Day 9/10
Thursday, 25 November 2004 - Friday, 26 November 2004
Luckily it's 9/10 and not 9/11!!!
From Parel to Gorageon for Nite Shift!
From Parel to Sahar to Goragon
I called Deepika regarding the details for the call centre visit. She told me she had faxed the details to the hotel. If she had given to me the details while I was in Bandra, time could be saved! I could straight away head to Goragoen from Parel. But due to the miscommunications, I had to breathe an extra dosage of carbon monoxide to the hotel and then have another excess dosage of monoxide on the way to Goragoen!
I was supposed to reach Gorageon at 1930hrs but I ended up being there at 2030hrs. Thanks to the traffic and the miscommunications!
E-Serve call centre is situated at Garageon. The security personnels here were friendlier than those at Bandra Kurla Complex. I told them Mr Shaukil Ray was expecting me and they gave me a visitor pass and told me to wait at the waiting area. By the way, mobiles, beepers, laptops, discs and all other electronic gadgetries were not allowed. It’s another security procedures as after all this is part of a bank! However, as I was a visitor, it was an exception and they told me to switch off my mobile.
Shaukil was the manager for CitiAuto. He was very nice and led me to the meeting room where he gave me a short presentation of an overall overview of the functions of the call centre. The presentation was very informative, as I got to ask him several questions regarding the centre. I was then introduced to Rahul, the Unit Manger for US Citicards. He told me that since it was thanksgiving in US, calls had been very slow. He introduced me to some of the call representatives like Teena and Abhisheik. I was attached with these two friendly Citibank employees for the night. They didn’t mind me picking up the phone to listen to the way they handled all sorts of customers! What strike me the most was the professionalism they showed in handling even the irritating customers for the night.
I had dinner (courtesy of Citibank!) with them at the cafeteria. I took the opportunity to have an informal chat with them. I found out that Teena and Abhisheik were only two months old with the job. I told them I was really impressed with their professionalism. By the way, dinner was chappati with some Indian vegetable dishes and the sweet “hotdog” dessert. I couldn’t remember what it was called. Abhisheik told me what it was but I just forgot after that. I think it was Jammu-something.
After dinner, I got to learn how they make sales to customers. I was told that besides answering to customers’ calls, they also has to meet a certain sales target for their shift. Sales here include either introducing customers to other products Citibank offers like balance transfer and the likes. Abhisheik told me that on the average he will usually make 8-10 sales per shift. I was also introduced to Lovinna who according to Teena was an aggressive seller!
I told Rahul that I was really captivated by the American accent the operators have. He told me that they had to attend a 9-day program to learn the way Americans speak prior to begin working on the floor. I asked Rahul if I could visit the training centre where the “accent neutralization” course is held and he was so obliging that he quickly made some calls to arrange for my visit there the next day!
I asked Rahul if it easy to get a cab at 0230hrs in the morning from the call centre. He said it was not and he was kind enough to ask the security to accompany me to the main road to wait for a taxi.
It was freezing cold upon stepping out from the call centre. I didn’t know that the temperature would drop that much at night! Both the security personnel and myself were shivering by the road. Fortunately, a 3-wheeler (Teena told me that the 3-wheeler is know as the auto rickshaw here!) drove by and the security was kind enough to tell the driver to bring me back to Sahar Airport. He reminded me also to ask for the meter card so as not to get cheated. In addition, Rahul even wrote a note and asked me to show the security at the hotel if the driver overcharged me. See, some Mumbaikars are so nice that they go all the way to make you feel comfortable!
It was freezing all the way in the ride back to the hotel. Fortunately, it was only a 15 minutes (traffic was light) cold endurance or otherwise I would be frozen!
From Parel to Gorageon for Nite Shift!
From Parel to Sahar to Goragon
I called Deepika regarding the details for the call centre visit. She told me she had faxed the details to the hotel. If she had given to me the details while I was in Bandra, time could be saved! I could straight away head to Goragoen from Parel. But due to the miscommunications, I had to breathe an extra dosage of carbon monoxide to the hotel and then have another excess dosage of monoxide on the way to Goragoen!
I was supposed to reach Gorageon at 1930hrs but I ended up being there at 2030hrs. Thanks to the traffic and the miscommunications!
E-Serve call centre is situated at Garageon. The security personnels here were friendlier than those at Bandra Kurla Complex. I told them Mr Shaukil Ray was expecting me and they gave me a visitor pass and told me to wait at the waiting area. By the way, mobiles, beepers, laptops, discs and all other electronic gadgetries were not allowed. It’s another security procedures as after all this is part of a bank! However, as I was a visitor, it was an exception and they told me to switch off my mobile.
Shaukil was the manager for CitiAuto. He was very nice and led me to the meeting room where he gave me a short presentation of an overall overview of the functions of the call centre. The presentation was very informative, as I got to ask him several questions regarding the centre. I was then introduced to Rahul, the Unit Manger for US Citicards. He told me that since it was thanksgiving in US, calls had been very slow. He introduced me to some of the call representatives like Teena and Abhisheik. I was attached with these two friendly Citibank employees for the night. They didn’t mind me picking up the phone to listen to the way they handled all sorts of customers! What strike me the most was the professionalism they showed in handling even the irritating customers for the night.
I had dinner (courtesy of Citibank!) with them at the cafeteria. I took the opportunity to have an informal chat with them. I found out that Teena and Abhisheik were only two months old with the job. I told them I was really impressed with their professionalism. By the way, dinner was chappati with some Indian vegetable dishes and the sweet “hotdog” dessert. I couldn’t remember what it was called. Abhisheik told me what it was but I just forgot after that. I think it was Jammu-something.
After dinner, I got to learn how they make sales to customers. I was told that besides answering to customers’ calls, they also has to meet a certain sales target for their shift. Sales here include either introducing customers to other products Citibank offers like balance transfer and the likes. Abhisheik told me that on the average he will usually make 8-10 sales per shift. I was also introduced to Lovinna who according to Teena was an aggressive seller!
I told Rahul that I was really captivated by the American accent the operators have. He told me that they had to attend a 9-day program to learn the way Americans speak prior to begin working on the floor. I asked Rahul if I could visit the training centre where the “accent neutralization” course is held and he was so obliging that he quickly made some calls to arrange for my visit there the next day!
I asked Rahul if it easy to get a cab at 0230hrs in the morning from the call centre. He said it was not and he was kind enough to ask the security to accompany me to the main road to wait for a taxi.
It was freezing cold upon stepping out from the call centre. I didn’t know that the temperature would drop that much at night! Both the security personnel and myself were shivering by the road. Fortunately, a 3-wheeler (Teena told me that the 3-wheeler is know as the auto rickshaw here!) drove by and the security was kind enough to tell the driver to bring me back to Sahar Airport. He reminded me also to ask for the meter card so as not to get cheated. In addition, Rahul even wrote a note and asked me to show the security at the hotel if the driver overcharged me. See, some Mumbaikars are so nice that they go all the way to make you feel comfortable!
It was freezing all the way in the ride back to the hotel. Fortunately, it was only a 15 minutes (traffic was light) cold endurance or otherwise I would be frozen!
posted by saypul at 1:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home