When I walked to the counter and ordered my usual caffeinated drink, I noticed a pie-looking fare inside the glass counter with all the sweets and breads. It said ‘quiche’ on its name tag. Out of curiosity I ordered a piece as I felt the hungry rumbling of my stomach. I didn’t want a full meal so I opted for that quiche.

And you know what? It’s the most tasty dish I had ever tried in a coffee shop. Well, I was used to ordering desserts like cheesecakes or muffins and that quiche was a break from the norm for me. And I’m glad I did.

I was pondering if I would order another one and take it home for a early morning snack. But I realized I was trying to lose weight and that I would just treat myself to another quiche perhaps a week later. That way there would be less guilt on my part.

Should the Philippines worry if that’s the case? I don’t think so because the expenses for call center operations will still be cheaper here like for office space rentals and of course, manpower. Plus, the infrastructure is already set up, a new entrant in the business will find that all he needs are ready.

South Africa is an English speaking country, perhaps that is why such an idea came up. It will definitely be an added source of income for their government. Especially nowadays that the trends for outsourcing is very healthy and that there is no slow down (at least a significant one) in sight.

This makes me think of bringing him to Eastwood City for a walk and a little dog interaction.

Why Eastwood City? Well, this little ‘city’ is known to be a ‘pet’ friendly place aside from housing a growing roster of international call center facilities .

The Inquirer.net reported that a call center agent was robbed while she was riding a jeepney on her way home. It happened at around 11pm in Quezon City.

The robbers were able to get her backpack containing 2 cellphones and some identification cards. The police were able to arrest the suspects but the stolen items were not recovered.

Cops were able to act fast but the suspects were quicker in dispensing of their loot.

While nobody is safe in the metropolis even during in broad daylight, let us still be extra careful especially at night when we’re out there either going to or from the office.

That is why I strongly disagree their opinion especially when some people think that this job is a no brainer. You need to always open yourself to learn about the product that you are supporting and ready to be trained so you can enhance your skills.

I can proudly say that I have known a lot of new things like when I took calls for a telecommunication company before. Aside from that, I got to know more about how to fix a fax, answering machine and other phone line systems when I worked in an account supporting those lines of businesses.

Just like my former colleague who knew a lot now about mortgage including mortgage life insurance quotes since he was trained to answer inquiries about mortgage related matters.

Now that takes a lot of learning involved right?

Calls peeked on Friday, the day of the DTV transition, at 317,450 calls. The call center received 145,403 calls on Saturday and 62,949 calls on Sunday, with 28% of Sunday callers looking for help setting up their digital converter box. Twenty-six percent of calls on Sunday were about difficulty receiving a specific station, while 23% had broader reception issues.

Over 235,000 calls seeking convertor box coupon information were transferred to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s call center.

Why? Simply because there are still a lot more who are not familiar with this major change in television technology. And Americans indeed will call the FCC because their favorite pastime is going to get affected.

The U.S. government has started distributing the converter boxes that will allow old television sets to receive the new digital signals. This new technology will give clearer pictures and will free up the airwaves for other uses, particularly for telecommunications.

Apparently, some of the callers of the FCC are from senior citizens who are not technologically knowledgeable to even comprehend this major change on their favorite home appliance and viewing pleasure. Although there are agencies who are assisting them in installing the converter boxes, there are still those who are not even aware of it.

The FCC should immediately take care of the TV conversion needs of the country’s senior citizens. It is their favorite pastime and most will get easily bored without their favorite TV programs.

Some TV stations even admit that a lot of people are not yet even aware of this TV technology switch. It is only safe to assume that the senior citizens are probably one of them.

Quote Source: http://www.tvweek.com

The available recreation channels may depend on a lot of factors like the budget that the company can allocate for this or machines and gadgets that call center employees requested so they can really enjoy their free time.

Well, aside from game consoles, PS3 and the like, it would also be better to have Nintendo Wii, well not really better, but I believe that this will be one of the hottest gadgets in the R&R room just in case. But aside from that, Wii accessories should also be handy to get the most out of your Wii experience.

Just like what happened to some call center employees of Startek in Henry county. According to this article, nearly 70 employees were laid off due to “change in service conditions”. But some employees have different opinion about these changes.

“They told us they’d give us five days to have it taken off our record once I called the courthouse, it takes six months to have anything taken off your record,” says Rosalyne Galloway.

“I ain’t no criminal, I just had a misdemeanor for something that I regret. I done, I try to change my life around, be a good citizen,” says Mark Deskins, who was charged with assault in 2004.

According to the article, they were asked to list down their previous offenses when they applied on the said call center. I am thinking that this is fine if this will aid the company’s background check on these applicants, although I am not sure if this will bypass the applicant’s rights in a way.

How about you? Should applicants with former documented offenses be accepted in a call center environment? Why or why not?

Just imagine if you have to sit down and take calls for almost seven and a half hours everyday, then no matter how resilient you are, you won’t avoid feeling stressed and tired. When call center agents are all stressed and they need some ways to relax, they just want to have a good laugh and conversation with their friends, drink coffee, play PS3 games if their call center has some units in their recreation rooms.

Well, these are just some of the things they want to do to liven their senses again, which will result to a more positive call experience with their customers.

Anyway, it was actually some easy stuff that I did for her, but it’s just that I have been in the office for more than 10 hours already and my mind and body were starting to complain.

Normally I could do those extra hours. The thing is, sometimes things just don’t go well and I wasn’t feeling well earlier. I just didn’t want my colleague to get swamped with all those extra tasks.

Good thing I’m already here at home, doing some blogging, checking my emails and reading some light stuff from the web. Later on I’ll go to bed and I’m sure I’ll be having a lengthy shut eye. I always sleep very soundly after a very tiring day at work. Who wouldn’t, right?

Rest up, guys. It has been a busy week for all of us.