Work, work, work.

As of right now I have started work with NTUC Income for 3 days. Under training all this time and it will last until the 23rd. It's like having lectures in a small group setting like that. Teaching us how to handle call enquiries. Feels weird. And I actually went past an admin staff and I was thinking, 'Why can't I do this?' Haha. File paper, print paper, shred paper. So simple, should let me do!

My job is actually quite knowledge-intensive. There are a lot of information that I need to know. And it helps if one is street-wise. I am not! I know practically nothing about car insurance, COE, PARF, NCD and these terms. I was thinking I might be more interested to take down notes if they taught Mathematics, Chemistry and the like. Haha. One thing I learnt: Don't ever get into accident. It's a major headache. In fact, with insurance it can be even more of a headache. Other than the information we need to know, I don't think they can really train you to talk properly and politely. I mean, politeness is not a skill, it's a duty. And actually so far I have not met a nasty colleague inside. All of them, including my supervisors are very nice people. They are professionals, but they joke, laugh and talk like the rest of us once outside the phone. They even greet you in the morning and ask how's your day! Maybe, I reckon, it's because they are trained to be good in attitude in the customer service.

Most of my colleagues undergoing training with me are actually looking for a permanent job, and when people looked at how young I am (20, compared to many in their mid 20s and early 30s, all working adults), I have to keep explaining I'm doing this on temporary basis and I still have university (thank God) to look forward to. And I am thankful that I am only going to learn one module compared to at least three for them. Imagine the load of stuff that I really cannot care less being absorbed into a brain that is reserved to learn Maths and Science. It won't do. My colleagues are also very friendly people, though there is this tiny age gap. Only downside is that sometimes they would be talking about taking this insurance module lah, reviewing what they have learnt lah, asking about this industry, which I really don't care. Haha.

How to serve a company well if you don't really love or enjoy the job? I actually hoped that I would somehow like the job more the serve them better during this period. I'm thankful that I'm going after 3 months since I think this job, though with the very nice people around, is still rather boring. The rate of phone calls is also very scary. Once you hang up, I counted; there will be an average of 1 second before another call come. It is crazy! The people were multitasking like mad.

So far the job's been easy, since the whole day is information spoon-feeding and imagining scenarios. But once the job start, that's when the pressure comes. Nasty customers, customers you can't understand, don't know how to answer, too slow...

Pressure, pushing down on me, pushing down on you...