Life in a call center. Part 2

The upsides and downsides of call centers.

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A lot of people gets lost in their call center journey - their faith, love and even hope are being put to the test.  And many have even ended up being either so fulfilled or so frustrated.  Some have found love, some have lost love while some are still hopelessly looking for love.  Many have gotten the ill-effects of the demanding call center life and some have seen the bright side of getting into the gym.  

Whatever it may be, all of us call center peeps, have seen the upsides and downsides of being in this industry.  Be it physically, mentally, socially and what not, one way or the other all of us have been either damaged or repaired by these call center effects.

Let's talk about the upsides shall we.

1.) You provide food on the table.  With the competitive compensation that these call centers offer, problems with providing for the family is now a thing of the past.  Competitive salary, benefits, spiffs so and so forth all these are in this industry.

2.) Not too many youth bystanders now waiting to either get a job or get arrested for robbery or what have you.  Why say so? Because of this industry, the young people of today can get jobs in an instant!  Unlike before where the only people who gets the good slice of the cake are the ones with educational degrees or diplomas.  Which means for the undergraduates or the less fortunate ones, they either settle for low paying jobs which demands more physically or stay put somewhere and wait on to pounce on someone in the alley.

3.) You are taking part of something good.  This industry is going nowhere but up.  It may even overtake the other leading industries we have right now in the Philippines in years to come.  Which means growth for you.  Not only in potential but in capacity.  You are now a positive contributor to the society!  Be proud of that!

Now let's go to the downsides of this proud industry.

1.) Multiple Health Issues.  Change in body clock, lifestyle, food we eat or drink and yes STRESS and more.  These are some of the effects that this callcenter industry have made us Filipinos to embrace with open arms.  Due to the schedule, food intake and stress our health is declining faster than the usual.  These are absolutely doing it's damage on us and the best part is that we don't even know it.


Enjoy life while we're young?  Yeah, we got that right but at what expense?  So, do I dare say more?

2.) Since this industry is open for all, with or without degrees or diplomas or experience especially nowadays can get hired due to the equal opportunities given by these "generous" call centers - quality is however being sacrificed.  That sometimes people end up questioning the business wherein these centers are circulating over.

Now, I'm not saying that if you don't have a diploma or if you're not a graduate - you're good for nothing... I'm not saying that.  Others may actually have the "IT" but just wasn't fortunate enough to get the equal opportunity of education.  They still can outshine anyone with a diploma notwithstanding their handicap.  I'm all over the quality here.

3.) Free for all.  A lot of horseplaying actually happens in this industry.  Since, most of the "parokyanos" are either newly graduates and/or out of school youth - majority are young people, being in this environment, means fresh freedom.  What happens to convicts who got out of prison the first time?  They make the most out of it.  What happens to students whose teacher is out? Absolute pandemonium.  Horseplaying in its truest definition.  Craziness by all standards of the word.  I don't want to go into details but you all know what I mean.


This industry offers so much freedom to the point of it being totally abused.  Squandering all over the place, philandering all out... sad but true.


4.) "Critical" family connection/ties.  Shifting schedules, holiday work, graveyard shifts, extended hours, weekdays off, split offs, etc these have definitely played a major part now in Filipino lives.  It's an ongoing discussion across the dining table and even in bed among couples.  Trying to cope with the availability of the spouse and making the most of it if time permits.


These have cast its toll in our lives one way or the other.  And without us knowing, this industry have already changed our lives forever.  Even sometimes breaking us up altogether.


So there, whatever results it may be that this call center industry have brought into our lives, be it good or bad, one thing is for sure... It's got nothing to do with the industry or the environment we work with, it's how solid our ideals are that would definitely make the biggest difference in our lives.