DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Few days time and I'd be celebrating my one year here marooned and hopelessly out of options on how to go back at sea, In the meantime Inspite of this big setback, I choose to spend my time working in a call center as a form of "Transitional job" .

It’s a very Good thing though that I'm an "Amphibious" kind of a sailor and that I do not entirely relay *economically* working on a ship, In some ways I even think myself to be more advance in some extent than ship officers. Ironic isn't it?  I'm a sailor and yet my skills and traits have somewhat evolved into a land based type, a sailor that can entirely work at land and live without being a *sailor* at all.

Being a call center agent and a sailor at the same time has similarities in some extent. These are that working environment on both of these are isolated and that they have a very own self contained community.  The call center I'm working at (TRANSCOM) has an array of facilities that would make an employee's there live like it was literary a community and shielded from the outside world. Same goes also in working in a ship though some amenities are less than those present in a call center.

The funny thing about TRANSCOM is that it has the complete facilities and amenities for an employee, As a matter of fact TRANSCOM is the most advance and well equip call center I had been so far. It is even far more advance than TELETECH when it comes to facilities, equipment and amenities .

TRANSCOM has four sleeping quarters (two for male and two for female employees), two shower room area's , two locker rooms, a pharmacy store, a cable TV lounge area, Four free internet TV stations, 2 cafeteria's , a very own fast food store (Wendy's fast food) , a billiard's area, a dental clinic, a bank (RCBC Bank), A baggage counter area, very own parking floor, and believe or not a playground for children. These are the amenities an employee get to enjoy and use it for free at TRANSCOM - I haven't even mentioned yet here the usual standard facilities that a call center should have.

Anyway here's what happened at work…

I Arrived early to submit the necessary paper documents needed by the Compensations and Benefits  department (COMPBIN for short) , apparently from what I heard once you didn’t get to submit those documents you wont get your salary - So its IMPERATIVE that I submit those paper documents as soon as possible to catch my salary. I had no problems submitting it to them and everything was in order.

Before the training class starts , I've noticed that some of my co-trainee's were either absent or late - as in very late. By the time we went to the room  , there were only 8 of us. Good thing though that the class was delayed because our trainer was also late as well and that the COMPBIN employee visited us in the room to give an orientation about the compensation and benefits of being an employee here. The rep also clarified the misunderstanding that even though we didn’t get to submit paper documents on time , doesn’t necessarily meant that we wont get our salary. The truth is that were are still able to get our salary along with the ATM card , the only problem is that they wont be releasing the security pins for the ATM which in turn we wont be able to get our money via ATM machine. Funny in the fact that what difference does it get ? To simply put no ATM pin means no money - no money means no salary right ??? She said our only option left was to get the money via encashment on the bank counter, period.

After the orientation , some of my co-trainee's have already arrived and there were now 15 of us.

The lectured we had in the Training room wasn't that interesting really and "Norman" gave us a few icebreakers just to keep the boredom away. One of the "Ice Breaker's" had us divided into two groups and searching and grabbing a piece of paper at the end of the room - it was an exciting activity and far more interesting than the lecture.

("Ice breaker" is a call center term for group activity , as in live physical activity of any kind )

Two hours before our training session ends , were we given more password and username log on about the  software tools that we are going to use on the apparent "live calls" that we are scheduled to handle at by Monday and Tuesday.

Some of my co-trainee's including me are taking this activity very seriously, assuming that we will be monitored by the dreaded QA's . Being in the "product training" Phase in a call center world is not guaranteed employment at all and that most trainee's still get fired on this part, especially if this is a live call exercise were  you'd be watched over by the dreaded QA for close scrutiny , probably looking for "faults"- literary speaking every call could be your last in training.

This is the harsh reality of the call center world in the Philippines , Training Phase is much harder than the actual job seeking part and I still get to have the possibility of being fired just because I simply didn't fare well on the training.

30 minutes before the class ends ,a QA arrived and told us that we should worry about then and that compared to other QA's in other companies, the QA here is not "Fault finder's"  and that they are merely coaching staff to give us tips during our job at the floor.  I find it hard to believe (or even refused to believe) that QA's here are different , I've been to so many call centers before and QA's are pretty much the same - always breathing down on my neck and trying to find any faults that could be dig up against me over the phone, they expect me to believe that QA's here are different - ha !!! What a load of horseshit !!!

In other news …

It's been more than two weeks since I started working again and I have now remember some of my co-trainee's here. Here a brief introduction on the people I have worked along side with here in TRANSCOM

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

"ROSE"

 apparently she studied nursing during her college days , but due to domestic problems finding  work here as a nurse proved to be difficult because of competition - she decided to give call center a try. She always wear pink colored clothes.

"BADONG"

A lesbian and a former employee of TRANSCOM (a rehire for short) , she is most familiar with the in's and out's of this company. Her hair fashion is semi-bald, kind of like sigourney weaver in "ALIENS 3" movie.

"GWEN"

In first look appearance you might mistook her as an African American teenager, She is probably originated in another call center company called "STARTEK" (funny name for a company).

"DAN"

A large Obese person and is terribly addicted to drinking coca cola, he's personality is light hearted and on my personal interpretation a comic relief on our class along with "CJ".

"ERICH"

An short elderly guy , that has graying hair on the sides of his head. He always wears a jacket given the fact the air conditioning in TRANSCOM is set on low temperature (for Philippine standards), he has a long history in the call center industry and has probably travelled to Indonesia during his younger years

"JASON"

A thin guy in his early twenties that always wear a thin formal jacket, he's past exploits in the call center was in the outbound sales department - a telemarketer for short.

"CHARD"

A well dressed guy, so well dressed that you might mistake him as a commercial model. He came from a well known "elitist" school called "LA-Salle" , but nobody cares here were he came from because call center environment has a "no discrimination" policy. He's mostly a quite guy sitting in the edge of the room.

"CJ"

Another comic relief in this class and without him and "DAN" this group is just another boring class. He's dresses like a hip hop African American style and has tattoo's on both his whole arms, He's a huge well built muscled guy and from the looks of it , you might mistake him as an office bully - He's an ok guy.

"MICO"

Everybody in the class knows this 28 year old MICO probably because of her loud sexual overtone comments. Some of us think that "MICO" is a man hungry sexual lustful girl, and for a girl I might say that she is pretty horny and somewhat a pervert. She probably came as a directory telephone operator in INFOXX, she's very skilled in drawing though and like reads weird news on the internet site and has a simple one track mind.

"MARK"

A guy that dressed in simple clothes, just denim pants and white shirt and a converse shoes and that’s about it. He has a very long wavy hair similar to heavy metal punk musicians.

"ALAN"

An executive guy from a call center called "STREAM" and was also a former employee of the notorious "Sykes" call center company. He's been in the industry for 8 years now.

"RENE"

From all the trainee's , she's the most season in customer service sales job category and probably is a smooth talker over the phone, she plans to be a TL someday.

"MCVIN"

A gay guy , that wears "box" type of eye glasses, he has a funny hairstyle that has a some sort of pony tail similar to jedi padawans in star wars.

"DUSTIN"
19 year old, probably the youngest of all my co-trainee's here. According to what i heard he originated in new zealand and came here to live in the philippines when he's 16 years old. currently he has an apartment , and was a former employee of the well known call center called "convergys"

"Mars"
Mars is a fat lady that always hangs out with "McVin" , "Gwen" and "Rose" . Nothing much to say about here on the fact that "Dan" always jokes around her saying . "yes my love" or "of course my dear"

That all I can remember for now n my co-trainee's , I'd post more on those people I missed out

TRAINING DAY

Third day of training, by the start of it we were given our very own password ID logins for our computers so we could access the company Intranet , aside from it we were also given  access on the computer software tools we will be using during our actual work (assuming that if ever we get past beyond training phase).

We were also given explanations on the scope of support of a customer service and the general idea of the parameters that we would do during a call. Some of this that I had found out is that all transfers calls to be made are "Warm Transfers" which meant that I'd have to formally introduce myself to the *other* telephone operator and say the details first before giving him the customer.  Based also on what we were told , we will be using 7 different software tools for the customer service job alone plus a few more software tools as a Technical service rep - In other words our computer screens will be absolutely littered with those Tools while during a call.  Another thing that was discussed was a "Decision tree" which is basically a sums up as decision options made available during a call. In addition from what was told from us , "TalkTalk" account doesn’t have an *Exact* opening script when a conversation begins meaning that I have to think of my very own introduction to introduce myself to the customer

Example's of a script are like this  " Welcome to big pond , my name is <operator name> to assist with your technical inquiry , can I have your telephone number including the area code please ?"

Aside from that , we were also given an actual a hands on demonstration on one of the software tools called "TRIO" , which from what I understood is a software tool that will be used to pull out the account subscription details of a customer.

In other news,

Midway during the training shift. One Account official came in to the room and saw some of us trainees are a bit worn-out and sleepy , Upon seeing this the fat lady immediately transformed and immediately became a quasi- Drill sergeant complete with the shouts and aggressive behavior  even had us do jumping jacks. Frankly I never liked this kind of militaristic behavior, for me people like that are totally crack pots and have serious attitude issues , they should be reminded that this is a call center not a military installation.  

Afterwards a few hours later the HR Staff came in and gave us an orientation about the rules and regulations of this company , Assuming that a trainee gets past training phase.

Its just been the third day of training  and Working relations in TRANSCOM company have been turning sour on my wave mates and some officials of this account. Apparently from what I witness on the training room , The QA (Quality assurance personnel) is a bit arrogant about his job status and even makes threats about firing us or anyone whom he see's falling asleep or shows signs of it. He made that statement and announced it an hour before the training class ends .

Personally I think making threats and intimidating trainee's , is not a good idea on the fact that it is sending a bad image not only to the QA personnel but the management of TRANSCOM also. Chances are  people will think that this  person is arrogant and abusive his job position , (as if he wasn't an agent and trainee several years before ). He's just a QA and yet he acts like some sort of bastard guy with a suit , I think this QA shouldn't give us that kind of lecture ,as if he himself didn’t when through that kind of hurdle before. Doesn’t mean he's QA means also that he's high and mighty

I feel sympathetic on our trainer who feels helpless and couldn't do anything about  these guys who  act high and mighty in the office.

These people will have to clean up their act or else they get a conclusion that TRANSCOM is just another one of those call center companies out here that are very cruel and oppressive on their employees.


SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 FRIDAY , JOURNAL ENTRY...


Fourth day of training and were taught on how to use the "Soft Phone" software which basically replaces the use of an actual phone, with these it meant that we are just clicking  a few icons in the computer monitor instead of pressing buttons , were taught on which icons to press during an actual call operation.

Aside from the use of the soft phone we were also given an idea of the call structure of how we will do things when we received a call, the general idea of it was what are the usual steps a telephone operator would take when receiving a call. Normal a telephone operator would make an introduction first , then rest follows in.

A few hour later Payroll orientation was discussed in our classroom. According to the payroll staff that discussed the topic , Only Meal allowance and Transportation Allowance was not taxable and THE REST OF THE THINGS I'D BE EARNING IS TAXABLE. Meaning to say they have a cut on everything except the meal and transportation thing.

Aside from the bad news that came to the payroll department , now comes the worse news.

Trainer informed us that after the two week training of Customer service training , we will be immediately proceed in taking in actual calls on our third week and then back again in the class room for the Technical Rep training for the fourth week. I think this jobs keeps getting worse as we go along this training phase, I mean ONLY A WEEK OF TRAINING FOR THE TECH REPRESENTATIVE ? , some companies spend as much time as a month of training for the technical service representative alone and yet this company is giving us only a week of training for their bullshit.


SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 SATURDAY, JOURNAL ENTRY...


Arrived at TRANSCOM earlier for my usual routine before training. Usually I head off to the showers directly after my arrival to clean myself , It's just a policy I keep to myself that whenever I go to work I should be tidy. Though this is my policy whenever I'm in the call center this is usually contradictory when I'm a sailor and rarely take a bath there.

Anyway after the long shower, I went to the TV lounge area of TRANSCOM to kill some excess time and perhaps watch a movie in HBO channel. The movie that was playing is Titled "Batman Begins" , Shame though that I never got to finish the movie and it was already time for me to go to the training room.

By the time I got to the room , I noticed that some of my Wave mates were still not inside and was just waiting at the front door. Few minutes later our trainer arrived and told us that we won't go into the classroom for an hour and that we had to go to the production floor to see first hand on how customer service agents handle calls.

On the production floor area , I was assigned to one agent , and "barge" (another known term for this is "side by side")  on her call . Mostly the calls she handles is related on the billing inquiries and such , and compared to being a technical service rep which is basically straightforward job, being a customer service rep is more on explanations of a certain kind of inquiry.  Basically customer service rep and technical rep are two different things in the call center , they simply don’t mix and if they do then expect that they wont work well

To make it more worst - most of the call that I'd be handling in the future (assuming that I passed later on product training) is not to be escalated , and I feel more like some sort  of whacked down "Judge Dredd" telephone operator - a Judge , jury and executioner , all pack in one. A "Universal" telephone operator as one might point out.

An hour later after the demo , our trainer told us to go back to the training room.

Usual stuff being in the training room and more lectures , this time though the lecture was more on billing. We were shown an actual telephone bill of  "TalkTalk" on our computer screen showing  the breakdown charges and such. Our trainer gave us a through explanation on what are those billing charges are for. To my dismay , I also found out that our job description also includes handling payments  and not just only answering billing enquiries .

Despite a lot of dismaying job parameters that we discover each day here, My seatmate is somewhat hopeful that everything will work out fine and that somehow , someway, we may perhaps outlast the Product training phase. Well glad to hear someone is still optimistic around, Seriously  I think it’s lucky that someone still has a positive outlook despite this god awful regulations imposed on us by TRANSCOM and that almost all of us here is still upset on the "job weight".

Thank god that after this training , I'd have 2 days of rest for the whole days of Saturday and Sunday ..

In other news

Time really flies  fast and its been a week since I started out and I had already made an expected salary of 4000 PHP. I'm not exactly expecting that I may make it on the production floor at all , given the difficult circumstances I'm dealing at but at least ,it has never bother me not one bit ,it eases my mind that if I stay in for another week and I'd get another 4000 PHP which counts to at least 8000 PHP salary at September 28 payout - After all I'm just here for the money and for as long as I still can hold on , I'd make the most of the "Economic Value" staying in TRANSCOM. Maybe who knows I could get more than 16000 PHP in exchange for a little of my time , But then again 16000 PHP it's fine with me if things don’t work out.


SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 TUESDAY, JOURNAL ENTRY...


Had an issue with laundry for this day and I had only 2 sets of clothes left, as a result I had to hire some laundry service to do all the washing for me, good for me it only cost at around 150 PHP - Bad in the sense that there's a possibility that some of my clothes will get lost, but I had no other choice and the necessity is great . Hopefully I get to pick up my clothes at the laundry service by Wednesday.

In other matters …

At the start of our training shift , we went again on the production floor area to "barge" in a few calls and hear other call center agents in action. Most of the calls that I heard was related in billing issues. After two hours we went back again to our training room and proceed to the boring lecture.


SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 WEDNESDAY, JOURNAL ENTRY...


Out of my surprise , I did not expect to see "E.Chavez" at TRANSCOM Pantry area. Last time I saw "E.CHAVEZ" was way back several years ago (I think 4 to 5 years ago) at ICT Call Centre, At that time I was looking for a job at ICT while "E.CHAVEZ" was resigning from the job. A funny twist of fate that our paths crossed again after several years and this time it is in TRANSCOM company. Based on what I saw "E.CHAVEZ" is already in the production area and taking in calls on the fact that one of the T.L'S   (Short term for "TEAM LEADER" or "TEAM MANAGER" in the call center) approached and told that "after break time immediately switch to AUX 3" , probably I could surmise that "E.CHAVEZ" is existing for more than a month because of that.

One of my co-worker's were offended when "Mico" drew "N.Estrada" (Our trainer) in the glass board, well not that they mind at all about the drawing - but the problem is that "Mico" made a drawing of our trainer NAKED and said after drawing it , that "It's been a while since I (Mico) draw a naked caricature of a man" . Though "Gwen" was terribly offended , she could just laugh on how the way Mico draws our trainer naked and just said that "Mico" is one horny little girl. After the drawing was complete , it only brought more laughter from my other co-worker's.

Some of my co-workers find "Mico" to be one bizarre girl, One example is that she tells a lot of joke's that has a sexual tone and even made claims that she has an "imaginary love live with an imaginary lover , which she uses her fingers to express it " . All of us could just laugh on her claims saying that she is just one bonafide horny girl, I think she is just plainly liberated and doesn't really care what goes inside in *between her legs*

In other matters

There's a rumor spreading that maybe "TalkTalk" account would be transferred later on in Edsa site and that currently we are just finishing the product training phase before being put there, of course these is just a rumor said by our trainer inside and there is still no confirmation yet. I think there's a possibility that it might happen given the fact that the TRANSCOM Edsa site is still not yet fully operational and is still under construction, and that only Samsung Australia is the only one residing in that site - hinting that maybe some other accounts will be occupying it when the rest of the floors on that building.

Anyway it doesn’t matter if this account will be transferred or not , and before we get ahead of ourselves we should first figure out on how to live past product training phase ( since this is the part were people still get fired even though they have already signed a job contract)  ,after that they could think whatever they want and what they please .


(PICTURE BELOW ARE PICTURES INSIDE TRANSCOM)

                       
                                                   (INSIDE TRAINING ROOM)

                                                       (LOCKER ROOM)

                                                         (TRANSCOM PHARMACY)

                                                    (COMPUTER /INTERNET STATIONS)

                                                              (TV LOUNGE AREA)

                                                                      ( CR ROOMS)

DILEMA AND "ACTION" REPORT OVER TRANSCOM

After months of being out of work, I've decided that its about time I do something. Yesterday afternoon I went to Transcom call center office in EDSA looking for work, It was convenient that I should look for work in that area given the fact that I'm familiar with the place.  At first I thought they need a few guys over that site , since when I accidentally discovered it a week ago the site was still in the process of being constructed.  I assumed that the place was understaffed, Hell I was wrong when I got there and apparently word comes in very fast that this newly established site in EDSA would be crowded with job seekers in only less than a month after its opening.

By the time I got there , the waiting area was littered with job applicants and I estimate that there is about a hundred people at least looking for a job. I quickly got down to business and passed my resume to the reception desk , after a few minutes of waiting I was called for the initial job interview. No problems there and got away with it in easy (even though my English speaking proficiency is somewhat deteriorated over the years) .

Next phase was the so called "Versant" phone recoding test , as the name implies - the test was all about speaking and repeating the recorded message on a recording machine. To simply put I'm talking to a machine . During that time a huge portion of jobseekers who arrived at the  same time when I arrived were cut down by this test , after that the few of us left we put on to some sort of online kind of test using a PC.

Nothing really much to say on that phase and it felt more on my perception that this kind of test is not a "fail or pass" kind , In fact I think the test was all about being categorized on which specific "account" I'd be put down. By the time it was finished , there were about only 8 of us left on the batch.  We had an hour break of waiting . I heard a few gossips on about what's going on in the call center world like a certain company named SITEL not paying social security and all and the reason why Sykes company was so mean on their company security and employees as well. After the wait we were told that a company car would drop us off in another site for the final interview , apparently the site was very far this time and its located deep within the Fontera Verde Compound in Pasig.

So we went there and had the final interview , it was I think near 10 pm when the job application process was finished and all . Of the six of us left , only me and another with a tattoo had made it. The other two gave up easily and went home early after knowing that the interview would start by at least 8 Pm, the other remaining two didn't simply passed the final interview and gave personal issues to the interviewer.

I came home late at night and slept for about an hour or two. Woke up again and went to Frontera Verde Area till 7am till I found out via text message that contract signing was 7Pm and not 7am, Ooops big mistake on my part and hurriedly got back to my home to sleep till afternoon.

By afternoon I've arrange to make another X-ray copy by going to Centro medical diagnostic clinic in marikina , I realized I had to do this and take an X-ray given the fact that my reserved X-ray films (used for medical records) were lost by Sykes several months ago because of HR's stupidity and I only had one left and will be used later on for TRANSCOM employment.

At 5:30 pm I was already there in Frontera Verde for the third time , This time I've figured it all out on how to exactly go there using public transportation - well the Solution all along was that I should take a Jeepney located at Marikina Sports center, The Jeeps destination should be indentified with a sign on its face window saying  its bound for "Pasig Palengke" and Tell the driver to drop me off at the location called "Simbahan" afterwards ride another jeep with a sign that is bound for "Citibank". Another option I was thinking  (if I feel like kinda  energized for a walk) is walk to the east direction and cross the bridge, it should lead me direction to the place were Transcom is located. BINGO !!!

The contract signing went well and I was offered 16,000 PHP basic salary for the so called "Toc-Toc" account from Britain apparently its nature is somewhat cable TV and internet business related. By the way Transcom caters US, Canada and UK country clients .

In other matters to be discussed..

So what do I think of TRANSCOM BPO Company ?! For now I couldn't make any judgment whether this company is a bastard one or a lenient kind, Frankly there are some aspect that I didn’t like about the company and some aspect that I do like about the company .

Some noticeable aspects that I did like was that It has facilities like a billiard table , pantry , sleeping quarters and a shower room (although up to now ,I'm still not be able to determine if the usage of this facilities are for free and for public use for every one on this company). Security guards seems to be a bit friendlier and approachable . HR staff seemed to be always in a hurry and late on schedules but are very courteous and warm, not like the stone cold bastard counterpart of theirs in Sykes.

Some negative aspects I saw for now is their enforcement of an attire, which from I understand is that no denim pants are allowed on Mondays and Thursdays. In other words formal attire for 4 days, disadvantage for me on the fact that I only have one formal pants and I had to wear the same pants for four days. I think they should have more freedom on how people should  choose to dress up, of course there's an option were I get to choose to wear any kind of clothes I want to , but the catch is that I had to pay the reception a some sort of "dress down pass" fee of 250 PHP for it.

To simply put the freedom to choose what kind of clothes to wear rest on paying *them* a some sort of "Pass fee" for a month of freedom to wear. This sounds more like profiteering to their very own employees, they also stated that the money will be used for in a charitable foundation. Which I hardly doubt they will use it for such a purpose . Hmmm Really huh ?! And do they expect me to believe that ? What a lame excuse.

As of the moment I have a neutral impression in transcom and I haven't made up my mind yet on how to rate this company.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 MONDAY, JOURNAL ENTRY........

General overview of the account I was assigned on was called "Talktalk" United kingdom, Apparently according to the orientation this company in the UK was the second largest communications / Telecom company there - combining Television ,Broadband and phone service at the same time.

Based on the contract I've signed I'm supposedly to be a customer service agent and a technical service rep and a pinch in sales. In other words an all in one "Super" agent , hmmm ??? I wonder why the hell call center companies really put a lot of "parameters" to its agents ? I think TRANSCOM is just short changing on the manpower stuff , in the expense that agents will get stressed a lot - AS IN A LOT. Hehehe guess I better get my vitamins ready anytime, cause chances are working hours will be long. From what I understood TRANSCOM / "TalkTalk" British account  is more interested in putting a general purpose agent rather than a specialized type of Agent (Teletech / Big pond Australia account)  , similar to the AT&T / Accenture Call Center Policy

As of the moment while writing this there no specific metrics yet for this account , and the QA people in this company is still figuring out on what kind of call "standards" will be put to place. The Account will be handling broadband , phone and TV service and given the broad scope the training will be at least 4 weeks and I assume that it will be a difficult job ahead after the training - if ever I get past the training phase.

Frankly I don’t expect my work life span will be more than 4 weeks and I will eventually get fired after that but at least it will provide enough time for me to get an initial salary and perhaps a back pay for my other agenda's outside the BPO industry and to add more I'm not taking this job seriously compared to what I did in Teletech a year ago.

(By the way , just to keep everyone informed that signing a job contract does not necessarily guarantee employment and that being in the training phase is not exactly employed at all in the call center as what a person may though, chances are most agents still get fired even if you're already in the training phase.)

So what's the impression I got from TRANSCOM ? First thing I got is that working hours are a bit long , as in really long and based on what I heard from the management there is some sort of mandatory or irregular extension of working hours from the usual 8 hours to probably about 10 hours without any good reason at all,

The mealtime and breaks schedules are reduced from the usual one hour break to 30 minutes, the main reason why they said is that it’s a "paid break". Well fine if it’s a paid break but haven't they figured out instead to rather have an hour of unpaid break ? I think they're so much absorb in making profit in their business that they forgot the basic necessities of a person to eat . 30 minutes ?! Heck I haven't even finished digesting my meal at that short time and I had to haul off my ass back to training room (or maybe even the "Floor" area)

TRANSCOM Facilities in Pasig based on my spying includes a Billiards pool area , a TV lounge room, two Cafeteria's , Clinic , Gym room, two shower rooms , two locker rooms , Internet station, and a very own Pharmacy.  Floor production areas are a bit small on the floor space and the same goes on hall ways and walk ways , which I assume that TRANSCOM company can only handle a small agent population.

Security checkpoints are not that exaggerated and most security guards seemed to be approachable , though I encounter only one security guard which seems to be rude and ill mannered.  I cannot say that This company is as lenient and free as with Teletech but compared to Sykes company (Which I find their policies to be oppressive and brutal ), the agents and employees here are better off. HR staff so far has shows no evidence of crapping on their jobs - though I find them a bit rude in some extent.

For now , I am going to test the shower facilities of TRANSCOM if its free and unrestricted use . I'd post it on this journal on what the results turn out

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 WEDNESDAY , JOURNAL ENTRY....

To my surprise when I arrived at  TRANSCOM building yesterday 8pm (Training schedule was 11pm midnight to 7am in the morning) I saw my former schoolmate during high school nicknamed "Christian the Cat" , He is also surprised as well to see me in TRANSCOM. Didn't had much to have a chit chat with him , just only a small talk then I headed to the showers to test if the facility there was Ok to be used for the general workforce population. Had no problems using it and there were no restrictions , though the shower area is a bit small compared to TELETECH and I had to hang my belongings in the door just to keep them away from getting wet. So far testing and using those facilities was a success.

At around 3am in the morning during the lunchtime , I went to the clinic to retrieve my Comparison X-ray which was given to CLINICA MANILA (pre employed Medical clinic of TRANSCOM) . I was hoping that I could retrieved it there , Unfortunately to my dismay the clinic REFUSED TO GIVE IT BACK and said that it’s the property of the HR department. Really ??? Guess they haven't figured it out that the X-ray Plate I'm referring to it’s the one from CENTRO MEDICAL CLINIC, and those bone head HR thinks its their property - Bah ! They since when MY XRAY plate's became theirs? This HR screw up is going to impact negatively on how I view this company.

It's been just two days and I have now roughly came into a conclusion on how I view TRANSCOM company. If I would rate a company by numerical grade on which 1 is the lowest and 10 the highest grade (a utopian Call center) . I would rate TRANSCOM to be number 4 , I rated number 4 because it has complete well maintained facilities and is free for use by almost everyone working for this company and that the only reason why it got that grade, without those facilities I could have rated it on a much lower grade of 2 . The only thing good about TRANSCOM is the Facilities nothing else  - plain and simple , the rest of other things like HR, Security, Company Policies, Working environment, Benefits and compensation, Salary , workload, treatment of employees are just simply Plain Horseshit and not even worth the effort of getting a job in TRANSCOM.

 Overall impression is that TRANSCOM is just a transition company and getting a job here is just only for the *Time Being* , not the company worth settling into or building a career. A company that has issues - Serious Issues

Speaking of which I just found out while in the training room that the "Perks" in Working for TRANSCOM is either missing or non existent at all. One example is the Signup bonus or even rejoining bonus for rehires, another one is the simple *perks* like at least a free ball pen or note pad of some sort (which results that I have to bring a pen and notepad every time). Another example is their so called "Tech premium" which amounts to 2000 PHP is apparently taxable - Worst part is that they never mentioned or even stated it on the contract.

In spite a lot of flaws I discovered with this company , I am unaffected of it. Simply because I never care and the only thing I want to this company is the money , Aside from that I'm just only using this as a "Training" to update my skills in the call center and the money for the licensure exam I'd be taking later on. It simply never matters to me and I'm apathetic on the situation.

Anyway the training class I'm currently at is composed of 20 people, all of whom which are "veteran" or has some sort of experience already in handling calls in the call center. For some reason TRANSCOM only hired the one's with an experience and threw out the First time call center agents, Hmm didn't really gave an equal opportunity to all huh ?

Anyway like I said there are 20 agents and 15 of them are male and 5 are females. Overall most of this Wave mate's of mine have a low morale given the circumstances that we are in fact a CSR / TSR / Sales , much more that add weight to them is the fact of the salary that we later discovered is just  basically  the same as to those existing agents that they have that are dedicated to TSR only. Frankly most of them think that it's unfair given that we are a 3 in one agent and that the scope of support given to us is much more wider compared to those dedicated TSR's . To simply say they are paying us less on the work that is much more.  All of us agree on the same thing that TRANSCOM is short changing people. Given the kind of work given to us,  I surmise that work life expectancy of a call center here is very low here , probably no more than a year

In Addition.....

Shouldn’t be discussing this since my blog is themed to be specifically targeted a "sailor's" blog, Hell do I care and this is my blog , and I get to put whatever I want with this.

Anyway I am writing this as a part of my identity crisis over being a Telephone Operator and a Sailor. Frankly before I became a telephone operator , I consider myself to be 100 percent a sailor. I told myself from that time that this was just only a temporary job and only went there because I needed the money plain and simple , No hard feelings.

When I first came to this industry , I don’t have the slightest idea on what was going on and had no clue on the technical terms they were speaking with. The first terms that I learned in the call center was this two things called "outbound" and "Inbound" which later I found out that "inbound" means that callers will be the ones calling you over the phone and "outbound" means that me (Telephone Operator) will be the ones calling outside.

Honestly I never expected that I'd be so comfortable in this job. The treatment I received here was humanitarian compared to searching for a job as a sailor. they taught me the skills to speak proficiently in English and was treated with equality , They encourage me to promote my welfare and thus I learned to thrive. It never mattered to them what was my background.

Given the equal treatment and good welfare , there was a point were I had to question on why I became  sailor. The lasting legacy that the call center gave me is the skill of being proficient in English, So proficient that some say that they could not distinguish me from an Australian or not, when I'm over the phone.

Up to now still consider myself more of being a call center agent than being a sailor.

But what is exactly the difference between being a sailor from being a telephone operator ? overall there is a very big difference from almost every aspect of these two jobs, From job searching - all the way to salary and job description. A total "Parallel" life running along side by side, It is a blessing that I made it to being a call center agent and I am above the minimum wage earner and that I knew other skills than just plainly becoming a sailor.

Though in some ways that I feel more fortunate that I knew other non-manual jobs, I still have to maintain the secrecy part and never mention to this when I'm sailing. I have learned the crude lesson that without the protection of anonymity I could have easily fall prey on discrimination from other sailor's - I learned it the hard way when I worked on "Stolt Strength", when I openly claim that I was a call center agent before, thinking that it was safe and no discrimination existed onboard an all Filipino crew. Looking back, it was probably a mistake to do so, but I was still innocent of the evils that lurked  being an OFW and a sailor. Eventually this resulted to my maltreatment and persecution onboard that ship.

As a part sailor and I am saying this by experience I encountered , That It is of best choice never to reveal any information about myself especially on my background that I am a call center agent and I deny it as much as possible. Don't get me wrong I'm proud being a call center agent as a matter of fact and I am doing this to not only protect myself but other people working on the call center industry - and most of the time lying in the maritime profession helps

( Photos shown below are taken during my survey)

SEARCHING FOR CLUES TO START OVER

Not bad for a kick start on being active again, after all I had been
sitting my fat ass at home for nearly 8 months now and it's about time
that I should do something and start moving again. By next month I would
be celebrating being one year marooned in the Philippines, Heck I never
thought that this would actually happen at all and earlier I though that
after successfully landing a job in that cursed maritime industry I
would be stable enough to "go career" as a sailor - I was hell wrong as
it turned out. For the moment all I could say is that I'm a washed out
sailor with no real options of getting back.

Anyway this is not what I wrote about.

As I mentioned, by this time I would make a few changes on my life and
have already though of being active again in finding work. I started out
in going to POEA looking for clues on were to start, Unfortunately I
didn't get their issued newspaper which tells the list of "Licensed
Manning Agencies" ,apparently they ran out of copies and wont be issuing
until by next month. Without that paper I could not determine whether or
not the company I'd be looking for work is credible or even find their
exact location

They did however gave me another newspaper as a remedy which gave a hint
of a newly established shipping agency called "pos-fil" . I have no
information at all about this new company and maybe by tomorrow I'd be
visiting it looking for a job there.

Another thing which I discovered by accident , was a nearby call center
called "Transcom" . Heck I never noticed that there was one nearby
,certainly it wasn't there 8 months ago. I'd be checking that call
center later on after I had finished my business in this so called
"pos-fil" company, and see if I could get to join their bandwagon. All I
know about "Transcom" is that it is some sort of Financial Collections
kind of company which deals in Canada and UK.

I guess that would be all for now and maybe I'd try to look for other
jobs openings in the shipping companies which I'd encounter later on.
For now my full attention is focused in getting work in a BPO, its my
best chance in finding work for now.

The following day....

Pos-Fil Shipping Company is not exactly a "new" company at all as it
turned out. When I arrived there the company is somewhat related to
"Astra Marine" ," Abosta Shipmanagement" and "Alpha Shipmanagement".
Frankly I'm not that stupid to figure it all out that these companies
are the same since they share the same address- hell even the same
building. Now the big problem on this company since its not new is that,
will they accept walk in applicants ?? (drifters is more the proper
term) or only prefer accepting applicants that have "sponsors"
(backers). Unfortunately I didn't went there to look for a job on the
fact that I was wearing inappropriate clothes , I should have wore any
colored polo shirt , denims jeans rather than a standard polo and slack
pants which made me look like a high school student than an applicant.
Since I was wearing inappropriate clothes I decided to call it a day and
pull back, maybe I'd look for a job later when I'm more dressed properly.

For "ST Ocean shipping company" which was another company I had visited
aside from "Pos-Fil" . I made a mistakes which I said I'm looking for a
job as a "deck cadet" , This is a big no-no for anyone applying for a
job (unfortunately this is the start up position as sailor kind of like
a novice and if you even say that word right in front of the office
reception area then good luck , chances are you'd get driven out) and as
expected I already know how am I treated. I should have said I'm looking
for a job as an ordinary seaman.

I only barely got two months left to get this act right before I go over
to and look for a job locally shipping and I certainly don't want to go
that kind of hardship , fully knowing how dangerous it is to go there.
Of course there are other options but the problem is those *other*
options don't have any guarantee and plagued with problems as well.

Quite honestly working for an overseas job as a sailor get's worse every
now and then , So bad that it makes me wonder why the hell did I ever
get to take this course in college in the first place - I think being a
Filipino sailor is a big joke grandeur and a mistake.

(Pictured above is the score's of unemployed filipino sailors hanging
out in the streets of the T.M. Kalaw,Manila this is a clear picture on
how worst it gets in being a sailors nowadays, pictured here is only
partial view and not the exact numbers of unemployed sailors overall )

In other matters…

A few years ago , Me and my two other friends Joenar Palomas and Rommer
Banal came up a good discussion while we were in McDonalds. Joenar made
a good question "What would happen to us if we don't happen to ever get
to *work* as sailors ??? " , Rommer answer that if maybe the case then
he'd just simply drive his cab and move on to life while joenar palomas
answer that he'd help his parents personal logistics business , Now
among the three I was the misfit on the answers and said "I don't know,
maybe I'd end up as a beggar in the pavement down the road". My two
other friends laughed at my answer, Seriously I said that answer on the
reason that I would never see myself beyond it and don't have any good
solid answers - to simply put it , I'm as helpless as a cockroach
without it.

Now a few years after , Given the same kind of question I would answer
it very differently now. Maybe I'd answer that I'd end up in a call
center and hope for the best.

The question has a good point , but what if by some chance a student
sailor doesn't become an *actual* sailor at all ? Or a sailor met some
untimely reason and had to stop ? As what I point out a kind of
"Professional afterlife" , were do a person go In the event of a
catastrophic situation that leaves him / her no way of getting back.

First off a person should have a positive thinking in life and be open
minded of other possibilities that they could continue on with life
without being a sailor. Keep in mind that choosing on how to continue
with life is your decision and yours alone. Be brave and have the
courage to move on, make a career plan and base it on a long term basis

Here are some things to consider on choosing an *alternate* job

1.What are some of the task I'd be required to do ?
- What will be as typical month or day be like ?
- Would I chiefly work with, data, people, or things ?
- Would I sit all day ? Stand? Get outside the office ?
- What distasteful things would I have to do ?

2.What personal qualifications are required ?
- Are my skills and talents compatible with this ?
- Are my personal traits compatible with this job ?

3.How much money will I make ?
- Is the base pay for the job at the entry minimum wage ? Above minimum
? Or top pay ?
- what employee benefits are usual with this job ?

4.What are working conditions like ?
-What do most people in the job say they like the most about their work ?
-The least ?
-Are the hours regular or irregular ? Long or short ? Would I work even
on weekends or holidays?
-Is the work hazardous?

Some of the people I knew do other jobs aside from being a sailor. Most
of them doing other manual work as a replacement, I've heard some
students sailor take up jobs like being a construction worker, tricycle
driver , Service crew on the fast food store, etc. I even saw one as a
receptionist in a hotel. I think there is nothing wrong in that and its
nothing to be ashamed of , what matters is that person should continue
living and it's definitely not the end of the world if you don't make
the "cut" being a sailor. I myself became a call center agent (and up to
now) , I took it as an alternate job incase of a situation arises that I
could not work as a sailor anymore, I chose this on the perspective of
my traits and skills (being not physically fit to work in manual labor)
and never regretted being there.

Overall the main fact is that a sailor should have a secondary skills
not related to the sailing job itself. A parallel kind of job , working
independently or side by side, related to being a sailor will do.
Personally I think a sailor should have this as secondary skills as
mandatory , given on the fact that although working as a sailor has an
"extended" age of something like 65 years old (sailors who have a
license ) to 56 years old (ratings) the reality is that this kind of job
is still based on a contractual basis and has no stability, to simply
put , a sailor is expendable and could lose your job at anytime.

For sailors who already had a taste of sailing and yet ended up being
cut short on their dreams , well there are two possible options. If a
sailor has a license then perhaps he could set up shop in the teaching
profession or even go to the HR personnel as some sort of consultant ,
if a sailor doesn't have a license then he should refer to what I've
written earlier.

In reality there is no such way on how to "circumvent" or even swap the
marine transportation course compared to marine engineering. In other
words there is no other related field in marine transportation , Its
just a stand alone course specifically targeted to being a sailor ,
sadly to say that this course cannot be converted to anything else.

A QUICK RUN DOWN ON THE EQUIPMENT

Well here are the equipment id be carrying along just incase if ever i do get a job working at sea. A quick rundown on the specs of tools that will be placed on my holdster

FOLDABLE MULTI- TOOL PLIERS

I was trying to get a black variety of this kind but ended up having a wooden brown color, In any case a pair of pliers is very handy onboard to add more function are the set of mini tools to make it more useful. Now why the hell did i prefer foldadble simple answer i prefer the much more mobile and space saving design. Cost around i think 500 PHP on Sm mall.

CARDBOARD BOX CUTTERS

This is the most inexpensive of all the tools (aside from the pencil of course) and yet the most used tool, as the name implies that this tool is used to cut and slice objects,

Aside from that Unofficially it can be used as a defense weapon as well , In the event that a would be attacker would attempt to jump and beat you to death, this tool will make him / her think twice from doing it. Seriously this is a MUST HAVE TOOL and a secondary defensive weapon just in case you don't have a standard knife around. Be sure to buy a lot of spare blades though since its cutting blades get dull easily

PENCIL

 The least expensive tools and perhaps the most rarely used. Obviously this is used to write something. Now why a pencil instead of a pen ??? Simple answer ! pencils are water proof compared to pens

PENTEL PEN (A.K.A MARKING PEN ALSO)

Secondary tool of a pencil , used on certain surfaces were a pencil is ineffective.

SCREW DRIVERS (PAIRS)

When buying one make sure to buy both the "positive" screw driver and "Negative" screw driver, and buy both with a longer reach. Unofficially this can be used as a defensive weapon, though only a third option in case you don't have a standard knife around and you forgot to replace the blades of your cardboard box cutters. Not a cutting weapon but a piercing kind.'

SMALL WRENCH

Aside from opening and securing both bolt and nuts , this tool can be used as a smashing tool - yeah a kind of like a hammer as one might say.

Not picture here is a Bosun knife which serves as a cutting tool and a primary defensive weapon , this tool is really cool on the fact that it intimidates your enemies on board from doing any bullying and harassment.

Bosuns knife is quite similiar to a standard combat knife (Rambo knife) both in appearance and function. the only blurr that makes them different is how the way they are called.

THE COST OF BEING A FILIPINO SAILOR

There's isn't anything to write about this past few days and I guess the
only thing I could write on this entry is that up to now I'm still
contemplating on whether or not I should get a job on the domestic
shipping industry. I had been thinking a lot about this and quite
seriously , I definitely consider all the perk's and con's of going
there and haven't made up my mind yet.

Maybe I should write something else.

The cost of being a Filipino sailor , now that's a good topic.

So what does it take to be a Filipino sailor in the 20th century ? Hmm
Let me give you a picture of the road a high school student will take
just incase he/she has finally decided to join the band wagon.

ENROLLMENT
Enrollment alright, First off enrolling to a maritime school isn't
exactly as hard as "Other College" courses out there - especially if
your enrolling to a private school. Some schools have a sort of pseudo
entrance exam for formalities , in either case it doesn't matter whether
you passed or not. Just keep in mind that as long as you have loads of
money then you'd be fine. Keep in mind that there are two kinds of
Courses in being a seaman. One is BSMT ( the one's that become a captain
) and the other is BSME ( the ones that become a chief engineer)

The cheapest private maritime school at that time was PMI Colleges
(circa year 2001) which on that time was just only 11,000 PHP for the
schooling of 1st year 1st semester in overall cost which includes the
two sets of uniforms called summer white (the white overall thing) and
the black liberty (The half white thing). I compared the schooling price
in TIP over PMI and found out that , PMI was half less of the price.

Schooling to become a seaman takes roughly three years course and by the
time a student reaches the 3rd year 2nd semester , the tuition fee will
be doubled. Based on my experience I ended up having to pay the school
20,000 PHP for the tuition alone minus the miscellaneous expenses.

FOURTH YEAR
This is the hardest (and worst) part of all in finishing this college
course as far as based on my own experience. For some reason this
college course requires a student to "GET" an actual job as a seaman in
order to really finish it. More than half of the entire population gets
unemployed for several years (and in worst cases , DO NOT GET EMPLOYED
AT ALL), Students who are fortunate enough (referring to those "elitist"
ornery bastard schools like PMMA, MAAP, BMA, NYK-TDG MA,) get to have
the juiciest and worry free part. The rest of the students coming from
private schools get the crumbles and languish in being exploited,
underpaid and overwork by some (if not almost all )opportunistic
shipping companies.

Before a student gets "employed" for the fourth year in college , he/she
will have to take a number of those costly trainings from yet another
*training* school. Some seminars cost around 1200 PHP and some cost as
much as 6,000 PHP. On my experience this part costed me at round 60,000
- 50,000 PHP, this figure does not include the extra cost such as meals
, transportation etc.

Word of caution in taking these so called seminars. Take these only when
necessary and required by your employing company and always put the WALK
IN on the enrollment form whenever enrolling in a training center as a
precaution , why you may ask ? It so happens that some companies have an
agreement with training centers that whenever an enrollee mentions their
name on the enrollment form they get a cut on the money. Plainly
speaking those companies are making a profit on their applicants who are
not yet consider as employed and I could name two companies whom are
confirmed to be doing this , Scanmar shipping company is one of those,
and Seabird shipmanagement is another - I don't know about the rest.

After the harrowing cost of the so called *training* seminars, a
students also has to get and pay for the mandatory documents needed such
as C.O.C. , N.A.C. certificates on each seminars, passport , Seaman's
book and SRC card , and the so called "blue Logbook" issued by the CHED
.Overall these documents would cost as much as 6,000 PHP on the pockets
of the applicant / college student .

Finally before getting employed on a specific company , an applicant /
deck cadet should consider that he/she has a sponsor from or inside the
company (commonly called "backer" here in the Philippines). Without that
kind of factor a deck cadet would not even stand a chance being employed
or much less entertained In the company office. There is of course a
slim chance that a deck cadet would get employed without a " backer"
assuming that he/she has enough skills (and money) , there are still a
few companies who are in some ways (or extent) offer to join their
company - though not as a deck cadet (unfortunately these position is
reserved to the "elite" school - ha !). NYK shipping company and Dolship
company is one of those , and so is hammonia shipping company. Grim as
it maybe but most of the deck cadets out there end up without any
sponsors and treated to be unwanted.

Practical wise the easier part of being able to finish it, is to take a
chance in the domestic shipping industry. Don't get me wrong , its easy
to get inside the company but the main problem lies here in staying and
surviving for a year. Some domestic companies will let you "IN" for a
sum of money which ranges like 15,000 PHP to as much as 60,000 PHP and
you don't need a "Backer" for it , all the negotiation will be taken
care of by the peso bill. Sweet as it may sound but unfortunately the
typical naive deck cadet will find out later on that working for that
company is harrowing to say the least. From stories that I've heard the
food was horrible and having "pork chops" on your plate is a privilege
rather than a necessity. Some companies don't even pay the mandatory
benefits required by Philippine law such as Social security, Housing
loan and Health insurance, apparently from what I heard SULPICIO LINES
is notorious in this.

On my personal experience , only chose this option as a last resort when
all other options have been tried. Working on the domestic shipping has
an extreme amount of difficulty and never go there unprepared.

After being *employed* on a certain company and finishing the one year
prescribed for a BS degree. A student must go back to the school and
enroll the so called BS degree. Enrollment requirements varies depending
on which private maritime school you get to enroll at, On my case its
was fair easy given the fact that I never forgot to fill out the logbook
and pay the said "Enrollment Fee" by PMI which if I recall correct cost
about 15,596.80 PHP (Based on the receipt , circa 2012).

COMPARISON
I haven't exactly computed for the overall cost (or at least estimate)
on training a "Seaman" from start to finish , I could only estimate that
its close to half a million (or perhaps a million) PHP overall - a very
high priced course . The thing here is that I compared it to other
courses specifically Aero nautical schools and here's what I found out.

1. Aeronautical schools though a bit costly is just only for one year
compared to a maritime school were it goes to a full four years and
though the cost in only incremental , it is a fact that every now and
then you have to pay for something here.

2. Airline pilot have a smaller population, estimated to only a few
hundred to a thousand which might suggest that jobs opportunities in
this industry are big enough to accommodate everyone. Compared to
sailors were the estimated number is around 250,000 to 150,000 active
sailors alone, estimates could be as much as half a million to 750,000
overall which includes non active sailors. . Heck there is even a survey
that 30 PERCENT OF ALL SAILORS IN THE WORLD ARE FILIPINOS. So its very
obvious how crowded this job is - so crowded that this industry is badly
choked up and cannot support everyone.

3.Airline pilots have a less *medical requirement* compared to sailors.
In other words the medical exam is very lenient, compared to the
maritime industry were a sailor is thoroughly screened from head to
foot. From what I've heard certain medical problems that would render a
sailor "medical unfit" is considered "medically fit" if put on to
airline medical standards.

4.Airline Pilots have a "regularization" kind of job , were as a sailor
here is only based on a contractual kind of job. Simply put airline
pilots have more stability In work than a sailor.

Heck there is a huge difference in being a sailor and a commercial
airline pilot , Enough to make a college student question if maritime
profession was the *right* kind of college course to take.

EQUIPMENT REPAIR : EXPERIMENTAL HEADLIGHT ATTACHMENT

During my sisters visit , she accidentally stepped on the experimental headlight for the hard had helmet. The damage was so bad that the plastic hinge was completely destroyed and broken, rendering the handle and the headlight completely separate.

Good thing though i managed to repair it using a metal type corner hinge (ones used in a house door or even a wooden cabinet) and was successful in reattaching and replacing the destroyed plastic hinge. The bad part however is that the hinged is not movable and will never be, It is now completely fixed . In other words this headlight will in someways block my view on the hard hat helmet id be using in the future, (if ever i get onboard and work as a sailor again).

Another thing disadvantageous is that this headlight is now more metallic in appearance because of its repair rather than being completely plastic type  (I'm not sure if safety application will be jeopardize since most ship maintenance equipment's are plastic based). In any case the good part of the repair is that the equipment is much more stronger than ever since part of it is now metal.

By the way this "experimental" headlight is the headlight i purchased in robinsons east mall in cainta, (just right beside another mall) . to be specific this can be found in "ACE HARDWARE" store . Unfortunately due to some modifications i've made , this headlight is somewhat a bit different from it was on its original form.

Items used on the repair were

Super glue
Swissknife
cardboard box cutter
two small screws
a small door hinge
Electrical tape (for rubber black coating of the hinge)

THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL

Weather was kind of bitchy these past few days that went by and
eventually it was so severe that the metropolis city ended up being
submerged in knee high flood water (in some areas of the city it was
more than 6 feet deep). Of course I live in the lower parts of marikina
city (which is part of the metropolis by the way) and its pretty obvious
is my house is also affected by the flood - just like everyone else in
the metropolis.

Nothing much I can do about it though, mother nature just bashed her way
with water and mud .In the end I just prepared the shovel ,2 plastics
buckets ,a garden hose and a dust pan after the flood for the clean up.

Frankly cleanup wasn't that bad at all and compared to the flood I've
experienced three years ago, it only took me four hours to clean
everything up (compared three years ago were I had to spend a week - yes
a week in cleaning out all the mud inside my house) .

During the cleanup , I felt sorry for the two kittens (out of six
kittens) that got caught up in the backyard and died of drowning. Some
how I should have acted earlier in saving those kittens and putting them
inside the house, unfortunately by the time I acted - two kittens were
already missing and at first I though the mother cat just simply moved
it away and transferred it to another place, the rest of the kittens
were safety transferred inside the house.

It was only after the flood that subsided that the bodies of the kittens
were found.

I'm bothered because the two kittens that had died were close to me and
was always following me whichever place I go at the backyard. Now I can
never see those kittens again because they're dead, in some ways I feel
responsible for those kittens - if I acted up a bit sooner , the kittens
could have been still alive.

I guess that's the difference between humans and animals , we (humans)
look out for each other -whether we like it or not and have a complete
concept of what life and death exactly means. Animals just follow one
rule - "survival of the fittest"

Anyway I just don't want to continue talking about the kittens , that
just simply saddens me up

So aside from shoveling all the mud , I had other news from my internet
life.

Okay one of my acquaintances (J. Bergonio) is asking for a financial
favor for some sort of a problem he had over his school, problem is I'm
not the good Samaritan type and I'm not exactly sure if helping him is a
good idea.

In other news

I went browsing a few blogs over the internet , checking out blogs from
other young sailors out there and saw a few good ones.

One such blog I've encountered came in from a Malaysian Deck Cadet From
"ALAM School" , according to the blog I've read. Malaysians don't
exactly pay much attention in the maritime job area on the fact that
there are more jobs in the land based than overseas and in some ways
land based jobs have a much higher pay than the sea based ,

Point is according to what I've read since their sailor population is
low , the Malaysian government and Malaysian private sector encourages
some students to take a sailing profession . They even go as far as
shouldering all the expenses for the person from start to finish just to
make sure that the countries seaman population doesn't go zero.

He made emphasis that although the Malaysian sailors are fewer in number
compared to Indian and Filipino counterparts , He could say the least
that deck cadets are well cared for and not one Malaysian deck cadet
ends up being chased out and treated as "unwelcome" in a private
shipping company and if one does then the *Malaysian* government will
take matter's in their own hands and smack the said company,

According to him the Malaysian sailors are so pampered that they end up
lazy.

I'm not exactly sure if he's claims were true or exaggerated but what I
can support is that the Philippines have a weak economy and as a result
jobs overseas are more lucrative than the land based ones. As for the
maritime industry here , I could comment that a simple Filipino deck
cadet is treated very differently and exactly the opposite on what he
describes in Malaysia.


What I can comment is that the industry here is so badly choked up and
cannot support a huge workforce population and to make matters worse the
available good jobs are monopolized and reserved only to those so called
"Elite" Schools , and the rest of the deck cadet workforce end up
languishing in worse conditions , or worse disillusioned and unemployed.

LONG TERM PLANS

Time flies so fast , and I haven't noticed that it's been 11 months that
I've been marooned (though it took me 4 months after arriving to
actually realize that). Again as what I had been blabbering from time to
time, there is no exact proof or assurance that this so called "Scanmar"
will ever call and sign me up , or it ever going to happen at all.

It's been 7 months and I don't want to give up hope but I have to move
on , It would be more worst hanging on something that will never arrive.

I had drawn up a couple of plans , maybe I should get a job first on the
land base - just to cover the cost of my further agenda's that will be
going in the coming later months. Perhaps I'm thoroughly deciding if
returning to TELETECH company for the third time will be an option,
after all most people who knew me there could have gone (or went away to
another company) . I'd already made up my mind about this and I'm
already proceeding on this as early last week of August to the first
week of September. Hopefully of all goes well , Then I'd be starting to
apply for a Sea based job by December.

Though initially I was aiming on an overseas kind of sea based job ,
this time though it's slated to be a Domestic / Coastwise job. Given
that my scheduled plans will be on December, it will bring me enough
time to buy the necessary supplies and equipment I'd be needing . It
would be the best of my interest that I should be well prepared and well
stocked before venturing , knowing that working in the domestic shipping
is a highly dangerous job.

If all goes well according to my plans drawn up , I could expect an
answer by at least early quarter 2013 or mid 2013 depending on "traffic
employment" on the company I'd be joining at. And by that time my best
estimate's is that I'm fully stock and well prepared.

For now I could tell is that I best enjoy my remaining days free and
doing nothing. By next month I'd be doing a couple of drastic changes.

SWEET TALK

For the moment , I'm very much occupied in ironing out paper works for
my upcoming license application and up to now I'm still fixing out some
needed documents. To be specific the number 07 requirement called
"Comprehensive Medical Certificate" , apparently most of the medical
clinics I inquired about this don't have the slightest idea what's it
all about and what kinds of specific medical screening would I take.

I do have one clue which the receptionist at manila doctors hospital
clinic gave me, he said that I should go to the main hospital located in
U.N. avenue , ermita manila. Based on the info I should look for resty
on the "industrial medical services department" of the mentioned
hospital and inquire further about the cost. Fair enough and I think
that was the best answer I got for today and quite frankly this person
knows exactly what I'm taking about.

Just to add some info on Why the hell am I pursuing to have a
comprehensive medical checkup in the first place ?! The main reason is
that I need to know the general status of my health and I'm just using
the guise of "for licensure examination purposes" as a cover up for my
personal agenda's.

As for the other requirements needed aside from the medical , I could
say that I had no problems with them whatsoever and it's fairly easy.
One such instance is the said so called "Notarized Document form" which
I easily handled in just a few minutes on a local notary lawyer. I also
made copies of the said Notarized form, at first I was having trouble
finding a colored Xerox . Fortunately I stopped at national bookstore
before going home and saw that they had colored Xerox machine, I never
wasted the opportunity to make copies of that document.

The following day

I went to manila doctors hospital and ended up in Dr. Hayden Kho's
clinic (7th floor Room 711). Which I talked to his secretary and she
said (the secretary) that I don't exactly need a comprehensive medical
exam , all that I needed is just a basic Physical medical exam and
that's about it. She also added that the service cost 1800 PHP. The
price is reasonable and considering the credibility of manila doctors
hospital , it is highly impossible that PRC would not accept it.

After the said inquiry at the hospital , I managed to have the spare
time to visit the PRC office near Far Eastern University to clarify a
few checklist parts. Based on what the rude female staff at window 16,
She said that id doesn't matter which clinic (or hospital) the medical
certificate would from, as long as it's department of health accredited
, then its good enough.

By the way it was only I few days ago that I had finally managed to
figure out were in the hell was PRC actually located. I had no idea that
it was located just in between two well known universities here in metro
manila, to be specific it was in between FEU University -UST University.

Ha ! How could I ever known all this time that PRC was to be found there
- I've been walking to that street during my college years and not once
have I noticed that PRC was there. Anyway it was not my fault that I
didn't know its exact location , given the fact that PRC office building
is so small and what made it more unnoticeable was it's been "sandwich"
by two gigantic universities .

In other matters

Looking back I decided that I should try to consult another well known
medical establishment. Medical City S.M. Marikina ( just a branch ) ,
Upon inquiry the receptionist mentioned that the cost of the medical
service was just only 600 PHP and comes along with a package of CBC . So
I guess medical city offers a much cheaper version . Well as long as its
recognized by PRC and DOH then I think its practical wise that I go for
Medical city (though personally I opt at Manila Doctors hospital).

In other news

Had a chat with a former classmate of mine during college years in Face
book and got an idea that perhaps I could search the social network and
see our former classmates there. Well not that it matter's but I'd just
like to see how is everybody doing after 10 years and see how they are
in life , after all I haven't been in touch with them in a decade. I
wonder how are they doing right now?

Last Saturday mom and dad saw a television show dedicated to Filipino
sailors, at the end of the television show there was a message saying
that "Filipino sailor's show be proud of this profession and sailing is
a noble job" . Upon seeing the portion I could only look down with
disdain on what's the TV host is saying and mumble "does this bastard
knew exactly what he is saying?" , As far as I know most Filipino's
sailors go thru as far as having a professional license and then end up
doing work similar to a constructions job. The typical public have
exactly had no idea that this profession is one of the worst jobs in the
Philippines , too many people and not enough job vacancies to go around
with, the maritime industry in the Philippines is overcrowded and over
standardized .


Thanks but I'm not fooled on sweet talking