Call center is a booming business in the Philippines. With thousands of Filipinos working in the call center industry, this business is considered as prime meat for taxes. Call center workers enjoy above average compensation compared to those working in an 8-5 job.
But what do these workers get in return of getting above average compensation?
Ridicule, mockery, racism, these are the few things call center workers get from their customers. Caucasian and Asian customers alike treat Filipinos like they are a piece of garbage. They call them names, threaten to sue them and just blatantly demoralize Filipinos in general. It’s not just Filipinos who experienced such things. Indians get the same treatment as well.
In the five years that I’ve worked in a call center, I’ve been called names that are far beyond my imagination. Threatened to be sued a lot of times and I have heard blatant degradation of the Filipino race.
Before I started working in this business, I have a high regard for Americans, Europeans and our own Asian brothers and sisters. I can’t point out exactly what the reason why; probably it's the color of their skin, hair and eyes or the shape of their nose. Or probably the American twang and efficiency in the English language. All these things were in my mind until I started doing technical support for the North American and APAC regions. I've found out that they are not as efficient in the English language as I thought they were. Oftentimes, they have the wrong grammar and most of the time, wrong spelling for words. I’ve learned that they are not very bright in fact; they could not even grasp the simplest instruction to as to "click on the screen." Their advantage is that they can afford to buy computers and expensive gadgets whilst common Filipinos cant.
But being able to buy a certain product does not give anybody the right to step down on the people providing him or her with support to the best of their abilities. I must admit that the product our customers bought is not the best, not perfect, does not comply to their requirements but is there actually a product out there that's flawless, perfect and always comply to everybody's specification? Why would customers vent out their frustration to people who are merely assisting them in troubleshooting their problems when in fact the problem is that they're too dumb to operate a computer?
As you see the problem is not the people on the other end of phone. It is not the product that the customers bought. The problem is their attitude. They think highly of themselves that oftentimes, they think they are a superior race.
Nobody has the right to degrade any race. Whether we speak in a halting English, sleep and eat with the rats, has a corrupt president and belongs to a third world country, we are definitely not a third-rate race. No one can classify the race based on education, skin color or financial capacity. All of us are equal.
Being a Filipino is not a handicap; in fact, it should be considered a gift. Working in a call center is not a curse but a blessing.
Note: This is the author’s opinion and does not reflect all others who are working in the customer service industry.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Presidentiables and the Criminals in suits, barongs and high heels
Manny Villar, Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Bayani Fernando are among the politicians who have expressed their desires to run for president in the 2010 elections. Manny Villar and Loren Legarda have bombarded the small screens with advertisements. Bayani Fernando joined a celebrity-singing contest and won and he has posters hanging on every electrical post in the country.
Among the presidential hopefuls, who do you think is worthy to take the reigns of governing our country? Ping Lacson perhaps? How about Erap take two? I don’t know what your reaction is but for me I find it amusing that Lacson, a notorious killer (he apparently has salvaged so many criminals during his term as police chief) and Erap, a notorious womanizer, gambler and was once impeached from the presidential seat wants to run for presidency. I mean, who doesn’t want to be the president? Who doesn’t want limitless power and control over the people and their money?
How about the probability that Jejomar Binay and Chiz Escudero will also run for presidency? Jejomar’s name came from Jesus, Joseph and Mary combined but he’s no closer to a saint. He’s as sinful as all bitches and assholes in the arena called Politics. And yeah, what about Chiz? If he were going to work in a call center, his callers would get irate because of the monotone of his voice. He always gets himself propped up in front of a camera and is interviewed every time a scandal erupts in Malacañang. Every time I see Chiz on TV, he’s always criticizing the present government. I hate the present government as much as he hates the President. I wonder if he thinks of himself as Mr. Goody Two-shoe. He is as hypocrite as everyone else.
The upcoming 2010 elections are full of crap that I’m actually thinking of skipping the precincts.
Our government and the bloody politicians are like fucking criminals in suits, barongs and high heels. They’re killing the country and killing people by stealing their money. I so fucking hate them.
Oh, pardon my French.
Among the presidential hopefuls, who do you think is worthy to take the reigns of governing our country? Ping Lacson perhaps? How about Erap take two? I don’t know what your reaction is but for me I find it amusing that Lacson, a notorious killer (he apparently has salvaged so many criminals during his term as police chief) and Erap, a notorious womanizer, gambler and was once impeached from the presidential seat wants to run for presidency. I mean, who doesn’t want to be the president? Who doesn’t want limitless power and control over the people and their money?
How about the probability that Jejomar Binay and Chiz Escudero will also run for presidency? Jejomar’s name came from Jesus, Joseph and Mary combined but he’s no closer to a saint. He’s as sinful as all bitches and assholes in the arena called Politics. And yeah, what about Chiz? If he were going to work in a call center, his callers would get irate because of the monotone of his voice. He always gets himself propped up in front of a camera and is interviewed every time a scandal erupts in Malacañang. Every time I see Chiz on TV, he’s always criticizing the present government. I hate the present government as much as he hates the President. I wonder if he thinks of himself as Mr. Goody Two-shoe. He is as hypocrite as everyone else.
The upcoming 2010 elections are full of crap that I’m actually thinking of skipping the precincts.
Our government and the bloody politicians are like fucking criminals in suits, barongs and high heels. They’re killing the country and killing people by stealing their money. I so fucking hate them.
Oh, pardon my French.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The little success story
Each one of us has our own success story to tell. Whether it’s passing trigonometry, the board exams, giving birth, paying debts or becoming rich.
Mine is about this insecure, low self-esteemed version of me named Pearliza and how she became Pearl.
Pearliza is a provincial girl whose looks don’t measure up to those well-bred city girls. In elementary, she was ridiculed by her classmates and was often called names. She was called hunchback because she brings this big backpack to school and because she was a small girl it really made her look like a hunchback. Her friends at school never believed her that she had drank Yakult. Mocked her because she wore a pink Kaypee rubber shoes to school and her friends never thought that her family could afford one. They made drawings of her…drawings of an ugly girl. To them, she's an ugly little duckling. She was teased upon because she lived in an old dilapidated ancestral house whose grandma kept peering up on the big window making her friends think that she lived with a witch. Because of the constant taunting at school, she has built a shell around her. This shell made her the feisty one.
This girl had always known that deep inside she is a nice little girl and a trustworthy friend. They didn’t know that Pearliza is very talented and quite bright. She is actually a funny one who brightens up her friends’ dull days.
Pearliza went to college and met friends who have accepted the quirky side of her and loved her for that. She proved to herself the things that she has longed for...that she is a leader, that she is indeed talented and that she is the nice and trustworthy little friend. Her hometown friends can only gasp in amazement when they knew that she led various university based organizations. They never expected that the little ugly hunchback who wore Kaypee and claimed she drank Yakult has made a name for herself in the environment that embraced her.
Pearliza is no longer Pearliza, she's Pearl. The bright girl who made people laugh and made them say wow because she can dance. Pearl is the girl who led various organizations and has a solid circle of friends. She has finally found true friends who embraced Pearliza and turned her into a pearl.
And oh, she’s a mother to a beautiful daughter. Her daughter is no longer the ugly little duckling her mom was once called by.
Each of us has our own little success story to tell. It doesn’t matter how we tell the story but what matters is how we become a success story.
I am Pearliza. I am my own success story.
Mine is about this insecure, low self-esteemed version of me named Pearliza and how she became Pearl.
Pearliza is a provincial girl whose looks don’t measure up to those well-bred city girls. In elementary, she was ridiculed by her classmates and was often called names. She was called hunchback because she brings this big backpack to school and because she was a small girl it really made her look like a hunchback. Her friends at school never believed her that she had drank Yakult. Mocked her because she wore a pink Kaypee rubber shoes to school and her friends never thought that her family could afford one. They made drawings of her…drawings of an ugly girl. To them, she's an ugly little duckling. She was teased upon because she lived in an old dilapidated ancestral house whose grandma kept peering up on the big window making her friends think that she lived with a witch. Because of the constant taunting at school, she has built a shell around her. This shell made her the feisty one.
This girl had always known that deep inside she is a nice little girl and a trustworthy friend. They didn’t know that Pearliza is very talented and quite bright. She is actually a funny one who brightens up her friends’ dull days.
Pearliza went to college and met friends who have accepted the quirky side of her and loved her for that. She proved to herself the things that she has longed for...that she is a leader, that she is indeed talented and that she is the nice and trustworthy little friend. Her hometown friends can only gasp in amazement when they knew that she led various university based organizations. They never expected that the little ugly hunchback who wore Kaypee and claimed she drank Yakult has made a name for herself in the environment that embraced her.
Pearliza is no longer Pearliza, she's Pearl. The bright girl who made people laugh and made them say wow because she can dance. Pearl is the girl who led various organizations and has a solid circle of friends. She has finally found true friends who embraced Pearliza and turned her into a pearl.
And oh, she’s a mother to a beautiful daughter. Her daughter is no longer the ugly little duckling her mom was once called by.
Each of us has our own little success story to tell. It doesn’t matter how we tell the story but what matters is how we become a success story.
I am Pearliza. I am my own success story.
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