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.