First Day on the Job

Today I arrived at work for the first time. I got my first experience of some of the things people have told me about our Manila offices. People have always said it is very locked down and there aren't a lot of freedoms for our co-workers in Manila. It's very true! Everybody has their bag searched upon entering the building. If they have cell phones or a laptop, or even a USB key, it is taken away. Actually, it's a little less strict for our employees, but not by much.

 Wait a second, let me back up and explain. First of all, none of the people in our Manila office are actually employees at my company. They all work for a call center company. There are a lot of call centers in our office. My company is a big enough employer that we get our own room and a few more freedoms. For example, our workers can take their phones in with them (still no laptops). Also, people can tailgate in to our room (we don't all have to badge in). But if we want to go to the bathroom, we have to walk into the GIANT room that has people from many different companies. To go into this room, we all have to badge in and out. The huge room (it probably fits several hundred desks) also has a cafeteria area near the back. Our kitchen in San Francisco has free coffee and tea and even milk and soy milk. There's nothing free here, except the tap water, which even locals seem leery of drinking. They do have someone selling fried chicken in there though, so I might get in on that.

As locked down as this place is, I can still bring in my laptop because I have the special full access badge that designates me as a "client." It feels very weird. I'm not the one paying their salaries. So I went to plug in my laptop and I figured I would grab a mouse from the desktop at my seat so I didn't have to use the touchpad, but the mouse was locked to the computer. Who steals a mouse?? I guess someone does or they wouldn't lock it up. Also, one of the coworkers there told me that whenever they need to change desks, they are forced to change computers. They cannot move the computers, even if it is within the same room. They have to copy over any relevant files they want to save. If I had to do that every time I needed to move, I think I might cry.

Overall, the whole feel of the place is quite different. There are guards everywhere, not just in our crazy locked down call center. It gives everything a very weird feeling of both being very luxurious and very uninviting. It's a strange juxtaposition. It feels luxurious to actually see people like doormen whose entire job is opening the door to a building. You would only see a doorman at extremely high end places in the US. But then again, it feels really unwelcoming to see all the guards and know someone will question you if you go somewhere you don't belong. I was wandering around after my shift ended today, but it was too early for a lot of places to be open. Most people were very friendly, but it felt strange knowing I couldn't just walk anywhere because guards would stop you. For example, there is this mall with an open air section. I wandered near hoping the mall would be open, but I couldn't get too close because of the guards. It was a very strange experience.

In the US, people for the most part don't care where you go or what you do. A homeless person might be shuffled out of the financial district, but the average person can just wander. Part of the not caring is not having the resources to care. We can't just hire people right and left to watch you. I have to say, I prefer how it is in the US. There are a lot of freedoms that are easy to take for granted there.

Today was too rainy for me to really explore, but tomorrow I plan to go through the malls and try to get a better look around. I think it's supposed to stop raining thankfully.