Saturday, December 18, 2004
Bad Weather
Another low pressure area is building up near the Philippines. And there might be rain this coming Monday. At least according to satellite pictures and forecast. Hopefully this will be the last storm for the year.
At this point it looks like we'll have a wet Christmas.
--andoy
18 December 2004
At this point it looks like we'll have a wet Christmas.
--andoy
18 December 2004
Dragons!
At the account we have callers who keep on calling for one reason or another. These may be because of a continuing problem or concern or in some instances they just can't get any support from other help desks. There is one caller, though who has been in touch with us since the middle of the year (as far as our records go). She is a lady from Oklahoma, USA who went scuba diving on a live-aboard dive cruise in Indonesia last August/September this year. Her real problem is, and she keeps on reminding us, is that she has a poor memory and is not computer savvy. Since August or July she has talked to practically everyone on the US shift. Last night, she called around five or six times. Although handled in Manila, these are long-distance calls routed from Los Angeles, California.
If you know the software, then you'd know that these are simple questions. And in some calls, she just needs to confirm what she's doing is the same as what was discussed in an earlier call. She understands the concepts and the instructions, but the software itself is not very user friendly. However, I doubt very much if she can handle other (more advanced) software. I also doubt very much if she would be entertained (or tolerated?) as much by the help desks for these other softwares.
There are days when we feel we are just frustrated with handling her calls, but she's just so sweet when she talks over the phone and not so demanding that she is a breather from other calls. Think of it as break or a vacation, even.
And she promised to send me a picture of a Komodo dragon. That is, if she remembers.
--andoy
18 December 2004
If you know the software, then you'd know that these are simple questions. And in some calls, she just needs to confirm what she's doing is the same as what was discussed in an earlier call. She understands the concepts and the instructions, but the software itself is not very user friendly. However, I doubt very much if she can handle other (more advanced) software. I also doubt very much if she would be entertained (or tolerated?) as much by the help desks for these other softwares.
There are days when we feel we are just frustrated with handling her calls, but she's just so sweet when she talks over the phone and not so demanding that she is a breather from other calls. Think of it as break or a vacation, even.
And she promised to send me a picture of a Komodo dragon. That is, if she remembers.
--andoy
18 December 2004
Schedules
The ugly work schedules finally got released this week. And it is really ugly. In fact, ugly does not begin to describe it. There are a lot of agents on the weekend shift! And a lot of agents on during the critical days. Of course this means that the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday shifts would look practically shorthanded in comparison, in fact just the opposite, these low-volume days would still have regular complements.
It's ugly because almost all of the team members have loaded their days off and leaves in lumps here and there. Meaning that some of them would be working the whole week and practically be gone during the other week. Something like that. One agent has regular work days and also half-days on her days off. Because these arrangements are fixed, the other agent scheds have to get adjusted. No problem with me, as I already knew beforehand that I'd be onboard during the weekends and all the "critical days." At least there is support for one another's schedule within the team. These people volunteered for their days off, anyway so if there would be any grumbling, it would be because they chose to have these scheds and not because they were forced to adhere to any schedules.
Four people on a weekend? That would be just fine by me.
--andoy
It's ugly because almost all of the team members have loaded their days off and leaves in lumps here and there. Meaning that some of them would be working the whole week and practically be gone during the other week. Something like that. One agent has regular work days and also half-days on her days off. Because these arrangements are fixed, the other agent scheds have to get adjusted. No problem with me, as I already knew beforehand that I'd be onboard during the weekends and all the "critical days." At least there is support for one another's schedule within the team. These people volunteered for their days off, anyway so if there would be any grumbling, it would be because they chose to have these scheds and not because they were forced to adhere to any schedules.
Four people on a weekend? That would be just fine by me.
--andoy
The Japanese Visit
Our Japanese principals arrived this week. And there were some changes in our already lousy schedules, through no fault of our visitors, of course. During our first day meeting, our Team Leader was conveniently absent, having opted to attend the evening training session. There were several goofs on our part, but all in all, it was a productive meeting. Pity though that the box which contained the new camera and the Mac did not arrive on time. (It arrived when I was on day off, and now the people in the office have the opportunity to play around with it.)
Several things also happened. Our guests asked for a physical inventory of the cameras, which we did, and there were laughs associated with that. It was a messy cabinet. And then afterwards, I was informed by the Team Leader that one off-shoot of the meetings was that escalations would now be officially coming from me, and then if there is a need for translation, this will be forwarded to the TL and then afterwards forwarded to Japan. If there is need for urgency or immediate response, these I can send directly to other Japanese guy. Also, some of the reports would now be coming from me, although the source data would still be coming from the TL's desk. More work for me then. I was also informed by the Operations Manager that the Japanese were impressed by me. I can only shrug because in an earlier visit, the Japanese already gave the opinion that they were not impressed with the TL.
And now the TL is adamant that he will not be doing any technical work because he was hired as a translator anyway. Which is funny because he has a poor command of English and has gaps in his knowledge of Japanese culture and terminologies. And all this time that he's supposed to be managing the team, he's been grumbling that he has not had the chance to practice his management skills. What a laugh.
During the week, the OM gave notice that he will be resigning soon and that the team will be under one of the other shift managers who also handles other accounts. This would be fun. The shift manager actually is a technical guy, and it would be fun to see our TL, who abhors technical stuff, work under this guy.
I also gave notice to the OM that I'm going to give this job another six months. If nothing happens then I'm leaving the account or the company. I don't really like working under the current TL. One of the other agents though asked me if I wanted to be the TL of the account. I mentioned that yes I'd like to be, however current requirements need someone who knows Japanese. Again that is not my problem or my concern right now.
We'll see in six months what happens.
--andoy
Several things also happened. Our guests asked for a physical inventory of the cameras, which we did, and there were laughs associated with that. It was a messy cabinet. And then afterwards, I was informed by the Team Leader that one off-shoot of the meetings was that escalations would now be officially coming from me, and then if there is a need for translation, this will be forwarded to the TL and then afterwards forwarded to Japan. If there is need for urgency or immediate response, these I can send directly to other Japanese guy. Also, some of the reports would now be coming from me, although the source data would still be coming from the TL's desk. More work for me then. I was also informed by the Operations Manager that the Japanese were impressed by me. I can only shrug because in an earlier visit, the Japanese already gave the opinion that they were not impressed with the TL.
And now the TL is adamant that he will not be doing any technical work because he was hired as a translator anyway. Which is funny because he has a poor command of English and has gaps in his knowledge of Japanese culture and terminologies. And all this time that he's supposed to be managing the team, he's been grumbling that he has not had the chance to practice his management skills. What a laugh.
During the week, the OM gave notice that he will be resigning soon and that the team will be under one of the other shift managers who also handles other accounts. This would be fun. The shift manager actually is a technical guy, and it would be fun to see our TL, who abhors technical stuff, work under this guy.
I also gave notice to the OM that I'm going to give this job another six months. If nothing happens then I'm leaving the account or the company. I don't really like working under the current TL. One of the other agents though asked me if I wanted to be the TL of the account. I mentioned that yes I'd like to be, however current requirements need someone who knows Japanese. Again that is not my problem or my concern right now.
We'll see in six months what happens.
--andoy
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Halik Sa Noo
Halik Sa Noo
Papa-alis na ako nang kita’y hinalikan sa noo
Tanging alay sa ating bagong pagkakakilala
Halik na nagpaparatig ng pag-iingat sa paghihiwalay
Labi na haplos sa saloobing basà ng magkaka-dugo
Magka-dugong turing nga
Hindi lamang magkaibigang noon lang nagkakilala
Ngunit magkapatid, mag-anak
At kasama sa salinlahi ng adhikain
Nakikita kita na lumalabay-labay sa aking noon ay pasyalan
Wari ko ay napag-iwanan at napaglakihan ko na itong kapirasong mundong ito
Aaminin ko na hija
Hindi pala
Lagi at lagi na lang na nanunumbalik sa akin
Ang landas na ito na aking natahak na
At natatago ng malalim nitong matagal na panahon
Pareho tayo ng tulak ng puso
Ukol sa malawak na pirasong lupang ito
Itong sangkalawakan ng mga kataga at salita
Na ngayon mo pa lamang natutuktok
Habang ako naman ay nagpapanumbalik
Sa pagdaplis sa iyong noo
Aking pag-sang ayon sa iyong
Isip maglayag at kumawala ng walang takot
Sa mundo ng pahiwatig kuro at himig
Ang pagdampi ng labi ko sa noo mo
Pagsang-ayon ng pareho nating ibig
--andoy
12 December 2004
Papa-alis na ako nang kita’y hinalikan sa noo
Tanging alay sa ating bagong pagkakakilala
Halik na nagpaparatig ng pag-iingat sa paghihiwalay
Labi na haplos sa saloobing basà ng magkaka-dugo
Magka-dugong turing nga
Hindi lamang magkaibigang noon lang nagkakilala
Ngunit magkapatid, mag-anak
At kasama sa salinlahi ng adhikain
Nakikita kita na lumalabay-labay sa aking noon ay pasyalan
Wari ko ay napag-iwanan at napaglakihan ko na itong kapirasong mundong ito
Aaminin ko na hija
Hindi pala
Lagi at lagi na lang na nanunumbalik sa akin
Ang landas na ito na aking natahak na
At natatago ng malalim nitong matagal na panahon
Pareho tayo ng tulak ng puso
Ukol sa malawak na pirasong lupang ito
Itong sangkalawakan ng mga kataga at salita
Na ngayon mo pa lamang natutuktok
Habang ako naman ay nagpapanumbalik
Sa pagdaplis sa iyong noo
Aking pag-sang ayon sa iyong
Isip maglayag at kumawala ng walang takot
Sa mundo ng pahiwatig kuro at himig
Ang pagdampi ng labi ko sa noo mo
Pagsang-ayon ng pareho nating ibig
--andoy
12 December 2004
Monday, December 13, 2004
Tis the Season for Irate Agents
December is usually the season when number of calls peak. And with the increase in calls, the pressure on the agents and the team builds up. Tensions mount and instances of irate agents increase. There is also the increase in requests for leaves on specific days, which leave the teams scrambling for agent loading as well as schedule revisions.
Our Team Leader has been noted to be late in submission of schedules. He has been known to release a week's schedule on the week itself, and not on the prior week as he should have done. Now he goes on and changes the schedule wholesale during the middle of the week. He asked the day-shift to do a double shift, coming to the floor for the graveyard shift. And then he sent one guy (me) from the graveyard shift, to the day shift. With the changes, I went to the day shift with two trainees. In short, I suddently got a half-day off during the mid-week because of the change in schedule. I continued the day off during the weekend, having the graveyard shift on the Sunday. Good thing I did not have any plans for my days off. If I had any, I would have been more irate than I already was. I sent an email asking for the succeeding weeks' schedules. I also, with all civility, mentioned that I did a lot of cussing and swearing during the two days I was on day shift.
The reason for the change in sched was because of the "low performance" during Monday and Tuesday shift. The TL conveniently forgot that one reason for such performance was that we have been cheating for some time now. The cheat method had him, the TL, answering queues, and telling the caller to call back later. This method lessens the number of abandoned calls and effectively manages the queue. This is not illegal, but it is not cricket either. Now he is sent to the day shift and loses this tool. Afterwards, during the week of the "low performance" he is not on the day shift, and not on the graveyard shift either, but on the evening shift, or, rather, part of the evening shift. He comes in past 6:00pm and leaves before 1:00 am. Because the cheat is dependent on his being on board, if he is not onboard, the abandoned calls pile up.
On top of that, one of the trainees, who has not yet passed the final verbal exam was sent to the following week's (this week's) day shift. And yet, I need him to be on the night shift to take the final verbal exams. Great! I need him to take the verbal exams and pass those exams. If he does not pass, we are one person short. And at this point I don't think I'd like him to pass. He does not have a sense of urgency when it comes to coming on time or on going on breaks either. He almost always goes over the allotted time for breaks.
What's even greater is that the team is vying for a team incentive: if all the members of the team qualify for the individual incentive (total of 3,000 pesos for each qualifier) due to minimal absence or late on non-critical days, and complete attendance on critical days, then the team gets 5,000 pesos. The funny thing is that the Team Leader is not even attending eight hours a day! Because he is too busy doing eight hours during the day on his sideline! Great!! Stupid git!
One of the evening shift people is going to do a total of four half-shifts on weekends so that she qualifies for the incentive. She hasn't gotten on board yet and she's already irate. That's 6:00 to 10am, Saturdays and Sundays (or Sundays and Mondays) on two successive weekends. This is to offset two leaves she filed for during the first week of the incentive program. She did not really want to offset these leaves, but since the incentive was still available for her, and since it will have an impact on the team incentive, she agreed to offset her absences, to put it mildly, with a heavy heart.
This should be a fun three weeks. I can't wait to see the scheduling problems piling up. In fact, I also applied for a resched of days off as I need to have some time during the middle of the week to accompany my wife to her errands. The bad news? I'm doing the clean up, because I'd be spending the critical days on shift, as well as the days between Christmas and New Year. We have two agents already listed for leaves during that period. Now isn't that nice.
This will be a Merry Christmas indeed.
--andoy
13 December 2004
Our Team Leader has been noted to be late in submission of schedules. He has been known to release a week's schedule on the week itself, and not on the prior week as he should have done. Now he goes on and changes the schedule wholesale during the middle of the week. He asked the day-shift to do a double shift, coming to the floor for the graveyard shift. And then he sent one guy (me) from the graveyard shift, to the day shift. With the changes, I went to the day shift with two trainees. In short, I suddently got a half-day off during the mid-week because of the change in schedule. I continued the day off during the weekend, having the graveyard shift on the Sunday. Good thing I did not have any plans for my days off. If I had any, I would have been more irate than I already was. I sent an email asking for the succeeding weeks' schedules. I also, with all civility, mentioned that I did a lot of cussing and swearing during the two days I was on day shift.
The reason for the change in sched was because of the "low performance" during Monday and Tuesday shift. The TL conveniently forgot that one reason for such performance was that we have been cheating for some time now. The cheat method had him, the TL, answering queues, and telling the caller to call back later. This method lessens the number of abandoned calls and effectively manages the queue. This is not illegal, but it is not cricket either. Now he is sent to the day shift and loses this tool. Afterwards, during the week of the "low performance" he is not on the day shift, and not on the graveyard shift either, but on the evening shift, or, rather, part of the evening shift. He comes in past 6:00pm and leaves before 1:00 am. Because the cheat is dependent on his being on board, if he is not onboard, the abandoned calls pile up.
On top of that, one of the trainees, who has not yet passed the final verbal exam was sent to the following week's (this week's) day shift. And yet, I need him to be on the night shift to take the final verbal exams. Great! I need him to take the verbal exams and pass those exams. If he does not pass, we are one person short. And at this point I don't think I'd like him to pass. He does not have a sense of urgency when it comes to coming on time or on going on breaks either. He almost always goes over the allotted time for breaks.
What's even greater is that the team is vying for a team incentive: if all the members of the team qualify for the individual incentive (total of 3,000 pesos for each qualifier) due to minimal absence or late on non-critical days, and complete attendance on critical days, then the team gets 5,000 pesos. The funny thing is that the Team Leader is not even attending eight hours a day! Because he is too busy doing eight hours during the day on his sideline! Great!! Stupid git!
One of the evening shift people is going to do a total of four half-shifts on weekends so that she qualifies for the incentive. She hasn't gotten on board yet and she's already irate. That's 6:00 to 10am, Saturdays and Sundays (or Sundays and Mondays) on two successive weekends. This is to offset two leaves she filed for during the first week of the incentive program. She did not really want to offset these leaves, but since the incentive was still available for her, and since it will have an impact on the team incentive, she agreed to offset her absences, to put it mildly, with a heavy heart.
This should be a fun three weeks. I can't wait to see the scheduling problems piling up. In fact, I also applied for a resched of days off as I need to have some time during the middle of the week to accompany my wife to her errands. The bad news? I'm doing the clean up, because I'd be spending the critical days on shift, as well as the days between Christmas and New Year. We have two agents already listed for leaves during that period. Now isn't that nice.
This will be a Merry Christmas indeed.
--andoy
13 December 2004
Team Bowling
The office had an activity last Saturday. We had a bowling socials and family members were also invited. I brought my wife and kids along. As usual, I played lousy. Breaking a hundred only once out of three games. Lilia and Kenneth had better scores than I did. I was pleasantly surprised that Kenneth broke hundred on two of the three games he played. The other older agents brought along their spouses and kids.
Most of my officemates did pretty well. Though the younger men didn't do too well. None of the trainees were able to attend. Only one of the ladies was able to join the game. The other lady agent was a no-show. She has her reasons. There was a noticeable partisanship to the proceedings. There was a show of enjoyment but not enough of "team building." Normally, players would acknowledge others' game, score or bowl. For some players, this "support" was non-existent: the other members not caring to notice some of the other members during their play.
Interesting group dynamics. Or lack of it.
--andoy
13 December 2004
Most of my officemates did pretty well. Though the younger men didn't do too well. None of the trainees were able to attend. Only one of the ladies was able to join the game. The other lady agent was a no-show. She has her reasons. There was a noticeable partisanship to the proceedings. There was a show of enjoyment but not enough of "team building." Normally, players would acknowledge others' game, score or bowl. For some players, this "support" was non-existent: the other members not caring to notice some of the other members during their play.
Interesting group dynamics. Or lack of it.
--andoy
13 December 2004
Sunday, December 12, 2004
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