Happy Monday!
I always get prompted when someone learns that I came from a teaching work before joining the call center industry. Now is the time that I will personally confront it myself – this forever resurrecting issue.
Is it difficult to move from teaching to taking calls in a call center setup? I said yes and no. Yes because it is almost a world apart. In teaching you prepare the lessons for the day. In the call center, it will be dependent on what the caller’s concern would be.
In the classroom you take control of the discussion and you take responsibility in the discipline. In a call, you also have call control. In the classroom you control the flow of discussions just like the way you control the flow of the call. There are callers who would like to take the discussion and prolong the call. In the class, there are students who would like to prolong the discussion for a reason or another.
So, why did I choose technical support? I took the route of a technical support representative – not because it is in line with my course [heck, I graduated with a course in AB Philosophy] but because I can and have been doing it. Even before I joined the call center I have been helping people get their PC fixed or setup. It is just like going for that which I love to do – troubleshoot PC issues.
Is call center life better than teaching? Let us say, in a day to day process: when you teach you bring home your extra work load while in the call center, after your call, everything is done. In other concerns, there is less politics and less judgmental people in a call center setup. They do not care if you are married for the second time around as long as you perform well. In my previous school work, I was asked to resign because I remarried right after my first marriage was legally annulled. In fact, I was asked to choose between my family or my work – what the heck is that? Do I have a choice but to leave?
Am I bitter? Nahhh… I just feel bad. I spent some good years for that school. I espoused its philosophy and live by its call that school work is not a work but a mission of teaching minds, touching hearts and transforming lives --- that the school is one Big Family. I never thought a family would send out somebody for choosing to live with his kids. Whatever kind of morality used in that judgment, I would agree it is NEVER CHRISTIAN.
How about the pay? Well, the call center pays a lot better than my previous work. To top it all, the work related stress is only during specific calls, while in teaching it is the whole 8hrs that you are in school and a lot more. The responsibility on your shoulder is just one call at a time unlike the 45 students in a class. Going back, I can only shiver thinking what kind of bravery did I wear when we brought 50 classes of 42 to 45 students to Muntinlupa Medium Security Prison for an exposure during my six years stay. Whatever happens to the kids, we will be held responsible for it. Was it worth the pay? Heck, NO!
Do I miss teaching? YES
Do I want to go back to teaching? Not in the near future.
