There are some award winning literary short stories right being published right now in the Philippine Literary scene that take place Philippines call center. This is a new kind of movement. Truly the cultural effect of the Philippines call center industry has permeated the consciousness of the nation through and through. Close reading some of these stories show important insight in how the cultural impact of the call center according to these writers. To take a look at how these stories are shaped, here is a précis of one of the best one.

Carla and Marie is a story about two friends who are caught up in a complicated mess of a relationship. In the story, because both of their boyfriends worked at a call center, they were both cheated on. Then through some very surprising twists and turns, it turns out that that Carla’s boyfriend was with Marie while Marie’s boyfriend is was with Carla. The story is a real page turning and the climax was intensified with each sentence that built toward it.

Once can see two things that this story says about call center culture it seems can encourage this culture of cheating. Why is this so? Is this something stereotyping or based on something much deeper than that?

Philippine call center agents are a fun bunch. A group or team usually bond together as a “barkada” or posse. This is not so unexpected in any office environment but it definitely does not happen often. There are special circumstances though that makes it happen prevalently in call center culture. You see call center agents are a gabby and talkative bunch. They have to be to have had the job at all. Most agents are perky and friendly because these traits are part of the job description. Now imagine that this gabby bunch are put together in one room and made to bond through the shared daily experiences and problems that they face in the Philippines call center industry. This is why the call center agents are bonded together so well. The tight knit group is also usually young and adventurous. Most of the times they promote “love teams” within the group even disregarding the fact of whether the people involved in this love team are taken or not.

Truly the Philippines call center will forever leave a big imprint on the broader general culture of the country. Hopefully, the impact it makes are positive rather than negative as was shown in these short stories.