My Call Center Experience II

2015.12.4: My Call Center Experience II

12:10am – 1:14am

I have much to write, but I don’t have a lot of time nor probably the energy to write.  So, to make this count, I want to first write about my call center experience so far.

I have been working at Cox Communications through Xerox about three months now.  I learned a lot and I have many stores to share.

But the one story I want to share is a customer I talk to today.  The very last call.

Today was a busy day at the call center.  For some reason, probably because of winter storms and outages, I was getting almost none stop calls.  I have to use my 20 minutes of break time spaced out in 5.5 hours wisely.  I also get a 30-minute lunch. 

I was finishing helping a customer with cable issues when my supervisor told me if I can take one more call.  Overtime is a common occurrence at my job, so does leaving early when no customers call.  So I agreed.  I really wanted to just go home and relax and spend time with God but I decided to make the sacrifice to make one more call.

And what a call that was.

Before I go into it, let me share with you some difficulties that I face when making calls, and my strengths as well.  I think my chief weakness talking to customers is my speaking skill.  Despite speaking for all my life, I still stutter horribly when talking on the phone.  My stuttering is less when talking to people face-to-face and still less when talking to people I know and trust.  But every time I hear a beep on the phone, for some reason, my tongue just can’t say the word.  My brain knows what to say, but I just can’t say it.  Then sometimes my mind gets distracted and it makes the delay and stuttering worse.  “T-t-th-[slient th]-T-Thank you for calling Cox Communications.”  “My name is S-s-s-teven.”  “H-[slient ow]-How can I help you?”  Each one of those stuttering roadblocks is a barrier and for each call, I sometimes are able to bypass on those roadblocks, but almost never am I able to overcome all of them. 

I think to myself that “Love comes from God” and “Power comes from God.”  Part of the reason why I stutter is due to fear, due to insecurity, due to a fear of rejection.  I have very little power in my introduction because I was afraid; I was afraid of the unknown.  Right now, at my workspace, I have both an American flag on one side and an Israeli flag on the other.  Looking that these flags gives me strength and hope.  I plan to further decorate my workspace by putting WordArt “Love comes from God” on my left side and “Power comes from God” on the other.  Other agents put pictures of their family, or Cox Communications resources, but I will instead focus on inspiration. 

When talking to people on the phone, I feel like that is how Jesus felt during his life of ministry.  He gets persecuted, rejected, attacked, verbally abused, and so forth and that is what many customers do to us, and to me.  I practice humility and I have a genuine desire to help them.  But, back to Jesus, I would rather get attacked and abused for the sake of the gospel than for the sake of cable.  Nevertheless, working at a call center is a very good experience.  I am able to improve my speaking skills, to develop my small talk skills, my selling skills.  It has helped me in my life.  And I plan to use it for His Kingdom in the near future. 

Football is not my passion.  Oh no, I think I just said a bad word.  On Saturdays and Sundays, I got many football calls.  TV isn’t working so they can’t watch football.  How can I build rapport with them?  For all my customers, I follow my call flow which includes asking the customer how they are doing and showing empathy.  Like in the Army, I feel it is necessary to at least study a bit on what is going on in the football world so I won’t be seen as an outcast.

About five customers so far, during my three months, asked me if I was a robot after I finished my introductory phase mentioned earlier in the stuttering section.  I replied “No, I’m not a robot.  I’m a real person.  My name is Steven.” 

I’ve got a customer asking me if I can be their personal agent, since I resolved and helped them so well.  I told him no, that the structure of the call center doesn’t allow it.

I only have one customer, I think, that tried to use my stuttering to discriminate me.  That customer told me “I already want to talk to someone else.”  But I empathized with her and was able to resolve and program her remote as well.  During the whole time, she was demanding, demeaning, and mean to me.  I don’t know if I even got a “thank you” or maybe it was a hollow one.  Many times, customers not only use me, but just use me, without showing any gratitude, respect, or appreciation.  Many times, it is a thankless job. 

To work at a call center, I have to be at my best.  I try to give every customer my best and it is very demanding of me.  It is very mentally demanding and for the salary that I earn, I know I can get a better-paying job without spending so much of my energy, brainpower, and willpower.  It is a very stressful job.  Back in nesting, we took two 15-minute breaks.  But for me, I couldn’t do that.  I take mini-breaks between every call. 

In a way, I feel customers will treat me nicer and better if everyone had the same genuine spirit of helpfulness like me.  But no, I am wrong.  I’m not here to brag.  I have many weaknesses although few are of my choosing (add: I also need to continue to renew my mind, to avoid thinking evil thoughts and to focus on what’s important, in this case, the issue, when talking to customers).  I am good at troubleshooting, at working with the computer system, with typing.  Those technical aspects are my strengths.  And showing love to customers and to be genuine and to help them.  However, it leaves me exhausted. 

There are many more experiences and stories that I can write but I either don’t have time or don’t remember as of now.  Maybe by reading my call center experiences, one can already have some experience working as a customer service representative.  :) 

My last call, the call I volunteered, was crazy and intense.  To make the long story short, the customer demanded me to fix her cable TV instantly.  I checked the diagnostics and found that her area has an outage.  I told her what I can do.  I told her the technician’s name and estimated repair time.  I empathized with her.  I listened to her.  She was cussing and maybe even fussing.  She blamed the company and me (since I’m a part of it), about other representatives telling her that she needed miniboxes to get service, which was completely untrue as she already have cable boxes.  She added that Cox did the minibox trick to get more of her and other customer’s money.  I educated her on the reason why a customer would want a minibox.  I educated her on both analog and digital signals, on what kind of channels she would get.  And throughout all this time, she went back to the present issue of her TV not working and demanded me to fix the issue now.  I kept repeating to her, with love and kindness, the truth.  I told her honestly is the best policy and I don’t want to lie to her.  I repeated the technician’s name and the estimated repair time.  Then she would talk about other bad Cox experience issues like her bill or having to constantly call us.  I empathized on all her concerns.  I told her I also care about saving money and shared with her my experience.  This call was hurting my handle time and I was pressured by others.  I asked “permission to hang up” but my supervisor said no.  I mean if I do have permission, I will gently do so, like when Joseph was planning to divorce Mary before he knew the truth.  So I stayed with her and informed her again the estimated repair time.  She told me she will stay on the phone with me until the issue is fixed, which will be in another hour, at this point of the call.  But, throughout this entire call, I was at peace.  I was actually a little happy.  I felt her pain.  Towards the middle and the end of the call, she started to say “sorry” but then went back to attacking.  Then she told me that she is, actually, a nice person.  I believed her.  Listening to her, I felt she was wronged, deceived, and that she was made to be mean to us, but I felt in her heart, like me, that she was a nice person.  My supervisor’s desk was next to mine today, due to computer issues and seating rearrangements.  Other agents and supervisors were around, and perhaps trying to listen to my share of the conversation.  I told her at one point that I can’t do the impossible, that only God can do the impossible.  I thought about evangelizing but I knew that I would be in trouble if I do.  I thought about reading that Inner and Healing Deliverance book to her while we waited.  I tried to ask what she enjoyed doing and her hobbies and interests and she told me that her interest is for me to “get her cable working.”  I followed the organizations call flow.  In calls like these, it is imperative that I follow the call flow with building rapport, empathizing, educating, and so forth so if I get a bad survey from her, I can challenge it (if I reach 80% or higher from quality control).  In the end, she calmed down enough when I reassured her that our technical support is open 24/7 and that she can call us back in half an hour.  She finally agreed and the call was over.  My supervisor complimented me on my patience and gentleness. 

So, working at a call center is very intense and stressful, at least for me.  If every day working on the phones is like this (and many days it is), I would, honestly, rather quit or leave.  I already informed my supervisor about my intentions but he wanted me to stay, telling me that the team needs me.  But, my mentor told me that I deserve a better job, a job with less stress and with higher pay.  I already have a bachelor’s degree, so why am I working at a call center?  It was because I gave up too easily, my fear of rejection, and my perceived desperation for a job, that I chose it.  But God will give me grace and I am going to look for a better job.  Today was a victory but I really hope God won’t grant me such a victory again.  He will, and I have to persevere.  

10/10/2015: Accident / My Call Center Experience I

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.

3/5/2015

3/5/2015: (A World without Hope)

End: 3:51pm

In season 4, episode 19 of the X-Files titled “Synchrony,” Jason, Lisa, and Dr. Yonechi discovered time travel, or should I say, will discover time travel.  It sounds awesome, right?  Many times, humankind doesn’t anticipate the consequences of technology.  Such is the theme of this episode.  The elder Jason, the one from the future, tried to destroy his work.  He told the younger Jason that this invention makes it “a world without history, without hope, where anyone can know everything that will ever happen.  I’ve seen that world.”

Let me speculate this for a bit.  What does he mean that he has seen that world, a hopeless world?  If I know my future, if we all know our futures, then its predestination.  If I know I will eventually be a math teacher or a social worker and my future child will go into computer science, then great!  But let’s add socioeconomic status here.  What if a disadvantaged person, someone from the lower or underclass were to be able to see his or her future?  What will their future be like or their children?  Most likely, using statistics, many of them will have a bleak future.  Many of them will continue to be in a cycle of poverty.  What would you do if you are in their situation?  What would you do if you know that three years from now, you will be homeless and in six years you will be gunned down on the street?  And three of your children will be dead in seven years.  Many of them will probably choose to die.  Why live knowing that your future is bleak? 

And if they choose to end the cycle of poverty by death, it will affect everybody else.  The example I gave doesn’t have to be that severe.  What if people know that they will live the remainder of their lives as a wage slave?  This will be a world without hope.  Once the lower classes extinguish themselves, the upper classes will start to collapse, too, since they need the services and labor from the lower classes to maintain their status.  People need hope to live.

-

This scenario assumes that time can only go forward, not back.  If time travel can go backwards as well, then many people may want to redo their lives and not make the same mistakes again.  I would like to do the same.  :p  But this possibility then opens up a much bigger reality.  If everyone were to go back in time to correct their mistakes, there may be parallel universes.  Somewhere, I may be a general Steven, a scientist Steven, a pilgrim Steven, or even a hacker Steven.  Ok, it’s getting too confusing.  Time travel is probably not ever going to be feasible.        

If there is a God (of the Bible), and I believe so, then it won’t be feasible because a man reaps what he sows (Gal. 6:7).  What give us hope; what gives me hope is the hope of eternal life, that as long as we try to love and follow Him, we will have a great future.

Jobs in heaven

2015.2.26: Jobs in heaven

S: 12:57am

E: 1:38am

I haven’t written anything for a long time.  There are a lot of reasons but I’m going to skip them. 

My main concern for this entry is about my situation. 

I feel this world is really like a caste system.  There are really no equal opportunities.  Getting a job depends on who you know.  Oh how I wish both the rich and poor have an equal chance of getting a job based on their dedication.  Not experience.  Experience makes things unfair.  It will not be unfair if there are entry-level jobs that can cover experience but there are none, essentially none.  All the jobs, it seems, requires you to know somebody.  Requiring people to know somebody is unfair because not everyone receives the same opportunities to meet people.  The privileged will meet more privileged and the poor and underclass will meet more poor and the underclassed. 

I feel so hopeless.  I’ll never get a job that shows my true worth.  I probably won’t get a job.  The world doesn’t understand that people need jobs to survive.  Why so much competition?  Why can’t there be guaranteed jobs for people who can’t find any other jobs?  That would be a start for a better society. 

I feel the kingdom of darkness and the ruler of this world wants me to feel hopeless, depressed, to wallow in self-pity, and what not.  But although I am suffering from these symptoms because I am human, I have emotions, I still will remember the One who created me and loves me.  Just because darkness is all around me doesn’t not mean God is dead.  No.  Just because I can’t see God or his help does not mean there is nothing I can do. 

I know God is love and He is the one who loves me.  Even if God never loves me again or gives me hope in this world again, still will I seek him.  I will say that I am doing no wrong and I am making no mistake if I raise my hands to God.  As long as I seek God, contrary to what this world is telling me, I will have a better result.  If that result is still death, then at least it is death with seeking God. 

I do not know how my Lord will be able to help me.  The odds are too stacked against me.  I lack experience.  I lack knowing the right people.  I may even lack some of the skills.  But, it doesn’t matter.  This world wants us to think that it matters.  To achieve them is unachievable.  Yes, they essentially are.  What matters is securing my eternal future by seeking and loving God.  Even if my life here on Earth will end, seeking Him is one of the best things anyone can do.  There is no such thing as too much of him.  There is no toxicity level with God.  If someone spends 100% of his or her time with God, I count that person blessed. 

Right now, I feel there is no hope for me.  I am being realistic.  A resume doesn’t cover everything about me.  There is more to me than a sheet of paper.  But most don’t know that.  They judge what they see. 

Perhaps it is a blessing that finding a job is so momentous for me.  It is a gift that stones are placed in my way.  I am starving, dying of thirst, to reach the finish line.  But what finish line?  The world’s?  I shall stop this race and pray and seek God.  I know contrary to what this world is telling me or what I am seeing, God can do anything.  He can lift a homeless man or woman up and have that person become a president, even the president of his or her country.  I believe that.  In the end, it is not man who decides, but God.  It is not man who determines his or her future, but God.  A man, regardless of his or her station in life, is only measured on one thing: how much that person loves God and through God, loves people.  That’s all.  If society really loves their fellowman, finding a job should be as plentiful as the streets of gold at heaven.  There should be employers begging people to come to this job.  People will not look, indeed, it will be already there! 

I guess this life I live.  I most likely will not live long.  Let not my eyes deceive me.  Let not the pleasures of this world confound me.  My life is but a breath.  I say, it is blessing to die because I can no longer survive if I spend my last days with God.  And because I do not know when my time will come, should not all my time be based for Him? 

If things continue in its natural state; if it continues in its natural law, then I will die soon and be with God.  I write “be with God” because that may or may not happen.  But what I will do, what will happen, is that I do my best to be with Him.  The secret of life is this: It is better to die than to live and see pain.  The joys of eternal rest outweighs the burdens of daily life.  Living may be a curse while death may be a release.  I have still not caught the essence of this.  Happier is the one who dies than the one who lives but suffers. 

But, to end this, I do know one thing.  Hope comes from God.  Love comes from God.  Grace comes from God.  Joy, happiness, prosperity, peace, and everything good, even sex, comes from God.  The one who seeks God is like one who is trying to cheat in this life.  This world hates cheaters, it hates those who circumvent these worldly ways.  The cheat in this life is knowing God and knowing him deeply, and loving him through life or in death.

2014.1.26: Go Optimism! [Discovery / Bright Ideas]

2014.1.26: Go Optimism!

S: 11:10pm

E: 12:36am

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life….  Ok, I don’t mean to plagiarize.  I have this saying in its entirety pasted on my wall back in my room in Los Angeles.  This phase tells me the importance of a person’s attitude on their life.  How a person thinks, his or her outlook, plays a major part in that person’s life cycle. 

Due to its importance, it is critical for a person to have an optimistic way of thinking and outlook on life.  I want to be with optimistic people and to make optimistic friends.  I want to be with people who see opportunity at night and by day.  I want to be with people who see what is socially constructed as a “lose” or “win” to be a gain, a win, or an opportunity.  I want to be with people who see the glass as half-full first instead of as half-empty. 

Instead of people telling others that they can’t do this or that or being judgmental, I want people who instead ask “Let’s see what we can do.”  And, for goals that seem unreachable, I want them to say “Let’s look at some things we can do to help reach that goal.” 

For example, if someone wants to be like Bill Gates, instead of just dismissing that person’s dreams and aspirations by saying “that’s impossible,” I want people to instead say “OK, let’s see what we can do.”  That person can first learn how to use a computer.  Then, he or she can work on studying and getting a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.  After that, the person can gain some experience by working for a software company.  After a while, once the person has more experience, he or she can team up or start their business alone.  If that dreamer is persistent, reevaluates his/her progress, and does their best, that person will be able to achieve as close to that person’s dreams as possible.  What I described is just one track or way that person can become like Bill Gates.  Then again, it depends on what that person defines Bill Gates as.  Does he/she want to be a great computer innovator or a rich man/woman?

Robert H. Schuller said that “I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.”  Most successful people, if not all, have an optimistic orientation.  They believe in themselves and in their dreams. 

Being optimistic involves seeing all situations in a positive light.  One of the great Biblical figures who had bad upon bad handed to him is Apostle Paul.  Yet, he states, “When I am weak then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10b).  He knows that in times of his weakness, of troubles, of tribulations or persecutions, he can more easily seek the One who is all-powerful and that he can learn and grow stronger from these windy experiences. 

In the Army I have soldiers tell me that they would just rather die than be me.  “Your life sucks” they say and they would point out all the obvious flaws and weaknesses that I have or may have.  But then, I thought to myself one day in the military, if I can be someone else, who would I be?  I looked at other soldiers.  They seem strong, knowledgeable about their jobs, and/or have many friends.  But I have one thing many of them don’t have: the ability to be with God.  I have God.  I can talk to God.  I can also talk to myself and problem-solve.  I told myself that if I can talk to God, then I can have anything.  So, I’m happy to be me.  I have the better deal. 

One of the foundations of social work is optimism.  Social workers focus on a client’s strengths and empowers the person or group to be all they can be.  The very fact that people try to help those who need help is a mark of optimism.  Pessimistic people might look at the homeless, or offenders, or in Jesus’ time, tax-collectors and sinners, and say “Oh they are homeless, they are hopeless” or “Oh they are offenders, there is no hope for them.”  But no!  We don’t give up on people because God doesn’t give up on them. 

Parents who are pessimistic can give a negative self-fulfilling prophecy to their children.   Children are naturally optimistic.  They would try new things.  They would draw, climb, taste, and do whatever that is pleasing to them or that is interesting.  However, if the parent tells the child, “Your drawing sucks, don’t draw,” or “You can’t even jump right, don’t bother playing basketball,” the classical “You won’t amount to anything” type of speech, then the child will not reach his or her full potential because he/she doesn’t know what their full potential is.  The child won’t try, won’t experiment what their mountain peaks are.  I feel it is safe for me to say that I am not born in an optimistic family.  One of my caretakers will use negative language to motivate me.  That person will say alternations of “You won’t amount to anything.”  That person will not encourage me to try new things.  That person will say I’m “stupid.”  My list is not exhaustive.  Thus, I am brought up in a negative mindset.  I would tend to see what I can’t do instead of what I can do first.  I would focus unduly on my problems and weaknesses instead of my strengths or what I can do about my problems.  I would get depressed a lot.  I am able to change my mind-set slowly by knowing Someone who is optimistic. 

I feel this world is very pessimistic.  People always look at the bad or assume the worse in people first.  Look at the TV shows, the daily news, or magazines.  People are attracted to negative things.  And then there are those people who are optimistic in making others pessimistic.  These people can be anywhere, in the real world or online.  They just seem to do their best in putting others down.  Those who experienced it will know what I mean.

I feel pessimism may be from Satan or the Evil One.  He will always try to discourage us.  He will always tell us, “No, you can’t do this; No you suck,” or “Why don’t you just die….”  God empowers but Satan disempowers. 

I’m happy to know that my God is an optimistic God.  The Lord is “patient… not wanting anyone to perish” (2 Peter 3:9).  He is optimistic that people will turn back to Him.  He sent his son Jesus to die for us in hopes that we can believe in Him.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

In writing about optimism, I want to note that optimism does not mean living in the skies all day and ignoring reality.  We do need to be a realist.  I would say our mindset needs to be 80% optimistic, 20% realistic, and 0% pessimistic. 

In this world, there will always be people who are pessimistic, but the only person who can truly be optimistic is yourself.  “And so it is with you… we are in charge of our ATTITUDES” (Charles R. Swindoll).

10/23/2013 [Discovery]

10/23/2013:

S: 11:46pm

E: 12:29am

I thought about skipping today’s entry but decided against it.  The worse, for now, in this blog is every-other-day.  It is almost midnight and I need to sleep so I will make this short.

I sin, I sin every day, but I’m not going to write about that.  I think everyone sins at least once a day, unless the person makes a super-conscious effort not to. 

Yesterday, I went to the UTEP Centennial speech by famed Ricardo C. Ainslie about “Lessons from Juárez and the Future of Mexico’s Drug War.”  He first describes the history of the war, mistakes made, and some possible solutions.  I attended this seminar as an extra credit assignment.  I am also required to write a paper.  Since I’m too lazy to rewrite what happened, I’m going to copy-and-paste the 1-page summary that I wrote:

Distinguished speaker and psychologist Ricardo C. Ainslie spoke at UTEP about the history of Mexico’s Drug War, using the city of Juárez as an example, his analysis of the government’s response, and possible solutions to ending the violence. 

This paragraph will cover a brief history of Mexico’s Drug War.  In December 2006, parts of Mexico were under control of the cartels.  The Mexican state decided to fight back.  However, there are problems with this strategy.  The Mexican Federal Police (PJF) numbered only 7k-8k at the start of Calderón´s administration.  The municipal and state police forces were thoroughly corrupted.  The Mexican Army (240,000) was not trained for police work.  And, the judicial system is dysfunctional.  From year 2007 to 2012, 11,182 people have been killed in Juárez.  The average victim male and 15-25 years of age.  Many people and their families died because they can’t come up with extortion money.  The federal government’s response to send the Army further compounded the situation with accidental killings and roadblocks which made life hard for the average citizen. 

Ainslie suggests that there should be more programs like “Todos Somos Juarez” that offers a comprehensive plan of increasing police budget, offering quality education, universal health care, drug addiction programs, and public spaces that has been demonstrated to reduce the violence in Juarez.  He also stresses that the primary objective of the War on Drugs should not be to stop drug trafficking but to have the Mexican citizens live in peace. 

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It’s very sad that these things happen.  Drugs are not the main problem.  It is just a symptom of a greater problem.  The main problem, I feel, and there are many fronts to this issue, is the lack of love in this world.  If people were to love God and to love their fellow man more, the drug problem, like my gaming problem, will be lessened.  People would think twice about committing such horrific acts because they would still have a conscience. 

As a future social worker, I can see multiple issues in this war.  Poverty and lack of economic opportunities is a big issue.  When times are hard, some people turn to crime and illegal ways to survive.  They seek membership into the cartels to make a living.  Government corruption is another factor.  If more people in the government were to put serving and protecting the people above themselves, the tide would turn more against the cartels.  I’m not saying everyone in the Mexican government is corrupt; there are many good people in the government who is trying earnestly to help.  Every country has people who are corrupt and, by corrupt, I mean people who place themselves above the good of society.  I remember one of my soldiers had corrupt drill sergeants when he was in basic training.  The drill sergeants would actually sell passes to soldiers so they can take cigarette breaks, get more sleep, eat donuts, and even sex (he said the DS were selling the lunch ladies).  I have to be honest.  Basic training was really hard and if my drill sergeants were to sell sleep time, I could sleep forever. 

I could write more but I too need sleep, so I’m going to sleep.  When I’m trying to sleep, I also enjoy imagining things.  A common theme I would imagine would be fighting.  I would recreate myself as a fighter (if I’m lucky paladin) in a fantasy land.  I would try to fight against evil but because of my sins, I would make mistakes and sometimes I would have to beg for mercy.  I would sometimes imagine myself as a ranger, using both the bow (and crossbow) and sword.  In that character, I prefer ranged combat and to hit-and-run because I’m disadvantaged at melee.  In spiritual terms, ranged combat is like prayer while melee is like talking or dealing with people.  My strategy, since I dress lightly, is to outrun my opponents and then shoot arrows again.  Other times, I try to imagine that I am in the Temple of God praying but it’s hard to imagine that. 

Ok, I think you get the idea.  I also dream a lot which is good.  Good night.