As the sun set in Manila, Roxanne prepared to start her workday on a Monday night.
While the typical workforce began to settle down for the night, the faceless army of call center agents was preparing to go to work.
"Mommy, you're leaving?" Daniella mumbled without opening her eyes when Roxanne went to their room to say goodbye.
"Yes, baby. Mommy needs to go to work."
"Bring me donuts tomorrow," she mumbled again.
"I will." Roxanne kissed her lightly on the forehead. She turned to the other bed to tuck Maximus securely with his blanket and kissed his forehead before turning the lights off.
Having a child at a young age was very difficult. Becoming a single mom proved to be very hard for Roxanne, especially since she had twins.
Chris, her first love and the father of her children, had gone AWOL after she revealed her pregnancy.
Young love, that's all they'd had. Immature, fierce, and full of unrefined lust.
"Tinay, I'm off to work. Make sure to lock up, okay?" Roxanne instructed the nanny.
"Yes, ate," Tinay bade her, and sealed the door from the inside.
Dressed in her usual business casual work outfit—gray blazer, white tee, black skinnies and flats—Roxanne walked along Hermosa Street.
Gone were the days for which the famous Tondo Street had become so notorious due to petty gang wars. People now could now walk the streets at night without fear of getting mugged.
She reached Abad Santos LRT station for a twenty-minute train ride to Gil Puyat Ave. A jeepney on queue was already waiting to be filled with passengers when she got off the station.
Upon arriving at the Advance Customer Solutions building, Roxanne fumbled for her proximity card to gain access inside. She almost turned her bag inside out, but neither her ID nor her access card could be found.
"Damn! I left it at the bar last Friday," she cursed under her breath.
Carlito arrived, one of their Spanish-speaking agents. At age fifty-five, he diligently worked eight hours every night for his son who was taking up law.
"Roxy, what are you still doing here?"
"Daddy Carl, I forgot my 'toot-toot' card. I can't get in," she said in a low voice, scratching her head.
"Come on, I'll sneak you inside. I'll hold the door open; follow behind me. Just use your ID and pretend it's your access card," the thoughtful old man suggested.
Agents started coming in and out of the building premises. The guard keenly checked their belongings and gave a curt nod to signal clearance for entrance.
Both of them moved a little farther away from the entrance, and away from the guard's suspicious eyes.
"That's the problem, Daddy Carl. My ID and access card are on my ID holder together." Roxanne glanced at her watch. She only had fifteen minutes to log in. She couldn't afford to be late. Aside from a clean track record, 1,000 pesos was given to agents with no 'late's.
Carlito shook his head as he said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're so forgetful." Carlito took his own ID from the card holder hanging from his neck and handed it to her. "Just follow me, okay? Here's my ID. I'll go first. Act normal."
Roxanne eyed the ID for a moment. If they were caught, they'd be reprimanded for piggybacking. She looked at her watch again. Only ten minutes left before 9 P.M.
"Take it," Carlito pressed.
She sighed and reluctantly took his ID. "Sorry, Dad."
"Just act normal and follow behind me," he reminded her.
They walked up to the door and gave the guard an unusually big smile.
"How is it going, pare?" asked Carlito as he surrendered his bag for inspection.
"The usual," the guard replied in an unwelcoming tone. "You may get inside," he told Carlito. "Miss, your bag please."
Roxanne opened her bag, shaking.
"You okay, Miss?" the guard asked.
"Y-yeah," she stammered. "J-just hungry."
"Okay, clear." The guard let go of her bag.
Carlito opened the glass door and held it for a moment longer, giving Roxanne the chance to tap his ID on the sensor and look as if she'd used her own access to open the door. She quickly stepped inside.
"Miss?" the guard called.
Roxanne froze. Droplets of cold sweat formed on her forehead.
"Yes, Manong?"
"Eat well, okay? You look pale."
Carlito let out a chuckle.
"Thank you, Manong."
She frantically pressed the elevator button and let out a breath of relief as the doors creaked open.
"That was close." Roxanne shook her head and squeezed Carlito's hand. "Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, thank you."
"I thought you'd pass out. If you only could see your face," Carlito teased, laughing. "Next time, check your belongings before you go to work. I'll go ahead." He tapped her shoulder and got off at the smoking area on level two.
Roxanne almost flew to the biometric fingerprint scanner to log in when the elevator reached the production floor. The scanner dinged and the small screen registered 8:58. She'd made it.
She walked into the locker area and greeted everyone as she always did. She went to the pantry to pour hot coffee into her tumbler. Roxanne wasn't quite herself until she had her coffee. Luckily, there was an unlimited supply for call center agents.
"Hey Roxy, coaching later, okay?" said Mina in a low voice.
She knew that Mina will only use their Aux time to talk about what had happened the previous night.
Logging into the company's phone system, Roxanne put on her headset and remembered her mantra: Empathize with the customer and smile.
"Thank you for calling East Coast Health Insurance Center, this is Roxanne, how may I help you?" Roxanne greeted, delivering her opening spiel in a cheerful tone.
It wasn't where Roxanne wanted to be, but the job paid the rent and expenses. As the sole provider for her children, Roxanne had to shove her dream of being a teacher far into a corner.
It wasn't an easy job either, but Roxanne was good at it. Many of her colleagues started with the intention to leave eventually, and there were some who stayed, like her Team Manager and friend Mina, who recognized the opportunity to climb the ladder of success.
Roxanne was still aiming to set out once again to bag her degree. The call center job was just a pit stop for her. She only needed to buy time and money.
She'd been trained to learn the American accent and humor to better adapt to customers' needs. She was one of the company's best agents.
"Hello, Roxanne, this is Philip Schuster. I need to know why I received this bill? Shouldn't the insurance cover this for me?" She had come across this problem many times. Most elderly folks calling in about the same problem.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Schuster. Let me go ahead and check that for you," she acknowledged him, and processed her first call of the night.
"Thank you," mumbled the caller politely on the other line.
"For security purposes, please verify your policy number." Roxanne started the verification process, or else she'd get an auto-fail on her quality assurance score if she continued the call without doing so. "Thank you for that information, sir. Let me place you on hold for a minute or two as I check on your account."
"Go ahead, sweetie."
After two minutes on hold, she went back to her customer. "Thank you for holding, Mr. Schuster. Based on our records, the amount billed to you is the 20% coinsurance amount that you are responsible to pay, since East Coast Health Insurance, which is your part B medical insurance, pays 80% of the Medicare-approved amount."
"You mean I need to pay for this?" The caller cleared his throat.
"Yes, sir." Roxanne felt bad for her caller. She knew how stressful bills could be, especially if this elderly is relying on only his insurance to cover his medical expenses.
"I don't have the money to pay this," he uttered in a defeated voice.
"I'm sorry, sir." The line went silent for a moment. "Is there anything else I can—?"
The caller didn't allow her to even say her closing spiel as he hung up. Met with a dial tone, Roxanne took a deep breath and sipped her coffee. It was going to be a difficult night.
She had a few escalations and two supervisor calls. Sighing, she dropped her headset and got up from her seat to take her first fifteen-minute break.
"Roxy, manong guard is looking for you," called Mina from her elevated post, which was situated at the end of their cubicle bay.
"Huh? Why? Did I do something wrong?" She asked with a trembling voice, knuckling her fingers.
"I don't know." Mina's brow crunched up. "Ask manong."
"Shit," she cursed under her breath. "Lend me your access card. I forgot mine."
"Oh...that's why you're panicking, huh?" Mina teased her, holding her access card out of Roxanne's reach.
"Wilhelmina." Roxanne glared at her.
"Okay, okay," Mina chuckled. She really liked annoying her friend.
Roxanne grabbed the card and tapped it on the reader. She could feel her heartbeat quickening and fear rushing through her veins. She went down to the lobby, praying that the sanction wouldn't be that grave as she walked up to the guard's perch near the entrance.
"Manong, sorry. I just had to get in. I really didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry. Did the CCTV catch me—?"
"Hey."
Roxanne's head snapped in the direction of the voice.
"Ma'am, your friend is looking for you." The guard pointed at the man standing outside the building.
Roxanne was met by a pair of tantalizing eyes and corn silk-like hair flapping in the breeze. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and his dimples peeked out.
"Wish?"
******
Filipino and Call Center Terms:
Pare – means Dude. A Filipino slang for "pal" or "friend"
Manong - a Filipino term reserved usually for a person older than you.
Auxiliary time (or AUX) is an agent state (when logged into a system), that is used to make an agent unavailable for incoming calls. Some call centers used Aux 2 for coaching.
TM - Team Manager
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Hi Arcangels! I hope you had fun reading this chapter! I could totally relate to this because I have been a call center agent myself. Let me know what you think? Have you had the same experiences?
Thanks for reading!