Bit Of An Overreaction, Don’t You Think?

I am an agent for a cable company, working from home in the lower part of the Niagara Falls area.

I get a call and the screen pops up as a caller from the downtown area of the Falls. I verify her information and she tells me all her services are down. I open the account and, lo and behold, there’s an outage; there was a high-speed car chase and a car took out the node.

Me: “All right, ma’am, I understand that your services are currently all out. Looking here, I see that a large piece of our equipment has been damaged and that we do currently have a service interruption in your area. Our technicians are engaged and onsite to repair the issue and we have an estimated time of resolution of about 10:30 pm.”

It is 8:45 pm now.

Caller: “So, I don’t have any services until 10:30?!” *Starting to sob* “But what am I going to doooooooo?”

Me: “I do apologize for the inconvenience, ma’am. We’re doing everyth—”

Caller: *Through sobs* “I want a technician at my house right now. I have nothing. I can’t watch TV. I can’t read a book because I have macular degeneration. I just don’t know what to do. You have to send them out. Right. Now.”

Me: “Ma’am, I apologize, but I can’t send them out right now because it is not an issue just with your house. Even if they came out to your house right now, the issue would not be resolved until the node that provides service to the entire area has been repaired. Our current estimate for when that repair will be completed is 10:30 pm.”

Caller: *Still hysterically crying* “WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!”

Me: “I’m currently located in the Niagara Falls region.”

Caller: *Sobbing* “THEN COME FIX IT! YOU HAVE TO FIX IT. IT ISN’T FAIR! YOUR STUFF IS STILL WORKING!”

Me: “Ma’am, that’s because I’m in a different service area. The area we’re seeing this interruption in is the lower downtown portion of the Falls. Looking here, it appears a car struck the node and caused significant damage. We are doing everything we can to restore it and will have everything up hopefully right around 10:30 pm.”

Caller: *In hysterics* “Well, if you aren’t going to help me, then I know what to do. I’ll just take an overdose. Goodbye.”

Me: “Ma’am, if you’re threatening suicide, then I will need to send the police over for a welfare—”

Click.

I called my supervisor and they agreed that we needed to call local law enforcement. Apparently, when the police got there, it was an elderly woman who was still hysterical but admitted she was just saying that to get us to send a tech. Last I heard, she filed a complaint against me for sending the cops, but nothing ever came of it so I don’t know. Honestly, I’m so glad I got out of there.