at one point of one’s existence, a person realizes that there are more important things in life than : sex, bingeing on food, getting wasted, incessant and senseless partying, fucking around, getting into and out of relationships like a dick in a vadge, and aimlessly milling about the world like a goddamned zombie.
yes, there are more important things in life than just being plain useless to the world.
i had a wonderful job, 5 weeks ago. i had a normal life. i would go to the office, work and sometimes pretend to work, for 16 (and if high on coffee and nicotine, sometimes 18) hours straight. i go home alone to a pad where i will fall dead asleep for 4 hours, then begin my day again as a Quality Diva! 
i had a normal routine.
then one day, an interesting experience happened, which brought back who i was 6 years ago, before i became a call center whore. 180 degrees back to my mentality when i was working for THE security group.
i realized, after that one night, that though i am somehow fat, and damaged, and weird, and quirky, and stupendously different, i can be someone other than what i have made myself to be for the past 6 years. and i realized that i should stop wasting my life in pursuit of fake happiness.
it took me three, yes only 3, hours to conceptualize my new endeavor, so to speak. 3 hours of arabica, nicotine, olive oil with balsamic vinegar, and foccacia. oh, and raw hungarian sausages, too.
the idea was to impart to people the ‘considerable’ knowledge i have about english, sales, and call center. to say that i wanted to share it sounded altruistic, but yes, that was the thought. i said ” hmm… wouldn’t it be nice to create my own religion of call center agents?” :))
a plan to nurture my being pedantic? no, certainly not.
in reality, i have the strong urge to see development in most of the things i do. that is why i became a Quality Diva to begin with. I like coaching, i like helping people learn more, and see them grow into someone who is better in one aspect of their lives. like a seed, i plant a bit of knowledge, a bit of idea on how to enhance the skill, then carefully tend to it with positivity and consideration, tilling the soil by patiently teaching and coaching, watering them regularly by pushing them to pursue excellence.
slowly, surely, you see it grow into a plant catching the rays of the sun. your heart beats faster as you watch it develop branches. then you feel joy at the sight of its green leaves. Then you see the buds open up as flowers, and you feel ecstasy.
i did not imagine that this is what one feels when they teach, train and coach other people. not until i opened ZUN TRAINING GrOUND.
i started the GROUND wiht a measly capital borrowed from a friend. i started contacting people, sending SMS to people in my phonebook.
‘ hi, this is maxine from zun training ground. we are looking for individuals who want to work for a call center. we will train you for 2 weeks, after which we will help you land a job.”
no one believed me. i received one response. it was pathetic. my phone book has 300 entries! it was challenging.
but i focused on one goal. to get zun training ground off the runway, i should start with 5 people first, train them and give them jobs. i thought about my Dad just when i was ready to give up. having a radio program in the province of iloilo might help, i thought. so i talked to my Dad about it. and ever supportive, albeit hesitant, he gave it a go and gave me air minutes to invite people.
i worked hard, very hard to convince people about the purity of my motives, and my credibility to be able to deliver. gifted with strong convincing faculties, i was confident i would get positive responses. but no, more people doubted me than those who believed me. because my training had fees.
which is a point of contention for me. even public schools do not teach for free, dammit! i was offering a learning opportunity so that people can have jobs. but along with this altruistic motives, there are expenses to shoulder. di ba? di ba??? ++sigh++
i realized then that our world is full of mistrust, deception and ‘hidden charges’ that people just won’t believe good intentions anymore. not until they see proof.
this spurred me to go to iloilo instead and invite and explain and convince the applicants personally. it was a risk that i had to take, additional expenses i have to shoulder.
but it was worth it.
my original target was five. i had 7 confirms. i know, it was just 2 bodies away from my goal, but hell, i was happy to get them.
everything went right. from the day we all first met, to the day we started training, everything unexpectedly went right. so i felt right about everything.
the training went well. we had games, we taught them the nuances of the english language, grammar, enunciation whathaveyou’s. most importantly, i taught them the interview fundamentals, trained them on the frequently asked interview and exam questions and how to answer them.
we all felt fine and merry, enjoying the training because it felt like camping/retreat/pinoy big brother. (we all lived in one building, the trainees occupying my previously mentioned pad, i stayed at the center).
we were all merry, as i said.
not until the first application at amberbase in eastwood. only one of my ‘kids’ passed the exam and the interview. and i saw the dire disappointment on their faces.
it was difficult.
i suddenly realized, here i am, standing outside the office, smiling. but 7 LIVES ARE DEPENDING ON ME. I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR SEVEN LIVES. these are people who haven’t been to manila before. never applied to any kind of job before. people who are 75% clueless about the call center industry. and I, yes I, i freed them into a forest full of wolves out to get their necks.
it dawned on me that the simple plan i had is turning out to be the most challenging task i had to face in my entire life. i could raise one child, who is my own, i do not have any issues with that. but these people are OTHER people, depending on me for a change in their lives. that was a BIG thought.
i smoked one ciggy, and took a deep breath of cancer, and steeled myself. I CAN DO THIS. AND I WILL DO THIS WELL.
extensive coaching, positive motivation, constructive criticism. continuous morale boost and motivation, motivation, motivation. that was zun’s formula for the First batch.
i was close to my 2 week deadline. the stress level was high. i saw how hard my kids worked. i trained them overtime, incessantly.
i would have given up if i did not see any improvement. but i did.
i saw the improvement: they had more confidence in speaking in front of people, in answering badgering interview questions, their grammar slips were slowly falling off, their pronunciation and enunciation were getting better and better.
whenever i would ask a trainee one particularly challenging question and i would receive a perfectly structured and pronounced sentence, my heart sings. i feel pure joy. unadulterated pride.
then, every other day we would march to a call center and apply.
one by one, they passed the interviews, the exams, the final interviews. finally, all of my kids got hired. one by one i saw them go to work at night. one by one they would kiss me goodbye. one by one they would go home to me and report everything that happened to them.
the other day, i looked at our pictures; from when we left iloilo, on the plane, during applications, during training nights and days, all the fun we had. their pictures on their first work day.
i openly cried as i scroll down all our memories. 2 short weeks. but a lifetime of change, not only to them, but to me, most importantly.
180 degrees. into a mellowed down, humbler, more patient and considerate maxine.
who would have thought?
i looked at all our memories and i cried. i choked at the joy that i felt. for the first time, i felt UNADULTERATED PRIDE. i felt and was seized by pure happiness.
i helped change seven, people’s lives. but if you think about the domino effect of this, each of these trainees have families. there are several family members in one family. all of them will be affected, hopefully positively, by the changes i effected on my trainees lives. it is hard to put into words, but i feel awed and overwhelmed by all these.
thus, i began my second batch of kids with more confidence, now armed with more experience and knowledge from the first batch.
there was only five of them, but what the hell. today is their second week of training. last night, they graduated. 2 of them are working. the other 3 needs a bit more training. but i know i can do it. and i know that they will have jobs before i begin my third batch. though i am alone, i can do it.
i have added 5 more to my previous 7 lives. now i have changed 12 lives. who will go on to change multitudes of lives. again, i am overwhelmed.
you know, happiness is addictive. it gives you a heady feeling. now i know that. and now i know that at the moment, i will swim into this addiction head on. i gotta have more of this.
so what if this motivation is selfish?
through this motivation, i will be able to help more people. and those people will help more people as well.
isn’t that amazing??? :))
i will make my mark in this world positively.
as my principle from when i was young goes: we touch, and we are touched. hence, we must tread carefully in our lives, for we change the world with each breath we take.
i will end this article with a peek into my vision:
touch thousands of people’s lives positively by doing what i do best….
this way, when i face the gods in the future, i will be told, ‘ you did well, max’.
my kids:
jhonjie balisado now works for amberbase handling discover cards.
kim calampinay handles comcast for amberbase as well.
catherine chona may jauod just made her first sale the other night for directo unlimited. you should have seen her face when she told me about it. it was unforgettable. she hugged and thanked me with tears in her eyes.
marie francis granada is now also working for directo at eastwood.
joe lee aninacion was very excited when he was accepted at one global in ortigas.
homer panes will be working for etelecare libis.
so was metche ann tamon who is now on her 2nd day at one global, her 2nd call center.
from batch 2, leane de la cruz was hired on sept 4th by one global, and will also start selling later tonight.
maricar agon was offered 15,500 basic salary plus allowances and commission by amberbase just this morning.
