Yesterday i met my college friends. I had planned to meet Kanthimathinathan, Hari and Senthil at the Anna Nagar Tower Park. And later Srini and Surendar at their place. I reached the Tower Park first at around 5.30pm. And then Kanthi came in there soon. We then went to the Ticket Counter to get the tickets to go up the Tower. Being the Holiday season, there was a Huge!!! Croud. Then Hari joined us while we were trying to get into the crowd and get tickets. We three went up the Tower. Soon the time passed and a security person came and sent everyone down. We came down and started talking and walking around the park. We were going around the lake when someone suddenly pounced upon me! I was kinda Blank! I found that it was Vinoth Kumar, Raja, Srinivas and Surendar. That was quite a surprise. I didnt expect that i would find them all there. And we continued walking and chatting. Discussing abt what all of us and the rest of our class guys were doing.  Then after some time at around 7pm Senthil joined us.

This was quite a surprise reunion. Better than the planned reunions which always proves to be quite a dud most of the times. We froze the moment on Camera. Then all of us had a Soup that we usually have at the Tower Park during our walks. Then Srini, Surendar and Raja, Vinoth took leave. Myself, Kanthi, Hari and Senthil went to the Hills Green restaurant near Anna Nagar Roundtana for dinner before going home.

It was a Delight meeting all my friends today. Everyone’s moving in different directions. It may be many days or months before i meet some of the Guys again. I guess reality and that whole “growing up” thing we’re supposed to do has finally hit me. Har Gadi Badal Rahi hai Roop Zindagi!

Those of you who follow my blog would be aware that it has been a long time since I’ve last posted. Some of you already know what has been going on in my life, but most of you don’t. For those of you who do not as well as the rest of you it’s time for me to fill you in…

I quit my Job with Sutherland. So no more posts about Sutherland, Dell and Calls!! I have been quite busy all these days doing preparations for my visa and other stuff. And roaming with School and College Friends! Thats the reason for very less posts all these days. Pardon Me!

Im leaving to USA on 2nd January to do my Master’s Degree. At this moment i am not at all sure of what’s in Store for Me after this January! What i am going to do… What kind of place im going to live in(Though i have seen the photos and other stuff, its different to live there!)…  What kind of Friends i gonna make… Most Importantly, How am i going to study for the Next Two Years!!!

I Believe in this verse from the Bhagavad Gita…

“Ethu nadanthatho, athu nandragavae nadathathu. Ethu nadiratho, athu nandragavae nadakirathu. Ethu nadakkavirukiratho athvum nandragavae nadakkum”

“20yrs frm now u wil b more disappointed by the things that u didnt do than by the ones u did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away frm the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in ur sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Thats is what i am going to do now… Life’s Calling!

Yea… Its Time to Say Bye Bye to Sutherland… I’ve decided to Quit this week… Have submitted a formal resignation and will be relieved by the end of this week. Had a Real Good Experience with Sutherland which is my First Job!

The Only negative Factor i found was the change in timings and offs every week and obv the night shift. But working at night shifts proved to be quite useful(a blessing in disguise perhaps, for me) because i was able to carry out my other works in the mornings and sleep after that. But it was okay since it was a temporary job for me, kind of parking space for the 6 odd months between my undergraduation and Permanent Job/Graduation. Dont know how i would feel if this is supposed to be my Permanent Job or something like that.

It has been nearly 5 months since i started working at Sutherland. It had been a very good learning experience. The 15 Days of Versant Training was really interesting with a whole new bunch of Friends/Colleagues! The Training part was almost like college with a lot more freedom. The Trainer Chandini was not exactly that Good in Teaching but was Okay coz she didnt disturb us. We got a lot of Interesting Insights into the American Life Language and Culture.

And then there was the Technical Training which helped us again learn more about computers! And it was the first time we worked in the 12am-8am shift, something new for us at that time. And a very Amusing Trainer Vengat who had us in splits during those night shifts.

Then we were given the Process Training for Printers for nearly a month. During which we learnt a little about printers and more about the different ways of sleeping/doing something else in class. A Comm Trainer Shyam who had funny piercings on  his face but was really cool and a Process Trainer Ramji who seemed to be strict at the beginning but later on became friendly. And that too his Terror experiences on floor had us in splits most of the time. After a little bit of learning here we went on to the floor.

At the Floor we had a “Mr.Cool and Calm” Trainer Deepak Patel and two L2’s Suceendran Meganathan and Chandra Doss. And GLs Satish and Narikot Nair. All of them were really Good and made my first Job into a Good Experience which i can remember for all Good Reasons than the Bad Ones. The Call Taking experience was really new and amusing for me. Its been more than 3 months since we started taking calls. A Day used to be Good at one point and Really Bad at an other point. Depending on the customer. But later on after getting used to the calls and getting matured enough to understand the life at call centre, it doesnt matter if a customer is Good or Irritating.  We starting finding the amusing and interesting things about the calls and customers. Doss my L2 who’s really good at taking escalation calls helped me understand the importance of keeping cool and handling the irate customers - That would be really useful for real life as well. Suceendran my other L2 and his antics keeps us laughing all the time. And Deepak had been a real inspiration of being a Good Team Leader for all of us. Same of Satish who’s our GL - Dell 4 in one. And recently, that is, for the last two weeks our teams have been shuffled and my New TL is ParamaGuru, who also has been Good.

In all, it was a Really Enjoyable and Learning Experience at Sutherland. My first work experience… A cherishable part of my life indeed!

I Got a Call from Liqwid Krystal a half an hour back! For starters, Liqwid krystal is a group of ppl who conduct E-Training on Comp Programming Fundamentals for Corporates. And right now they’re doing that for Infosys

A lady called in and asked me, ‘Are you Shan, the Owner of a community in Orkut in which the answers for the Online Test conducted by them, are being shared!

Me ‘Answers being shared! Really?! I never knew. I just started the comm and never even had time to check all thats happening in the comm!’

She ‘Well, you are not supposed to do that and this could seriously affect your joining’

Me ‘Kya?!’

She ‘Yes. Your IP address are being tracked and blah blah’

Me ‘Okay what am i supposed to do now?!’

She ‘Delete the comm and make sure this doesnt happen again’

Me ‘Okay fine!’

Call Ended.

Came back Online and the other guys in the comm started scrapping/pinging me saying they too got the call. Now delete it plz! Well… Okay, for the welfare of all the guys n gals in the comm! Am deleting the comm!

Jus’ wanted to Ask these LK ppl, ‘come on man.. By deleting a comm how can u make sure the answers are not being shared. If people want to share answers they can do that by any means… There are less popular social networking sites, chat rooms, e-mails, cell phone, and they can directly see each other and exchange answers in the old fashioned way. How will you stop those kind of people!’

Yea!!!!!! I got my TOEFL Scores…

And this Excitement is coz i was expecting some horrible scores in 90s or something like that, but Thank God that didnt happen…

Especially after finishing the Test i was very disappointed with the way i did the Speaking Part of the Test… I was completely unprepared for the test at that time. I didnt take any mock tests. Coz everything happened suddenly.

I booked for the test jus before a week. The Test was scheduled for 24th August 2008. No seats in Chennai, so i booked the Test in Trichy. And since i was working at Suth i didnt even get time to study! I bunked! Office took a Pallavan Express Train to Trichy the day before the exam. Ma brother came to pick me up and we went to our Athai’s Home. The next day i went to the Testing Centre well ahead of the scheduled time. Started the Test. I was confident at the beginning of the Test, i.e. during the Reading and Listening Part. Then came the Speaking Part… I did it… But not well enough to get a good score. After finishing the speaking part i wished i could have prepared somewhat better. Then came the writing part, i did okay in it. And when i left the centre, i was very disappointed with myself. I even thought of giving the test again. Anyway katham katham! Cant change whatever has happened. Enna thaan Nadakum Nadakatume! (Sema dialog. I like this dialog very much!) I then took a bus and came back to chennai!

Like i said, i was not happy with my performance. I had a fear that i would get very less marks. But deep inside, i wished i get some good score, something decent enough. I entirely forgot about TOEFL and was lazing around the house when mom called me and said its been long enough since you gave TOEFL. Go check your scores. Well, i said okay and I opened up the TOEFL Site and was surprised to see that the scores were available. I immediately clicked on “Show Scores” and lo… I got 111…! Surprising… Really Surprising!

29 in Reading and Listening… 30 in writing… 23 in Speaking…

The least in Speaking (I knew that before! )

A 111 out of 120 i believe is a decent enough score… But, i really dont know how much TOEFL Scores Universities Expect and why they need these scores for! If you know, do share it with me!

Yea… I went to the Movie SAROJA Yesterday… I had actually decided to go to the Movie WALL-E along with Naveen. But, Naveen cancelled the plan coz he had some other work. And as soon as i got this information from Naveen, I got a Call from Kanthi calling me for the Movie SAROJA. His Colleagues had 5 tickets with them and 3 of the guys in their gang backed out, so he asked me whether we(Kanthi, Me and Hari) could go the Movie?

I agreed… coz i heard the Movie was kinda interesting and funny and its been a long time since i met Kanthi and Hari. We went to the 3.15pm show. I didnt go to Office(which i decided the day before itself, enna aanaalum Office porathu illenu!) I gave a story to Sripadharajan and asked him to exaggerate a bit and tell that to our TL Deepak. He’s really good at that and moreover he has a good name and anyone will believe whatever he says! (Nalla paiyan maathiriye effect kuduthu vachuirukan!)

And then i went to Sathyam Cinemas, where Kanthi and Hari were waiting for me. We had a Gala Time. Its really very funny to watch any Movie with ma college friends… It doesnt matter whether its really a damn boring Movie or Good One… Mainly due to the funny comments and actions that we together make at a time when everyone in the Cinema Hall is Silent! The had a lot of Timing Comedy. A Good Movie, after a long time in Tamil. I’d surely recommend U Guys to watch the Movie!

And after show, i booked two tickets for the Movie Wall-E, today’s show for Myself and Naveen… And this was the first time i used my card to buy movie tickets!

Then, i took the bike from the parking lot and came out of the theatre and was standing infront of Sathyam Cinemas and talking to my friends, when a Traffic Police came and asked me to move. We moved a little and then we were deeply involved in a conversation when that Policeman came back and took the bike key. Though i got back the bike without paying any money this time, he wasted my precious precious time! I’ll tell abt this incident in a different post. Intha Mamas pathi neriya sollanum!

I’m going to watch Wall-E today. Have to leave home after finishing this post! I had been eager to watch this movie for the past few weeks… But, either Me or Naveen kept on postponing the plan for some reason or the other. Finally we’re going to watch it today… Will write a Review of both SAROJA and WALL-E soon. Keep checking this blog for the Review! PS: Spoilers will be there, coz i cant resist giving that away!

We started taking Calls right from Day 1…!

I didnt expect that!!! I thought they were joking! Come on man… Do U mean, Real US Customers?! And we are going to solve their issues?! What about the Quality Parameters? Quality of Support?! And all other Parameters?! But No… They werent Joking! Our TL said, dont worry guys, this is a kinda practice for you… Dont worry about quality parameters, just go on and take calls… Wel, Okay! I rehearsed my script and then i went on to take my first real call… Poor Customer!

A Lady called in with a Fax Problem! (Hey… Whats this! They didnt teach us about any Fax issues in Training!!!) After Greeting the customer exactly as in the Opening Script! I went on to collect the details like First Name/Last Name, Phone Number and Service Tag of the Printer! We had to Alpha Verify the Name for Spelling Errors! I started… Lemme verify ur Name ma’am… (read this slowly) A as in Alpha, B as in Bravo, C as in Charlie and so on… I didnt memorize that at that time! I was searching my empty brain for the correct word! As soon as i finished Alpha Verifying her name… She asked me, “Are you in Training?!” Me: Hey, How did she find that out? Again Me: By the way U spoke to her, dumbo!!! U shud’ve been more confident! She: “I want to speak to someone who is not in Training or to a Supervisor.”

I called in my TL and gave the phone to him! He went on and solved the Problem for her. It took him 45mins for him! I wondered, if that issue took 45minutes for an expert, guess how much time i wud have taken!

And then, i took another Call… That was a transfer Call and i had to Transfer it to another Department… This time, the Customer didnt find out that i was in Training…! Thank Goodness! And i transferred it successfully… Well, actually I Though So! Until i found out that i didnt get any details from the customer or log a case in the DELL Tool!! That was again a failed call!

After some time, our TL called all of us and asked us to pair up with someone and take calls. One person will speak to the customer, and other will help him/her find a solution and log a case in DELL Tools! This time around i was more confident and the remaining calls i took that day were kinda okay!

I wish i could name this post as Sleepless in Seattle or Sleepless in Singapore!

But since i am from Chennai and i am Sleepless here… I had to name the Post like this! Maybe i could have named it as Sleepless in Singara Chennai… Title nalla illa… So, rejected!

Well, i am not actually sleepless… Its just that i am awake when most of you are sleeping… Yes, thats because i’ve been working in the Night Shift for the past 2 months… My sleep pattern has been changed topsy-turvy! So much that i am not able to sleep during the nights even when i am in a holiday… See i am here posting an useless post at around 2.30am! Thats the worst part of working in a night shift… You never know when is the right time to sleep or eat! And if at all you get a day or two off, you would be sleeping all day! You sleep in the day because you got used to it and in the night because you have nothing better to do, with everyone around you Sleeping!

My Love/Hate Relationship with taking calls… One day I Enjoy taking Calls and on another day i Hate it so much that i feel like quitting that day itself!

When the Customers are very nice and pleasant to talk to, I enjoy talking to them and helping them out with their issue.

And when the customers are rude and impolite i speak to them in a kind of similar way. just talk to them in a professional manner! Wud never go out of the way to help him out.

There are another set of customers who doesnt know anything, cant understand anything, cant co-operate, but want their problem to be resolved. Dumbest Customers! That is when i feel like Abusing the Cust with all the bad words i can think of. And that is what makes me hate Calls. But, if a very good cust comes online after that call, that feeling disappears after sometime! And i start to love taking calls and talking to customers!

So, everyday is a kind of Love-Hate Relationship with Calls!

After Clearing the MSV, we then went on to do our PnP Training. Thats the Product and Process Training for DELL! We were put into Printers 4 in 1 batch! This training was for 22days!

4 in 1 Printers deals with DELL Branded Printers, Projectors, Axims, TVs and MP3 Players! We had a Process Trainer and a Professional Skills Trainer! We had this training from 4pm to 12am! This Shift was kinda cool! The initial few days were very Boring! But later on it picked up speed and the entire training was over in No Time!

We were taught how to use DELL tools to retrieve customer information, enter data, notes for each call! There were so many tools to use in each call! And the skills like Empathy, Rapport Building, etc with the Customers while on a call! At the end of this training we practiced Mock Calls! After the Training we had to undergo ACP on the Floor with Quality Control People. Our Office was in DLF IT Park! So, after finishing the training we went there to give our ACP!

We were introduced to our TL’s! who had some 36 odd months of experience at Sutherland! Only after when i started working, I noticed that many guys say that they have so and so many months of experience in the industry! Till then, I had only heard people say their experience in years! There’s this Guy, Vijendran aka Gaja who works with us. He has a total 4 yrs experience! He had worked in Call Centres like Accenture, Barkleys, and 5-6 other Big Names(i dont remember the names!), his max stay in a company being 10-11 odd months! Thats the Trend! My Dad had experience in Banking for 25 odd years! And it was the Same ol’ Bank for all those years! But, it was then! And thats Past! Things change! The trends different now! Who knows, maybe in the future, everyone will say i have so and so many hours of experience in the industry!

Well, coming back to ACP… After finishing the PnP training we then came to DLF Sutherland and had to take an ACP(i think its, Accurate Call Profiling) Test! I somehow managed to clear it! And so we successfully moved on to the the next step! And that was directly into production floor! We were gonna take calls from the day after!!!