Before I went to work on the eve of Bonifacio Day, my whole family was watching the live telecast of the Manila Peninsula Mutiny. Unfortunately, I only saw bits a pieces of it as I was preparing clothes for a team outing in Laguna. Aside from that, I had so many things in my mind such as being this month’s host for our account’s Town Hall (a monthly show/meeting/awards ceremony), a calibration session with our clients, my deliverables, and bringing the stuff I needed for the team building. I was seriously not aware of exactly what was going on.

It was business as usual when I reached the office. Some members of my team mentioned that they might be absent or late because of heavy traffic. I noticed that there were so many unfamiliar faces and that the office was more crowded than usual. I learned a couple of hours later that there were several employees from our Makati office that were transported using company vehicles in our Alabang site because of what was happening, and some were even given the choice to go straight there if they live in the area. Headsets were readily available in the reception area for those who left their headsets in Makati.

Town Hall finally started and I was nervous as hell. Of all the 18 Town Halls that I’ve gone to, I had to host the one when the clients were watching. As planned, we introduced our esteemed guests to the employees. I thought that they were supposed to stay and watch, but during their speeches they mentioned that they will be leaving for the day. It was a big relief in my part since I didn’t have to do the calibration session. I wondered though why they left so soon.

After Town Hall, all of the managers and supervisors were asked to stay for a quick meeting. It was at that time that I learned about the curfew. The clients needed to return immediately to The Bellevue Hotel, their temporary residence, to guarantee their safety. The site director has decided to discourage everyone not to leave the building from 12mn until 5am. All the exits were closed. Employees who wish to leave the office would need to sign a waiver. To encourage employees to stay, those people whose shifts fall between 10pm-7am will be given additional PhP500 (US$11.81) which they will receive on their next pay if they stay until 5 a.m. Entertainment such as karaoke, Nintendo, online games and internet use were available to the employees until 12nn. Sleeping quarters were also available for those who needed to wait longer hours. Employees who decide to leave the office during the curfew will not be given the PhP500 incentive. Text messages with all these details were sent to all employees.

At 5am, November 30, the exits were opened and we were on our way to Laguna for our team building.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is called Business Continuity Planning (BCP), a must for call centers to have and one of the things I am very much thankful for as a call center employee. My company’s BCP group is by far the most impressive I’ve seen. They have made plans for pretty much everything, and the solutions they have in recovering business could be as simple a re-routing the calls to a different site, or as costly as sending the employees to Vizag to work. I really felt safe at the office that day. I continued working as if nothing happened.

So. The next time there’s a coup, a natural disaster, act of terrorism, airborne disease or a government-imposed curfew and you just happen to pick up the phone and call a customer service hotline, think of this post and imagine what a call center employee had to go through just to say these words:

“How may I help you today?”