whats my credit?

For many Americans the most important thing in their life is their credit cards, mortgage, credit scores, and loans which they have to payoff. So, basically their whole life revolves around credit. It’s not surprising that they call at 12.00 pm to check about their credit cards. But the ironical part of this is, that many are not credit literates, it’s very hard to make them understand how there credit cards work, the reason being, the credit card companies and the credit policies are so delicately structured that it’s very hard for a layman to understand. And the most interesting part is that most of the credit card companies, take advantage of this, and make many people fall in this trap. They start charging bills even before that card is activated and then follows the wave of charges, finance charge, late payment charges, over limit charges, membership charge, and what else. It’s no surprise that credit card companies are sometime referred to as ‘highway robbers.’ They are millions of people who are in debts. 

 

There are few things which I am very clear about now, which I wasn’t before

• Not all Americans are rich
• Though America may look prosperous, but many Americans are not

 

Illegal immigration, hypocritical foreign policies, costly wars, outsourcing of jobs to developing nations, growing internal strife between different communities and many more have made America a old tree, whose leaves are of no use anymore and anywhere.

For more information on Credit Bureaus, credit scores, log on to http://www.creditbureaubiz.com/  

 

 

Team. I am in team

It’s been three weeks since I have started working, after weeks of boring training. My time table has since changed, I sleep when people around me are awake, and I work, when people come back from theirs. My shift timings are changing back and forth. I am not the same person, I used to be. It’s been days, since I have talked to anybody in my house. I never thought that I will come into this condition. And I am now determined to pursue my course, no matter what. I have planned to pay in installments; in this way I would be able to complete this course. I met my team leader, stern face, serious looking person, I don’t know much about him, but there is time for that. I got an appreciation call twice, once when I gave wrong information to a customer, and once when I really resolved her problem. Thinks are going smoothly till now. A lot of people of my batch have left the company. Some, had diarrhea, and some malaria, ha ha ha.  Joking, some have got good opportunities in some other industry, and a good pay. This is the biggest demerit in this industry, attrition. In every ten people who are selected three leave the companies in the first few weeks, and by the end two months there are only three or four who are left out. I miss a lot of things, my prayers, my books, news, television, friends, in fact there are very few things which I don’t miss.

 

from nesting to hatching

Next week I’ll be moving into a team, now no more training, no more nesting. At last the birds are out of the nest. The thing which I am not happy about is that, the next time I log in, that’ll be for seven and half hours. In all this period of logging in, I have encountered all types of customers, I have got customers who called me honey, sweetie, and I have also encountered customers, who say ‘can I speak to someone, who speaks English?’ don’t think that I speak Spanish or any other language on line, but when a person is not able to give solutions, customers think the agent doesn’t understands. The food here in the cafeteria is not so good. The rice is like big balls, and you get the same food everyday, I can’t even eat biryani here, as it’s not halal. There are few people who look scary here; or rather they pretend to be scary. I have so far taken three salaries from two companies, but there is absolutely nothing that I am saving. I want to pursue a creative writing course from the Writers Bureau College UK. From the past one and half years I am planning to pursue this course, but because of my financial condition I am not able to do this.

 

This industry

People think call centers is a place, where people work only because, they don’t have any option, college drop outs, people who never cleared those examinations, which would have put them right on top of their careers. But that’s not always true. Any job which gives you money to earn your bread and butter lawfully is always good, and it doesn’t matters how you got into this, whether by being brilliant in your studies, or being otherwise. They are still few people who think, that call center employees are those guys and gals, who have no future, but I can bet, that people who have stick to their job in this industry, have become managers in quite a few years. I am not a manager, or a team leader or a trainer, I have not even completed my probationary period in this company, but my observance tells me that, this industry is as good as any other.

 

Thank you for calling

Today was the first day that I logged in, and took calls, it was an amazing experience. Speaking to someone on line, whom, you have never met before, taking a name which is not yours, and imitating as if you are an American, but if the customer asks you, “where are you right now?” you politely, and honestly say, “ I am in Bangalore, India.” But this wasn’t any other day; it was a new year’s day, according to the Gregorian calendar. When the clock ticked 12, o’ clock, happy new years day, was the noise everywhere. Twenty two years have passed since I have stepped into this world, nothing significant has happened, except that, I have grown up, so are the people around me, and so are the situations with me. In these twenty two years of my life, I have seen different governments on seats, politicians being assassinated, buildings being brought down, people rallying through the streets, bursting crackers, half-naked, colored faces, apart from all this things, I have also seen, buildings razing up, new companies on every corner, technology becoming obsolete everyday, clothes on peoples body shortening.

 

There are few things which, when I think I feel insecure about.  There are companies, and there are customers, and there are laws which govern these companies. There are governments, there is constitution. And there is country, and patriotism. Our nation, our people, our culture. But then, there are also, other nations, other cultures, and other people. Then there are people who are losing jobs because of these ‘other people.’ Because? Because there is money, low paid workers, same work, exploitation, need, greed. One fine day we wake up, and find that all our jobs will be outsourced to an other country, other people, other culture, low pays, that day, people will; loose jobs, earn nothing, with there now acquired American accent will say, “Thank you for coming here, my name is…., I know that you don’t need my assistance anymore.”

 

Birds out of their nest

‘For all you know,’ said my trainer, before he started his class, talking endlessly about the way American economic system works, the credit cards, their uses, their terminologies, and all those jargons and shit. My trainers. There are lots of them, by the way, they along with my batch mates have become my second family, and the cab drivers are my maid, and my thoughts, my vee-uh-kle. I have completed six weeks of training in this company. Successfully, I should say. But, there is little that I have learnt. I still feel I am no wiser than before. This situation of mine, reminds of a famous quote by Kurt Vonnegut, “Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.” I don’t know, whether Mr. Vonnegut, is talking about people like me, I mentioned this line, just because I like it. A lot of things have happened, after I joined this company. This is the first time ever that I was not there in home to celebrate Eid; I couldn’t savor the hot steamed biryani, nor did I get the eidiie from my family, for all I did, was to board the cab and remind myself about the past years. The next week, I will be hitting the floor, which means, I’ll be in on job training, for me though, it sounds like, “birds out of their nest.”

 

office so far

I got up one cold morning, even without taking bath, I walked into my office. Ruffled hair, rugged beard, and a lost mind. When I left my previous company, also a call center, I thought that, I would never step into a call center again. But, the first interview which I went, after leaving my company, was a call center, and so was my last interview. I met a lot of people, with various reasons, with them for working in this industry, I one thing which I was relived about was that, they were all my kins in their reasons. Only a few weeks in this industry, I have come to know the psychology of this industry, though I have never attended a psychological class, nor have I read a book on this topic. There are people have learnt philosophy, but I have never heard a thoughtful words from their mouths. I have met engineers, but they look broken, I have met people who were trained to cook, but when I meet them, I wonder how they were cooked. Uncooked of course. And I have met men who apart from their physical features bear no resemblance to men. They do not even bear feminine features. They are those poor creatures, who have lost their minds and have completely drained themselves in eunuchs like behavior, that they find disgusting, if that’s the appropriate word to be used.

 

They are poets, who if published would be charged for plagiarism. They quote ghalib, and Jim Morrison, as good as they quote a language filled with nothing but, vulgarity. The cups of coffee and tea, and the buts of cigarettes are the most common object that one can see. Drowsy eyed cab drivers, garrulous transport administrators. If in one corner you come across a person whose mom delivered him on the golden bridge California, in another corner you’ll most likely meet a person, who takes bath in the Thames. Women who have already laid eggs in the home, but are so desperate beings that they experience with a new person every day, if I am exaggerating.

 

Twisting tongues to get shred off ones mother tongue influence in the language. Learning new terms, practicing names of the cities and their states, and knowing the culture of America, to serve them better. This is what one learns in something called pre- process, after the successful completion of which, one starts off with the actual product training, or what here it is called as the process training.