An Open Door

     There was that time when college undergraduates who had spent at least two years in their study of their chosen course in college can apply as call center agents. Call center companies will put them into a series of skill test starting from online application wherein an applicant will use the company’s computer to fill an application already prepared by the company, English essay writing as well as English oral skill and if you are lucky to pass it all, the final interview in English. By the way, once inside the company building everyone must speak only in English. The company will train an applicant for a month to see if they are able to stand night duty. Surprisingly, this is the hardest part because most of those who already passed the previous test will fail. Either because they get sick or they decide they don’t like the nature of the job. Of course these are the stories that I heard about. I already failed the first test because I didn’t have the necessary skill to complete my application in 45 minutes. And I admire the patience of those who waited for me to finish.

     There were some would be applicants who knew my daughter and asked her help in preparing their resume to be submitted to the front desk. I heard that most of them failed and that started me thinking that it is common to fail than to pass. At that time independent training centers had not yet flourished. Curiosity hit me and I asked if I can also apply even with my very little computer skill. I was told that if I have well enough English written and oral skill, the company might decide to train me. At least I believe that my English is the only test that I can pass. Or just maybe? It’s only my own opinion.

     Finally! The day of reckoning came. My daughter who is a call center agent was on a day shift. Together we arrive at the site and before she went in to work, she submitted my resume to the front desk. I was told to sit down and wait. Nervously, I waited. More applicants arrive. We were ushered into a room where we viewed a presentation about the benefits of working for the company. I think the benefits were good and I’m praying to the Lord God Almighty for a miracle. I know I have a very small chance. The only thing that excites me is that I can take a peek at the inside of the building and see how a call center is set-up. The experience is what I’m really after. The thought amused me.

     I finish filling up my online application and I’m surprised that they let me waited along with the other applicants for the next test. I sat there wondering. I would be lying if I would say I hadn’t expected to at least pass the next test. And then it came and again we were told to enter a room. Wow! I said to myself. This is where call center agent work. I was told to sit down before a table with a computer and a telephone. I put the headset over my head and down to my ears. The phone rings and I picked it up and heard the voice of a woman talking. I am nervous and it is then that I realized that my English is not really that good when I’m nervous. My embarrassment was overshadowed by my excitement to be actually inside a call center building. The experience alone consoled me.

      The experience actually ignited a fire inside me to improve myself. I like to be in this world. I think it is a better world. I never succeeded in actually working in a call center but I came to know that there are a lot of opportunities in this world, the internet.

                                             

In search for a new world

     I started working on board commercial ships when I was nineteen years old. I like to travel and the excitement of being able to see new places is the main reason that I am on this job. Eventually, after a little more than twenty years of sea travel, I started to think differently about my work. I’m tired of being a seaman and felt that I need to spend more time with my family. I need a new life.

     It’s not easy. If I want to have a new start, I must look for a new source of income and that’s the hardest part. I’m twenty years away from my retirement age and the chance for a new job is very poor.  Boredom hits me hard and I decided to leave the ship and start a new life in the U.S. leaving my papers and passport behind. Adventurism and positive thinking is the key to this, my greatest mistake (seventeen years later, I realized that it’s my best move.) And then the consequences of what I did, sink in my mind. It’s too late to turn back, I considered myself a fugitive and the U.S. immigration is on my back. Eventually, the long arm of the law will take its grip on me. I have to prepare myself for that eventuality. I took a job as a busboy in a restaurant. I think that the owner is in a desperate need of a helping hand that she start me working in the restaurant with my promise to show my passport later and she manage to forget about it when I had shown her that I can work hard enough for her to like me or maybe she needs me. Well, I work twelve hours everyday from Monday to Saturday. I stayed there for two years. When I thought that I have enough money to start something good I came to a decision to straighten my crooked mistake. I needed to go back to my own country where I legally exist. I bought an old taxicab and started a new life as a taxicab driver and all is going well until after over six months when I found out that my beloved taxicab is carrying a fake franchise. Well, with a few cash left I was forced to go back to where I was born. I was born in this little town. I left it when I started my voyages as a sailor. I had over there an almost forgotten land and now I need it to survive. I sold half of the land and build a small house.  I used some of the money to convert my old house in the city to a house for rent and slowly improved on it. It became a valuable source of income for us. It is the only one.

     My daughter is working as a call center agent and introduces me to the world of computers. I like this world. For me this is a better world. My entrance is not easy and I would write about it in my next blog.