Section 5 – Story Re-telling

 When he is working late yesterday Allen noticed that one of his co-workers stole some money
from his manager’s office, although Allen does not want to get involved, he realizes that he must
say something to his manager, if the thief is not punished he will continue stealing. The thief
may steal from Allen’s friends or even from Allen himself, that kind trouble makes a work place
stressful, also if his manager does not know whom to blame, he might blame anyone for the
theft of his money. He might even blame Allen. Allen just not want to risk his job to protect
someone who steals money from other people, so he’s going to tell his manager today.

 Beverly was very upset because she was having difficult time at work, he home is very far from
the office where she work and her car is very old and unreliable, as result she was often late to
work and many times even if she was on time. She had trouble adjusting to the office
environment because she was so stressed out from the commute, unfortunately this lead to
even more stress for her because her manager was very focused on being punctual, her
manager was making a note each time she was late to work. Last Friday, Beverly received an e-
mail from her manager saying she wanted to talk with her about her tardiness at a meeting in
her office later this afternoon.

 Staying patient can be very difficult. As a customer service representative it is part of my job to
be patient, but sometimes it is very challenging. Many times it seems if a customer is not
listening to me, because they ask the same question again and again. I have to do a better job in
responding to this questions with a smile on my face and positive thoughts in my head, I know I
can do this and I want to role play and practice with a friend so I can improve. I see there are
many representatives here, lots of experience who can handle all their challenging calls with a
smile. It seems nothing bothers them. I want to be able to do what they do.

 Sally is having allot of trouble with her cellphone, and it is causing her many problems at work.
Her ringtone works fine when she gets calls or text messages, but when she gets an e-mail, her
phone does not make any sound and does not even vibrate. This is making her miss many
important work e-mails which is embarrassing, her late responses are also upsetting to her boss.
When she notices an e-mail she missed, Sally writes a response very quickly and makes many
mistakes. This mistakes make her boss even more upset with her, Sally needs her e-mail
notification tone fixed today, or her boss may take away her responsibilities and might even fire
her.

 Benjamin has recently been having trouble getting to sleep on time. When he tries to go to bed,
he cannot. Instead, he stays awake thinking about his day and wondering if he made any
mistakes, because he gets to sleep so late, he is very tired when he comes in to work the next
morning. Being tired makes focusing difficult for Benjamin, and causes him to make mistakes in
his messages to co-workers and his conversations with clients. He worries that his boss will
notice his mistakes and he will be in trouble for them, when he goes at home at night, his new
mistakes keep him from falling asleep on time and he is once again very tired the next day.
 Nina works in the IT department at her company and often has to do with very complicated
problems for her customers, because her customer issues have many detailed parts. Nina takes
careful notes while she’s on the phone with them, this helps Nina make sure that she never
forgets any important information that her customers shared with her. She knows that her
customers are happiest if their problems are solved correctly the first time. Nina also knows that
taking careful notes avoids having to ask customers to repeat themselves, which they do not like
to do. Nina’s co-workers have started to notice how successful she has become by taking notes
while on the phone, they have all decided to copy her and take notes as well.

 Dressing appropriately at work is very important, not only as complying with the dress code. A
critical part of following the rules, but it is also has a major effect on the ability of the office to
function. Workers who were not dressed appropriately created distraction to their co-workers in
2 ways. First, dressing in flashy or attention grabbing clothing puts attention on you and away
from important work tasks, the second way dress code violations to create problems, is in
worker morale. If one person is seen not following the rules, then everyone else will wonder
why they should have to follow the rules. This will cause major problems in the office. Being a
good co-worker, means following the rules to set a good example.

 Nothing makes Alice happier than being able to help people with their problems, that is why she
became a customer service representative. It is not the easiest job in the world and sometimes
people are very angry when they call and can even be rude, but that is the challenge Alice likes
to face head on, like she can take a call from a customer who is very upset and solve the
customer’s problems. Alice feels great, helping someone who is having a very bad day, and
making their day fills Alice with pride in her work. Alice is so good at her job that she will soon
be promoted to supervisor so she can train others.

 Stephanie is always having trouble with the machines in the office, two weeks ago she tried to
make 100 photocopies, but the machine would not work for her, instead of making copies all
100 pieces of paper came out blank. She tries three more times to make copies, but could not
get it to work at all. This week, Stephanie is having trouble with the phone system, on Monday
she could not figure out how to put a customer on hold, instead of putting him on hold. She
accidentally hung-up on him, then Wednesday she could not transfer a call and once again
hung-up on a customer accidentally. Her co-workers were concerned about her ability to do her
job.

 Ellena did not want to leave her cat at home today, because she was worried that the
construction noises from next door would scare her cat. She decided that she should bring her
cat to the office with her, because she was not sure were else she could leave her cat.
Unfortunately her cat got loose and caused many problems. First, her cat ran into a meeting and
jumped from the table, knocking over a cup of coffee onto a Ellena’s boss, then the cat got loose
in a call center and scratch one of Ellena’s co-workers, at the end of the day Ellena’s boss told
her that she needed to find somewhere else to leave her cat, because the office is not
somewhere you can bring your pets.
Section 4 – Listen and Repeat

 When they arrive in China, there were only a few other panda bears around.
 The roman empire had an advance system of roads, and all major roads led directly to the
capitol.
 Many things which Jackie did were very funny, for instance he made his business to clear up the
room.
 To file a claim press 3-4-5. To change your personal information including your phone number or
address, press 5-7-8.
 I just recently started a great new book.
 Do you happen to remember the name of our waiter?
 I am sorry, but I don’t think that a kangaroo is a practical pet.
 Do you think this shirt looks good with this pants? I like them both, I am just not sure they go
well together.
 Do you know where Anthony has got into?
 There are 10 bananas and 3 pears in our new fruit bowl.
 I am afraid to fly, so I will be driving to Oklahoma instead.
 Can you help me load the dish washer? We have guests coming by later, I wanted to make sure
they have cups.
 Saturday evening, my brother likes to go to the club.
 Outside in his front yard, Jack started with a very small ball of snow. He got on his knees and
rolled the snow into a big ball.
 Your dog is so funny when she wags her tail.
 I can’t believe I have to work again on Monday. The weekend was so short.
 Look at this bottle I found washed up on shore, it has a message in it. I think we should read it.
 I think I may have left my cellphone in the bedroom. Can you please check it for me? My hands
are full right now.
 Frankenstein is not the scariest monster in my opinion. Dracula is scarier, he flies.
Section 6 – Extemporaneous Speech

 Please tell us about the town or city you were born in. Describe where it is, what is the weather
is like and what you like most about it?

- I was born in Legazpi City it is in the province of Albay, the weather in the place where I
was born is warm or sometimes rainy since Albay is one of the provinces here in the
Philippines. What I like most in Legazpi City are the different kinds of restaurants since I
love eating delicious foods, the other think that I like in Legazpi City is the sea side or so
cold “Legazpi Boulevard” because you can just sit at the sea wall and watch the largest
body of the earth and other people enjoying their time at the “Wangan Park”.

 Do you think that you can get along with new people easily or is it something you have to work
at? Have you always felt that way?

- Yes, it is easy for me to get along with new people because if there are new people
around me, I am the first one to approach or talk to them so that I can easily know them
right away, also for me to make new friends. Yes I always feel that way be because I am
always confident in talking with new people around me because I don’t like the feeling
of being awkward.

 What do you think is the most important personality trait for getting along with your co-
workers? Why is that trait so important?

- For me the most important trait to get along with co-workers is to be friendly, this kind
of trait is important because if being friendly is natural in your self you can easily make
new friends inside the office and you will not really feel the stress while working
because you co-workers is always happy when they see you or talks to you.

 How often are customers happy at the end of a call with you? Can you tell us what your personal
strategies are for keeping customers happy.

- I can say 8 out of 10 of my customers are happy at the end of our conversation, because
sometimes some customers are hard to please depending on their concern. None the
less I do always my best to provide quality service by answering the calls with a happy
phasing so that a can set a good mood to the customer right away, and also give the
right resolution to the customer’s problem so that they will be satisfied and happy at the
end of our conversation.

 Do you have any strategies for delivering bad news to a customer? Can you tell us what those
strategies are?

- To be honest, I don’t really have an exact strategies for delivering bad news to a
customer. What I am doing is I always set the proper expectation to the customer so
that they will be at least ready what I’m gonna be saying about a bad news and then
 explain to them right away what was the main cause of the problem. So by that they can
at least easy accept the bad news that was given to them.

 When you’re given a new piece of technology, do you read the instructions to make it work or
do you read instructions to make it work or do you prefer to learn by trying the technology?

- When I have a new piece of technology, I don’t really read the instructions of it because
for me it will just make be bored and took me extra time in just reading it. Instead I
prefer by just navigating the new technology that I have by my self and if I find it hard to
use which is often happens, I would just rather watch in youtube because it would be
much easier for me.

 Tell us about a recent vacation or personal trip. Describe where you went, how long was the
trip and interesting events that happened on the trip.

- The recent vacation that I had, when I went to Sorsogon via motorcycle with my wife, it
only took us 2 hours of driving time, we where able to visit allot of tourist spots like the
ruins in Barcelona, the seal wall in Sorsogon City and also delicious delicacies in that
province. One funny thing happened when we almost run out of gas and where are in
the middle of no where, but good thing we were able to find the nearest gas station.

 What is you opinion regarding being on time? Should people arrive to appointments five
minutes early, on time or is five minutes late is also acceptable?

- For me being on time or before the time of the appointment is much more acceptable,
because being early you don’t to worry that you might miss anything from the start of
the appointment. Because as my self I am always early going to work so that I won’t be
tagged late so that I will have a clean attendance record.

 Do you think being adventurous is a good quality to have? Why do you fell that way?

- Yes, for me being adventurous is a good quality trait. Because being a adventurous
person will take you to different places, also you will able to discover different things,
meet new people and make new friends. I feel that way because it makes me feel I am
free and I can do what I want, it also makes me feel satisfied from all the hard work that
I had.

 How do you keep track of important details during the work day? Do you right them down or do
you just rely on having a good memory? Does this strategy usually work well for you?

- I keep track important details from my work day by making notes in my cellphone,
because I always use my phone every time so it is much easier for me to make note in
my phone rather that writing it on a paper. This kind of strategy always work well for me
and it also save allot of time because I also set a reminder in my phone instead of
finding the paper where I wrote it.
 What qualities do you think are required to be a good leader? Do you think you have those
qualities?

- To be a good leader, you must have the quality of being kind and smart. As my self I
have those qualities because being kind , my team mates can easily approach me and as
questions, also being smart I am able to solve problems quickly and lead the team
properly, so that the task will be done in a right way.

 Do you have experience taking care of difficult customers? Tell us about one of your most
difficult experiences.

- Yes, I have experience on assisting difficult customers, for me the most difficult
customers are the granny calls. Because most of the granny callers has a hard time on
hearing and understanding instructions and explanations, so you must speak loud and
clear and also provide a detailed instructions so that they can easily understand it, and
most important is you must be patient while talking to them.