I spent several hours on the phone with a guy from Manila today. He was working customer service for netflix and I had a bill I didn't want to pay. Cos they were charging my three times when I only have one account and you know how difficult that kind of shit can be to sort out.
But I have to do this all the time, it's just part of 21st century living. So I never take out my frustration on the person on the phone, I'm just patient and persistent and I always make sure to say I know it's not their fault, cos these are working people getting paid shit to deal with angry customers every day and take the fall for some disgusting CEO who's squeezing every penny from his customers and workers, so he can expand the patio on his second beach house on Roatan Island in Honduras.
And these people don't give a fuck about me or the person at the other end of this call so the last thing I want is for the two of us to fight it out amongst ourselves. Or three, in this case, because Edison who worked for netflix couldn't solve the problem so I asked him to stay on the call as I dialed in to Pamela at rogers who was working from her home in Windsor, and the three of us tried to identify the problem and get this issue figured.
There was a lot of downtime while people checked various files and policies, so we had plenty of time to shoot the shit and once he got going, Edison was chatty. And I asked if he had kids and he has three girls and a boy, and he's separated fro his wife and the kids are teenagers and I said 'man that does not sound easy.'
He said actually it was harder when they were little and you have to give them so much guidance. As they get older you have to trust them and let them live their lives and gain confidence. And thought that was an interesting insight especially for a single father, because the dad stereotype is usually about setting rules and insisting the kids follow.
Edison had worked for more than ten years taking customer service complaints for companies like netflix, at&t, bell and allstate, but his real passion was cooking and a few years ago he started up his own food truck and we talked about the delicious food he used to make: sisig and adobo and Korean bibimbap.
But he couldn't make the business work for very long. He said that all the good locations in Manila were occupied so he set up outside his home, but there just wasn't enough foot traffic in the area to keep himself afloat. So Edison had to shut it down and go back to taking calls from angry customers in Etobicoke.
We talked about how alienating the whole situation can be; two people on opposite sides of the world arguing about a wireless phone deal. So many things that could bring them into real human relations but structured into discussing only the terms and conditions of this package for telecommunications.
I told Edison and Pamela that I knew how hard their jobs both were because for four years in my twenties I worked in a call centre. Pamela was careful in what she said because rogers records every call which is just one added layer of the inhumanity of it all. But Edison was more candid so maybe netflix doesn't monitor so tightly and he told me he had tried for a few years to get steady work with an automotive company because his call shifts are nine hours long and its mentally exhausting but physically idle, and he thought that doing something with his body would be better for his energy cycle.
But those jobs are hard to get and toyota wouldn't hire him. And I said 'man that really really sucks' and I meant it. Edison has an aunt in Mississauga and his oldest daughter wants to come out here to go to school but he's not sure he can afford it or if she'd get in and I wished there was something I could do.
But we really couldn't do much to help each other out in the end. I can't get his kid into college and he can't refund the money I had to spend. But I think we both appreciated having a real conversation, so this song is for you, Edison, I hope you're out there somewhere making sisig and adobo and lumpia and pancit, in a food truck in Manila that someday I will see. And from a group of my friends here in Toronto:
We wish you and your family the best and we want to try your sisig and adobo. Sisig and adobo and lumpia and pancit in a food truck in Manila that someday I will see. Sisig and bibimbap and oxtail kare kare. In my mind, when I sing this song, Edison you and your daughter I will carry.
Sisig and adobo and lumpia and pancit in a food truck in Manila that someday I will see. Sisig and adobo and lumpia and pancit. I wish you the best, Edison, today and always.
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