have my husband's itinerary!!

They did apologize, but this time, when I said it was all right, I meant it. It wasn't their fault and they did their part as they had to. It was the other staff's mistake and they're not to be blamed for something they never did. I got completely upset and let its toll get into me without finding out first what actually had happened. It was the wrong part on my side. But, not trying to defend myself or anything, I think nobody can blame me for how I reacted to the situation because I was made to wait that long when I need not to in the first place. Anyway, that's past now and I've learned my lesson. I hope they, too learned something from that incident so no other costumers get to experience the same thing I did. I'm happy now and thankful to God that on that same day (Thursday), I was able to forward the itinerary to my husband and he printed out a copy right away :) Not too obvious that he's excited, too. [Hehehe] He keeps telling me for I don't know how many times a day, that he can't wait to come home and be with me and actually wake up in the morning having me beside him to wake up to, and I feel exactly the same way he does. [winks*] He probably doesn't know how excited I feel as well that I will get to see him and hold him again in my arms :)

I was once a call center agent...

Seven months ago, I was one of the countless call center agents who, hoped to earn money to help with the finances. Although my job was not to sell products over the phone, but I'd say, it probably was as hard as having to make a lot of sales in order to meet the daily quota. I was chosen out of 42 trainees from our batch - together with my other two good friends I met while doing the training - to be assigned on the inbound calls or costumer service. Meaning, we were the ones receiving calls from clients with problems regarding their creditors, credit score, debt management, and everything that concerns money and credit card bills. They're the clients who enrolled in that debt management program and they pay their creditors through us. As part of the job, we basically were the ones who automatically deduct a certain amount of money from their bank accounts and pay their debts directly to their creditors on the scheduled payment dates. Clients call us for updates, concerns, inquiries, rescheduling of their payments, and merely just checking on stuff such as; clients would ask if the payment had been sent off or they'll inform us ahead of time that their next payment would be insufficient short of amount due to some unavoidable circumstances, to name a few.

At first, I was reluctant to do the job because I, being in the medical field, have no idea about anything that has to do with money. We had to do accounting and not just that, we also had to be extra careful with handling money matters as a single mistake could trigger to a lot more complicated situations and we don't want that to ever happen. We have to avoid any delay with the transactions of clients' payments because they will be in trouble if their payments don't meet the deadline and reach their creditors' hands on time. It can affect their credit score and it is not a good thing for them. I don't know that much on how it really affects them, but we were told to impede that from happening. Not only that, I also had to prepare myself on how to properly deal with the clients, especially on how to address their concerns the right way. In all my life, I haven't talked to foreigners that much, except for family members abroad who speak English and of course, my husband. I don't know them so I could think of nothing on how I'd be able to treat them aside from the fact that they are our clients. I've learned that it's also a nice way if you will step a little bit out of the agent-client boundary and actually talk to them and treat them as "acquaintances", not just mere clients. It somehow helps build rapport between you and them and it lessens stress and tension especially on your end. All those stuff, we needed to learn and grasp in a short two-week training period!!

I worked at the company which originally is based in Florida, U.S.A. for three months (January to March, 2008). I had to file for resignation on the third month because my husband was coming here for a three-week vacation at the time. Since I was only a new-hired employee, I wasn't entitled yet to any leave of absence and I could never put my husband as my second priority, especially that he was leaving for deployment and we seldom spend time together. Three weeks would be too much and they didn't allow me to file for LOA (Leave of Absence), so I had no choice. I didn't want to work at night, leave my husband alone and then come home in the morning, dead tired. I'd rather not have him come over here if that would have been the case, and I will never do such thing.

During my three-month stay there, I must say, I learned a lot of things that I forever will be grateful for. I learned, above all, how to deal decently with different people of different characteristics and races. Some were friendly, some were all right, and some weren't nice at all. I had been cussed at, been called an idiot, among others. I must admit that one time - it was my very first time to receive a call like that - I burst into tears when a client from Miller, Nebraska said profane words and cussed at me. He was the very first one to get to do that to me - he simply was so mean. The fact that I couldn't defend myself at the time, was the one that actually made me cry. I got so upset. I was told later after the incident that if we get callers like that old man from NE, we have the right to inform them that we'll end the call if they won't refrain from using profane words. From that time on, I had always been prepared just in case I encounter a caller like that again. I learned how to deal with situations like that where you have no other choice but to pretend you don't hear anything. You can't complain. That's part of the job - such a sad truth and bitter part of it. My co-agents at the time told me that their experiences with "mean" clients were even worse than the ones I encountered. That gave me comfort, all right. But the impact of his hurtful words lingered long enough for me to not forget everything I know about that caller from Nebraska. Up to now, I still know what his full name is.

Life on the call floor can be fun, too. In fact, I had more fun moments than the bad nights. Everybody knows everybody. Everyone was kind and helpful to us, the newbies. They imparted their knowledge to us and made sure we were good to go before they had us do the actual taking of calls. I met really nice people and made friends with them. I miss them actually and how I wish I'd see them again one day. I miss my batch mates during our training; AJ, Yek, Jen, Ate Aya, Ate Apol, Jeoff, Ate Bibing, Sari, and a lot more but I already forgot their names. And of course, I miss the people on the 6th floor - where I used to work. Our TL, Miss Jem, who was very kind, nice, approachable, and very helpful. My co-inbound agents; daddy Dong, Ate Fe, RM, and the rest of the PFF team. I miss spending break times with them. The 1:30 to 2:00 AM meals, the 4:00 - 4:15 AM coffee break or however you want to spend it with. The talks and laughs as we lined up along the porch just outside of the building's cafeteria while waiting for our time to be on the floor, a quick walk around Eastwood and a lot more of beautiful memories I can only recall so much.

I feel sad that my time working with them needed to be cut short, but it was worth it. I had enough memories of them to last me for years and everything I've learned will be of great help for me in the future. At least now, I have ideas about financial matters - creditors, credit scores, and how things actually are processed and how they work when you are in a debt management program.

Lastly, I just want to say a few words to the clients out there. If you don't like call center agents calling you, bugging you to buy products from them, refuse them nicely or at least show them a little respect. It won't hurt you if you do so. Who wants to be ill-treated and cussed at when all you're doing is just to earn a living? Nobody, right? No one, especially those who are working hard, deserves a treatment like that. We are all the same. They do that for a living and I'm sure we all know how hard it is to earn money nowadays. I know for the fact that some CC agents can be quite annoying, too especially when you're busy and you suddenly receive a call from one of them and they don't leave you alone till they get what they want and some can be too persistent to the point that they're already taking much out of your time. But, may you not forget that at the other end of the line is a human being who, like you has feelings, too. If can't like them, at least respect them.