One week in a call center...

When i told my friends where i was going to join next from Y!, questions like below came up:

1. Ain't that a BPO, hold on, a call center?


2. What are you going to do there?


3. Are you out of your mind?


4. What the ...?


5. Yada, yada, yada...

I knew this would come, but when i explained to them what organization in the company i was joining and what my roles and responsibilities would be there, they calmed down with a sigh of relief. Thanks guys for getting concerned so much. This decision wasn't easy to make, but knowing few things like getting to work with my previous manager in Oracle(ST), the work itself, the responsibilities and challenges that it offered; it was easy to say good-bye to Y! for this round. So how did it go in the first week? Well, i would say pretty well; i did face some "on the face" issues but i was already expecting them.

BPO culture is totally different. Every day is a challenge for the call center folks. The cubicles are very close by. People sit close; yet are always talking to some stranger on the other side of the phone. Entire floor is divided into multiple "bays" as they call it dedicated to a particular "account" or "process" and at any moment of the day/night, only a few bays are working (different "account"s/"process"es have different working times depending on the timezone of the customers they serve to). There seems so much "life" in their area when they are working: always chatty, laughing, creating applauds. And at the end of their schedules, you should see them cheering up for each other that they survived yet another tense day for their customers. I don't know about you, but next time i'm going to call to Airtel/Vodafone or any other service provider; i will probably be more gentle in talking to them. After all these guys are also human and they are trying to help us with someone else's fault. Its just human to think that they deserve a better interaction than what they generally get from a p***ed customer.

There are strict processes and rules and guidelines that every employee has to follow. Frankly speaking i was taken aback when HR told me i need to wear formals on weekdays. I also learned that my phone won't be allowed because it had camera. Thankfully i didn't have any storage capability on the phone, that would have been another reason to bar me. Well well well. I can take the phone thing in the spirit of data protection, but the dress code i won't survive. Thankfully when i took up this issue with my senior executives, they said, its ok to wear casuals and jeans for us and i was relieved. There is strict frisking at every entrance. First day it felt like a big pain but now with time it feels really funny raising your hands for the frisking with the metal detector [:D]. I've been told we will be moving to a separate area specially for our organization and there we will have separate rules (created and managed by us only not like the BPO guys); and i'm looking forward to the next month, when all this is expected to happen.

There is a cafeteria at the top floor of my building and food is average. Thankfully there are options for fast food(Chinese, South Indian, Bergers, Sandwiches etc.), regular meal and a tea/coffee shop as well. The meals are not so good and i've been surviving on the dosas and sandwiches. Next week onwards i will be trying out the pyramid cafeteria nearby (definitely a better option, i would say). Its just about time to finalize a routine that would work the best; i'm still exploring.

The gym is of not so standard though they have a trainer. I would say its good enough for the BPO company as they stand today (just like any other business, they have also had bruises in these recessionary times). I've decided to enrol myself to the FitnessOne gym on personal expenses. I will be more comfortable there for sure. This brings another time management challenge, but i'm confident i should be able to make it.

Coming to the work, i feel much satisfied and convinced that i'm a critical part of the organization and have more responsibilities to deliver on the expectations of my organization. There are quite many things to do and its the "my" thing feeling, that will keep me driving for quite sometime to come. This week i was more like trying to settle down but the work has started now. Going forward, you will hear more on the work side (as updates from the call center [:)]). So keep watching this space...