Yesterday, we have been told that our team will downsize.

The BPO industry is one of the most volatile industries in the job market today. Considering that the entire industry is massively dependent on the United States and other foreign countries, most of which are considerably challenged by the economic bail-out in the US--or what could easily be the most threatening problem in world economics now.

It is no secret: people are losing jobs. And with it, friendships and relationships are sacrificed. There is really nothing sweet to buttress the fall when it comes to these things.

Yesterday, on my ride home, it made me think of several things. The people I will miss the most, the friends I want to keep, and a lot of other things like this one.

Here it is, a girl's guide to donts in the BPO industry. Before everything else, let me just point out that this is not any thing which will tell you how to do your job well. In fact, it can be quite the opposite or something completely irrelevant from your job. So hurry along now, you will never learn the secrets on how to become the employee of the month in this blog.

Here we go, a girl's guide to donts:

DO NOT FALL IN LOVE. with a co-worker. This is the first cardinal rule in a BPO industry, never FALL in LOVE with a co-worker. Unless the following applies: 

(1) Both of you are secured of your job, meaning you can not be booted out of it randomly, that you can be assured that the company would  not just let you go just like that,
(2) You live 2 jeepney rides, maximum, away from each other. OR you live 30 minutes away. Unless the both of you do not live within that radius, think twice, think hard, think overnight.
(3) Both of you strongly and faithfully believe in the gifts of romance and compromise.
(4) You have sun cellular.
(5) You know each other a good 6 months before the retrenchment.

You must comply with at least 3 of the 5 mentioned requirements. Not until you do can you fall in love. The reason for this strict rule is because relationships take a lot of time, and work. A budding office romance would  be on the rocks if the couple is on the getting to know each other phase and then, bam! One or both of them gets retrenched from their jobs. Separation can be very cruel and unforgiving when it comes to love. DO NOT FALL IN LOVE.

DO NOT STORE A LOT OF FILES IN YOUR OFFICE PC. This includes, but is not limited to: music, photos, important non-job related document files. This I have to learn the hard way. I have more than 16gb of files in my office computer. Which includes all of the aforementioned. Which will have to mean that, assuming I get the boot, I will have to find a way to get and transport.

DO NOT PUT OFF UNTIL TOMORROW THE LITTLE THINGS YOU WANTED TO DO TODAY. No, this is not job related. Me and my friends had always wanted to take a photo of ourselves sitting on the supervisor's desk--pretending we are supervisors. Now, there is a looming possibility that we may not be able to do it anymore. Grab every opportunity you can, talk to people, get their numbers, for all you know this will be the last chance you get to talk with them.

DO NOT WORK HARD. I mean it. Do not do extreme martyrdom if only to impress your boss. If you are ever going to do it, do it for yourself--or for your friends. You only open the narrative to exploitation more, by setting the bar higher. They will only expect more and more from you. It is a vicious cycle of exploitation, which might make you feel disillusioned in the end.

It is simple, our job is to not get fired on a daily basis.