I was actually in a dilemna if I should post this article since I also came from the BPO industry and lasted for almost four years. Some years back, the call center industry was shaken by an agent named "Cathy" hailing from a local call center that hurled a slew of invectives against a very frustrated DSL client. People were aghast and shocked on how this particular lady agent treated the customer without an ounce of civility. Unfortunately, an insider leaked this recording and it made Filipinos question the standard of customer service between countrymen with such uncouth and unsupervised behavior. WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE! |
....and then there was that very engaging and desperate phone call of a Filipina located somewhere in the Philippines who wanted to reach Citibank USA and was thrice met by a hapless agent by the name of "Jason" who had to hear her deplorable utterances and grouses that led to cursing an entire nation all because she thinks that this agent could not help her get her money from the ATM...this was of course in the reverse...the funny part there was that during the third onset of the call, Jason had to pretend he was the manager. WARNING! EXPLICIT LANGUAGE |
(guffaws!) Honestly, I could feel her desperation but if she had just had that ounce of a minute to listen to what the agent had to explain instead of rabidly attacking him then maybe this would have not happened and if the agent just asked the customer thrice to stop and warn this irate caller to stop with the abuse otherwise he would be forced to release the call then again, this particular youtube vaudeville would not have surmised. If this were a cartoon, you could literally see those lips coming out of the speaker brushing and caressing on "Jason"'s face with those cavil sentences of damnation and vilification. At least Jason acted like an iceberg hitting a demonic ghost ship set adrift.
Last Monday, I was totally irked when a friend from facebook posted this video about the call center rep stated above filming himself and carrying the lanyard of a BPO that primarily specializes in sensitive accounts. Aside from the bad English and the worst demonstration of active listening, what was reprehensible was that he filmed himself (I don't care if he's gay, he hasn't performed a Christine Jorgensen yet and his sexual preference is not the issue) acquiring sensitive information from an unnamed customer while his colleagues lauded him forward sans any practice of EOP (English Only Policy) on the floor as this is a standard in all call centers. It didn't stop from there, in a latest video uploaded, he does it again and this time with the intention to ridicule the customer by calling himself "Lady Gaga". The clincher here is that the customer obviously doesn't speak Spanish and then he suddenly frazzles on to a Spanish script then vehemently denies such when the customer perplexedly reacted to the string foreign sounds that he heard.
....Being in the call center is one of the most noblest profession there is. People who work in call centers are oftentimes teased or ridiculed for so many reasons but what people do not realize is the hours that people brave through just to get a decent pay much less the hope of people lasting in one company while the others flutter over from one office to the next looking for better pay and treatment. This, more often than not, due to the strange and dire economic situation is the answered prayer for those who have been laid off from work and oftentimes, approaching the age of 40 or returning OFWs settling for a fraction of what their pay was before just to get through. What others also don't realize is that people in call centers are multi-faceted because they learn the intricacies of one account and then moves on to another. A nurse waiting to pass the board exams can first settle here and learn to be a technical support agent which is far from what her course entails. All in all, call centers service customers. With this particular breach, this particular agent has placed a bullseye on an entire industry as controversy rages in the US Congress on a move that "seeks “to bar corporations that sent US call center jobs overseas from receiving federal grants and loans,” under the Call Center and Consumer Protection Act.
While he facebook pages and other concerned citizens furiously demand for either an apology or his permanent retirement from the industry, this particular Act would greatly affect the not only the Philippine call center climate but other countries as well as this is considered a "protectionist legislation" in order to save US jobs.
Shan Rivera Cruz has made a ridiculous whore of himself with such breach of trust and confidence that has placed a dent on an industry that has continued to help our economy. Here's the thing:
Unfortunately there are such things as bad apples, I hope the stench of this abomination does not affect the way Filipino call center agents are perceived as far as treating a call is concerned.....warm, friendly and ready to be of service.
NOTE: I had to replace the video again since the original video was placed under a copyright claim by his former call center. Another update, ok....it seems that there is a campaign by his former call center to really wipe out the leaked videos. I've just replaced video no.2 with a new video as the old one was taken down on Youtube.
ADDENDUM: Unfortunately, the call center concerned which is WNS has managed to take down every video that was posted about Shan Cruz Rivera and claiming ownership on the video. My two cents on the matter is that it should have been the video owner and NOT the BPO concerned who should have taken that down as he owns the property rights to the said video. That particular outsourcing unit was just dragged into the fray because Rivera displayed their badge. When the PLDT and Citibank "scandals" happened, these two entities just let it be believing in freedom of expression. Did it take down the entire Philippine call center industry? No. Was Rivera ever punished by that company despite a clause that he signed upon employment that he should not disclose anything about his account? Why punish the people that uploaded the video? Something to ponder on.
Shan Rivera Cruz has made a ridiculous whore of himself with such breach of trust and confidence that has placed a dent on an industry that has continued to help our economy. Here's the thing:
- Where was the floorwalker if any?
- He did this twice and the Quality Assurance people were not able to catch it? He filmed himself twice so it means that even if the camera is not rolling, he is also doing this to others.
- Where was his Team Leader?
- Rule of Thumb: No cell phones or cameras absolutely allowed on the floor especially in accounts such as this so how did he manage to slip this? This now questions the integrity of that floor and maybe the Client Relations Manager of that company.
Unfortunately there are such things as bad apples, I hope the stench of this abomination does not affect the way Filipino call center agents are perceived as far as treating a call is concerned.....warm, friendly and ready to be of service.
NOTE: I had to replace the video again since the original video was placed under a copyright claim by his former call center. Another update, ok....it seems that there is a campaign by his former call center to really wipe out the leaked videos. I've just replaced video no.2 with a new video as the old one was taken down on Youtube.
ADDENDUM: Unfortunately, the call center concerned which is WNS has managed to take down every video that was posted about Shan Cruz Rivera and claiming ownership on the video. My two cents on the matter is that it should have been the video owner and NOT the BPO concerned who should have taken that down as he owns the property rights to the said video. That particular outsourcing unit was just dragged into the fray because Rivera displayed their badge. When the PLDT and Citibank "scandals" happened, these two entities just let it be believing in freedom of expression. Did it take down the entire Philippine call center industry? No. Was Rivera ever punished by that company despite a clause that he signed upon employment that he should not disclose anything about his account? Why punish the people that uploaded the video? Something to ponder on.
RSS Feed