A post of interest.

I am very happy for you. I read your blog and I found it inspiring, candid, truthful. It was funny at times and a tearjerker depending on your mood.

I was because of this that I believe in your words and I must say that I admire you for your courage.

Your story is one of courage, perseverance and  persistence and sometimes outright stupidity but insightful nonetheless.

I feel sorry for you as I know that you have been blocked from the forum. I am afraid that my post will be deleted as well.

You are David fighting Goliath. I realize you will no longer be able to post and share your story, your thoughts, and your sentiments.

I see that you have earned a great degree of trust from your current employment. Hard work, perseverance and an unfailing faith in your abilities does pay in the end.

I thank you for your sincerity and generosity, I understand that you have recently created your own provider company with the intent of helping newbies like me. It is a shame that you had run into a brick wall customer support. That you had contacted the support staff directly through chat with the intention of expressing your exasperation with the intent of resolving the issue so that your suspension would be lifted.

It is alarming that instead of being provided with specifics on how your provider company's suspension would be was lifted, people fearful of their own wellbeing, decided to terminate your privileges.

Such is the risk of success my friend. I am grateful for your effort to bring this to the attention of those concerned. 

I have never heard of a case of suspension automatically escalated to termination. I find this unduly harsh and I empathize with you. Every organization of oDesk's size has issues. 

Please correct me if I understand your concern correctly.

1. You feel that you were unsatisfied that odesk failed to reply to your email concerning an inquiry?

2. You were were not directed to a supervisor when you found that your queries to the chat agent were not being satisfactorily met?

3. Your distressed even further by the fact that oDesk has yet to  extend the courtesy of returning your phone call?

4. That your efforts to resolve the issue had instead resulted in your suspension not to be resumed?

5. That your efforts to bring this to the attention of the public has resulted you from being banned in the forum without due notice or process?

6. That this issue has affected everyone in your team?

7. That further customer service has refused to respond to your further queries?

8. That oDesk has failed the courtesy of returning your phone call?

9. That you are a loyal and long standing member of the oDesk community who feels betrayed and neglected by the very people who were supposed to lend a sympathetic ear and help you.

10. That you are now concerned about your employment which you is now feel under threat and coercion that oDesk will simply pend your earning indefinitely?

I see that despite of this issue you continue to persevere in your effort to maintain your long standing relationship with your current employment and as a results oDesk makes a 10% from whatever you make.

You have a big battle ahead of you. I pray that someone from  higher up in the food chain  would be able to read this and reconsider lifting this act of injustice. I wish you luck in your endeavors. 

Fear not my friend for in the end the truth shall prevail. Hold steadfast as this issue not only concerns you but the entire oDesk community.

PBS report

continued from last post

I decided to go to the office to pass along my resume Friday afternoon manila time.The weather was fair. It was as if Ondoy never visited the metro and caused so much misery. I rode my ever trusty bike to the bus station and locked it a nearby client’s office. I helped build that office  two years ago and today I dropping by to make sure that the SOHO was working and to check on the  technician I had hired for them. Twenty desktops, four laptops, three network printers were buzzing merrily without problems. Not so long ago I worked feverishly to complete the project to so I can sign up with one of the largest American telecoms firm free from any encumbrances . As I left my buddy, the CEO (Child Employee of the Owner) handed me a small envelope, my retainer's fee and asked me to visit another site. He still wouldn't entrust my endorsed tech with the passwords. Trust and  a reputation was something I had earned from friends and neighbors. It was something I had yet to earn Odesk. I'm still waiting for an employers to take a chance on me. 

I boarded the bus at four pm relieved that I got seat. The AC wasn’t working and it was getting worse. The person sitting beside wouldn’t stop yapping on his phone. I managed to take a snooze on my commute. I woke up suddenly anxious if I had missed my stop. I was horrified. Not because I was sweating like a hog, not because the Bumbay seated next to me started to stink. It was because an hour had passed and we weren't even still halfway to Libis!  I couldn’t imagine how I was able to stand this routine day and day out.

Libis, is one of the sprawling call center capitals in the metro. There must be two dozen offices within the complex. Dell, Amberbase, Accenture, IBM, Aetna, Erickson among others. I checked in my ID at the receptionist desk at looked at the clock it was 7:30 pm. Another two and a half hours of my so called life down the drain. It reminded me why, more than ever I wanted to work from home.

Again I did some Math. Three to four hours a day. Fifteen to twenty hours a week, 60 to 80 hours a month, 720 to 960 hours a year was what the cost of working at that office.  Thirty to forty days a year spent sitting on a stinking bus in the sweltering heat and maddening traffic. I sighed and told myself it was the price I paid for the job. A job that provided .6 vacation leaves a month and paid a net of $2.2 an hour. My job was one the highest paying jobs in Manila. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my former team mate. Ecstatic we said out hi's and hellos. She updated me on the situation. The entire team of 23 agents were already terminated for not meeting the metrics. It was something that I foresaw, one of the reasons why I decided to pursue Freelancing. Call centers were shaving costs by denying agents tenure and cutting benefits. She wasn't just someone of the streets. My was teammate, a fellow alumnus, was a magna cum laude from  UP Diliman and held a Masters.

I turned around and walked away stunned. My human resource professor was right. Job security was a mere illusion. It was insane for me to walk back in there to ask for my old job back. I didn't want to go back home. I tried to cheer myself up and indulged in a buffet at "Something Fishy". Something Fishy was a favorite hangout for call center agents. Their midnight "eat all you can" buffet costs Php115 or $2.25. As I sat alone on a table waiting for midnight I noticed this hot chick checking me out. We ended up talking about how her friend's website was able to achieve 75,000 hits on her website. That wasn't made me smile though, it was because she ended up asking my number. I declined and asked we just exchange facebook accounts indeed. I never thought I'd get to use the old push pull technique. I went home with a smile on my face and a her email and cell written on my fore arm.

I went home and found myself in front of my screen reading my profile and the community blog. I guess there's always room for improvement. I had 13 active and 13 inactive candidacies but no interview invitations. But I did see something. I was bookmarked as a favorite provider by 3 buyers!  In addition I checked official oDesk blog and they implemented a change in policy. Josh and the odesk team were working on the issues. I realized something. My failure is also Odesk's failure. Odesk never stopped trying to improve itself, neither should I. Out of the kindness of her heart someone from the Coffee break forum  pledged to endorse me on future projects.

A couple of days ago I wrote "I want something out of this but WHAT?"

The answer was failure. Painful, embarrassing and powerful. I did get something of it. It wasn't dollars and cents, but they invaluable none the less.

1. A lesson in humility: I am competing with a global workforce and not just a local population.
2. A lesson in patience: Providers can only view ten at people a time of which nine are spammers.
3. A lesson in perseverance: It was exhausting, tiring,  but I can't give up now.
4. A lesson in learning: I learned to do cloud computing on Blogger and put up widgets.

That tormenting bus ride to work today reminded me why I wanted to work at home and why the two weeks I spent shouldn't be considered expenditure but rather an investment. I realized that I had worked hard for what I wanted and I deserved to give myself a second chance. I deserve a chance at this. I refuse to fail. I DESERVE to give myself another chance. I want this I WANT this and I wanted it BAD.