uno

"Oi, pre, buti nalang nakapasa na tayo ng training period. Naku, ang hirap pala ng account na 'to. Hindi ko naman inisip na ganito pala kahirap maging call center agent. Akala ko pa naman easy-easy lang."

That is Travis, a friend I met on the first day I've applied here. He's a college mate and honestly, we're not that close. Dito lang talaga kami nagkaroon ng pagkakataong magkakilala ng mabuti.

"Judgemental ka kasi. Kaya 'yan ang napapala mo. Buti nga pumasa ka. Dami mo kayang absences."

"Ay promise, magbabait na ako. Oh nga pala pre, sabi nila terror daw mga TL's dito. May isa dawng kilalang power tripper. Naku sana talaga hindi tayo mapag-tripan."

"Eh baka kasama na talaga sa trabaho 'yun."

"Ang alin? 'Yung mang trip ng tao?"

"Eh ikaw din naman ah, ginagawa mo din naman yan sa iba. Ano'ng pinagkaiba?"

"Sabagay."

We continued waiting and then in a quick second, I noticed someone come in. 

She was wearing a blue hoodie that covered almost her entire face. She's not someone I knew from our training period so I got curious. 

She sat right across me and laid her head against the backrest of our seat.

In a sudden moment, biglang lumakas ang tibok ng puso ko. 

"Good Morning!" 

Just in case you're wondering, it's 9:00 PM pero sa mundo ng BPO, good morning and batian kahit gabi. The reason? Dahil lahat kami, kailangang masanay sa US time zone. 

So bawat tao sa loob ng building na iyon, kahit guards ay binabati ka ng good morning kahit natutulog na ang araw. 

"I am your assigned Subject Matter Expert today, my name's Jeremiah."

Di pa man natatapos ay may nagtaas na ng kamay.

"Yes?"

"Nasaan na po pala ang TL namin?"

"I can't understand you."

Pumagitna ang katahimikan.

"Sorry. I was asking where our TL is?"

The man in front of us smirked, satisfied with the woman quickly switching to English.

"She's unavailable as of the moment. Something came up."

So it's a woman.

"Now, in the next few days, you will be observing some of our tenured agents on the first half of your shift. In the other half, you will start taking live calls. All throughout, I and two other Subject Matter Experts will help you out. We will be taking Supervisor calls when you'll have any. Now let me tell you, it's going to be brutal."

Ako naman ang nagtaas ng kamay.

"Yes?" he motioned towards me.

"Who is she?" my curiosity got the best of me.

"Oh, I forgot. Why don't we ask her?"

Nang lumingon ako sa gawi niya, isang matalim na tingin ang sumalubong sa akin.

She stood up, looking bored.

"I'm Sarika. You can all call me Sari. One of your SMEs as well."

The man standing in front of us smirked once again.

"Sari is... your second SME. The other one is still on the floor and he should be joining us later on."

Bigla akong kinabahan nang maramdaman ko ang tingin niyang tila di pa rin inaalis mula sa akin.

I closed my eyes as I soon realized that I have just made the biggest mistake in my life.

Kahit malakas ang aircon ng training room, hindi naman magkamayaw sa tindi ang pawis ko.

The first half of our shift passed by so quickly. By lunch time, mabilis akong inakbayan ni Travis.

"Gago ka talaga pre. Pero in fairness ha, maganda si Sari. May mata ka talaga sa likod ng ulo eh. O baka naman sa gilid?"

Napatawa ako sa sinabi niya.

Bigla ay natahimik kaming pareho nang umupo sa tapat namin si Sari at Jeremiah.

"Sorry guys, I hope you don't mind."

"Sure sir walang problema." naiilang na sagot ni Travis sa kaharap.

I stared as she swiftly leaned back against the chair and chew on her apple. Walang ibang laman ang tray niya kundi tanging mansanas lamang.

Mabilis akong napairap nang magtama ang tingin namin.

Tila may dumaang mahabang prosesyon sa loob ng kalahating oras na kumakain kami.

"Do you guys wanna smoke with us?"

"Sure." mabilisang sumagot si Travis.

"Naku sir nakakahiya naman sa inyo."

"No don't be. Come on. And please, stop calling me sir, J nalang."

Napalunok ako nang makitang matalim muling nakatitig sa akin si Sari. Her looks could intimidate even the most intimidating person on earth.

Her eyes looked like they could kill a thousand soldiers in one go.

Natatameme na lamang kaming parehong napasunod sa kanila.

Sa isang sulok sa likod ng building kami humantong kung saan makikita ang designated smoking area.

And yes, I smoke. Occasionally.

But looking at the new world I'm getting into, parang mapapahamak ako ng todo.

I'm Austin Dela Cerna, a fresh graduate, only son, and both my parents are now living outside of the country.

I don't exactly need the job but I am bored and I don't have anything else to do.

I rely on my parent's allowance and sadly hindi magandang sa feeling na umaasa lamang ako doon. Lalo na when you enter adulthood.

So I applied and got lucky.

The bonus is, Travis is there. My new best friend.

I've heard so much about the industry and I honestly just want to test it.

Today, I will witness how challenging things around could really get.

"Pareho ba kayo ng course?" naulinigan kong tanong ni Jeremiah.

Napatango lang ako.

The conversation went on. Panaka-naka akong nagnanakaw ng tingin sa kanya.

Each time, binabawi ko din dahil sa talim ng mga titig niya.

The remaining half of lunchtime was spent on endless smoking.

Halos lahat dito, iyon ang pampalipas oras. I'd often call the smoking area the CHIMNEY.

Halos lahat ng ibinubugang usok mula doon ay may kalakip na kwento. May kasamang mga hinahakit.

It could be personal or professional.

Halos lahat may kwentong tampok.

Sabay na din kaming umakyat pabalik ng training room.

As soon as we went back, Saro started distributing headsets to each one of us.

"Those are Y-jacks. Pretty sure you guys know what that is."

Y-jacks are headsets we use to listen to someone else's calls. Unlike the regular headsets, it has two endpoints. One should be connected to the direct line while the other is to the agent's headset.

Karaniwan itong ginagamit sa mga BPO's to give us an opportunity to listen to both the caller and the rep.

The moment she handed one over to me, hindi ko namalayang nagdaop ang mga kamay and that brought something really unusual to me.

Mabilis kong binawi ang kamay kong nakahawak sa headset. I saw her dismissively walk away from me.

I can sense trouble. And honestly, I hate feeling like that.

"Now, if you're all ready please follow me."

Lahat naman kami ay napatayo. Eagerly walking out of the training room and into the production floor.

The moment we stepped in, something inside me started churning.

It was as though you've been stuck in a cave for a very long time and have just come out to the world.

Now, seeing all of the busy bees randomly talking in English, seemed to get too scary for me.

And I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one feeling that way.

I could hear everyone else's tummy churning the same way as mine does.

I was paired with one of those they called superstars. She is a cross-dresser who looked like a doll.

Medyo retokada na halos lahat ng parte ng katawan maliban na lang sa boses.

Mahahalata pa rin kasi ang baritonong boses nito.

"Kuya, taga saan ka?"

"Ahmm diyan lang sa Las Piñas."

"Ohh, we're neighbors then."

"Talaga?"

"Yes. Maybe we can go to your house and grab a drink. Do you live alone?"

"I do. I have a condo unit."

"Oh, rich kid ka pala."

"Not exactly."

Biglang tumunog ang prompt na may papasok nang call.

Mabilis na sinagot iyon ni Stacy, well, that's her phone name. And for some reason, she managed to change her baritone voice to a female tone.

The call went really well at first.

But all of a sudden, the caller on the other line got irritated with his bill and demanded a supervisor.

"I truly apologize about this sir. But I trust me, I can help resolve your billing issue."

"No it's bad enough that you can't speak very good English, but now you don't know how to count. Lemme talk to your supervisor. Now."

Napa-ismid si Stacy habang kaharap ako.

Maya-maya lang ay nag-press siya ng hold button at nag-angat ng kamay.

Napapatayo naman ako sa kaba.

"Okay, I'll take over."

Before I even knew it, Sari was in front of the unit.

"Continue listening please." sabi niya sa akin.

Napalunok ako sabay muling naupo sa tabi niya.

I was literally sitting right behind her. I could smell her perfume and her hair was stubbornly spreading across her nape. Gustong-gusto ko nang hawiin ang buhok niya, ayusin ang kaguluhang nagsisimula nang maganap doon.

I gasped as soon as I started hearing her voice over the headset.

Something about her tone just felt so erotically good that all throughout, I was closing my eyes allowing her voice to slowly penetrate me.

"Thank you!" masayang-masaya na ang customer sa kabilang linya.

"My pleasure Mr. Richards."

As soon as the call ended, I removed the headset and was meaning to ask her a question, only to find her getting away from that station.

Mailap. Sobra.

Tila nanghahamon.

I sighed with a smile.

Damn. It's gonna be so hard to sleep now.