It was almost 3 months ago. I just resigned from Sykes because of a trip to Puerto and its rowdy management. A new friend invited me to become part of their company.

I never thought this company would mark my worst experience in this industry so far – CCC/P.

Jaire was a new friend back then and I needed a job instantly so when he offered his never-been-heard call center, I agreed. First night, no interviews, no exams, I was directed to training.

After 5 days of tackling what the account is about in a small part of the prodution floor (no training room), practicing the script and observing side-by-side with the vets (agents), I then dialed for the campaign. Luckily, I made 3 sales on that first day.

That impressed the managers so I continued the good job. The first time I got to talk with one of the agents, his words were;

“Man, prevention is better than cure.”

I got a little irritated because that kinda bothered my working mood. But that also got me curious so I asked the other agents about the company. And these are what I found out back then:

1. Since the latter part of last year (2008) to the present, they’ve been experiencing big delays on their salaries.

2. There was these 2 cutoffs that weren’t paid.

3. The shift is from 10 pm to 7 am but they were forced to stay until like 9 or 10, overtime not paid.

BUT I was doing okay and I haven’t experienced it yet so I let that pass. My second week went pretty well, then the payroll came. My first salary was a freaking P500 peso bill. The agents were also given the said amount and was promised to be paid a few days later.

That went on and on and I found out a couple more things that seemed wrong.

4. We were not given our own copy of our contract.

5. Our payslip was so informal that it was just in a small piece of paper, with maybe 4 centimeters in length and width.

6. In our payslips, there always is this TAX worth more or less P1000.00 every cutoff, BUT we were not asked of our TIN numbers.

7. No SSS, Pag-Ibig or Philhealth Contributions.

8. Commissions were not given.

9. Delays still continued and disputes became worse.

10. We always wait hours after the shift almost everyday to “beg” for “our” salary. And these are some of the pictures of us waiting:

After a month of dialing, I successfully impressed the managers and was then promoted as a Reports Analyst after an informal screening process. I never signed any document certifying that promotion and my salary was never increased. Though the job was more complicated, it was a little more lax.

About a month ago, the agents and their team leader, including me, their RA then decided to do something to somehow tell the management that what they’re doing is not right.

All the agents and me didn’t go to work one Friday of June. Only 3 agents dialed that night and the managers and QA also dialed.

On the Monday after that, a crucial and informal investigation was made by one of the managers through a one-on-one interview. Operation was affected because everyone was sent off the phone and was prohibited of talking to each other. I was not part of the rude investigation though.

Since my job is more into doing reports and stuff, I got to listen to some parts of the interrogations. I heard these out-of-the-topic questions from the manager;

“Are you a graduate? What course?” – and some more weird questions indirectly striking the person’s personality.

After the interrogation, a deafening silence filled the office. Some of the questioned agents was sent on the phones and 5 were sent home. These 5, allegedly pointed someone in particular as the master mind and as being accomplices, they were suspended.

Allegedly, the master mind that was pointed out is – their team leader. He was also suspended.

A fight of words and threats happened between the team leader and his then agents and friends who allegedly pointed him out. At the end, the truth arised that the managers wanted them to argue for some dark reasons.

They all went back at work the next week, and reconciliations were made. The owners themselves set up a meeting later that week to settle all issues internally and to tackle the problems that the agents were experiencing. That went pretty well – salary problems were voiced out, management issues were discussed and apologies were expressed. The owners themselves promised that these salary issues would be solved sooner than we all would expect and that the coming salary which will be on the next Tuesday will be given in full.

Apparently, the meeting didn’t go really well. Friendships were returned back to normal but Tuesday came and the agents waited more than 5 hours to get an incomplete salary. Promises were broken.

Things got worse after that. Things you may not imagine. Issues worsen, delays continued, disputes bigger, waiting was longer.

And the agents just couldn’t help it. Then, there were issues of mass resignation. Interrogations were again conducted and their team leader was then pointed out as the master mind and was terminated right there. Instantly. Informally. With no investigations. (The truth regarding this matter is contestable but there is no reason that they could just terminate an employee in a snap of a finger.)

My resignation followed. Some didn’t go to work after that. Just recently, more resignations were passed.

What’s even worse is when we applied on another center and tried our fate as a group, a person from our former management involved himself in, called the management of this new company and we were bad-mouthed. This new company put our applications on hold.

Now, until this very moment, we haven’t gotten our complete July 15th payroll and there still were remains from the previous cutoffs. Our applications are still on hold and some were even threatened personally.

This issue has come to a level none of us had expected. I myself am still in shock and is very determined to fix whatever we need to fix and GET WHATEVER AND EVERYTHING WE LAWFULLY NEED to get. The war has just started.

Diplomatic and legal actions are now being taken, and we wouldn’t stop until we get what’s really ours.

This might sound ironic but I WILL DEFINITELY MISS THE EXPERIENCE. My almost 3 months of staying there marked an experience that would be part of me as time goes by. I met wonderful people who then became my friends.

BUT let me quote my manager,

“You didn’t go here to find friends, you went here to work and produce.” (Well, not really like that but that’s what he meant.)

Yes sir, we didn’t go there to find friends, we went there to work, produce and EARN.

THIS ACTUALLY IS A VERY VERY SIMPLE ISSUE – Employees work to get paid. If they’re not paid, they protest and leave.

Nothing unusual. So to those who don’t understand the situation (not you, readers), think. Bless you. You didn’t know how to pity. Now, you’ll learn to pity yourselves.

Let this serve as a warning. To everybody. Do not put yourselves in a situation when you really aren’t sure what you’re getting into. We made our mistake. Don’t make yours. God bless eveyone.

And one more very importan thing, PLEASE TAKE TIME TO STUDY YOUR RIGHTS. There are a lot that you should fight for. As the saying goes,

“Your freedom ends where my right begins.”

Be aware.

As you may have noticed already, my last post was dated waaay back 2007. When I started using WordPress before, I kind of backed out of it thinking that it’s a little too complicated to update, plus it’s a separate site from any online social network so I thought that nobody would be able to read it.

But now, I’m taking that risk. I want to write and I won’t let anything stop me. Forgive me if that sounds that this is something serious. Lol.

Anyway, yes, I now am going to update this now, let other people know it and perhaps, improve it in another level if everything else allows.

Here’s my Friendster Blog that I update more often.

http://darwinmalihantaylo.blog.friendster.com

Let’s get connected. Let’s write more.

if someone accidentally flips my pages, hope you’ll not hesitate to flip it again sometime..

this is well, obviously, under construction..

and i am looking forward to meeting co-bloggers..

have a very nice day.. (take a look at my biographical info.. you’ll be surpised at how short it really is..)

but really… THANKS..