My first job was a
customer service executive with one of the well-known government-linked company
in Malaysia. I have been trained to meet the stakeholder needs and wants,
especially the customer. We will assist the customers’ problem (if any) within
24 hours. We have to remind ourselves that ‘customer is always right’. As a
front-liner, we are the first person to deal with the customer. Many times, I face
difficulties in handling customers’ complaint especially when there is minimum support
from the management. Sometimes, it is not the management burden. But the governance process, does make
things complicated, especially when there is lack of resources. I feel frustrated. After all, what intelligent
employee would actually continue to go to work? I did not realise the multitude of setting in which
employee might go to learn new things. I certainly did not count work pressures
as one of those settings.
I attended post-graduate class where adults learners
are widening their
knowledge. As I listened to my professors, I realised that the working
experience helped me with my learning process. In effect, I was trained to be an
educator since the first day I sign in as customer service executive. After I
began teaching, I had a conversation with my colleague about ‘how to teach
adults’? My colleague made the comment that ‘don’t just teach, but sharing’. I
immediately thought he meant that the student expected more from the lecturer,
but he corrected me. What students love, he said, is knowing who I am as a
person. That comments has stayed with me and shaped how I think about teaching
and learning and what I do in and out of the classroom.
