BPO
Work a forty hour week or more
Five nights a week for pay
Get a bonus if you hit the targets
Drink every two weeks when paid
Till you fall over have more and crawl
Celebration BPO style wage slave job
Dial the ******* customers do as told
Stressed to Hell and back be quiet DIAL!
You wanna work in a call centre?
Go ahead you better be ready
For stress orders drinking and more

I cried at Field of Dreams.
It wasn't Dad I was thinking of --
it was you --
us, lobbing that ball
back and forth.
  
You blossomed:      Specht Fans 11 …  Tuesday night.
Fireballer Bob Specht struck out 11 and allowed only two hits in leading the BPO Elks to a 4-0 victory over Lee Plumbing.

You were ten.

You threw so hard
my hand burned even with a catcher's mitt and sponge.
  
You stalled;
others caught you.
Age fifteen, and your career was done.
  
You were musical;
played trombone in the marching band.
  
School? You did well,
but were never really exceptional.
You defied conventions,
went to extremes.
  
In college, it wasn't enough to just protest;
you had to join the SDS,
to always be daring the police to arrest you.
  
You took ******, mescaline, speed, *******.
  
You were cynical, negative, moody;
scorned all masks and indirection.
What you offered was a ruthless honesty:
in a fake and superficial world,
no small commodity.
You married --
Justice of the Peace, no friends or family.
Seemed happier.
It didn't last;
you divorced.
  
Talked of suicide, occasionally.
I argued it to be a misunderstanding
of emotions' relativity:
Only the starving understand
the exquisite flavor of plain bread.
  
You wandered.
Work took us farther apart.

You became obsessed with a married woman
who had no intention of leaving her husband.
  
Injured your eye in a car accident.
The doctor prescribed corticosteroids.
  
I fell in love and got married.
You were best man.
  
And then:
P.M., May 20, 1981: A body was discovered in the kitchen of the second floor apartment at 68 High St. by the building's owner, Joseph Albertson. Mr. Albertson positively identified the body as that of Robert Edward Specht, the apartment's leasee.  The deceased had received a gunshot wound to the head. A .25-caliber Beretta revolver registered to the deceased was found one foot from the body. The substantial damage to the face and head, consistent with a very close firing range, the lack of any signs of intrusion or struggle, and the written materials (identified as being in Mr. Specht's handwriting) found next to the body, indicate that the wound was self-inflicted.

You'd left a note: "No hope of finding love. Refuse to live without."

Was it the accident, the drugs
that made you less communicative?
My marriage? Some inner-driven change?
  
Would that I could have eased your pain.
You were thirty-one.

No1 BPO
Each call centre says they’re the best
They never say they’re number 2
Always number 1 in their own way
Is this in most collected revenue?
Or number of employees?
Or with the most offices?
Each call centre says No1
The same saying by them all
Can’t they say something new?

Support War
Surprisingly it wasn't Brian's account
Where the war happened
It was bad and bitter and abrupt
The reps were struggling

Their job was hard not just calls
They weren't updated on their stats
A very important BPO metric
All got their info on this good or bad
Their Team Leader simply didn't tell them
Some stats are hourly some daily others monthly
The daily and weekly ones matter

The reps know if they're doing fine
There was a meeting of support
The boss was there and said it
To the supervisor in question
You either resign or I terminate you
And the Team Leader resigned immediately
This was like a war all out to win or lose

The SOM went too far missing a step
The reason why above all why
Why the reps were not updated on their stats
Was it just one TL or were more affected
By a system issue or job issue
Or was the sup simply not bothered
Ignoring their reps stats and waiting

For the chop which came like a sword
Now a new sup is needed to lead the team
The managers always need to remember
Always ask the reason why
Brian scratched his head
Not even his old B2B account
With the Fake god was that bad
For even then there was communication

no talk
i was with my mate going to work
when i saw the couple on the bus
they were young and in their 20s
he had mousey hair and she was blond
they were taking time out

and travelling in the philippines
she was finishing her teacher training
and he was a soldier between deployments
while i was commuting to work

in the city to my bpo job
we talked in my head
not in the real world

they were innocent and untouched
she wasn't abused by her students
he hadn't seen his mates blown up

all that was to come
should i of warned them?
be vigilant and strong
but no no no

they had to learn for themselves
the london couple on the makati bus
they reminded me of my old mates
when i lived in essex and london
years ago...

...3 were soldiers
where are they now?

What Fun!
I worked in a small call centre once
The boss was fed up of being bossed about
So left his job and set up his own call centre
He became his own boss and my boss
Gave me a job dialling varied accounts
In the US UK and Australia

Including tech support surveys sales
Plus education and B2B accounts
I learnt so much in my year with him
It was different and challenging

Each day was different even fun
I was gal agents cry I saw guys battle
We work drank sang ate danced  
In my first year of BPO work
I’d do it all again oh what fun!

Work in a call centre all night long five nights a week
On shift number five told to go drinking with the bosses
Drink till drunk then drink till you puke this is an order
I did this twice with them when I worked in a small BPO
Twice was enough drink till I crawl had my fill no more
Takes the stress away but I’m not doing it again
I was too tired after shift asked time and again
Let’s drink till we puke and crawl in many call centres
Not my thing now with my team mates who aint my pals
Too many differences interest wise and age
I’m not in their little click how many times?
I drink alone after shift five know what I wanna do
Not spend time with them or their fake friends
All plastic posturing and lies none of it for me
Work in a call centre drink till you puke and crawl

Times Over
The Fake God gloated and said
'Hey mate I win this round and for good'
He nodded and replied yes you win here
But not for good tho I'll accept the NTE
No disputes as numbers don't lie
Yes boss I know I failed in sales
Do what you will transfer or fire me
I'll transfer you to collections
Brian went on to say why did you
Follow me four times over Asia?
I worked in Bangkok and Manila
In Pattaya and San Fernando
You stalked me the same companies
I'd get it if we were pals
You're a fair boss but not my friend
Excellent at sales better than me
Yet you scammed one time and was
Booted out on the B2B account
I went to Bankgok you followed me!
Brought your Wallflower along
It's fine I ignored you both and now
I listen to your whys on my sales
I'm not as good as you tho did ok boss
I did my best and that's fine for me
Now you transfer me to collections
Normally that would be fine
It's not now and I'll tell you why
Fake God looked surprised
He was to the point
My Time in Asia and the BPO is over
I'm off back to Germany and elsewhere
Thanx for the B2B experiences
No more calls I'm outa here
Have a nice life boss!

Not Hopping
Some trainers in the BPO industry
Have worked in 20 or 30 different places
Brian met 2 or more such trainers
Both had worked in dozens of centres
Between a month’s training and years
Finally settling down to train others
Being Hoppers no more job to job
Instilling their skills info knowledge
With wisdom guidance mind set
It takes skill to be a trainer
And something else to excel
Getting the next generation ready
Reps support trainers OMs

Things Change
Because a rep in the BPO becomes a supervisor then manager
This doesn’t give them the right to belittle other support and reps
Especially bullying and using bad words or snide comments
This upsets agents and makes them feel bad and perform worse
Plus it alienates them from the support and makes them look bad
In front of the entire team and often call centre which is bad
Respect lost in a minute often never to return or returning forced
Call centres are hire and fire them with egotistical bosses
Reps soon learn not to care less and hop to other centres
Brian saw this and experienced it putting his experiences down
So others can read learn understand call centre work
It’s not all bad but nor is it perfect and there’s much to say
Like any other industry there are good and bad points
Only by speaking out and education will things change

Easy NTEs
NTEs were issued like candy to kids
Given to low performing reps
Who has bad metrix like no sales
Plus time keeping or tardiness
All accepted them without issue
Writing why on the back
Part of the BPO experience
An easy way out if need be

Reasons
He worked in many BPO call centres and was considered a tenured agent
Meaning he knew what he was doing and could be trusted not to **** up
Not all tenured reps were so trustable or blemish free some really ******* up
Getting caught having *** in the security office with the guard watching the CCTV
Spotted raiding the biscuit cabinet that belonged to one of the vendors
Attempting to bribe the client by approaching a rival company to sell secrets
Setting up a rep you don’t like to take the fall for fraud that you actually did
Swing thru the axle of the boss’ Jaguar sports car so he died in a high speed crash
All this and more was done by so called trustable tenured reps over the years
It was an example of what not to be like no matter what the reason or motive