Blog

A colleague of mine went on strike today.

“Grace, 12 noon sharp, we go out for lunch. Leave quickly because I don’t want anyone to follow us.”

Grace obeyed and when we went into the lift, she started pouring out her stories to me.

“Grace, I cannot tahan already, you know? I feel like crying already. All these people, they are asking me the same questions all over and over again. They don’t write it down, they don’t remember. They ask me every single time they face the same thing again. How lah?”

This colleague of mine has the strongest heart. She can take just anything from crappy customers but today was just too much for her. So when she said she felt like crying, it is indeed something.

Grace shared her part of stories too.

“Grace, can I tell the boss I want to go home now?”

“Grace, I don’t want to attend the meeting later. Can we go home or not?”

“You can try asking Ms.Boss, say you’ve got some urgent matters to attend to.”

Ms.Boss allowed her to leave after working hours, which meant I can go home too because it was my colleague’s turn to drive me home today.

As usual, I’ve got my share of distress and painful customers but the last call was the killer.

It was 5 minutes to the end of working hours. I was all ready to go home. I stopped answering calls. It was then that a new colleague looked so stressed up, called to me and said, “Grace, this guy doesn’t trust what I’m telling him and he wants to talk to you.”

Seriously, I’m so tired myself, I just want to go home. I don’t really care anymore but then when I saw the look of my colleague’s face, so pitiful and all, I just couldn’t leave her to the mercy of this customer.

“Okay, pass it to me.”

Not knowing what the issue is, I had to grab every little pieces of small information I get, did a quick search of all the emails from him, speed-read them, checked all relevant systems.

“Do you know how long I’ve been holding on the line for you? bla bla bla”

Oh man! Just cut the crap lor.

He explained his problem to me, which is a request he is making at a very last minute. His very own responsibility but he’s trying to put the blame on us and I was trying very best to defend my stand.

I put him on hold after that because I needed to cool my head and seek Mr.Boss’s advice.

I then retrieved the line and told him I would need to check further and call him back.

“Are you sure you’re going to call me back?”

“Yes, I am very sure.”

“Do you have my number?”

“No, what’s your number?”

“Can you repeat the number to me? I want to make sure you got the correct one.”

I repeated it to him.

“Are you sure you’re going to call me? Cause you’re going home already.”

Tahu pun! I’m going home but how could I if he doesn’t release me?

“Yes, I will call you, okay?”

Mr.Boss is so understanding, he made a call straightaway to another manager to seek clarification while I was still talking to this customer from Singapore.

If I were to call that other manager directly, it just wouldn’t be the same because he’s so fierce, he despise those front liners, like me, which happens to be a speck of dust in the organization. So when Mr.Boss made the call, it was just different. Boss talking to Boss.

I called the customer back and he called out my name once he answered the call. He’s really desperate.

I explained to him of what he should do and I ensure him that it’s going to be all smooth if he would listen to what I say. He still didn’t trust me. So I tried another way to get the message across, up to the extend in which I assure and promise that it’s going to be perfectly fine.

He then insisted I give him someone’s mobile number so that he can check on it. I just can’t possibly can’t give out mobile numbers like that. He kept pressing me for an answer until I had to put him on hold again and asked Mr.Boss if he can take the call.

Mr.Boss handled it from there and he told what I told the customer. The same thing all over and over again. He still pressed him for a mobile number. Just to satisfy him, Mr.Boss gave it to him but warned that he shouldn’t simply call unless there really is a problem.

Before I left, I thanked Mr.Boss.

Then, I walked out of the office without even looking back. The others were already having a meeting without me and my colleague has been waiting to drive me home for half an hour already. I felt bad there for a moment, to have her waiting for me.

I couldn’t believe I talked to him for half an hour.

I came back home, munching on chips. I just so wanted to bite on something. I couldn’t stop munching until I felt I was sane again.

Went to have dinner with Iris and then I saw this bag. I just had to buy it. I felt better because I thought I should reward myself for being one year older and after surviving this stressful and extremely challenging week.

At the time of writing this, there are two lizards making love with one another. *ahem*

The moment I sat down on my desk, I thought of how to create a template which another Ms.Boss assigned me to do. Since it’s the first time she’s assigning me something to do, I thought I would want to do it well. I’m working for two bosses now, since I belong to two teams now.

Things are changing in which we are measured daily. They would compile the statistics at the end of the day and share it out the very next day.

I have been the one with the highest number of calls handled for the day before and yesterday. Mr.Boss wrote something like, “Kudos to Grace to who handled the highest number of calls.” and then he mentioned who had the best average handling time and then ended it with, “Let’s see who can “dethrone” Grace and another colleague of mine tomorrow.”

It’s like car racing and a running competition now.

I don’t know whether I’m number one today but I think it’s time I let another person to become number one.

Today’s another tiring day with special issues happening. I am so burnt out. While I was attending to a customer’s request, I walked over to my colleague’s desk for consultation. While I sat down at a chair near her, my ankle brushed against the sharp corner of a drawer. It was painful and I was rubbing it. But the only thing I didn’t realise was that it was bleeding. I only felt it when I touched on the ankle again to find it wet with blood.

Luckily, I brought along some plasters which I always carry everyday in my bag. I know how easily I can get cut sometimes so there’s a need to bring plasters with me. A colleague once bought a new shoes and it hurt her feet a lot. She just simply asked whether anyone would have a plaster. I told her I have one and she looked amazingly surprised.

“Plaster also you bring ah?”

“Ya lor.”

She shook her head and smiled.

One customer complained about me to Ms.Boss today just because I told her the vessel is not calling the port and the other available vessel for the week is full.

“You mean if I tell you I want to book on this date, you are not going to give it to me?” She threatened me.

“Yes!” I answered surely.

“I want to talk to Ms.Boss” I transfered the line wholeheartedly.

I know she might think I’m ridiculous because she’s a VIP customer but then there’s really nothing that I can do if the vessel is not just full but overbooked. And how do I possibly give her a booking when the vessel is not calling the port at all? Do you expect me to put your container floating in the ocean?

I know she tak syok with me already but apa boleh buat?

One customer called and spoke to my in Hokkien. It’s been a year but no one has ever spoken Hokkien to me before so I was dumbfounded when she assumed I knew how to speak fluently. I understand what she wanted to convey and I tried very hard to reply in my smattering Hokkien which was not too bad I think.

Another customer called and his name is Sunny. I don’t know whether it’s spelt that way but he’s very optimistic and persistent. Desperate but knows where his limits are. The name Sunny suits him well.

I knew the answer was no but I tried to asked the same people a few more times but I got rejected. I finally had to seek Ms.Boss’s consent but she rejected me as well. I had no choice but to tell him many many times that we are not able to comply to his request. He asked me to try again and I tried again. After that, I felt I’m out of energy already and then I just called for the very last time.

“I’m very sorry, Sunny but I am not able to help you.”

“It’s okay, Grace. I know you’ve tried your very best. Thank you so much!”

That’s what I call appreciation.

Other than that, it’s nothing really special but a cut on the ankle for me to mark my first anniversary working in this place.

Ouch!

CANCER JUNE 21 - JULY 21
Considering how charming, caring and kind you are, you dislike unpleasant scenes, much less creating one yourself. You have great tolerance and rarely get provoked into losing your temper. If someone is unreasonable or trying to create trouble, you are more likely to walk away quietly. But that does not mean you do not have a temper. When angry, in your effort to control your emotions, you tremble, your hands get sweaty and sometimes you fumble for words. Tears roll down your eyes easily and the opponent is touched by your innocence and will seek an apology immediately.


I wore a purple top today. This new top has been hanging around in the wardrobe for a year now. I bought it when I just started working but it’s only today that it finally get to see the world. Yup, I like the way I look today too.

A colleague left us today. *sob sob*

And another one is leaving next week.

A few has indicated the intention to leave as well. It’s all written on their faces. They are so stressed up, with too much to do and no appreciation or whatsoever from their boss. It’s like even though they are trying their utmost best, it still looks like it’s not good enough. The scene in the office now is you see a very patient and sweet-natured girl, typing away loudly, banging at every key on the keyboard to get things done. Me, the quiet one, is getting more verbal because there is no more space in store for shitty customers.

A new girl asked me what it is like. I said you just got to take the whole thing in but at the end of the day, you would need to let it out so that it doesn’t get accumulated.

“Grace, but how to you let it out? Do you go back home and scream?”

I didn’t know how to answer her because I don’t really know how I let it out. Sometimes I’m still amazed myself of how I could take it all in and never let it out and still surviving. I do write here but there are many things that I couldn’t write about.

“I want to speak to N.”

“I’m sorry but she’s engaged on the other line.”

“I want to speak to J.”

“He is engaged too.”

“I want to speak to S.”

“She is engaged as well.”

“I want to speak to E”.

“May I know who’s this on the line?”

“I want to speak to E.”

“May I know who’s this on the line? I need to know your name before I transfer you to her.”

Very reluctantly, she spitted out her company name.

Very reluctantly, I transferred the call to E.

This customer is 1000 times worse than Ms.Scream. She once said, “If I tell you my name, I know the other person wouldn’t want to talk to me.”

If you know the other person wouldn’t want to talk to you if you tell your name because you’re so rude, obviously you need to do something about it, being a little polite doesn’t kill.

The customers are getting so wild, they are calling in to claim that they are one of our colleague’s friend when they are not. Imposing as an internal staff from a different branch when they are not. It is so bad that when a valid person, the wife of a colleague called the office today, we had to ask her a few more questions before the line was transferred to her husband.

I’ll be in tomorrow to save the day. Tomorrow would be a milestone for me because officially I’m one year into the job.

Questions and Answers
Aside from the questions that I get on the phone, I get it from a few more others now. Sometimes I don’t know where I get my patience from when the same people would ask me the same question over and over again. I don’t know whether they are not putting any effort into remembering things or it’s just too hard to remember what to do. I guess tomorrow I would be seeing the same face again, asking me the same question. And again, I would have to answer
with unlimited patience.

The Guy
Remember that someone who wrote me a very annoying email which I replied nicely? He called me on my direct line today.

“I’m Mr.N.”

“Hello, Mr.N.”

“Do you know me?”

“Oh, you’re the one from xxx department.”

“Oh, so you know me?” He sounded like he’s so handsome, everyone should know him. Aleh.

“I don’t know you. I only know your name.”

“Oh, that’s a very good first move.” I’m not flattered.

Then, what did he want? He wanted a favour from me. So the moral of the story is, always be nice to people, you never know when you’re gonna need help from them.

The Standing Fan
Since there are more people in the office. New staff, old staff. The place is getting warmer so there stands a fan that is doing a very good job in cooling us down. But, I find it somewhat irritating because of its position. Whenever I make my way out from my desk, I would definitely need to pass through it and each time I do that, the fan would blow my coolness away. My hair is blown is such a way that I looked more stressed than I should which eventually causes more stress.

I can’t turn down that fan because everyone else feels warm so tomorrow and the days to come, I’ll be blown.

Lunch
I sneaked out for lunch earlier than my usual 1 pm. A colleague asked me to tag along with them. It was so tempting because I’ve never had lunch with a such big group of colleagues for such a long time already. Seeing that there are still others manning the department, I sneaked out, well, couldn’t really say I sneaked because Mr.Boss was next to me when I just walked off.

I know if I ask him, he would joke and say I can’t go out and so I didn’t ask. I just prayed that he wouldn’t mind, at least for this one time. Yeah, I sound desparate now.

It was a good lunch because I was laughing.

Mr.Run Bun
“Grace, you have to help me!”

“Who is this on the line?”

“I’m E. Look at this line. Why is it updated as “Mr.Run Bun”? Where got such a name?”

She laughed and I laughed too because Run Bun sounds so funny. Sounded a bit like Run, Bunny. Run!

“It’s supposed to be Mr.Ryan Bun. Not Run Bun.”

“Okay okay, Run Bun no more.”

Airspace
Then, this customer sounded like she’s short of breath, telling me that she wants certain words to be inserted into her document.

She wanted words like “Airport”, “Airspace”, “Aircraft”.

“Cik, container kamu ni naik kapal, bukan kapal terbang. Jadi, kita tak boleh masukkan perkataan “Airport”, “Airspace” dengan “Aircraft”. Yang kita boleh masukkan ialah “Port”, “Territorial Waters” dengan “Vessel”. ”

“Saya tahu bukan naik kapal terbang tapi saya nak juga!”

How to talk to people like that? I repeated myself for 3 times. I gave up, told her I will check, knowing that it’s not going to be possible but I still had to check for the impossible, just to let her know that I’ve gone through all territorial waters and airspace to get her an answer, which says, “No.” I will break the news to her with an aircraft tomorrow.

Your Eyes
In the lift when we left the office.

“Yerrrrrr!! Why your eyes like that one?”

“Like what?”

“So big.”

“So big the eye bags!”

“I’m tired lor.”

“When I’m very tired, it looks bigger lor.”

I know I looked very tired today because there were just so many problems and I had to walk in and out for so many times I think I wouldn’t need to go to the gym anymore. Weird stuff are happening again and I’ve got to uncover the mystery.

Treadmill
I was feeling so sleepy. I was sleep walking on the treadmill. Well, I only exercised for about half an hour because that’s really the most I could do. I was still thinking about Run Bun when I ran slowly on the treadmill.

I can just smell the problems I’m going to get tomorrow. The unsolved mysteries, the colleagues that are going to ask me the same questions again, the customer who wants to be in “airspace” and etc.

Till then, I need some beauty sleep.

Run Bun.

Something happened and I’m feeling rather outraged about it. My whole Sunday afternoon was ruined just thinking about it. I had no mood to do anything at all. What accompanied me was tears and unnecessary confusion.

I couldn’t sleep well either because I wake up every hour. Went back to sleep to find myself waking every hour again. Woke up in the morning and I didn’t feel like going to work because I know I look ugly after all the crying and I didn’t have enough of sleep. But I thought I should just differentiate between work and personal life. And I told myself there are many customers out there that still needs to speak to me. I have to teach someone to upload files to the intranet. I cannot just walk away.

I went to brush my teeth but the tears kept flowing.

I went to work and a colleague asked why I looked like that.

“I didn’t have enough sleep.” I replied but of course the answer was more than that.

The first few calls I had, these people were frustrated and one screamed at me. I wasn’t as patient as usual having gone through what I had to go through yesterday but I tried very hard not to lose my temper because I so wanted to. I gave up and just let her scream all that she wanted.

Before lunch, Mr.Boss asked me.

“Grace, are you okay? How is it? Are there many complaints? Anyone screamed at you today?”

I told him about all the complaints like there weren’t complaints at all, as in I didn’t complained about the complaints. I was just telling him stories of what had happened, sharing him weird things that are happening which I don’t have a clue to solve it. Emails that were sent on 24 February but no one is reading it? I can’t believe that myself. How do you answer a customer who asks you if someone has read that email and responded to it? Sucks, right?

“So are you still okay?”

“I’m still okay for now.”

“But you won’t be okay for long, right?”

I laughed.

I don’t know what he’s trying to say really because it gave me a feeling like he knows I can be gone for good soon and he would understand why I would make a choice like that if one day I were to leave.

But, that one question from him, by just asking how I am doing was enough to make me feel a whole lot more better. That was what made me go through my day as bravely as I can.

Then, I discovered that two of my beloved colleagues of a different department is leaving soon. They are very smart girls. Very capable and I deal a lot with them. So, when I know they are leaving the company soon, I can’t help but to feel the impact it would have on us. But then, at the same time, I feel happy for them because I know they wouldn’t need to do what they are doing now and are capable of doing something better.

Today, I was the only one that’s sitting far away from my old team, which I’m still helping out with. My colleague would occasionally wave out to me, like they missed sitting near me. Yes, I miss them too even though they are just a few steps away.

Normally, they would just shout across their desk if they wanted to ask me something or just to express their feelings after a difficult call. Now, they would have to call me on the phone instead but I’ve been making walks over to their desks as well to become a busybody.

Came back home and I’m back to the real world again to face the thing that I’ve ignored and trying not to think about when I was at work.

I forgave someone today but I don’t really know whether it’s a right thing to do.

I pray that I’ll be fine.