Nightshift:call center agent’s blog

Just got home from my pathetic 4 am to 1 am shift. I went home to the province since it’s a weekend, although I have a shift later. There’s really nothing like seeing your parents and siblings in weekends where everyone is not so busy. My parents are both retired and just stay home.

When I arrived at the office five minutes before my shift, our OIC gave me this Oishi Crackling and a can of Mug root beer. Well, it’s Octoberfest and the call center should be flowing with beers. Not literally, of course, as we still have to take call, unless the shift managers wants us to be sober when dealing with people having problems with their computers.

This has always been my view in the two call centers I have worked with so far, including this one. Sometimes, it’s not all about money. Most of the time, all you need are just pats on the back for a job well done. Or small things like a bottle of beer and a chichirya. These items costs less than P 35. But I would think that for a simple, easy to please person like me, this is something. You feel appreciated for the management to do something like this.

A company may, for example, offer very competitive package but if they are going to kill me with the quality of the job and the phone queue, sa’yo na ang package mo. I’d rather stay on the job which keeps me happy though the salary may not be high, than to be in a company which offers heavenly goodies but treats life as a hell.