Well, as you know, I have to limit what I say for security reasons, and also for contractual "proprietary" reasons, but I'll give you a general idea.
As y'all know, I am the (only) NA trainer for a billing support program in a large corporation that handles "Back office productions" (BPO) for major accounts all over the world, but mostly the USA. We have another sight in Mumbai, which I also support (that's run by my counterpart, Matthew, who's the *only* white on site, a very tough spot- we talk on the phone about once a week and have a laugh over cultural stuff. He's from close to my home town (byron- burgen, for those of you keeping track- that's about 45 min from my hometown), and he's older, ex military, and like-ably gruff.
The Mumbai boys are Ram (short for Ramanthadran--I *think*!!) and Raj (god knows what that's short for), and one of them is a total *shouter* over the phone, not sure which one; I think it's Raj, though, since Ram in person is not much of a shouter. They tend to wind each other up and then dissolve in throaty, smoker's laughter and side conversations in Hindi, which makes me nuts. It also rubs Anne the wrong way "someone's very funny over there" she barked during a conference call in which this was particularly bad.
Basically, when it comes to BPO's there's two general personalities Indians "come in": shouters (Raj, Amit, Govn, Antony, and yes, Ankit. I frequently have to tell him "I'm right here, honey. No need to yell.") and "Bambi" (Ryan, Prahbu, Ram, Shah, Cyrus. Alyonwn). Bambi men are usually shy, with good looks and large, liquid eyes, and are generally extremely knowledgeable. They know *everything* by just listening and watching, and they keep it close to the vest. These are also the guys that seem startled by me, no matter how many time I'm introduced to them by a shouter.
Govin:"CYRUS!! HA HA! HOW ARE YOU, MY FRIEND?! DO YOU KNOW NAOMI?!"" (we've met five times)
Cyrus: "I tink so. How are you, ma'am?" (buries face in drink, gives me a James Dean underlook)
Generally, what I do is listen to calls to coach agents on call handling, spoken English, customer service, call resolution, etc. I also use the reports generated by reporting central to figure out who needs coaching, and in what area. Also, I create the training materials, which are called "decks" (they're on Power Point). So far I've made four, one of which was described by boss as "killer". The one I'm working on right now is called "taking information efficiently", and it's about handling calls wherein the caller doesn't have any transactions to handle, they just want to change their personal information.
For some reason, this is our highest area of "language defects", which is either grammar, speed, tonality, intonation, or use of language.
The other day an agent was on a "long call" with an older woman, (call was in it's 93rd minute before Amit woke up and freaked out and started yelling instructions at the exhausted, confused, and demoralized agent). The agent was overheard asking the woman "What are you holding right now, Ma'am?"(he meant "which papers are you looking at right now?")
Amit turned purple and leapt over the desk, his accent several notches thicker than usual: "Teddy! PROPAH OOZZEE OVVVV VURDS PLEES!!!!" ( proper use of words!) "The old ones are hart ov hearing, hart ov understanding, okay? You know this! Plees, for the love of god!!"
I also have several initiatives going: reduce noise level on the floor, improve hiring (right now it's basically "are you visibly drunk? no? great, you're IN!!"). Hiring is hard right now because....one of our (not my program, but in the company) agents killed his girlfriend (in a domestic dispute) and it made the news---even strangers ask me about it with a pained look on their face. So, right now there's a bit of a "cloud" over the organization, to the say the least.
Add to this Amit's "Anwar Sadat" routine he inexplicably brings out for interviewers (causing one agent to hyperventilate they were so nervous), and we're a tad understaffed. For some reason, Amit likes to focus on all the overtime the agents will be doing, the intense pressure, the long commute, oblivious to my kicking feet (he usually looks around like "is there a rat in here? I think I feel something around my ankles.") and "cut!" motions. Then over coffee and cigs he laments the "lack of good people". Uh, babes? remember the one you made leave in tears two minutes ago? Yeah.
I also teach the newbies' classes, during which we cover a variety of things, such as new things the client's rolling out, common questions, etc, we listen to "failed" calls and figure out what to do different, I read them the customer's verbatims (and some of them are *novels*, which usually start "yes, I do have something to add!!") Then I explain all the American-isms.
Our Friday class is a quiz on all the "advisories" we send out over the week. I tell people they can work in teams and they can you anything they would have access to on the production floor: each other, their computers, etc. They are *So freaking cute*. They usually take almost an hour for a ten question quiz since usually it dissolves into a group bull session, wherein answers are written down, erased, debated, teams are renegotiated and re-formed, people send out spy missions to the other teams, computers are tried and one person is successful, other teams bribe and bargain this person for their process, etc.
This is okay with me, since I don't like lecture style classes anyway, and it's so fun to watch. Recently, one male sassy pants asked about the prize: "is it a date with Naomi?"
I laughed "that's going to be a tad awkward for a lady, eh?" I asked jokingly.
Then a lady sassy pants speaks up "Is it a date with Shah Nawaz?" (Shah is our PM, and he's differentiated from the nine zillion other Shahs by his middle name. It's like calling someone "Sarabeth" instead of "Sara").
I was struck speechless. Shah, while being a delightful human, is not exactly a lady killer, being mostly known for his intensely submissive, nervous, and peek- around- the- corner personality. His most often uttered phrase is "Yes, Scott, I agree" (Scott is the fatuous, wind- bag client rep) . He's also not the best lookin' dude out there, having an unfortunate habit of wearing rather clingy tee shirts on his less- than- toned bod. During the week he looks good, but come Friday when casual Shah appears, it's kind of a bloodbath, fashion wise. After the surprise of the fact that this girlie even *knew his name* I just laughed.
"Alright! Let's be a bit more respectful, okay? Enough of thaaaaatttt."
Class laughs "Okay- po" (po is the add on that means "respect", like "san" in Japanese. You'll hear "here's your change-po" "it's 39 peso-po", etc)
The thing is, it's well known that the Program Managers are *all* on the hunt for a local honey, so maybe she's just the Becky Sharp of her class. Well, god love 'er, I say. Maybe she'll burn the Babylon Five shirts we're currently swagging around in.
Anyhow, I also send reports, having meetings (weekly, monthly, and quarterly business meetings with the client), and all that jazz.
Just so you're up to date.
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