14 Call Center Interview Questions & Answers

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The call center industry is one of the fastest growing in the country these days. As recently as ten years ago, there were only a few call center agents and the word call center was hardly ever used in the country. Today, almost every family has at least one member working in the call center industry. The reason for this boom is partly economics. In the Philippines, low paying jobs are very notorious and while call centers set up shop here because of the low labor costs, Filipinos decide to work for the call center industry because it pays higher than average wages. Consider this: if you are an average worker with an entry level position, you probably are getting paid seven to ten thousand a month; meanwhile, an average employee in the call center industry with an entry level position will get around fifteen thousand pesos a month, plus free dental and health benefits (HMO). Call centers also will pay your SSS (Social Security), PAGIBIG (home building fund), and PhilHealth (health ins...
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Revisiting Booksale: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Last night, I saw an ad in Facebook from Booksale that they were having a Valentine sale. Today, I decided to give them a visit.

The caption reads buy books with your date which you will never read

Booksale is a bookstore with branches across the Philippines specializing in used and cheap books. Booksale is very memorable for me because when I was new in Manila, this was where I would buy books. Yes, back then, I still bought physical books. I even had a monthly budget for books and DVDs in my notebook (no spreadsheets yet). 

I remember always behaving like a kid inside a candy store whenever I visited Booksale because their store at Mindpro  (recently gobbled up by SM), which used to be the lone mall in Zamboanga city wasn't very well stocked and did not have great selections. Of course, I'm pretty sure that this was not the same booksale in SM North that I bought books from between 2007 and 2009. They had probably changed location within the same mall over the years.

At the mall, I realized that it was a five-day sale event. Before the lockdowns, I remember visiting these mall-wide sales and a throng of people would be inside the mall even on weekends. Today, they do not attract the same amount of people they once did.

By the time I got to Booksale, there were already two women scouring the shelves and a handful of employees bringing out books to display on the shelves. Based on their conversation, they were selling books online and people could request specific titles from them. I don't know how much they charge for their services but I don't think it's worth spending a lot of time looking at several books and having to crouch on your toes for a long time when browsing the lower shelves.

In fact, I was also thinking of starting to sell books online and getting my initial inventory from Booksale. Looking at the titles I chose, I don't think I will be able to resell any of them.

Autobiography of a Yogi
(I heard of this book from Alex Ferrari's Next Level Soul Podcast)

At The Little Prince Street Kohi Festival, I was able to sell a good number of books so I have extra cash put aside.

Last night, I set my mind to buy some poetry coffee table books but unfortunately, I did not find any. They did however have an extensive selection of books ranging from language books, children's books, religious books, fiction and self-help among others.

The End of Money: The story of bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain revolution

Holding a physical book brings back fond memories of life back when I was not holding an entire computer connected to the internet in my hands all the time and back when the internet did not yet mean ecommerce, banking and a lot of other things that are already incorporated into the internet today.

I missed buying physical books and reading them but I can't buy a whole lot because they are difficult to store. 

In the bookstore, I made sure to select old books that did not look like they were already reprinted. I stayed away from the Dan Browns and Daniel Steele novels because these are books that are easily accessible online.

Their Eyes were Watching God

The Ekklesia by Anthony Daley

I don't remember when I made the switch from physical books to electronic ones but it was most probably when I won a tablet in our company's Christmas party in 2010. The tablet changed my reading habits because reading electronic books on a tablet mimics the feel of reading a physical book.

As I left Booksale with my newfound treasures, I couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia for the days when physical books were my constant companions. While I may not be able to go back to buying physical books regularly, my visit to Booksale reminded me of the joy of holding a real book in my hands and the memories that come with it.

My haul of used books haul in various stages of decomposition


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