One Night @ The Call Center

 

For Starters, NO, this aint about the book. Sorry if I disappointed you, and am thankful to those who were cheered up by this info! ;)

Anyway, this is about my first night at a call center, an experience I will never forget in my life! So, I recently started working, and I am in the training period, and the shift they gave me was a night shift - 11 PM to 8 AM. A sad timing, I know!

Anyhow, I was up and ready by 9 PM, mine is the first pick up and the last drop by the cab - again sad, I know this too! :D The cab came in and started honking at about 9:15 PM, and soon, I was on the busy roads....making my first "Official" Night Out!

After all the pickups, we reached the office at about 10:15 PM, and I still had like 45 mins before my shift began. Since it was the first day, I didn't know anybody, and I must say this, It gets kinda sad when you are in a new place, and you know no one. But the jolly character that I am, I was soon talking to my fellow trainees, and we decided to check the entire office premises.

We soon reached my favourite place there - the sports room....Not that I am a very sporty person, but the atmosphere was as if it was a night club of some sort - trust me, it really was. Anyway, I, and a few others ended up playing table tennis for some time. Soon it was time for the shift, and we headed to the training room.

Now, I must confess, My trainer is like WOW! I mean, she is amazingly amazing. And the way she speaks her "AMERICAN" accented English, anyone would fall for her....and she is smart as well....and when I say smart, I mean "The Lara Dutta in the Miss Universe pageant" kind of smartness!!!! She started the day by saying that there was a musical event to take place in the cafeteria, and that, if we wanted, we could go see it, and so, the training would start at about 12.

The musical person that I am, I was the first person to enter the cafeteria, and take my seat amongst the audience. I had never seen such an atmosphere in an office, where everyone is enjoying and chilling out, screaming at the top of their lungs, whistling....you get the picture! The show started, and I enjoyed like anything....it was amazing!

Soon I was back in the training room, with my fellow trainees. It was somewhere around 1 AM. The trainer started telling us about how put stress on words, and some stuff like that. The class went on, with sleep coming in and knocking at the doors time and again....but thankfully, our trainer being fun and sweet, always asked if we needed a BREATHER! And of course, thanks to Nestle'  for introducing Nescafe' to our lives....that kicked the sleep out!

We also discussed about our lives, and knowing about everybody in the room was fascinating in itself. I learnt that my trainer preferred working in Night Shifts so that she could spend time with her 6 month old daughter during the day - Now that's the sweetest and the most adorable thing any mother can do - Sacrifice her sleep! But this sacrifice couldn't harm my trainer in anyway....I mean....No dark spots under the eyes....Vibrant skin....and full of life....Why would anyone want to sleep....ever? :D

Soon she gave us an exercise....she asked us to assume that we were 80 years old, and that we had to look back in time, and state what we had gained and what we couldn't. I thought about it really hard, and realised that it was not easy predicting what wasn't there. It was more of an imagination thing going on, but yes, it was mixed with the feelings of what I wanted to gain in the future, and what I will be able to achieve.

I reached home at around 9 AM, my mind still pondering over the last exercise that I did....Will I be able to do what I thought I wanted to by the time I was 80? Will I be able to leave a smile on the faces of the people I am associated with in one way or the other? Will I be able to be Happy? Yes, Life can be so unpredictable, but isn't this unpredictability that makes it even more fun to get up the next day? Doesn't not knowing what is about to happen give us the energy to work even harder to know what is about to come? And doesn't the fact that we don't know what will happen next gives us a chance to dream....and work even harder to make them come true?

Yes, I had learnt what it was like to dream - and to work to get that dream. My one night at the call center taught me that....to never give up....to never loose hope....for it would be soon....that everything would come....right in front of the eyes!