10/10/2015: Accident / My Call Center Experience I
2:16am – 2:57am
It’s late now and I just off work. Part of me wants to write this but another
part of me just wants to play games and sleep.
God has grace for all.
Today, when I was driving back home on I-10, when I almost
reached home, I saw police lights flashing and red lights everywhere. Normally, there will be police lights in that
area because the other side of the highway is under innovation. But as I drove closer, I see that something
is wrong. There are lights, more lights,
on my side of the highway as well. As I
got closer, the lanes on the highway started to be disappear, blocked by lights
on the ground, until only the exit is available. Then I smelled a smell of metal and possibly
flesh. As I reached the exit ramp, I saw
the accident. Two cars, totaled. The car on the back was heavily damaged, with
the front heavily bend and the windshield white. As I was looking, I was thinking whether
anyone driving or in the seats would survive.
The car in the back, I thought had a chance, but whoever should survive
that would be critically hurt. The car
in the front, it was catastrophic. The
whole front is caved in. The windshield
is even more damaged then the one in the front.
Both cars are on the side of the highway. In my analysis, looking at the damage, my
guess is that the driver in the rear collided into the driver in the
front. The driver in the front lost
control and crashed to the side at an even faster speed. The driver in the front, I reasoned, probably
had no chance of surviving. When I saw
it, I covered my face with my hands.
Why is this incident so important? I think it is because of my situation and how
it touched me. I found a job at a call
center helping people resolve video and internet issues. I went from spending most of my time alone to
talking to people more than eight hours a day.
What a shift. But, as I talk to
people, as I talk to total strangers, I begin, at least unconsciously, to care
for them. For me, I get nervous every
time I pick up a call. The beginning is
the worse. I don’t know who that other
person is, whether they will be nice or mean, or super-mean. But, I can clearly say for everyone I talk
to, I want the best for them.
Today, I have been touched by the modem hymn “Grace For All”
by Holly Starr. This song, or should I
say, many of her songs, somehow stuck to me.
Her songs, like Kari Jobe, helped me to live and to be closer to
God.
Before this call center experience, I would care less for
people. If see an accident, I would say
a quick prayer and move on. I could care
less about what happens to strangers.
Well, in a way, I do care, with social work, but now, it is at a
different level. Talking to strangers,
helping them, has helped me to become even more sensitive.
Peace is to prepare for war.
The three things that matter in this world is power, love, and
wisdom. Sorry, I just want to say those
things. When I talk to people on the
phone, I always remember and try to have power and love. Where does power and love come from? It comes from God. Yes, they tell me to be confident. But that falls on hollow ears. I can’t just be confident. Not by my own strength. I become confident when I am filled with God’s
power.
I have only been working at the call center for about two
months now and I have been learning so much about not just the technical aspect
but on the experience. For me, when I
talk to the customers, I always try to ask how they are doing, hobbies; I share
about myself, my military experience, and how God helped me, while keeping on
track with technical issues. I don’t
like to just keep customers on a silent hold and have no talk except what is
necessary.
I do believe everyone should at least have some call center
experience. Then they will know what
talking on the phone with total strangers who is mostly frustrated is
like.
Who knows, the person I talk to, or try to help, or promised to call back on, can be in that accident. And I see me going into that call center job as an accident. I never planned this. I just saw this job posting on craigslist and I decided to give it a try.
The company I am working with has decided to give all the
agents a raise. I am happy. It feels like a blessing from God.
I can share many experiences I had with customers, both good
and bad. When talking to people, I miss
the face-to-face experience. It’s more
difficult to establish good rapport when strangers can’t even see you. And I also stutter, with an Asian ascent,
but, I am still doing OK. With God, I’ll
do OK.
And the quote, “Focus on what you can do and you will be
able to do what you can’t” also helped.
What I can do is pray. What I can
do is to worship and to spend time with God.
What I can do…. And what I can’t
do are my goals, heh, with God.
Working at the call center has been very stressful, and the
night shift is, by now, not what I wanted.
I initially chose to work nights because I am a night person. But, I am missing out so much on my
supernatural church. I don’t know what I
was thinking when my trainer called me into their office to pick a
schedule. I had a morning choice with
Wednesdays off, I think. But, God will
give me grace. I did try to request a
change in my schedule and my supervisor is supportive of me. And, many times after a call, I have to give
myself a break. I just can’t go from
people to people, stranger to stranger.
It’s draining and I have to quickly recharge myself for the next
hit.
It’s late now, I got off at 1:10am today and played ping-pong
with my co-workers. You know, I haven’t
played ping-pong for probably like 10 years but I played well. I told them it’s because I used to play
tennis back in high school. :p
I want to share this song or hymn that helped me recently.
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