The world is full of sadness and many people would take to the extremes just to have someone to talk to, to feel that they are needed and to have someone make them feel a sort of affection even if it comes in the form of a text message from some woman that they won't never hug or kiss or have sex with in their lives.
- lovingly yours, june 11, 2005
---
It was around mid-morning. The tricycle which I took from Shaw Boulevard, finally found the posh condominium where the company I was going to apply for work was located. Getting out of the trike, I composed a text message telling the interviewer that I was already heading towards the unit where their office was. Almost immediately, he replied and told me to wait for him. He was just doing something important and he would attend to me shortly after he is done with his errands.
When I reached the unit, I rang the doorbell several times but nobody opened the door for me. When I looked inside, everything was dark and bleak. There was a worn-out and dusty sofa set beside the door, beyond the living room was an empty dining table that separates the sala from the kitchen.
I stood at the front door for several minutes, until another guy showed up. He was sporting a long hair and a rugged get up. He introduced himself as an applicant, who's shift in a call center had just ended. We talked briefly about his work, since I was set to join Convergys after passing their English refresher training a week before.
Suddenly, a short, stout guy with eyeglasses appeared before us. Looking at his face, one can assume that he is still young - maybe in his mid-thirties. He was wearing a Lacoste shirt and a cream-colored pants. He was quite cool to talk with, preferring to enter a conversation without any formalities whatsoever. In fact, he got along easily with the other applicant who appeared very confident with the kind of job he was about to join.
The interviewer lead us to the dining table and introduced himself as Francis. He is the boss of the start-up company that is interested to hire us. As he gave a brief history of the company, he took a bundle of teen and adult magazines scattered in one of the chairs near him. He then pointed the several advertisements in those magazines looking for text mates. We read the advertisements from each of the magazines and when we were already getting an idea about the nature of work we will be doing, Francis told us that our job is to respond to incoming text messages in the computer pretending that we are the text mates of the users.
The job description made me pause for a few seconds, to swallow in one gulp what Francis explained to us.
"You mean we have to think and act like the girls or boys these users were texting? How's that possible?" I asked Francis.
"That's why we needed people who are innate actors and actresses; we need very open minded people here," he answered. "This is an adult-oriented business. Are you cool with it?"
I felt silent after his question. While further explaining what the company is all about, all I could think of is whether I am in the right career path, or whether the company I would be joining is legitimate or not.
At that moment, life presented me with two options: Being hired in Convergys was just days - if not weeks away. I could patiently wait for their call, or grab this opportunity immediately since I badly needed work and earnings during that time.
The other applicant, who felt a little restless during the interview asked things about benefits and all those job security crap. Since I understood that Francis' business was just starting, I expected to get only my basic salary for the meantime. Other benefits aside from that must wait.
Francis asked me to wait downstairs while he introduced the system to the other applicant. While waiting for them to return, I called a friend who might be interested to try my company - even if he takes it as a part-time endeavor. Unfortunately he was already well-entrenched at C-Cube during those days, so he just bid me good luck with my interview. When they returned, the other applicant can't hardly talk anymore. He appeared distant - not only to me but also to the boss as well. Within minutes, he informed us that he needed to leave. Nevertheless, he told Francis that he would seriously think about the offer.
The interviewer then asked me to come with him upstairs so that he could introduce me not only to the team, but also to the account that I will be handling - supposed I take the job.
He lead me into a small room with just five computers. There were three operators busy tapping their keyboard when I entered the floor. One is a girl with big chinita eyes, the other one is a guy and the last one, who was loud and flamboyant, is somewhere in-between. He first introduced me to the guy - who was just hired a week before. We would be working for the same account that's why it's important that we get along pretty well. Unlike the other two, who were more interested in chit-chatting with one another than noticing me, this long-haired guy was extremely quiet. He just nodded when Francis introduced us to one another.
The interviewer asked me to sit in front of the computer. He then opened the link to my account and typed a temporary access code so I could work on the system even if I'm just a trainee.
Within seconds, I was already responding to the incoming text keyword appearing on the computer screen.
"Hi, my name is Karla. Do you like to chat with me? How are you?" I slowly typed in the message box.
"Not bad Joms," Francis commended me. "Do you know that there are some applicants who would take ten minutes to write such simple introduction?"
Feeling satisfied with my answers, he left me to check on the other operators. From time to time, he would take a peek on my screen, read aloud my replies, then move on to return to the other operators - who at that time was having conflicts with their day offs. During those tense moments, I kept my cool. Remembering how good I've always been chatting with folks in MIrC. I told myself that I will get this job, no matter what.
Hours passed and I didn't even noticed that the operator's shift is about to end. Sensing that I have had enough exposure with the account. I told Francis that I have to leave.
On our way down, he gave me some few more briefings about the company, the system that I would be working and the environment that I will be exposed to. The details were all forgotten now.
Two years after it all happened.
Today,
From four operators in the morning shift alone, we now number around fifty. The three accounts, which the operators handled when I was interviewed had already grown to around ten. And the four operators that I have met before? The girl became my team leader, the other guy, still silent all these years remains with the company. The other one resigned, just when things were about to turn better.
I became the fourth longest-serving employee of the company, which has now grown so big, I could not keep count anymore of the new operators being hired almost every other week. Things may have been very different now, but whenever I get the chance to remember how I started with them,
And how I almost resigned too many times during the turbulent months of adjustment to the work environment.
I feel a sense of humility out of all the good and bad experiences I already shared with the company - now that I can proudly say that I have prospered in the kind of work I am doing.
And I'm glad that I stayed long enough to recount how simple things were, when the boss was the interviewer and sometimes the operator (when someone was absent) all at the same time.
Such things... will never happen again.
- lovingly yours, june 11, 2005
---
It was around mid-morning. The tricycle which I took from Shaw Boulevard, finally found the posh condominium where the company I was going to apply for work was located. Getting out of the trike, I composed a text message telling the interviewer that I was already heading towards the unit where their office was. Almost immediately, he replied and told me to wait for him. He was just doing something important and he would attend to me shortly after he is done with his errands.
When I reached the unit, I rang the doorbell several times but nobody opened the door for me. When I looked inside, everything was dark and bleak. There was a worn-out and dusty sofa set beside the door, beyond the living room was an empty dining table that separates the sala from the kitchen.
I stood at the front door for several minutes, until another guy showed up. He was sporting a long hair and a rugged get up. He introduced himself as an applicant, who's shift in a call center had just ended. We talked briefly about his work, since I was set to join Convergys after passing their English refresher training a week before.
Suddenly, a short, stout guy with eyeglasses appeared before us. Looking at his face, one can assume that he is still young - maybe in his mid-thirties. He was wearing a Lacoste shirt and a cream-colored pants. He was quite cool to talk with, preferring to enter a conversation without any formalities whatsoever. In fact, he got along easily with the other applicant who appeared very confident with the kind of job he was about to join.
The interviewer lead us to the dining table and introduced himself as Francis. He is the boss of the start-up company that is interested to hire us. As he gave a brief history of the company, he took a bundle of teen and adult magazines scattered in one of the chairs near him. He then pointed the several advertisements in those magazines looking for text mates. We read the advertisements from each of the magazines and when we were already getting an idea about the nature of work we will be doing, Francis told us that our job is to respond to incoming text messages in the computer pretending that we are the text mates of the users.
The job description made me pause for a few seconds, to swallow in one gulp what Francis explained to us.
"You mean we have to think and act like the girls or boys these users were texting? How's that possible?" I asked Francis.
"That's why we needed people who are innate actors and actresses; we need very open minded people here," he answered. "This is an adult-oriented business. Are you cool with it?"
I felt silent after his question. While further explaining what the company is all about, all I could think of is whether I am in the right career path, or whether the company I would be joining is legitimate or not.
At that moment, life presented me with two options: Being hired in Convergys was just days - if not weeks away. I could patiently wait for their call, or grab this opportunity immediately since I badly needed work and earnings during that time.
The other applicant, who felt a little restless during the interview asked things about benefits and all those job security crap. Since I understood that Francis' business was just starting, I expected to get only my basic salary for the meantime. Other benefits aside from that must wait.
Francis asked me to wait downstairs while he introduced the system to the other applicant. While waiting for them to return, I called a friend who might be interested to try my company - even if he takes it as a part-time endeavor. Unfortunately he was already well-entrenched at C-Cube during those days, so he just bid me good luck with my interview. When they returned, the other applicant can't hardly talk anymore. He appeared distant - not only to me but also to the boss as well. Within minutes, he informed us that he needed to leave. Nevertheless, he told Francis that he would seriously think about the offer.
The interviewer then asked me to come with him upstairs so that he could introduce me not only to the team, but also to the account that I will be handling - supposed I take the job.
He lead me into a small room with just five computers. There were three operators busy tapping their keyboard when I entered the floor. One is a girl with big chinita eyes, the other one is a guy and the last one, who was loud and flamboyant, is somewhere in-between. He first introduced me to the guy - who was just hired a week before. We would be working for the same account that's why it's important that we get along pretty well. Unlike the other two, who were more interested in chit-chatting with one another than noticing me, this long-haired guy was extremely quiet. He just nodded when Francis introduced us to one another.
The interviewer asked me to sit in front of the computer. He then opened the link to my account and typed a temporary access code so I could work on the system even if I'm just a trainee.
Within seconds, I was already responding to the incoming text keyword appearing on the computer screen.
"Hi, my name is Karla. Do you like to chat with me? How are you?" I slowly typed in the message box.
"Not bad Joms," Francis commended me. "Do you know that there are some applicants who would take ten minutes to write such simple introduction?"
Feeling satisfied with my answers, he left me to check on the other operators. From time to time, he would take a peek on my screen, read aloud my replies, then move on to return to the other operators - who at that time was having conflicts with their day offs. During those tense moments, I kept my cool. Remembering how good I've always been chatting with folks in MIrC. I told myself that I will get this job, no matter what.
Hours passed and I didn't even noticed that the operator's shift is about to end. Sensing that I have had enough exposure with the account. I told Francis that I have to leave.
On our way down, he gave me some few more briefings about the company, the system that I would be working and the environment that I will be exposed to. The details were all forgotten now.
Two years after it all happened.
Today,
From four operators in the morning shift alone, we now number around fifty. The three accounts, which the operators handled when I was interviewed had already grown to around ten. And the four operators that I have met before? The girl became my team leader, the other guy, still silent all these years remains with the company. The other one resigned, just when things were about to turn better.
I became the fourth longest-serving employee of the company, which has now grown so big, I could not keep count anymore of the new operators being hired almost every other week. Things may have been very different now, but whenever I get the chance to remember how I started with them,
And how I almost resigned too many times during the turbulent months of adjustment to the work environment.
I feel a sense of humility out of all the good and bad experiences I already shared with the company - now that I can proudly say that I have prospered in the kind of work I am doing.
And I'm glad that I stayed long enough to recount how simple things were, when the boss was the interviewer and sometimes the operator (when someone was absent) all at the same time.
Such things... will never happen again.
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