Having a background in Journalism, I'm sure to say that a “HEADLINE” is the most important part of a newspaper not only because it's the first thing that you will see in a broadsheet but also because it is the reason why readers buy your material. It merely defines what's in store for you in the following pages. Considering that millions of Filipino people are unemployed nowadays and thousands of these people are using print materials to search for jobs, can we still say that a headline of a newspaper matters a lot? Partially the answer is yes, but let's look at the situation as a whole, I know you know what I mean; we also have to consider the “no's” for an answer.
If you buy a newspaper sold anywhere for just P15 to P20 you'll see a lot of advertisements about job hiring or what we call “classified ads.” Through this section people search for jobs compatible to them hoping that they'll be given a chance.
I have also become one of them, searching, scanning through the pages of my somewhat “book of dreams” that will help me get there someday; get me to my dream job. Then somewhere between searching and hoping you'll see a light of chances in the ads like “Why wait? Apply now and be a customer service associate. Earn 12 thousand and up each month!”There are lots of ads like this on newspapers and even online, and because media influence readers/viewers, these ads really make big impact on people's lives, no wonder lots of Filipinos would definitely pray to get this job.
One main reason why there are a lot of call center agents in the Philippines is that this industry offers higher basic wage than other jobs. Will a public school teacher be capable of earning 12 thousand pesos per month? How about construction workers? Will they be earning 500 pesos per day? Maybe in other countries who offer much more salary but here in the Philippines saying that a construction worker can get 500 pesos a day that would be a lie.
Last year after graduation I promised myself that I will be a journalist, photographer, pre-school teacher, NGO (Non-Government Organization) Volunteer and a Disk jockey. Every time I scan through the pages of the broadsheets and browse through the internet I didn't miss a day without seeing a job hiring for call centers and these ads really made a big impact to me knowing that as a fresh graduate I can earn that much money. So I also decided to apply in call centers and then came a time that I need to choose between the call center job for 15 thousand and creative writer position for 7 thousand and I will tell you its hard to decide. It's hard to decide whether to choose the one I love to do than the one which will give me higher pay. As for me, I chose having the higher salary rather than doing what I dreamt of doing all my life.
Being in this industry, I have seen a lot of things that made call center agents different from other workers. Most of us feel to be a one day millionaire every payday receiving our basic salary plus allowance plus commissions (for sales agents like me) then after five days we end up waiting again for the next pay out hoping to receive more. But have you ever wonder that call center companies won't pay that much if the job is just as easy as memorizing A B C or counting 1 2 3?
During my first day of taking in calls, I felt butterflies in my stomach and from toes to fingertips my whole body felt numb and I want to cry and give up. It's hard, very hard that it came to the point that I have convinced myself that this was the worst job in history and even cursed every single minute that I've stayed at work. “Everything was a mistake,” I said to myself, the calls are hard to handle, the script and call flow is confusing, the systems - very technical, the customers - I don't know what they're talking about (not everyone know what mail in rebate is), the products and services we're about to sell, in short, all about this job will make me loose my head anytime. Even if we did undergo training before taking in calls, the feeling still remains. With the pressure, physical and psychological stress that we encounter from customers' complains, discrimination, everything! Then I found myself getting used to irate callers shouting and cursing, saying foul words, discriminating representatives saying we are incompetent idiots when they can't even spell their street name considering that's the street they grew up on (funny). Well, even if most of the time they're getting through my nerves, I have to control my anger.
Days, weeks, months passed by but then now I am still working in the same call center for 13 months finding myself tired, sick and not contented with just 15 to 20 thousand salary every month. My body is giving up already and the thousands salary per month is not enough to give us the strength that we had at the past. Everything about us is now different. I sleep during daytime and awake at night, I sleep for 12 hours every rest day but still wanting to sleep more. I'd become anemic now feeling sick everyday. All of these made my personality changed. I loose temper easily, I hate talking as soon as I leave the workplace, I wanted everything straight to the point. If you want to tell me something, tell me immediately, I hate making short stories long. I rarely talk to my parents and sisters. As soon as I get home I go straight to my room, take a shower then sleep then wake up with the alarm, shower, fix myself then leave the house. Everything wasn't normal as it used to be.
Luckily I am recovering now; I have recently resigned and promised to myself not to go back to the same work ever again. I'd rather choose to have a minimal amount of salary as long as I am enjoying my work.
So for my readers, this is for you to reflect upon, you might wanna try this industry but you have to make sure that you know when to end it. If you feel you're life is turning upside sown, think, you might want to stop before everything falls in the wrong place.
