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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

END RESULT JUSTIFIES THE MEANS



When we started this training phase there was 21 of us, but now the numbers have already been trimmed to13 and I bet it will go down more by the end of our training phase. For now the most of the trainee's , I think will hold out and go past beyond the training phase. On my situation which is barely hanging on the 79 percent threshold when it comes to computerized quizzes , I'm still needing a point more to get passing mark and I'm now taking preventative steps to ensure that I make it to the 80 percent passing mark - such as cheating.

Eventually my low overall score caught the attention of "Norman" and I received a email "Memo" from him before lunch break , indicating my situation. I'm fully aware of what will be the consequences about it and I do known how will I end up if I don’t shape up, that’s why I'm doing ever efforts in ensuring that it doesn't happen to that - at least for now.

One such effort I'm doing is copying some answers on seatmates preferably either from "Erich" , "Mico" or from "jason" . Sometimes I go and take a peek at "Marks" or "Rene" answers in their computers. Believe it or now this has incredibly boosted my score from 73 percent (overall score by the time the memo was emailed) to 79 percent . I'd try to keep this tactic in order for me to get the Threshold 80 percent and maintain it.

Don’t get me wrong , I've already perceived that this "Mission" is just only intended originally to be four weeks and its just to get money from TRANSCOM and having at least 16000 PHP in my pocket plus back pay money is quite enough to finance my other agenda's related to maritime. However I figured if I stayed longer , it could mean that I would be digging in for more money at TRANSCOM and having beyond 16k worth of money is much better.

 To simply say it, My mission objective's have been altered a bit and I'm interested now in further extending my stay here in TRANSCOM for at least another five weeks to make preparations and draw money - It doesn't matter what decision or course of actions will I take to achieve it , as long as I get the satisfactory results. THE END RESULT JUSTIFIES THE MEANS… It never matter to me if I pass or fail the training phase as long as I get the money and the main reason why I'm putting extra efforts is purely financially motivated reasons

In other news ….

Most of us were confused to see a memo posted in "KB" (short term for "knowledge base" software tool , a program we use as a reference to this account) indicating that CS&B department will now have a 24 /7 business hours, which meant that the work here will be rotational and some call center agents will be placed in either the morning or night shift randomly - simply saying more workload for us.  Were confused in the sense that according to our perceived knowledge our job only indicates a job shift of around 3pm to 3am shift and not beyond it.  "Erich" asked "Norman" about this and he replied that TRANSCOM or "Talktalk" wants their service to widen to UK customers, Yeah good for them and bad for us because it instantly means always queuing on the phone line.

During lunch break , I accidentally saw "E.Chavez" sitting in table next to my table . I approached her and shared a few gossips with her and what's the latest news going on around her after I last saw her in ICT Call center company (precursor company of the Notorious "SKYES" company). From what I heard , she's been quite a while in the BPO and has been bouncing from one company to another , from what I recall it's at least been 5 years since I last saw her and told her that after I was through with ICT , I went to TELETECH and after which I later joined becoming a sailor and went back here in the BPO again.  She added that so far TRANSCOM company is an OK company compared to the previous companies she's hanged out.

 Another gossip I heard from "E.Chavez" was that "S.Nava's" Grand mother recently passed away,  I told her that I don't know any new lately from "S.Nava" and that I haven't been in touch for more than ten years , so I had little or not information at all at "S.Nava" .

Before "E.Chavez" left the table and went to work , she gave me a chocolate bar , she had on her pocket and said "welcome to TRANSCOM"

After the lunch break I saw "Rose" fiddling with a some sort of card at the training room , I approached her and saw a little green card and asked what's the card for. She replied " Don’t you know what's this is for ? - Its our Health card , an insurance kind of card and you can claim it at the clinic room in the fourth floor" . "Rose" really has an eye when I comes to finding certain objects and I hurriedly went on the floor to get mine , and when I arrived there I saw "Dustin" , "Mark" and "Jason" also claiming their respected Health Insurance cards also.  (The health insurance card is pictured above)

Monday, October 1, 2012

ITS SALARY DAY !!!



Only got two possible end scenario's over this TRANSCOM agenda. In either way I had no ill feelings over this and all I want is the money . I want it so bad ,I could taste it. I'm just being practical about this.

FAILED THE PRODUCT TRAINING PHASE AND "NESTING" PHASE - I get my salary and back pay. use the money to buy BhutBhut's pet cage (cat needs a new pet cage), pay a few debts to my younger sister , buy a few clothes, shoes  especially a wallet and the rest of the money get folded up on to be use for my next job hunting to another call center. If I'm still lucky maybe I'd use the remaining money for my PRC exam.

PASSED THE PRODUCT TRAINING PHASE AND "NESTING" PHASE - To be honest I haven't thought about this and the intended *mission* for TRANSCOM is just for a month, but here's a rough guess (If ever). get my salary, use the money to buy BhutBhut's pet cage (cat needs a new pet cage), pay a few debts to my younger sister , buy a few clothes, shoes  especially a wallet. Use the money for my licensure exam and simulator seminar. Stay with the company for a minimum 6 month and get promoted to either SME position, QA (though unlikely) or even perhaps a Trainer or Level 2 support for ops. Use the money to accumulate as much as possible to buy supplies and equipment and money needed for my sailing job - in order for me to "reboot" this dying job I left behind.

Frankly there are a lot of opportunities if I passed rather than not , but the overall reason is that I need the money to finance a my "long term projects" and that the only question here is how much money I could extract. For now the only thing I could comment about my situation is that "TRANSCOM" campaign is now on it's height and I'm midway in finding out the results of my efforts , only two more weeks and I'd get some answers about what will be the fate of this agenda.

In other issues to what I said earlier , There has been a progress in searching for the price of an SSBT - BRM seminar . I came across a website of a training center and found out that the cost of the seminar is not as pricy as what I though earlier , I cant recall exactly if it was "NEW SIM" training center or "MARITECH" training center that offers SSBT - BRM simulator courses with a 8500 PHP price tag. That price tag is not bad at all considering that some training centers out here charge for as much as 15000 PHP to 25000 PHP , In other words they offer half of the price with the same kind of Training environment . (5 days training plus assessment simulator exercise).

 Only problem for me now is how the hell could I raise that kind of money ? And if I do how long would it take me to generate that kind of money ?


Speaking of money …..

I already go my salary last September 28 and boy I'm so relieved while getting it, the pay wasn't that bad at all and was pretty generous . I was paid 9200 PHP for a single cut out pay of work done for ten days, what's more to my excitement was the appearance of my ATM card when I got it. (pictured above is the actual ATM Card issued to me and to the rest of the wave) , My expectations were just an orange card from union bank and yet as it turns out it’s a customized blue card with a company logo in it. I had worked previously with a couple of call centers before and none of them gave a customized card , they just usually issue a standard card and that’s about it , but here in TRANSCOM I could smile a bit on the efforts they do to please their employee's

Since it’s a salary day , My co-trainees and I , together with our instructor "Norman" went to a local fast food and ate together during break time and the only person who didn't come along was "Mico".  At the fast food "Mars" was telling to "Norman" on how bizarre "Mico" acts , saying that "Mico" is somewhat jealous on her looks.

I was with "Dustin" , "Jason" and "Erich" on the table listening to their stories, Apparently from what I heard "Dustin" tells about "Convergys" weird Monopoly cafeteria on their working spaces , while "erich" tells about why he ended up in the call center.

We went back to TRANSCOM at around 4am.

Training session wasn’t that quite hard and was not that hectic and Norman isn't that pressured to cram as much information on our heads. After the work , it was decided by some of the group to go to a drinking session near LIBIS. "CJ" was the one who suggested it , along with "BADONG" . So we went to the bar at LIBIS. The funny thing about this drinking session at the bar was that it is not done during nighttime but done in daytime like morning hours 8 am to 10 am.





There was me , "Jason", "Mark", "Chard" , "Rose", "McVin" , "Mars", "Gwen" , "RENE", "DAN", "Badong" and of course "CJ" . We hanged out there in the bar for a couple of hours and drank a few beers , After an hour it was very obvious that "CJ" and "Badong"  were already pig drunk as they were very talkative in manner.  "Rene" was the first one to leave the drinking session , then followed by "Rose" , "McVIN" , "Mars" and "Gwen" .  There were only seven of us left and we stayed there for 30 minutes more before finally calling it a *day* , "DAN" , me , "Jason" and "mark" rode a taxi then dropped me off in a jeepney station which heads towards Cubao ,along with me are  "jason" and "mark".

 We took a jeepney and during our transit, "mark" vomited inside the jeep which created a minor  scene among the passengers - fortunately though we were already at cubao area then. "Mark" was all messed up and drunk , literary covered with vomit from his shirt all the way down to his shoes. There was a nice lady there about her 40's or 50's who helped and gave us a medicine to deal with "Mark's" dizziness problem from alcohol.

We immediately went to the comfort room of farmer's mall , so that "mark" can clean up . I gave "Mark" my spare polo shirt inside my bag , as a replacement on his T-shirt since it was badly wet with vomit and "Mark" could wear it at all, A few minutes later "mark" emerged out of the comfort room and all cleaned up.  Since "jason" and "mark" are heading a different direction on their way home , I left then and boarded a jeepney going to marikina, But before I left the two I asked "mark" if he can handle himself on his way home , "mark" replied that there's nothing to worry about.


When I arrived at marikina, I took a detour and decided to buy a new and shiny pet cage for my pet cat "Batman" before going home.




 Anyway I would like also to thank the "Unknown" lady who helped up on "mark's" problem and gave us a medicine , Despite being a total strangers and have no obligation or liability to help us out whatsoever , she still managed to give her best in helping people she didn't even knew. I'm surprised as well that a stranger was helping us, since I have a negative image on how a Filipino is and how we treat each other. Again I would like to thank the "Unknown Lady" who helped us , thanking her may not mean much but it’s the least I could do and that not all Filipino's are grievous to each other, A lot of Filipino's are- but not all .

Sunday, September 30, 2012

DEFINITION OF A FILIPINO SEAMAN

Somehow whenever i read this article i remember a part of me and ponder if being a Filipino Sailor is really worth it. This article I've read is very neutral and doesn't really show or give the big picture of whats really happening on the maritime industry in the Philippines. Anyway my blog is based on the perspective of a Deck Cadet / Ordinary Seaman prospective.

They say here that the minimum base pay was 450 USD for the lowest rank, but when i got there i was earning only 305 USD based on the contract i signed, but the actual money i was being paid when i went working is just roughly 275 USD. Somehow i feel cheated and that the contract I signed was UNFAIR worst was that they kicked me out after enduring the maltreatment and serving them loyal.

Look closely and the article says there are around 280,000 who *graduate* (AMT and not BSMT) and the actually numbers of overall combined Filipino sailors from 1987 up to present are just 200,000 to 250,000 more or less. What I'm saying is that there is a huge discrepancy in the numbers of unemployment and that only a years number of *Graduating* students can easily overrun combined numbers of sailors of 25 years.

If you would go over the math , you can obviously see (even if your not a mathematician at all) that the numbers that actually get on board each years is something close to less than 20 percent each year and that the rest of the graduates are just languishing in unemployment or end up doing something not related. Those few who get accepted will face hardship of being overworked, underpaid and being harassed by fellow Filipino sailors.

Frankly speaking , being a Filipino Sailor sucks on some extent and sometimes i can't help but question my loyalty towards being a sailor. For the other people reading this , i guess its only up to you alone to judge for yourself' if my words contradicts other people idealism. Its my word against their's.....

This is the *Real* meaning of a Filipino Sailor based on an online encyclopedia called Wikipedia.


Link to the article is this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_seamen


Filipino seamen, also referred to as Filipino seafarers or Filipino sailors, are seamensailors, or seafarers from the Philippines. Although, in general, the term "Filipino seamen" may include personnel from the Philippine Navy or the Philippine Marine Corps, it specifically refers tooverseas Filipinos who are "sea-based migrant Filipino workers".[1]

Filipino seaman throwing the ball of the mooring rope.

Contents

  [hide

[edit]Training and qualification

Aspiring Filipino seamen are required to acquire degrees such as Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering from maritime schools. According to Miguel Angel Rocha, the vice-president for business development of CF Sharp Crew Management, Inc., one of the leading manning companies in the Philippines, there are around 80 to 100 maritime schools in the Philippines who offer these degrees. The courses had a three-year curriculum composed of classroom instruction and 12-months on-board training. After the course, the candidates will have to take the seaman’s state board exam.[1]
In order to become a registered seaman in the Philippines, applicants should have a valid seaman's certificate from the Philippine Coast Guard, a document that proves that the applicant passed the minimum standard requirements as a licensed mariner for the seamanship profession and trade.[2] The required seaman training certification is known as the Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), and is in accordance with the rules and regulatons of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).[3] Professional registration is done through the National Seamen Board (NSB) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).[2]

[edit]Statistics

There are around 280,000 students who graduate from maritime schools every year.[1] There are around more than 200,000[4] to 250,000[5]Filipinos employed as seamen worldwide, more than any other nationality.[5] According to an article in OFWGuide.com Salary Guide for Filipino Seamen one out of every five seamen in the world is a Filipino. The Philippines is one of the primary source of seamen in the global shipping and transport market. Filipino seamen are often recruited to man tankers and sea vessels from countries, including those from North AmericaSouth AmericaEurope and Asia,[1] such as Japan, the United StatesPanamaLiberiaCyprusBahamasJamaicaGreeceMaltaSingaporeNorwayand the Republic of Germany. Their employment contract can be from seven to eight months on average.[4]
According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Philippines is the world’s main supplier of seamen since 1987, making the Philippines the manning capital of the world. According to the Department of Labor and Employment of the Philippines, around 229,000 Filipino seamen were on board merchant shipping vessels around the world at any given time,[1] The figure showed that Filipino seamen comprised more than 25 percent of 1.5 million mariners worldwide, the "single biggest nationality bloc" in the shipping industry.[6] In 2007, according to the POEA, there were 1,157 seamen (869 in 2006) from the Philippines who had been employed by registered or accredited manning agencies.[1]
In 2007, the figure of Filipino seamen overseas was 226,900. Included in the total - according to job function - 31,818 were designated or ranked as seamen; 19,491 as oilers; 17,355 as ordinary seamen; 7,810 as mess men; 7,778 as chief cooks; 7,737 as bosuns; 7,056 as third engineers; 6,599 third mates; and 6,388 as waiters.[1] Based on the type of ship, 47,782 Filipino seamen were on board passenger-type vessels; 42,356 were on bulk carriers; 31,983 were on container ships; 25,011 were on tankers; 14, 462 were on oil or product tankers; 10,754 were on general cargo ships; 7,502 were on chemical tankers; 6,610 were on tugboats; 5,742 were on pure care carriers; and 3,471 were on gas tankers.[1]

[edit]On board Japanese ships

In 2009, during the 28th joint meeting of the Japan-Philippines Economic Cooperation Committee senior adviser of Komatsu Ltd. Toshitaka Hagiwara declared that 70% of Japanese maritime operations were manned by Filipinos seamen. According to president and chief executive officer of Magsaysay Maritime Corporation Doris Magsaysay-Ho, there were more than 28,000 Filipino crewmembers on board Japanese ships. Although classified as “non-domiciled special members”, Filipino seamen comprised 55% of the membership of the All Japan Seaman’s Union.[7]

[edit]On board United States ships


Filipino sailors of the US Navy met byPhilippine President Benigno Aquino III in the hangar bay aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on 14 May 2011.
In August 2007, according to Captain Rudy Lupton, commanding officer of the USS Blue Ridge (also known as LCC 19) – the command ship in the Pacific of the 7th fleet of the United States – around 120 (one-sixth) of the 650 seamen of the USS Blue Ridge was Filipino.[7]

[edit]On board FOC ships

A substantial number of Filipino seamen worldwide were often employed by FOC ships or "sweatships", meaning ships that were registered in a country (flag of registry of FOR) other than the country of ownership where registration fees were cheap, taxes are low or non-existent, and there were lax restrictions on the employment of cheap labor.[8] According to the ITF, there were about 20,906 FOC ships in 2003, including ships from PanamaLiberiaCyprusMalta, and the Bahamas. A third of Panamian-flagged ships were crewed by Filipino seamen, 12.8% of Liberian-flagged ships were crewed by Filipino seamen, 11% of Cypriot-flagged ships were crewed by Filipino seamen, 8.2% of Malta-flagged ships were crewed by Filipino seamen, 7.9% of Bahamas-flagged ships were crewed by Filipino seamen.[8] Below is a table comparing figures of Filipino seamen on board FOC ships in 2002[8] and in 2007, in order to show the statistical trend:[1]
Table 1: Deployment/assignment of Filipino seamen
Flag/Country of registrationNumber of Filipino seamen on board in 2007[1]Number of Filipino seamen on board in 2002[8]
Panama51,61450,651
Bahamas29,68126,164
Liberia21,96618,653
Singapore10,3086,492
Marshall Islands9,772no data available
United Kingdom8,1726,382
Malta7,5138,614
Cyprus7,0529,324
The Netherlands7,017no data available
Norway6,97511,682
Greeceno data available5,699
Japanno data available4,698

[edit]Maritime incidents and casualties

The shipping industry and seaman profession were not without incident or peril. There were maritime disasters that resulted in the loss of life of and injury to Filipino seamen. The following is a table showing some events in recent years that caused harm or death to seamen from the Philippines while on assignment abroad:[8]
Table 2: Maritime incidents and Filipino seamen casualties[8]
DateMaritime case/incidentLocation of case/incidentName(s) of ship(s)Type of shipFlag of shipNumber of Filipino seamen affectedDescription of casualties
20 November 1994Ship caught fireOff coast Norfolk, VirginiaPolydorosCargo shipno information1Death
January 1995Collision of ships while approaching portConstanta, RomaniaParis and You Xinno informationMalta and Hong Kong23Declared missing
February 1995Ship leaked while transporting lumberSailing towards Koreawhile in waters ofJapanSun River IICargo shipPanama10Drowned in freezing waters
21 August 1995Explosion on ship due to bursting oxygen and acetylene tanksno informationAfrican EvergreenCargo shipLiberia73 deaths, 4 injuries
20 June 1986Collision of shipsno informationPolydefkis and Anna Spiratouno informationCyprus and Greece24Declared missing
16 January 1998Sinking of shipOff the NewfoundlandcoastThe FlareBulk carrierCyprus16Death
22 July 1998Sinking of shipOff Kharg IslandIranBorvigilantTugboatUnited Arab Emirates96 deaths, 3 survivors
December 1998Disappearance of shipTaiwan StraitPixy MarioCargo shipPanama19Declared missing
25 August 1999Ship explosionMid-AtlanticKarteriaBulk carrierMalta32 deaths, 1 survivor with broken back and burns
2 November 1999Capsizing of ship in calm seasno informationMighty Servant 2Heavy load carrierNetherlands Antilles2Death
24 March 2009Sinking of shipno informationLeader LBulk carrierPanama13Death
1 November 2009Sinking of shipOff the coast ofTaiwanManila SpiritBulk carrierPanama12Death
8 November 2009Sinking of ship during a stormNear Dansol,Pangasinan, PhilippinesHo Feng 8Cargo shipPanama3Survived after drifting at sea for 3 days
25 July 2002Ship ran aground during a stormOff the southwest coast of JapanCo-op VentureBulk carrierPanama3Drowned
9 December 2002Explosion in ship due to high-pressure air leakOff the coast ofNewcastle, AustraliaThe Golden BridgeBulk carrierPanama1Death after sustaining head injuries
21 February 2003Capsizing of ship in rough seasOff a remote island in JapanPendoraCargo shipPanama164 presumed dead, 12 survivors rescued

[edit]Salary

The salary of Filipino seamen varies according to their position and is dependent on the employer or the hiring company. Their entitlements included benefits such as medical insurance, standby pay for senior officers, and good performance bonus for officers.[4] In the 1980s, the minimum pay set by the International Transport Workers' Federation for able-bodied (AB) seamen was around US$800 monthly, including fringe benefits, holiday pay, and overtime pay. Based on the bill by TUCP secretary general and former Philippine Senator Ernesto Herrera,[1] the lowest pay for a Filipino seaman aboard foreign ships was US$450 monthly, which was based on the minimum pay of US$276 set by the International Labor Organization as the monthly base pay for an able-bodied seaman who is the lowest ranking crewmember of a ship.[2]
According to Manolo I. Abella's Export of Filipino Manpower, the statistics from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) of the Philippines indicated that there were 18,293 Filipino marine engineers and 15,965 deck officers registered with the PRC in 1976. The registry of the National Seamen's Board (NSB) had 82,373 registrants during the beginning of July 1977. From the 82,373, 20.9% (17,255) were registered as qualified ship officers, the reset were registered as qualified crewmen.[2]

[edit]Contribution to Philippine economy

Filipino seamen is a major segment of overseas Filipino workers who contributed to the Philippine economy. Filipino seamen had been a major source of US dollar remittances to the Philippines. In 2008, according to Doris Magsaysay-Ho, 28,000 Filipino seamen remitted US$3 billion to the Philippines from Japan alone.[7] According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the total of financial remittances sent to the Philippines by overseas Filipino seamen was US$2.501 billion during the first nine months of 2009 (US$2.393 billion in 2008).[1]

[edit]Contribution to world trade

In 2010, according to the Business MonitorEfthimios E. Mitropoulos, the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) described Filipino seamen as sailors who were “unsung heroes” of an “unsung industry”, namely the shipping industry that carried “most of theworld trade in goods”. Mitropoulos further stated that the “international community should pay tribute to the Filipino seafarers” and to the Philippines for their contributions to the shipping and international seaborne trade.[6] On a similar note, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon hoped that many Filipino youth would join the seamen's profession.[6

CALLS AND TELEPHONE HANDLING



No ID cards were yet issued for our batch here in TRANSCOM and when I checked at the reception area in the fourth floor of the building I only get to see that only five of my co trainee's had been issued with an ID, the rest which includes me still have no  company I'd yet. The five co-trainee's of mine who had an ID was "Alan", "Dan" , "Jason", "Mark" and another one which I can't remember.

In other news

Most my co-trainees were terribly worried about our actual calls, "Mico" seems to be calm though she says that she will do her best on those calls , "Mcvin" was in Anxious and the same thing goes to "Gwen" and "Rose" , while me an "Jason" were not worried at all and was very calm probably because we knew that the QA is will not listening on this one and this is just some sort of Phone exercise.

At 11pm Norman (our trainer) told us to go to the 4th Floor production area to hear some live calls that agents are handling, We stayed there for about an hour and listened to the calls , Then after which we were ordered to go back to the "Palawan" training room to have our issued headsets given. 


There is nothing much to say about the head sets, Seriously and all I could comment is that the headset is somewhat not that as good and impressive as the "PLATRONICS" brand that I used way back in TELETECH Company.  For everyone's information the Headset brand , We were using is a "JABRA" brand.

A few minutes later after all of our headsets were given, Norman told us to go to the 5th floor production area (just right beside our training room) to our assigned stations and get our software tools ready. Minutes later we clicked in our "ready icon" on the soft phone and we were now "Live". I was expecting that there would be a flood of calls the moment I clicked the icon - To my surprise there was none and an hour pass not a single call came.

 Aside from getting bored waiting for a call , I was starting to feel that I need to take a piss and I left my station and headed towards Norman to ask permission to go to the toilet. To my dismay and horror , he told me to back to my station and said I cant go to the toilet - Son of a Bitch , Bastard !!! What the hell does he want me to do ? Piss on the computer ! - Fine if that's the case ! Hell ! The only reason why I approached him was only because of courtesy and I don’t want to sound disrespectful , but if that will be the case then Fuck courtesy ! Next time I wont ask permission anymore and will be going straight ahead to the toilet, its my fucking personal right to relieve myself on the toilet and piss there - otherwise I'd be pissing on the company computers. My fault on one part and I forgot to remember that we Filipino's are not that humanitarian towards fellow Filipino's.

One good thing of being furiously mad is that I get to have an extra strength to holding my piss.

For the whole four hours of taking calls I only got two calls , one is a customer who hang up after 30 second after getting the call and the other was something asking for enquiries about his broadband contract - and that’s about it.

After the phone exercise, we went back to the training room and was informed to open our online email clients and see the email. Upon opening it was a memo from our trainer reminding us that too many absences will leave us be removed from training (i.e. Fired) and that we have to "digitally" sign the said memo like a some sort of contract. When "DAN" read the email memo , he joking replied "This is more like selling your soul to the devil" , I could only giggle in his hilarious remark and quite frankly he's right. But it's ok and this isn't the first time that I signed unfair contracts.



Second day of taking in calls , but an hour or 30 minutes before we went to the 4th floor production area to barge in a few calls. Me, "Jason", "Mark", "Dustin" and a few others were talking and having a chat on what other call center companies out there would be at suitable in looking for a job. "Dustin" said that he's pretty much committed to getting a job here than anywhere else and said that he's already tired job searching , he added that he'd try to settle as long as he can here if in case things work out.

We discussed a few possible companies "Out there" like "AEGIS 24/7 people's support" (sounds more like a political party than a BPO company) but we all agreed that "AEGIS" pay its employee's too little like only 14K PHP compared here in TRANSCOM which amounts to 16K PHP basic. We also discussed an Australian account based company called "Acquire Asia" which supports DODO and perhaps Telstra  , but apparently from what "Gwen" claimed the work load there was tremendous - So tremendous that she resigned.

A few minutes later , Norman approached us in the 5th Floor cafeteria and told us to prepare and proceed to the 4th floor production area. So we went there and listened to call handling by other telephone operators , Classic stuff then after an hour we went back to the training room for a fifteen minute break then afterwards the usual drill in taking in calls at the fifth floor production area.

My station was seated next to "chard" and we keep asking each other questions when had trouble on callers. So far being a Customer service agent for billing is somewhat problematic for me on the big fact that "call flow" is non-linear which meant that there's no exact step by step call process and i have to think creatively on how to address the customers issue , which apparently takes time for me to *Think*, The only advantage I figured out for the customer service job category is that calls here are very short and fast paced ,lasting only for 5 minutes to 11 minutes tops.

For the actual call handling on this day , I never had any serious problems such as "bill explanation" or "I -Want-to-Talk-To-Your-Supervisor" calls - just had a few transfers , bill payments and general enquires  - nothing to get me distraught. Unfortunately though I handled calls with minimal problems , some of my co-trainee's were not that lucky, "Gwen" encountered a few piss off callers , "Erich" had trouble explaining bill charges to customers , "Rose" was generally ok with the calls, "Dustin" had been transferring callers in a "Cold transfer procedure" , "Mico" on the other hand was disconnecting calls every now and then for various reasons, "Mark" along with "Alan" are the luckiest and were not able to take in calls due to issue's with their log in passwords on the company server. In other words they just watch while we bleed on calls.

("Warm transfer " means that you have to make formal introduction on another telephone operator and informing the situation of the customer before passing it to the *other* operator , while in "Cold transfer" you simply dump and ditch the customer to the other telephone operator and let the operator handle the situation )

At 4am we went back the room for debriefing about our calls and at around 6 am, "Norman" gave an ice breaker . Apparently "Mico" was not in a good mood at that time and was pretty menstrual about being joked at, Resulting to "Mico" bad mouthing to "Norman" and making offensive comments like "This game sucks" and "I'm going to leave this room" . Everyone in the room didn't like how "Mico" was behaving and "Norman" just let "Mico" left the room without saying a word.

 I guess this was a pretty good example that the call center is open minded to all forms of opinion , be it either good or a bad one , It is respected without any backlash or harsh punishments - although some of the time it is taken advantage of. In the Maritime Industry , those things we take for granted at the call center are non existent and if it do exist - it is very limited. No personal freedom there and the right of open expression , If someone even dared to do that - there will be serious retaliation.

On the Next day….

I was so exhausted that I slept the whole day and ended up being waking at around 7pm, barely got 45 minutes to prepare for everything.  Upon arrival at TRANSCOM , I did my usual routine and saw "Dustin" waiting on the cafeteria , then after that I went to the fourth floor to log in to the internet station there and check my FB account then I return back to the fifth floor and saw that "jason" and "mark" are also there with "Dustin" , Soon afterwards some of my co-trainee's arrived one by one .

10 minutes before the Training class begin , "Rose" told me that the Company ID's have already been out at the reception desk - I hurriedly went there and "Rose" was right.

When the class began , All of us were surprised to see that "Norman" was not around and that "Jack" took over his class. Apparently "Norman" went to an unspecified emergency leave and "Jack" had to fill in for him for a day. Initially all of the class perceived her negatively , but later on things lighten up and she wasn't that bad at all . "Dan" even joked to "Jack" , About the meaning of NTE technical term saying that its called "Notice to Explain" instead of being "network terminal equipment" , Everybody laughed on that smart ass comment made by "DAN" .

In other matters…

"Alan" might not be coming back at all and perhaps has gone AWOL , its been three days that he went absent straight and there's little or no chance at all that he'd show up, However in other related matters  "CJ" showed up though he already used up his absences , it seems that he's back in the game or perhaps he's just showing up to get his salary first before going "AWOL".

In other matters also …..

Everyone is expecting and anxious about our salary which also includes me. As a matter of fact "Badong" , "Jason" and "mark" are coming early at TRANSCOM just to get their ATM's from payroll Department.  According to "Rene" the COMPENBIN office is open at least 12 midnight , though she is not sure about the office hours of payroll department.