After all, detours and main roads lead you to the same end.

Have you ever had that moment where you feel that you’re not trudging on the right path? Like you know you should be somewhere as someone doing something for the greater good of people. That point where you realize that you  know you could be doing great in your field but choose to go beyond your boundaries to explore some unknown territory. That moment when you keep asking yourself if you’re still happy with what your doing. And all you can do is convince yourself you are.

That dilemma is what I’m currently experiencing. Most of my classmates are either in med school or in training/volunteer work at hospitals while I work in the ever nocturnal corporate world.  I probably am earning more than them (they don’t get paid in training), yes, but I feel that sometimes this isn’t worth the stress and all the frustrations I receive from day in and out. 

I’m currently having a rough ride. The pressure to meet the metrics is slowly building up. People are starting to receive their share of the VSAT (Very Satisfied)/VDSAT (Very Disatisfied) pie. I myself received 2 surveys already: one VDSAT and a VSAT.  I’m also not really doing well with regard to the handling time and customer repeat rate  - Hey, these are from the first days of my first call center post. Go figure. 

This job has definitely shaken me to the core. Those little specks of disappointment sometimes make me doubt what I know and what I am capable of. Then again, after placing Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger”  (too mainstream but this song says it all) and some of India Arie’s songs on repeat for several days, I figure that these setbacks are just but learning points that I need to work on.

One thing I also learned is not to be too hard on myself. At the end of the day, those metrics are just but numbers. It doesn’t reflect how you are as a person. You actually don’t have much control over it since even if you provided the best possible customer service, the customer is still the one who will answer the survey. So after having a VDSAT, I learned to shrug it off,  examine what went wrong, and just do my best on my next calls. Surprisingly, I got a VSAT on the same day. Nakakakilig makakita ang congratulations sa chat room.

If meet the metrics and keep this job after 20 days then that would be great. If I don’t then that would also be fine. I guess this is one of life’s detours that lead me to paths waiting to be explored and learned from before I go back on track in med school next year.