Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Buildings, Call Centers, Customer Service Agents, El Dorado, Panama, Sitel, Tourism, Urban Development, XM Radio on February 11, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Snapshot of the explosive growth in the area of El Dorado. The white building towards your left, where the taxi is located, is the Sitel Call Center where I worked for nearly two years before retiring three years ago. It was a very demanding job assisting American customers of then XM Radio. I worked at Sitel as a CSP ( Customer Service Provider.) Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Awards, Call Centers, English Accent, Job Performance, Jobs, Satellite Radios, Sirius Satellite Radio, Sitel, Unemployment, XM Radio on July 10, 2012 | 7 Comments »
During my life I’ve worn several hats to earn a salary; sometimes there was no salary at all. My wife had to take care of me. Life is like the sea, it has its high tides and its low tides.
After being a Financial Director for the Panama Bureau of Tourism (Instituto Panameño de Turismo), I lost my job because there was a changing of the guard. The PRD (Partido Revolucionario Democrático) won the elections in 1994 and the new General Director wanted to have his own team and needed my place. I knew that was going to happen, as soon as the election results were known. So I submitted my resignation, and that was that.
Finding a new job was most difficult because of my age. I was 48. In order to keep the ball rolling, my wife had to enter the job market. She was hired as a waiter in a small restaurant and became the bread provider of our home. I stayed home and became the house keeper the best I could—I lacked the skills to cook and all that stuff. I had to learn how to mop, sweep, wash clothes, wash the dishes and occasionally cook very basic food—like boiled eggs. (Omar smiles.)
After a drought of ten years, I found a job as a CSP (Customer Service Provider) for a company called SITEL. It was, and still is, the largest call center in the country. The pay was scant, but nevertheless it was a stable job with paid vacations, Social Security benefits, XIII Month and regular paychecks every two weeks. In Spanish it’s called The Quincena-–the most anxiously awaited day of the month. Payday was a sweet word for us.
My job at SITEL was to give customer service to customers of a U.S. company called XM Radio. They marketed satellite radios and were very popular in 2007. XM Radio later merged with Sirius Satellite Radio and became the largest satellite radio provider in the United States.
It was a stressing job. Everything I said was in a script and I couldn’t stray from the structured job description. If I did not follow the script to the word, my supervisor would deduct points from my performance and place them in a large sheet of paper pasted on a wall for everyone to see. I was embarrassed to see my name printed there beside a mediocre performance.
Sometimes customers would ask where I was from, due to my deep Spanish accent. They usually thought I was from India. Frequently they would not want to talk to me. They would say, “Sir, I don’t want to talk to you. I’m not giving my Social Security Number to a corrupt Indian guy. Switch me over to an American operator. I want to talk to an American.” I tried to persuade them that I could help him or her (it was part of my job to do so), but they insisted or hanged up the phone. I remember crying at the end of the shift. It was so humiliating, but we needed the money.
I hanged in there until July 3, 2008 when I finally retired after filling in my application with the Panama Social Security. Since I had very good salaries in the past, my pension was generous. For a change, I didn’t have to memorize a script and nobody could fire me anymore, as long as I lived. Our problems to buy food were over. It was Nirvana. I couldn’t believe it for several months. The quincenas were paid regularly and we went happily soon after to buy our food at El Machetazo, the nearest supermarket to our house. With all the time in the world, I became an amateur photographer and a neophyte blogger and here I am writing to you guys now.
Below is a picture of an award I received for being one of the best customer service agents in the second quarter of 2007. At least management didn’t consider my English accent awful and my overall job performance was up to par. When I got the award, I felt like a million bucks. I felt useful for a change. The simple plastic award is sitting on my computer desk as a reminder of the most embarrassing job I ever had in my entire professional career. The good thing though, is that it kept us going for several years. In every difficult situation, there is always a bright side. Not everything is black and gloomy. Good Day.
Snapshot of the Finalist Agent Q2 2007 award I received at Sitel, a call center in Panama City, Panama. I received a basic salary of $500.00 a month plus sales commissions for satellite radios sold. The slogan of the company was Vision, Passion and Purpose. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in News, tagged Entertainment, Satellite Radio, Sirius Radio, XM Radio on July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sirius and XM Radio announced today that they closed their long-awaited merger.
After a long wait of 17 months, the merger between the only two giants of satellite radio–Sirius and XM Radio–is finally over. The combined company, with more than 18.5 million subscribers, is now called Sirius XM Radio. It is set to rank as the second-largest U.S. radio company, based on annual revenues.
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.’s $3.3 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will mean millions of subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services, while executives say it will create huge cost savings for the industry.
Sirius XM Radio will offer more than 300 programming channels spanning exclusive shows, such as those of Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey, and à la carte programming. Subscribers will be able to select certain programs from each of the two former companies under one package.
The new programs are expected to begin rolling out in early fall. And as the companies previously stated, subscribers can continue to maintain their current service plan. Subscribers will not have to buy new radios to receive a mix of programming from both services, according to the companies. But if they want to pursue a special pay-per-channel à la carte option, they will need new sets.
The companies voluntarily agreed to a set of conditions, including a three-year price cap and an 8 percent set-aside of “full-time audio channels” for public interest and minority programming. They will also adopt an “open radio” standard that may lead to a greater variety of features in radios and greater competition among manufacturers.
XM investors will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius, and the ticker symbol will now trade under “SIRI.” Sirius XM Radio will be headquartered in New York, and its wholly owned subsidiary XM Satellite Radio will remain in Washington, D.C.
I used to work in Panama at a call center that provided customer service to XM Radio clients. I’m happy that both companies are finally joining efforts to provide satellite radio service to the U.S. market. The possibilities of upgrading the quality of sound and programming are enormous. I only regret that satellite radio is not available in Panama. Good Day!
