Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget

I'm truly blessed having few good people around. I had a blast last night. It was supposed to be a dinner date with my hubby at Nipa hut, but it turned to be a group date with some of our friends from onegcc. I haven't seen them in a while, yet I often imagine their your expressions. I haven't spoken them recently, but many times I hear their thoughts. Good friends must not always be together. It is the feeling of oneness, when distant that proves a lasting. We had few drinks but a bulk chikas in between. I missed them. Twa's one really a night of fun. Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends. In all honesty, i miss cracking jokes with them.

Its not the size of your friends list that matter, its the quality of friends on it!!

I only have few of them, but true....i called it friends :)

MERA....hahaha

Our dearest Mera, (Mera talaga hehehe)

Happy Birthday...I just want you to enjoy this day with your love ones. You've been working so hard lately and i can attest to that. Thanks for the friendship. For being my sister at the floor. In this world, where everything seems uncertain, only one thing is definite. You'll always be my friend, beyond words, beyond time and beyond distance. Have a good one.

Thanks for being a good friend, your one of the best.

Love lots, 

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                            

fruit of a good job done.

We already finished our Academic bay, and a day from now, we will gonna hit the real world. Looking back, from day one, i can still recall when i had my interviews, the first greet and meet, days on classes, introduction of ourselves, and the learnings. I will carry over that wonderful experience all through my entire life.

Before that, lets take a sneak peak of what we had down to our abay class, i collected some of those memorabilia's since day one.

My name tag

Pen and A4 provided by BST trainor Sparc. This is my name tag from BST down to PST. Our first meet and greet. Tell me something about yourself and all introductory everything about you. Our BST was a totally fun week. We had a lot of time to know more about our co trainees, time to play, and somehow, to exercise our thick tougue.(nyahahaha).

First Impression thing

This is our first activity - the first impression thing. Sparc instructed us to place a paper at our back and all of your co-trainees will write something about you.It's like we're a caterpillar during those time. Almost all of them wrote that I'm friendly at day one because i had a lot of stories to tell - not talk shit of course. Not to mention non of them wrote sexy, nyahahaha kiddin aside. T'was a great activity.

FIRST WAVE PHOTO

This was taken by Dale using Tracy's mobile when we're at fastbytes. Unfortunately, few peeps are not there. These are my first colleagues at APAC (Tracy, Mich, Tricia ,Rica, August, Andrea, Mara, and Ethel). Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of Sparc because at the second week of our BST, He got sick that's why he need to turn over the class to Chiz.We are down to our Healhcare 101 week, i was still on the same group but different trainor. This time meet Cheeze, our bubbly HC101 trainor -He is musically inclined. He has a great passion for this craft. and photography. He has a lots of stories to tell especially when it comes to alternative music. For him, everything is planned, and when he say promise - it will be 100 percent promise (that's accdg. to him). We also had games during discussions, he might understand that somehow, we felt dizzy and info overload for all the lessons we had. We also played the first impression thing and the m&m's activity. 

                                 

This is also same as the first impression thing but this time BCC peeps are with us. A counter clockwise experience together with cheeze. Thank you BCC and BCBS CONV peeps for writing sweets words to me. I really appreciate it. But, somehow, do really first impression last? I had a chance to take a glimpse of some papers of some of my wavemates but i think others wrote some harsed words to them. tsk.tsk. It's true indeed that we can't please all.

                     

BST PARTY :-)

 

Down to PST... Since then, everyday is a learning day for all of us, not to mention the hyfaluting words because its a medical account. And now, another trainor came into the picture. It was Pao. He's totally different because there's something on him that everyone would admire. He is such an admiration to us, i don't want to compare him to my previous trainor but, he would do everything just to help you out. We had a 5 weeks of fun with him, I already wrote a post to him. I would always thank him for everything. He molded us to became what we are right now that's why i don't bother more to ask why he is loved by many. Unlike others, they would normally have pizza party or bbq party but during his time with us we have pandesal and sinangag party. It was totally fun. We decided to gave him something that for sure he will like. I don't know anything about him aside from being a singer and a fanatic superman collector. We came up giving him a caricature of him.

PANDELSAL PARTY :-)

ABAY Time - a time where we need to apply all the learnings from day one. Survival of the fittest, the elimination of the unfit. A sneak experienced of what we will exactly encounter on the real world of saying thank you for calling provider cares........ a two weeks for a new trainor - TL Norman- they called him silent assassin for i don't know the reason why, i'll see in a couple of weeks why?, even though our PST was finished, Pao was always present those times we need floor support. WE badly need it. Those two weeks was the crucial ones. I mean it really.

GRADUATION DAY....Finally, after 2 months of studying, we made it. The most awaited part, the recognition day. Reality is, not all company does this, to recognize or spare some time to award those outstanding agents, to shake their hands and say I'm so proud of you. Learning shouldn't stop  here, thus, its only the beginning of stepping into the real world of being a csr. I personally want to thank those people who became a big help while I'm still in the learning process. I owe you big time. 

THE FRUIT FROM A GOOD JOB DONE.

MANY THANKS APAC FAMILY....

Open letter to PAO :-)

I can't think of any perfect words to express how grateful am being part of your class. I was once a call center hopper, if i don't like the program, i easily quit, until i my feet brought me to Apac. You really thought us the best practices. I admired you being so good to us, to the point that your doing everything for us. You stand as a father- who provides us what we need, a friend - for always listening to us with our concerns, and of course our mentor - for preparing us when we hit the production. I know sometimes your already doing what you are not supposed to do for us and really from the bottom of our hearts, we really appreciate that. For understanding us on a daily basis. You really inspire us. I was never wrong expecting a 5 weeks of fun, learnings, and excitement since day one. It's really memorable. One thing good about you is that everyday, you always have a quotes to inspire us more. Our PST was done already but the lessons we learned and the friendship we built will last forever. We will really miss someone like you. When im in the production, i can actually see all of your products, and i must say it's official, now, were one of them.Thank you for believing on us, for always saying that we can make it.We will excel,  we'll make you proud. You gained the biggest respect not only from me, but from US. See you on the floor, Thanks for everything.

first call

It's definitely official, Our PST was finished and in reality this is what were going to do. I just wanna share what happened to our n to n awhile ago. It was a great feeling, as if I'm a newbie to receive a call. Before my turn, i was really shaking and i felt that there's a butterfly on my stomach. hahahaha weird. I don't know where to compare the mixed emotion i felt. I took the headset and just think of any motivation not to feel nervous on set of the call. I was thinking of my papa, because i know he will be proud of me. I'm thinking of Pao, for all the motivations and giving us the best practices he knows, and lastly, I'm thinking of my family. It's definitely for them. Then i logged on, I got my first call at exactly 2:30 am, manila time. Oh, calling for benefits from CATHY and guess what,that's the last thing i expected,... from Mental health, Levels of care, take note it's AUTOBAGGED. It was very hard, my wavemates can attest to that, so hard to quote and i thought i would be lost on set. It's a good thing i have Joseph, he's a big help. And the call goes on until i need to wrap it up. My call lasted for i think 15 minutes, not bad for a newbie like me. I was blessed having Joseph as back up. I was still overwhelmed with that call. It's hard to explain. I won't forget that. No. Never.

boredom :(

Nothing, i just feel to have an entry before i tie to my bed and take 8 hrs. of rest.

I just had a tiring but fulfilling shift. It's been 2 weeks already since we started graveyard. Wide jocking, lessons, mock calls, ats :) Time flies so fast. Its a good thing i never fell asleep those critical times. W All i want to do right after i finished this blog is to sleep. I've been hearing echoes already of some spiels. "After the deductible is waived", "Out of pocket", "let me do a member name search", "one moment please", "the patient is not subject to any pre-existing waiting period" etc etc.  Oh God, not in my dreams anymore please..I'm afraid to be info-overload of the lessons I've learned from the past 7 weeks. Abay is coming- its either i make it or break it as they said. I'm wishing wave 17 best of luck for ABAY. This is it! I hope we survive that two weeks of abay. I should be thinking right now of motivations and plans. I should have a plan! Few more weeks, we need to say our final goodbye for some of my wavemates. I wish i can pick atleast three of them to be in my team. This is really is it wave, we have to step our best foot forward. We should make ourselves proud. BEST OF LUCK JABRONNIS :)

GC

REMEMBER THIS?

I've made it!!!! yes!!!

Thanks Pao :)

With CS :)

Friend will always be a friend no matter how near or far they are to each other.

fun.fun.fun.

Great morning followers,

I guess its a beautiful and lovely morning ahead of me. Let me share some of my learnings yesterday. It was nice to meet such a brilliant person like Pau, (our PST trainor). As he arrived at the room, without taking a pause, he already introduced himself, share a bit of his background, previous work and most of all, set his expectation to us. I must say, he's really one of a kind. He also plays farmville too..Yayy. additional friend on my list. How sweet of him thinking what else would will be needing like photo copies, ATS problem, he even promise us to give GC to those peeps who will have a perfect attendance with flat 8 hrs. duty without scrubbing our ATS. Yahhy, (i hope this one will be true) unlike before....!@#$. He also gave us out turn to give some random facts about ourselves and our expectations also (as expected during first day). I really enjoyed my first day with him without even thinking the breaks in between. Oh..and by the way, he is very much particular with the EOP and our attendance. I guess its also for us...

Our first day turned to be discussions of our HC101 not to mention that we can't access some links to the web but is was all FUN! Discussions about the redundancy of the words like "as per" it should be "per" only and "i can't barely hear you" is should be say as "i can't hear you or i barely hear you"-- shame on me before..hehehe...see the redundancy! You should pronounce "\ˌdī-ig-ˈnō-səs, -əg-\" not "diag-nos-es!! hahaha- why this things we need to learn? SIMPLY because that's the career i chose. It's for my own sake!

Thanks for the operation area tour and for allowing us to play after the discussion. PICTIONARY was great! I really had a blast! see you later for another learning and fun.

PST

Great morning everyone...MONDAY na! ang aga kong nagising, kala ko may pasok si hubby, MID pala sya. I thought na makakaisa akong mag net ngayung umaga hehehehe. (kala ko lang). Kala ko pa late na sya, yun pala mamaya pa ang pasok nya (baliw na yun) kaya kailangan ko ng mag net kase mamaya maya sya na naka upo dito, SIGA yun. I had a 2 days blast off and enjoying the net and now pasok na naman. PST na namin!!! yhay, another learnings at sympre another introduction na naman. Sasabihin ko na naman ako spiel na, "Hi my name is Mary Anne Almazar, you can call me anne, I tooked and finished BS Math major in Comsci last 2004, at FEU Manila..blah blah..." sana may games din para buhay kaming lahat hehehe. I'm expecting alot from our new trainor, sabi naman nila magaling at mabait sya.Since more on product na'to, dapat tutok na ako. Wala mung chill chill. Excited na din akong batiin si Mara, for passing the board exams, at biruiin si Tracy, for getting her back pay, but wait theres more...ang bagong Pajero ni Dale...Bigtime talaga sila. Going back sa PST, balita ko 6 weeks daw to, mukhang madugo pero i'll make the best out of it. FOCUS lang.See you guys, mamaya :)

Thank you God for this blessings. Another experience, I really owe you alot. Talaga nga namang every day is a learning process and with HIM, nothing is impossible. MANIWALA ka lang :)

bye bye CSFAM.

Hi, its time to update again my blog, what can i say, uhm, im already an Apacker since first day of Feb. I considered a lot of reasons why i resigned, nevertheless, im happy. I would also like to take this chance to thank all those people i've met when i was still at onegcc.

Hazel- my kumare, t'was nice working with you again, it's been 5 yrs. Hope you'll finally get what exactly what you want specially with your love life. You deserves someone who will love you truly.

Myla- Better late than never, we started it badly, (alam mo yan), thank you for sparing some of your secrets with me before. I really appreciate your friendship with me. I know you are already happy with Edward. I wish you both well.

Lerma- you know how much i love you sis. Distance may brought us apart but i know you will always be there for me. Friends for keeps.

Kristine- Thanks for always cooking pasta for us. I miss you bed, your my bedmate while break hehehe. Convey my regards to tata. Diet tayo hehehehe

Jona- You deserves to be promoted. Thanks for the spare time teaching us some spanish words.

Kevin and Felix - B1 and B2 miss you both :) give us a ring pag gimik. the kuya and the tatay.

Frank- i wanna hear your spiel once again hehehe. I hope you will find your perfect match. Someone who will love you truly. You have a good heart. Keep it up beks.

Ryan- Please sing a song...im missing your lines. miss you beks. You know how much i love you and frank (alam mo yan ante). nakakamiss ka :(

Mark- You also deserves to be promoted. I admire how you see life positively. Good job.

Ronald- I know you have a good heart, practice it. I miss you undying love story with Angel hehehe :)

Julio- buzzer beater. I miss your loud voices.

Ms. Chui- Thanks for everything. I know i will still see you, and hopefully when that time comes, no more heartaches and probably, we can start all over again.We already made a good start before, i guess will can still fix it, maybe not now but when the right time comes.

Kit- i'll miss you this huge :))) isa kang ALAMAT. ♥ I'll be forever grateful to you, having you..

Red, Drew, Mommy beks, Mamang - Thanks for sparing some time with me. I will forever appreciate your kindness and patience with me. Miss ko na kayo.

I will be forever grateful having you guys. Sorry for my errands. I miss you all. Our friendship wont stop there. I see you soon, someday, somehow..iloveyou CSFAM...I wish you guys all the best in life.

Aftermath

Finally :) Issues has been settled (hope so)...

Wala namang problemang di naaayos sa magandang usapan. If both parties are willing to admit their own mistakes and  learn to accept forgiveness, 100 percent guarantee na maayus lahat ng issue. Ang isang taong galit, for sure yan she or he might say foul words or even below the belt nadin. Siguro that's one way how we can release the pain and yung galit at the same time. Nakakasakit tayo ng ibang tao not because gusto natin but no one is perfect.

Ako, honestly masaya ako sa nangyare, atleast ngayun wala ng okward moments sa floor at sana ganoon din sila. Wala naman siguro talagang tao na gusto ng may kaaway sya diba? It's a different feeling kapag maaliwalas sa floor, yung alam mong kampanti ka sa taong katrabaho mo.

A rumor can affect a person's life and damage 1's reputation; so be mindful about what you say about someone.

But at the end of the day, nasabi na ang lahat ng dapat at hindi sabihin. nakasakit ka man ng taong mahal mo. Nangyare nayun. Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. 

Im hoping na sana tuloy tuloy na...TIME and SPACE...lang guro kung kailangn. Time can heal all wounds and space para maka pag reflect. :)

Double Birthday Bash

It's Kit and Myla's Birthday --- To be held in our place in Taguig on Novemver 20, 2010. It's gonna be fun, fun fun and fun. I'm hoping na makasama lahat ng CS family so that we can release the pressure nadin sa office. Sort of team building nadin.

We are all excited for that birthday bash kaya nga maaga palang nag post na kami sa facebook. 

Kit will be turning 30 on the said date (hehe matanda na talaga) and Myla will be turning 29 tsk.tsk.tsk.

Who would have thought i'd be closer to her like this, not to mention we fought for the first 3 months in the office. Siguro di naman din maiiwasan you. All we need is time to appreciate each identities and personalities na din. But, look at us now :) Siguro kung babalikan namin yung mga times na nag aaway kami e pagtatawanan nalang namin yun.

It would be a lot of fun for sure and a lot of food. Lasingan to the max at harutan. Walang agawan ng moment :)

To the both of you, I wish you both more birthday and blessings to come, good health and a peaceful mind hehehe. 



LOVE YOU BOTH ♥ char!

WIN

WIN


Dark is the night
I can weather the storm
Never say die
I’ve been down this road before

I’ll never quit
I’ll never lay down
See I promised myself I would never let me down

(chorus)
So I’ll never give up
Never give in
Never let a ray of doubt slip in
And if I fall
I’ll never fade
I’ll just get up and try again
Never lose hope
Never lose faith
There’s much too much at stake
Upon myself I must depend
I’m not looking for a place ashore
I’m gonna win

Won’t stop me now
There’s still a ways to go
Some way somehow
Whatever it takes I know

I’ll never quit
I’ll never go down
I’ll make sure they remember my name 100 years from now

(chorus)

When it’s all said and done
My once in a lifetime won’t be back again
Now is the time, for me to stand
Here is my chance, that’s why i

Call Center Agent

“Call center”
Mataas na sweldo, magaan na trabaho, no age limit at hindi rin kailangang
college graduate. Ang tanging requirement, ganda ng boses at galing sa
pagsasalita. ‘Ika nga ng iba, “in” ka kapag nasa call center ka. Pero
paano kung ang kapalit ng magadnang sweldo at iba’t ibang benepisyo, ay
ang kanilang kalusugan at kaligtasan?

That is the article at abs-cbsnews.com about their feature in The
Correspondents about call centers and their employees.

Sad to say, Gigi Grande and the producers who conceptualized the said
episode was not able to capture the truth behind call centers and their
employees.

magaan na trabaho — this is a misconception that a lot of people have
about call centers. this is work, serious work and not playtime. as call
center agents we are the frontliners of some of the biggest companies
around the world. we handle their first line of defense for their
businnes, Customer Service. we Filipinos who work in call centers
represent these companies to their consumers and we filipinos can spell
the success or downfall of these business just on how we deal with their
consumers 24/7 and that is not an easy task. the reason why call centers
thrive in the philippines is because filipinos have good customer service
skills. we are professional workers and we give everything a 100%. i
salute all the call center employees who make this feat possible. it means
jobs and job security to the filipinos who wanted to work in their own
country.

no age limit — because call centers are equal opportunity employers. they
do not set limitations to people’s ability to work. it is only here in the
philippines where we put an age limit to applications. it really does not
matter what age the applicant is as long as they can still deliver quality
performance. it is called diversity.

hindi rin kailangang college graduate - for cheap call centers maybe, not
for the big ones. we encourage our applicants to finish college first
before applying. they may also be assisted through schedule requests if
they want to continue studying while still employed.

Ang tanging requirement, ganda ng boses at galing sa pagsasalita — for
radio stations yes. not for call center. we are not DJs. we also require
high IQ and intelligence in call centers. For example, Wil Ison, the 24 yo
manager who was featured in The Correpondents. You did not even applaude
him for reaching that position in such a young age. if he was employed in
a bank, he will only become a manager if he kissed enough bossess ass or
because he is already 50 years old. People like Wil were promoted because
they are good employees. Most of the call centers have internal
application processes that enables the employees to apply for higher
position highliting their performance and capabilities and not who their
friends are and whose ass they just wiped.

‘Ika nga ng iba, “in” ka kapag nasa call center ka. - this is not a fad.
we are working, we pay our taxes, we are productive citizens of this
country. we chose to stay and earn here in our own country rather than go
abroad and contribute to the brain drain. we earn a lot beacuse we work
hard. we are thankful for the good education we were provided by our
parents that gave us the competencies we have now. we are working for
multinational companies and we get promoted. most of us 21-30 years old
and we are managers, supervisors and senior managers.

we may not be doctors or lawyers but at least we are not corrupt. we are
productive and we make sure that our families and our future families will
not be included with the uneducated, paid rallyists in EDSA, who do not
even understand why they are there. we are not a burden to the government,
they should even be thankful because it is our tax, the middle class tax,
that makes it possible for the Philippines to stay alive.

instead of potraying us as obese, smoking insomiacs….why not thank us?
applaude our achievements, be proud that we are very good with what we do
that’s why investors come in to the philippines. ask the government to
provide security to the employees who have different schedules from the
normal 9-5 workers? ask them to take care of us and in return we will work
harder, show the companies that it is worth investing in the philippines,
we will continue to pay our taxes and slowly but surely help our country
progress.