Obsession to Life - the call center (Part II)

The foundation: As mentioned in Part I, Steven Bunyan was the leading light. I was eagerly waiting for the first break of the first day of process training. He was a keen listener and understanding the gravity of my situation, with a smile he says "chill out, it's easy". I volunteered to stay back post training and I was practicing on the simulations. Within two weeks I had memorized the screen shots of windows 95 to 2000 & XP. I read extensively on howstuffswork.com to understand what is ethernet, modem, firewall, router and a whole lot of technical terms discussed in the training. My confidence level slowly but steadily rose with the hot seat role plays.

The first call: The beep windows tech though familiar makes you conscious that it's live and there is no room for error. I was confident and thanks to all the practice sessions - I MADE IT, a first time fix on the call. The unparallelled thirst to excel made every call interesting and thus began the great journey - life on the phone!

The climb: 

 

Perseverance with unmatched dedication creates a vision. From being trained, I was a buddy to the new hires in the team, I started conducting crew briefs, participated in technical discussions, became a training assistant and I had in six months forgotten that vishwanath2k4@aol.com was my first email address. Self baffled that I was conducting back to back process trainings - it was giant leap.

It's essential to be irrationally brutal to the dreams to make it come true. I was the succession plan of my superiors. Fortune favors the brave who with their undaunted discipline pave the way & build structures of steel. 

You are as good as your number is: Life is not about survival but of performance. At various stages, the call center throws open different challenges and the reward always goes to the supreme creed of men. A million methodologies fail when you are dealing with the minds & hearts of people. Self-righteous lead their teams to glory while the faint hearted heed to the miseries of the minds and  dwell in the glories of the past.

Treasured Success & Material gain: Every promotion was a celebration and heavens cheer when you break your own records. I carry the experience of handling 40,000 odd calls and managing hundreds of consultants, tens of team leaders and chasing service levels & metrics.

My Sister's wedding was extravagant, a property in Mysore, an apartment in Bangalore, a 29" Samsung television, a Sony Bravia LED, home appliances, furniture, domestic and international vacation with my family, my own wedding and a prized possession - My Royal Enfield!

Sincere heartfelt gratitude to my team mates, my coaches, senior coaches and managers for recognizing the hidden leader in me and providing an opportunity to deliver world class customer service. 

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 25: As those who know not act with attachment to the action, he who knows should act without attachment, having for his motive to hold together the peoples.

Thanks & Love you All !!!

Obsession to Life - the call center (Part I)

This is a post dedicated to the random rattling thoughts of rapture, sorrow, sarcasm and pride.

My devotion to the throttle of a hundred wheels had to come to an end - though abrupt and unthoughtful of what the future beheld, I had to negotiate the hard curves ahead with an empty mind and a courageous will. I set my foot back in Bangalore from Hubli on June 9th 2004.

What at the moment appeared doubtful had a clue to the magnificent realities to unfold. Armed with the courage over my communication, unaware, apprehensive and without a vision I stepped into the call center on June 11th 2004.

My computer skills: I did true justice to the word backbenchers in school when computer science was taught. Computer lab was my first preview to the games and it did not go beyond that. Thanks to my friends whose codes and signs helped me secure a pass class. I still fear, would they have detained me if I failed in computer science at school ? answer unknown.

Conscious of the choice that I made, computer science was not a part of my syllabus in college. Not that I fared to the brightest in what I had chosen, I was at peace with what was avoided. World Wide Web scraped through me when I was in my vocational training and I vaguely remember a hotmail account which must be lying in the depths of a black hole.

Day 1 of process training: Ever heard of Englishmen referring to Greek & Latin? For those that know, you must know the horrifying experience I would have gone through for eight long hours. A million thanks to the true first Guru Steven Bunyan who engraved in me "It's Possible".

Call Center is the secret of my unwavering health: I do shifts unheard of my Father's generation, 0230, 0300, 0330 and in all additions of 30 minutes. I can sleep anytime in the twenty four hour window. My food habits are the source of inexhaustible energy because I can feed on anything at any interval. The pantry coffee vending machines are the greatest health secrets hidden for centuries & I am glad it's finally revealed. Once in a month pot luck in the team helps me gain those nutrients that I either missed at home or which the vending machines failed to provide. I can use a little help of nicotine and alcohol to cleanse the inner system, though, extra would do no harm. The unscheduled sleep hours keep the brain cells at it's efficient best. A couple of months with the drought of vitamin D actually makes the skin look healthy and fresh. Dark circles dread the very thought of attack an a Call Center employee. My team is a family and every occasion is celebrated with the ceremonial cake cutting and the traditional dishes & sweets that the religion has to offer, hence, my sweet tooth always remains sweet. I don't sweat yet I don't put on weight - this is indeed a miracle in the modern world where people spend thousands of rupees to sweat and control their weight.

Tension free mind: Though not a socially acceptable behavior, I rarely intentionally avoid the family occasions because I don't get a guaranteed off on the sabbath. I am grateful that I get two days off and the day of the week really doesn't matter. My interaction with the family, society and relatives are limited and thus I escape the undue gossips that has great potential to create disturbing thoughts in your mind. My parents are happy to see me home after shift, sometimes, they only see me sleeping and when I wake up it's My Father who serves the bed coffee - what a king like life!
While at work you enjoy the blissful companionship of team mates and the daily score cards keeps your mind ever alert without a vent for other thoughts to creep in. Shall I say, I may live longer due to the fact that I carry a tension free mind? in all likelihood, I shall run for ten decades and will not compromise for a day less.

My fashion statement: Having worn the uniform since 1997, it was the tragic transition to the world of fashion. I distinctly remember the stitched formals which was always tucked and matched with hand polished shoes during the initial days in a call center. It doesn't take long for you to realize, reorder & rearrange your closet. From the pressed formals I moved to jeans and tees which over a period of time made me brand conscious. Am I proud of being brand conscious? yes, perception is what people see and as a recent Facebook status mentioned "you looks nice crying in an Audi than on a bicycle". I wore my first jean post June 11th 2004, the matter that I hold high, it was with my own earning. My parents were the silent spectators of the change and one day when I walked in with a woodland shoes, My Father asked me the price. It was 2300/- INR. He was thrilled on my achievement and complimented me for buying a shoes worth 2300/-. His pride was "My son is wearing the shoes worth the cost that I ran the family for two months". I felt it was his achievement and all I could say was - Love you Dad. I keep a tab on the latest trend & my team is a knowledge house on fashion. They are upfront in their comments to make you look smart - who wouldn't want to look smart?

It has hurt, nevertheless I shall speak about it: Empty vessels make more noise has been proved over & over again and yet people want to showcase their egoistic talent. The questions/statements below are true to the best of my memory and you can share more based on your experience with the lesser mortals (add sarcasm to all):

• Oh! you work in a call center? It's time you clean the wax out of your ear. How much more clearer can I be when I have told you the name of the company
  
• Oh! your son works in call center? Please, my son works in a call center & not for some terrorist organization
• He works in some call center... I appreciate your interest in introducing me
  
• Always night shift eh? Does it bother you and please I'm not asking for your advise on which shift I should do
  
• You people dress fancily... Are you jealous that you cannot fit into those outfits or you must be feeling desperately low about your own self
  
• How can I send my engineer son to your call center? He has been jobless hatching eggs for the last two years repenting on how you wanted him to be an engineer and today he is unable to crack the interview of a call center. My best wishes when he attends the interview in NASA
  
• Everybody (hinting at the female employees) smokes & drinks right? Yes indeed, I only wish you were in the law passing committee to ban call center employees from smoking & drinking. And I, unlike you, don't want to talk about your children
  
• You always keep talking right? I pardon your ignorance, we are paid for the service delivered over the phone
  
• You should be earning 5-6 thousand right? Now, that's none of your business nor am I crying over my salary to you. How I wish a generous person like you was our vice-president
  
• All weekends party eh? Not again, IT'S MY LIFE and I know my bank balance better
  
• Whenever I come you are sleeping... please change your visiting hours
  
• I don't know what time to call you because of your shifts... Dear uncle/aunty, on a cell phone there is a feature called SMS & I will be happy to teach you how to text
  
• You hug & greet each other right? How many cultures are you familiar with? Be glad that in our culture we don't spit at each others face for greeting
  
• Everybody has boy friends and girl friends... apart from your daughter I just have a couple more at work depending on their weekly off's

My untold replies are curt and it will always be with a tinge of tyranny. My parents have been questioned on what I do in a call center, why I am in a call center and on my future in a call center. Some went the extra mile of mentioning that I will not get a girl because I work in a call center. Gracefully my Parents have smiled at the comments, for they know, their son is not doing any anti-social work, he is working crazy shifts, hardly a meal a day at home, he is on the run for his cab, calls in to inform about his over-time and he is happy and keeps them happy.

A family re-born: First comes the team which is your family. We share most of the sorrow which we dare not do in our society. We know each other like the back of our hands. We are there to support each other, you are never alone. Yes, we quarrel, gossip and fight - that's what we are trained to do in Team. We compete, struggle and toil to be the best team without the anticipation of any reward. We don't ask permission to dig into another tiffin box nor do we expect an invitation for a house warming - WE are there as long as we are there.

This post is written with my experience of 8 years in a Call Center and Part II shall be on the professional front & how it compliments the personal.

A Trailer of 9 days - Sankranti 2013

After my Sister's wedding the festival Sankranti had lost it's charm, but, not again!

Since my in-laws did not have any festivals this year due to the demise of Vidya's Grandmother, she was home for 9 days and the 9 days gave a trailer of what to expect when she finally comes home after the completion of 5 months in Her Mother's place.

Jan12th 2013 - Jan 21st 2013: Kiran & Ramya escorted the Princess home on Jan12th and what you read on from now is a treasury of joy, fun and laughter.

She likes the oil massage before the shower but doesn't find the shower that interesting and cries, sort of pleading no no no - I don't want to take bath. Immediately after the bath she is wrapped in a white cloth and off She goes to sleep. Wakes up with a smile irrespective of who She sees first. She likes the make-up and dressing and as soon as the nappy is wet She cries - clean to the core.

On the day of the Festival She wore a silk dress and at that moment all the elders had become kids - fighting over who will hold the bundle of joy - My Princess!
She was quiet when we took Her to Vijaya aunty, Nirmala aunty, Vani and Deepu's house for the tradition of Sankranti. I wanted Her to get accustomed to the meaningless horns of vehicles in Bangalore and She did well without any crying.

Evening was the traditional aarti done by Ramya and Amma for Skanda and the Baby.

Amma calls her Ammuchi, Anna calls her Totakka, Ramya calls her Bangari, Kiran calls her Subbi, Skanda calls her Putti, Vidya calls her Chinnu and I call her Punchirabbit and She likes all of it responding with her naughty smile and crazy sounds.

She loves the oil massage in the evening, after which She is all the more active. She wants to play when all of us want to sleep. She likes sucking her fingers and She has a combination of the left and the right hand fingers - when She doesn't get the combination correct, She cries at Her own self.

9 days passed like a 3 minute trailer and we shall eagerly wait for Her return.

A sweet Blessing - My Baby Angel

In Her sweet smile I float on clouds, Her cries louder than thunder and She is Bliss when She is asleep. The wait for Her arrival seemed never ending and the moment was tense when She arrived on 20th October 2012 at 0847 Hrs. At that moment I was on cloud nine and in trance as well. Vidya and I were blessed with what we wanted the most - an Angel to be amidst us in our beautiful life.

9 months 9 days, 1st Day & 1st hug

A cute angel with sparkling eyes and a sweet smile. She is now two and a half months and I already have hundred of pages to be written on her naughty notorious activities. She has various cry signals for the different needs and it took Vidya some time to observe and understand. She loves to be in my arms and what more of life shall I ask when GOD has blessed you with the precious gift. She mesmerizes everyone with Her cute lovely outfits and the sounds derived from the depths of Her heart.

Time flies in Her presence and all worries disappear. She is Heaven on earth, She is the light of my eyes, air of my breath and the beat of my heart... She is my Daughter and I am proud !!!