Thank you, Convergys: 8 Things I Learned in 8 Years of Working in a Call Center

While I am now on my sixth year of teaching, I will never forget the 8 years I spent working in a world-class customer management firm and one of the top call centers in the Philippines: CONVERGYS. This is perhaps my lengthiest blog post to date, so it needs no further introduction.

1.  Spend your money wisely.

The average annual income of an undergraduate call center agent in the Philippines is relatively higher than that of a private school teacher (like me) or a professional nurse who graduated from college and passed their board examination with flying colors. Most call center employees receive a hefty retirement pay after 5-10 years of continuous employment – in other words, money shouldn’t be a problem for people working in the BPO industry unless they fail to live within their means. I wish I had exercised frugality while I was earning much more than I do now, but I learned some things the hard way. Nevertheless, I am already getting better at managing my finances, and I want to encourage other people, whatever kind of work you do, while you still have the chance, to save money and plan for the future.

In Convergys, we always enjoyed perks, like free movie dates (or free pizza), as a token of appreciation for a job well done.

2.  Manage your time effectively.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is, “No one in their death bed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time in the office’.” If you think that your boss would be impressed because you are working harder and longer than everybody else, well, think again. Working for extended hours could mean you are not efficient in your job which means there’s no structure in the way you work on a daily basis. Your family also will not appreciate your lousy excuse that you are doing this all for the good of everybody, and all that drama. What they would really appreciate more is your real-time presence. So what I try to do now is to leave the school within 30 minutes after the end of my official time.

Convergys knows that its employees work hard...and party harder. It's all about time management. LOL.

What Christmas REALLY Means to Me

“I write as a physician, one who attempts to heal disease,” introduces M. Scott Peck, M.D. in the second chapter of A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered. He begins to tackle the ambiguity of pain and disease by telling a story of how he, at the age of eight years, wounded himself with a hatchet and observed that over the next few days the skin surrounding his stitched gash became reddened, slightly swollen, and tender to the touch. From a medical perspective he explains the process of how our blood vessels operate during the inflammation of the wound by 'eating' the bad bacteria and removing the garbage that causes infection, and so on.

Simply, health is an ongoing process, often painful, of an organism becoming the most – the best – it can be. And disease is anything, sometimes painful, often painless, that interferes with the process of health.

How Scripture Influences My 2015 Goals

"I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul," are the famous last two lines of the short poem Invictus by English poet William Ernest Henley. There is nothing wrong with positive thinking, hard work or success except the fact that we, human beings, are often so busy cultivating our intellectual skills in the pursuit of wealth and status that we tend to neglect our search for real meaning in life. Because glorifying God is the chief purpose of man.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the teacher reflects on what he has learned about achievement, wealth, power, and other earthly pursuits. After giving practical advice on wisdom and obedience, he then tells what he has concluded about destiny and God.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Five Reasons Why I Pray

SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR that God hears and answers our prayers, but it will create confusion and frustration to people who think that praying only revolves around asking God to give us what we want, as if wishing upon a star or trying to win the lottery. Prayer must not be done arbitrarily. God is not a genie in a bottle.

I try to wake up every day at exactly 5 A.M. and start my day with a prayer. I also end my day with a prayer. And I still pray several times in the interim because The Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” 

Here are five reasons why prayer is one of my daily habits:

1. To remind myself that God exists. To avoid getting defeated by any negative self-talk in the morning, I tell myself that God is in control. I have a father in heaven who owns everything, therefore he is my provider. He gave me life, therefore he is my healer. When I remind myself that I am not alone, I already start to feel better and stronger. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)

A Gadget for My Budget

SOME PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS WONDER how a Christian can enjoy genuine contentment while having little in this life. That is, little in terms of money, material possessions and many other pleasures that money can buy.

And this is my personal motivation: I am contented because whatever little I have is free of cost; I don’t have to pay for it.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

Take my latest phone for example. In February 2012, I signed up for a 2-year contract with Globe by subscribing to their P500 monthly load tipid plan. I was able to finish my contract because I paid a fixed amount every month – no hidden charges, no stress. Whenever I would reach my monthly limit, all I had to do was buy additional load from a store. I could also register to their prepaid promos frequently to stretch my budget. They gave me a free Samsung Galaxy Young Android phone to get it started. Some of the key features of this tiny, basic smartphone are a 2MP fixed-focus camera with geotagging, a stereo FM radio, an MP3 player and social network integration. It has no secondary camera, no fancy flash and its low screen resolution limits choice of apps which was fine because I only need the following five apps to live a normal life anyway.

My Daily Rituals

THERE COMES A MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE when you realize that no matter how hard you try, you’re never going to be fluent in another language. Or travel the whole world like you’ve always planned when you were a child. Or be a great athlete and win an Olympic gold medal.

My father taught me how to play chess at an early age. I was a champion chess player in high school and I boldly dreamt of being the first and the youngest Filipino woman grandmaster. I have also made sincere attempts to be very good at playing the guitar, engaging in archery, writing passionately or making it big in the corporate world. Well, I didn’t succeed in any of it. I realized that the farthest I have gone is being a jack of all trades, master of none.

I kept trying to find my answer to life - and this becomes more elusive the older we get - that is, until I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. God’s demand, which is not a piece of cake, is that we cease trying to be great in our own eyes, to become small that God might get the glory He deserves.

When I finally gave up my charade of self-sufficiency, my fascination with the subject of magnifying God began. As a born-again Christian, the one question I usually ask is this: How will my life bring the most glory to God?

Why I Believe that The Bible is the Word of GOD

I WAS BORN AND RAISED A CATHOLIC. I attended a Catholic elementary school, and graduated from an all-girls Catholic college. I remember asking my religion teacher who was a nun, “Sister, why do Catholics pray to saints? Aren’t saints just ordinary people like us? They are not GOD, so why do we have to worship them?” I have no recollection of what she said in response, but it had effectively turned me into a non-believer. I purposely became a self-proclaimed atheist as I was convinced there must be no God. Philosophy and logic were instantly my favorite subjects. That was in the year 2000.

In retrospect, that sort of religion was not beneficial for me. In fact, The Bible says that God hates religion, because what he wants from us is a personal relationship that is rooted in humility. If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. And if our love does not come from knowing God, there's no point calling it 'love for God.' God is not honored by groundless love.

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” - C.S. Lewis

"I hate all your show and pretense--the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies." (Amos 5:21)

"I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6)

Lessons from 2004

2004 was the year I LOVED AND LOST. The guy once added me as a friend on Facebook many years ago. I accepted, and not long after, I unfriended him. He added me again, I accepted it, but for the longest time, I contemplated on unfriending him permanently because I just wanted nothing to do with him. My Christian self insisted that I kept him as a friend, so that once in a while, whenever I’d post Bible verses, the word of God might pierce his heart and turn him into a believer. It’s funny because earlier today when I was ready to unfriend him yet again, I found out he already did it for me. It’s as if the trash decided to take itself out. (Just kidding!)

Burger King and Starbucks

Around July of this year, a local Burger King in the U.S. launched a limited edition "Proud Whopper" that fuelled a controversy about the company's promotion of homosexual behavior and gender equality.

About a week ago, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz adamantly reaffirmed his company’s support for same-sex marriage, saying that shareholders can sell their stocks if they are only in favor of biblical marriage.

OK, so what is the big deal?

On The Road to Temperance (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my "On The Road to Temperance" post. For Part 1, click here.

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3. Media Consumption

Television – I hardly ever watch Pinoy telenovelas to avoid getting bombarded with ridiculous programs that only exist to fill the space between commercials. Oh, and one more thing: I hate drama. I wasn’t raised in a household where confrontation or sampalan/sabunutan (catfight) was a part of daily family life, so I couldn’t particularly relate with the kind of drama that soap operas promote. I believe any kind of disputes among people who live under the same roof can be resolved calmly and civilly. These shows are way too predictable. Some of the curses of our generation are fame-obsession, consumerism and a display of intelligence devoid of wisdom. Television is one of the main sustainers of our addiction to narcissism and superficiality. Sometimes, it does depend on what we are watching. Granted, if we could watch quality news and educational TV programs, it would not always be such a waste of time.

On The Road to Temperance (Part 1)

According to the dictionary, temperance is moderation or self-restraint, especially in eating and drinking, although now it usually means teetotalism or total abstinence from alcohol or liquor. During the classical era, temperance meant going the right length and no further in all pleasures.

The ways we live now – checking our smartphones every minute, absorbing a plethora of information, over scheduling our days or our children’s days, shopping ‘til we drop, gorging at eat-all-you-can buffets, not taking time to unwind without a screen in front of our faces – are all clear signs that excessive indulgence is the name of the game in this day and age.

In his book, A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer, American author and preacher John Piper writes:

"Desires for other things" - there's the enemy. And the only weapon that will triumph is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with "other things." Perhaps, then, the denial of our stomach's appetite for food might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God.

10 Questions

Sometimes, it is painful to remember what kind of person I used to be. As far as my husband and a few close friends can see, God has really changed me for the better. I realized that our lives are coloured through and through by books, music and movies, that it is often difficult to disentangle the things that we have truly learned from our own experiences. I often reflect about my past and invariably pray that my future will turn out to be what God has designed, for the Bible says that we are his 'workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand'. (Ephesians 2:10)

I think it is the perfect time to ask myself a few questions before the year 2014 comes to an end. All answers are based on my personal encounters. “Nothing ever becomes real 'til it is experienced," as John Keats would say.

Today's Note to Self

When I became a Christian, a good deal of what I had been thinking and doing all my life fell down like a house of cards. Motivated by a strong desire to serve God, today I write about one of the most important habits of a genuine believer.

Saved by Grace

ABOUT FOUR YEARS AGO, I didn't love God; I didn't even know God. I didn't think much of Him because I didn't know he was real. I thought I was better off an atheist (thinking that 'cool' and intelligent people wouldn't believe in God). I didn't grow up among religious people so I didn't read the Bible either. And I thought religion was boring and corny. My habits and behaviour were often self-destructive. Then one day, I just got tired of all the worldly things I'd been doing and prayed to be free from constant stress, disappointments and frustration. I started a journal and wrote the exact words, "Dear God, will you please reveal yourself to me, because I don't even know who you are and I don't know HOW to love you. I could really use some genuine love right now and people say that only YOU can do that." It was the most peaceful thing I have experienced in my life because I slept like a baby that night, and God has been working in my life up to this point to give me the peace and joy that is a result of truly being reconciled with Him.