hello kind people!!! (mad dance) 

Guess what? I've left The World's Local Bank!! It's my last day today. I was working until 2pm, then keyed in the lunch code(I always feel like a robot when I explain to people that we have to key in codes into our telephone set...) and started doing follow ups.

Grr.Don't I just hate that word. Follow up. Urgh. On my last day, I still had to take take calls. And it took me 1hour to finish the follow ups of all the calls. Thankfully not a lot of calls today.

Then came the goodbye. I said goodbye to the AMOs Robin (this one is so much like my youngest brother, I wish I could see him everyday! Yeah.. I miss my little bro..who's away in Uni at the moment studying..), Pauline (my own line manager who so kindly gave me a bar of chocolate as a goodbye gift!!), Ajit (this 1 loves historical facts. If we have team meetings, somehow or other, he'll veer towards history. Hahaha..Cool guy). Lim's not in today, so I've said goodbye yesterday. Subra - dammit. I completely forgot to say goodbye to this guy. Err... sorry Subra....

Then come the AMQs. Nadia (a gentle soft spoken lady who so kindly gave me many job places to apply for new jobs...), Kavi (this 1 has the best smiley face ever. Her face is just so friendly. I feel so jealous of her. Hahah) & Alfleda (she's always motherly to me & full of enterprising ideas.. I could tell she was on the verge of tears bless her..).

Then the seniors. Shamala gave me a pearl bracelet she bought from Sabah!!! How cool is that?? Ayu gave me twin-cat brooch from Avon . Shalu made puppy dog face, I nearly cried (but I didn't. Hah. I told Hardev I won't cry on my last day & I didn't. Pity he's already left for the day). Poorani, Arasi, CP7, Nita.. we all hugged. Collin (this 1 kept calling me Mrs. Goodland) & Nimal (nice guy). Emily - this 1 doesn't count. She's like a sister to me. We'll hang out on Sunday anway. Hahah. Pat - she's cool. She lent me her car for today!!

Then my juniors. Mai (she gave me blackforest chocs yumm . Mira, Patrick, Sylvia, Shimi..

Finally, Ajit & my best buddy 'Aliaa-chan escorted me outside The World's Local Bank. Hahaha.. Freedom.

my first blog..hmm.

I was supposed to finish work at 3pm. But my last call lasted until about 3.20pm. SO of course, I missed my 3.15pm bus. So instead of going home on time as I had hoped, I had to stay another hour. I decided to do follow ups of my calls for the day.

Working in a call centre, you have to do follow ups everyday. EVERYDAY. I repeat EVERY DAY. You answer at least 50 calls daily, and at least 1/3rd of the calls require follow ups. e.g. resend credit card statements, request account closure confirmation letter to be sent out, stop statements being sent out to close accounts..to name a few. And those are just the basic ones. Then there are follow ups where you have to chase different departments to get things done for customer, then call customer back to update, then if the result is not to the customer's liking, you get shouted at..... that's just follow ups.

Now, the real calls. Customers get very pissed when they have to pay late fees, interest, or any other charges like that. It's understandable when it was error done by us (the world's local bank), but when it's the customer's OWN FAULT, they're still not happy to pay and shouted and swear until I escalated calls to management.

Every day, I get shouted at or swore at over the phone at least twice. Don't get me started on the racist comments. Just because I'm Asian, and I'm based in an Asian country, they assume I'm an Indian, and can't speak English properly. I stayed for 9 bloody years in England. I'm married to an Englishman. I even have an English accent when I speak. But when these rude customers heard something that they don't like, they start picking on me, just because of my name & I happen to be an Asian.

There are times, when I had to take a break from the calls and go to the loo, and have a good cry after a particularly difficult call. Most of the time, when I go home, or on the bus on the way home, I will call my hubby who's in UK and cry & cry.

I miss UK. I want to go home. Malaysia is not my home. Yes, I was born here. I lived here until I was 17, then I went to UK. I grew up in UK. I got married in UK. Then I came back for a visit, and my parents disowned me. Said I've changed too much. I'm not the same timid daughter they used to know 10 years.

For goodness sake. I was 17 when I went to UK. I went through so many hardships there. Now I'm back in Malaysia. I'm 29 this year. Of course I've changed. I've grown up! I'm not a timid girl anymore. I have learnt how to say no. I've learnt to stand up for myself. I've learnt to express my opinion. Sadly, my parents don't see this.

So now, here I am. Struggling alone. Parents disowned me. Sisters don't admit I'm their eldest sister. Only my 2 younger brothers still keep in touch with me. And 4 uncles & 3 aunts still talk to me (from mum's side). I don't know what rumour were spread to my other relatives. On my dad's side I have 7 uncles & 7 aunts & countless cousins. None of them spoke to me since last year. On my mum's side I have 6 uncles, 7 aunts & again, countless cousins.

I am in my own country. Shunned by my relatives. My husband studying abroad. No children.

At times, i get very very lonely & sad. But I had to buck up & just get a move on. Other times, I'm just amazed. How the heck did I go through yesterday?

My colleagues at my work place are nice people. Most are anyway. I've only been here since July. I love the people, I love being able to help customers, but I really am reaching the end of my tether..being shouted at every day,& apologising to customers for something that I didn't do (company's error, previous consultant's error, etc).

Maybe I grumble too much. But hey, this is my first blog. I need to rant.

By the way, if you're reading this Minee, thanks very much for the recommendation. That's a mini chip off my chest. Hahah

 

-=deels=-