What time is it in China?

I have stopped reading The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century for this week and have asked a fellow colleague some questions pertaining to her job. Her name is Nicole and she works for a major airline based in the United States. I wanted to get Nicole’s perspective on her job and job functions, as well as how the flattening of the world has affected her job duties and everyday life.

Nicole works in a specialty area that handles many job functions that not many other frontline agents do. She is a supervisor who, mainly, responds to Elite members emails and major complaints that come into the corporate offices. She is equipped with a nice little cubicle desk, with family pictures hanging up on a wall full of accolades from co-workers and customer compliments.  Having those hanging there reminds her of the job she does and helps motivate her to be better every day. She has worked for the airline for four years this coming November. On a daily basis she reads and responds to 15-20 emails, depending on the severity of the issue at hand. She also assists her fellow colleagues around her when they have questions. Nicole works the late evening shift, and many times will make outbound phone calls after midnight to customers who are halfway around the world. “Being a global airline, we have to assist passengers from all around the world, 24/7, and this includes calling passengers late into the evening while my family is asleep," said Nicole. One of the many tools she uses to assist customers is through her company email and her IM, or instant messenger. “Email generally gets the job done when I need assistance from a co-worker or I need to ask a passenger some follow up questions,” she adds, “ but when I need an answer right now, I use IM.” She followed up by telling me one of the desks she works closely with is another specialty desk based in Singapore. “They are specialists who handle difficult reissues and assist with fare rules.” She goes on to say, “When I need to help someone who is stranded in China, and it is 1:00 am in the States, and I need help now, I can IM the Singapore desk, and they will have an answer for me in minutes.” Without the tools of the Internet, she has said her job would be far too difficult given the complexities of the situations she handles. I asked how different her job would be 25 years ago, especially without everyone having access to email. “I am in such a speed mode, and I cannot fathom having to write a passenger an actual letter back, and then wait another week plus for their reply in the mail. If I don’t get an answer via email with in an hour, I send a follow if the situation warrants it. The Internet has changed the world for the better and I am glad to be a part of it.”

Nicole had to get back to work to assist some high value passengers who were going to be stranded in Dubai due to a canceled flight. Thanks to the advances in technology, she was notified of this irregular operation as soon as the flight cancelled, and was able to re-protect these passengers to a new flight even before they stepped off the plane. This would not have been possible twenty-five years ago. Nicole left me with last quote, “Technology is amazing, don’t ever take it for granted. We are so lucky to be able to get assistance from anyone, anywhere, no matter the time of day. I am lucky to be alive.”