now, about work

after the factory closed, i have to move on. i have a family to take care of. i must admit i got scared because most of my productive years were gone now and nothing concrete to show for those years. most of my "wealth" are deep inside me. non-material. just wonderful experiences about living life to the fullest. with friends. with people i love. with people i hate. with people i don't really know nothing much. ah, terrible, as they say-- "youth is wasted on the young". i know i shouldn't say this, but in retrospect i think i wasted my youth. or, my youth wasted me! anyway, thinking back, i now know there were a lot of things in my youth i should not have ventured to do. i just wasted time. and if anyone, any young person for that matter, will ever read this blog, i hope they can read between the lines. if they are "living life to the fullest" they will know what i am talking about. adventures are a "must" to the young, i'll grant that, but, lingering too long on these will be a waste of time. read between the lines ..... remember, one is not forever young. one will age in time. one will grow old. and one must age gracefully.

i was able to find a job totally different from the ones i had while working in the factory. i'm in a call center now. i have to sit for 8 hours staring at a computer screen, blabbering to people thousands of miles away. listening to their problems, worries, complaints, and finding solutions or resolutions to these. to appease them, to assure them that all is well and everything will be set aright in their side of the universe. to tell them that they are not being conned for the services or products that they bought.

i always thought this job will be easy. one's only worry is how to endure the long hours of having to sit and stare at the computer screen. using only a minimal number of muscles to do the work. but i was wrong. the job is difficult. what makes it difficult is just that. how to endure the long hours of minimal physical activity. interacting only with unseen people miles away. to project a smile through one's voice. to project forced empathy. to become instant friends with total strangers. but a job is a job. and to earn an honest living is what i need to do. so i must endure. i have to adjust.

with the previous jobs i had, it's easy to be gratified because you immediately see the fruits of your labor. a machine repaired. a project plan approved. a subordinate's family who died visited. a new product launched. but in this job it's hard to determine if you ever did well. even if the person who called says so. you just assume that you did good. and then, after every call, force a smile. try to feel gratified.

i learned a trick on how to feel genuinely pleased at this my current job -- i always remind myself -- I CAME TO SERVE. so every time i receive a call, i remind myself -- this is another chance to serve, do your best.

come to think of it, serving others is the purpose of living. that's what we are here for.