No Wonder She Has No Loved Ones To Pick Her Up

I am a woman in my forties. I was in the military and was severely injured while serving my country on deployment. This injury left me wheelchair-bound for several months after as I regained my motor and neurological function. I literally had to teach myself — with various kinds of therapy — how to eat, speak in full sentences, write, etc., again. So, out of anybody in my company, I know what a great service the company I work for provides.

I work part-time for a company that rents accessible vans for those who need them due to wheelchair use. I have worked off and on with them for four years while I’m in school for my Physician’s Assistant certification. 

This is a small, family-run business, and my boss is awesome; 99.9% of the time, she knows that the customer is in the wrong as our calls are recorded. We get some of the most entitled people ever!

I work the mid-grave shift and I am basically on my own to make decisions, check the customers in and out, give them airport parking locations, help with customer problems and complaints, and explain to people who call that we are not a non-medical transport company. I must get these calls three to four times a night every night I work. We actually rent the vehicles for people to drive their loved ones, friends, or whoever around. We are not open for reservations or anything other than getting the customers into the vehicles.

It’s basically an on-call position after 6:00 pm, Monday through Sunday — it says this when you call the recording — so I can sleep, watch TV, or whatever as it’s all remote positions.

One night, a lady calls at about 2:30 am. I wake up and answer the call.

Lady: “WERE YOU SLEEPING?! HOW UNPROFESSIONAL!”

Me: “Excuse me? Ma’am, I am in an on-call remote position and I am very much allowed to sleep.”

Lady: “Whatever. I need someone to come and pick me up now!”

I know right away that she thinks we’re a transportation company.

Me: “I am sorry, but we don’t offer that service.”

I tell her what we do offer.

Lady: “DO NOT GIVE ME THAT S***! YOU JUST DONT WANT TO DO YOUR JOB! YOU NEED TO GET SOMEONE OUT HERE TO PICK ME UP AT [EMERGENCY ROOM] NOW! I HAVE [CONTAGIOUS ILLNESS] AND C-DIFF!”

Those are both communicable, and C-Diff is particularly gross.

Me: “Ma’am, like I said, we don’t offer that service. You need to ask the hospital for a number to a non-medical transport!”

Lady: “LISTEN HERE, YOU LITTLE B****! Get someone here now! Google said you were a non-medical transport, and I want someone out to this ER now!”

This is when she drops the most disgusting statement ever.

Lady: “YOU DONT KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE IN A CHAIR AND HAVE ISSUES WALKING! NOW, GET YOUR A** IN GEAR AND GET ME THAT RIDE, YOU STUPID IDIOT!”

Me: “Ma’am, I will be disconnecting this call. Have a good morning!”

I hang up.

Less than ten minutes later, she calls back. This time, she has found a security officer to help her.

Security Officer: “Ma’am, this is officer [Security Officer] with [Locatiob] Medical Center and ER. This patient says you called her a [ableist slur] and said she could wheel herself home for all you care, and she also says you called her a [racist slur].”

Me: “Sir, no, that’s not what went down.”

I fill him in and tell him we record all our phone calls.

Me: “And as I told her, we do not offer the service she’s looking for.”

Security Officer: “Well, you need to find her a ride. This isn’t our issue; you need to find her a ride now!”

Me: “Actually, NO, I DON’T, NOR IS IT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO DO SO!”

Security Office: “I’m going to call the police about this!”

Me: “Please be my guest. Do so.”

He hands the phone to the lady.

Lady: “I need a ride now! I told you already that you don’t understand what it’s like to not be able to get in a regular car and go! I’m disabled and in a wheelchair.”

Me: “Ma’am, first off, we do not offer the service you’re looking for. Secondly, you keep making the comment to me that I don’t know what it’s like to be in a chair. We are on the phone; you have no clue whether I am in a wheelchair or not! Nor do you know whether I have ever been in one! Not that I owe you the courtesies of an explanation, but I was in a wheelchair, and I was clinically dead more than once! So, you go ahead and call the cops. H***, you could tell Jesus himself to try to tell me to come and get you! IT WILL NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT WE DON’T OFFER THE SERVICES YOU NEED!”

I hung up and blocked her from our phone system.

About twenty minutes later, a call from an unknown number came in. This crazy lady had somehow convinced the security officer to call the police!

The police officer asked me what had happened. I explained the whole story. I told him our calls are all recorded and he was more than welcome to listen to the recording. He told me that wouldn’t be necessary and to have a good night.

I thought this was the end of it, but of course, it was not. My boss texted me today to call her, so I did. She asked what had happened with that call last night. I told her to listen to the recordings. She did, and I haven’t heard anything else about the lady since.