What's Up What's New

I learned this morning that my favorite restaurant has a new branch.  Cafe Bola put up a branch at the walkway between Ali Mall and SM Cubao.  That's convenient but they don't have the full menu yet.  I miss my favorites  like the cool fruit shakes (I lean towards chico and avocado but you should try the kamias) and the taro chips as well as the kangkong dip (I believe that's how you translate swamp cabbage).  Anyway, the staff said they will add more later on.

It's crazy at work.  We have overtime but no calls.  Then if we don't schedule overtime, the customers call at the end of your shift so you have to do overtime anyway.

Call center agents don't really get paid much bigger than most skilled workers.  The base pay is about the same generally.  However, call center agents get a lot of extra pay.  To start off, nearly all of them get night differential.  Then there is holiday pay (also with night differential).  Don't forget the overtime pay (on a holiday on top of night differential).  That could add up to a hefty sum, sometimes as much as 150% of base pay.

That's just compensation I think.  These guys work hard.  The very idea of altering your body clock to suit the working hours is already a stressful activity.  Then you have to contend with customers who may be irate or avoiding your call.  The agents deal with their problems to make life easier for them.  Each call brings on a different encounter and that could really be tiring.

Still, it's a living and a nice one at that.