I had a busy day filled with personal errands and work-related tasks. I was able to finish them all by late afternoon, so I drove to UP to have some coffee and a pain au chocolat at Nomu.
Then, I watched The Cleaners, a feature film from the Active Vista Film Festival at UP Film Cine Adarna. It was a gripping documentary about the outsourced content moderators working in BPO’s in the Philippines. Having worked in a BPO for more than five years myself, I can say that I have experienced the unhealthy effects of outsourcing, even if I did not exactly work as a content moderator. I have experienced wrath, anger, and racist remarks from customers overseas. Watching the negative effects which these content moderators had to go through as cleaners for Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube was excruciating. And yet, they were doing their jobs as cyber cleaners to provide a better future for their families.
I consider myself fortunate that I can afford to leave the BPO industry. I am hoping to be part of the academe soon, where the environment is more dynamic and forgiving.
Documentaries help me process my own life. To have a warm pastry and coffee along with the films I watch is sheer bliss.
I hope that you will also watch films that have social relevance, and have your favorite snack to make things sweeter.