I work in an insurance call center. One day, I had to deal with a difficult customer. He was snippy and rude from the get-go.

First, he wanted to take out a new policy, but as he was a “long-term” customer and had given us so much money, he deserved a highly preferential price. He had been with us for seven months and had a single policy worth no more than £250. He was not happy with the standard 10% discount for repeat customers and went on a tirade about how terrible the company was for not valuing its customers.

Next, he demanded that I waive the excess for his current policy. For free. I told him I could add an excess waiver to his policy, but he’d have to pay for it. Once again, he berated the company and then insulted me personally. I was ignorant, incompetent, uneducated, lazy, etc.

Because I would not waive his excess, he then demanded a discount on his current policy as compensation. He was furious when I told him I couldn’t do that, either.

In the end, I had to pass him through to a manager, who was also unable to give him what he wanted.

Then, I carried on with my day. Calls like that were, unfortunately, fairly standard. I was quite used to rude, obnoxious, or even downright abusive customers. Frankly, [Customer] didn’t even make my top ten worst customers THAT WEEK, let alone in the two years I’d worked there.

That soon changed when I was called into the manager’s office the next day.

It was in that meeting that I learned that there are businesses that allow you to anonymously send excrement in the post. I had no idea that was a thing. But [Customer] was convinced that I was the one who had sent the package of manure he had received.

I took a seat while the department manager and a Human Resources representative sat before me.

Manager: “I’m afraid we’re going to have to terminate you for gross misconduct.”

Me: “But I didn’t do it.”

Manager: “Well, the customer has reason to believe you did.”

Me: “And what reason is that?”

Manager: “You were the last person he spoke to, and this morning, he received the… package.”

Me: “And you’re not even going to investigate?”

Manager: “The customer has reason to believe you did it.”

Me: “And you’re just going to take his word for it? You’re not going to investigate anything? Not even listen to the call or take further details?”

HR Manager: “Please don’t make this difficult. Just sign the dismissal form.”

Me: “No. I’m not signing it. I didn’t do it. If you fire me for it, I’m going to sue you for unfair dismissal.”

This made the managers pause for a moment.

HR Manager: “Okay. Do you have any evidence that you didn’t do it?”

Me: “That’s not how this works. You have to prove I did it. I don’t have to prove I didn’t. However, I can give you a clue.”

The managers stared at me blankly.

Me: “I took the call from [Customer] at 9:00 pm last night, right?”

Both managers nodded.

Me: “And he got that package first thing this morning.”

Neither manager responded, continuing to stare gormlessly at me.

Me: “How could I send something that arrived first thing this morning at nine o’clock last night? Even next-day delivery has a cut-off time no later than 4:30 pm. And delivery before 9:00 am likely has an even earlier cut-off time. So, how could I send anyone a package and have it arrive first thing this morning?”

After that “amazing” detective work, the managers miraculously decided that they would look into the matter further and let me get back to work. However, I wasn’t done.

I went over their heads and lodged a formal complaint with the managers’ boss, the regional manager. I expected my complaint to be ignored. I really just wanted evidence of the incident and for there to be a paper trail in case they tried to retaliate. But the regional manager acted on my complaint. Immediately.

The HR manager was fired. The department manager kept his job but was put on probation, meaning one tiny slip-up would result in his immediate termination.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up leaving the job anyway two months later. The regional manager made sure to give me a great reference and told me not to worry about giving my two weeks’ notice. I guess he really wanted to make sure I didn’t sue them.

I never found out who sent [Customer] the package, but given how he spoke to me, I’m sure the list of suspects is quite long.

I am working in a call center pre-smartphone days:

Caller: “I want to pay into my account.”

Me: “Can I take your card details?”

Caller: “I want to pay by cheque.”

Me: “You can’t do that over the phone, you’ll need to—”

Caller: “—no, no, let me describe the cheque. It’s—”

Me: “You can’t pay a cheque into your account over the phone.”

Caller: *Getting angry.* “Are you calling me a liar?!”

Caller: “I want to talk about an error on my invoice.”

Me: “Okay, can I take the invoice number?”

Caller: “It doesn’t have one.”

Me: “It should have on on the top left. They start with a five and a six, and then seven more numbers.”

Caller: “Well, I can’t see that.”

Me: “Okay, well, maybe if I take your customer details, I can find it that way?”

Caller: “That’s the thing; you have my details wrong! That’s what I wanted to talk about. You have my phone number wrong!”

Me: “What number do we have, and what should it be?”

Caller: “You got some weird number starting with five, six, something! What kind of phone number is that?!”

Me: “…”

I am a transgender woman. I have just started my very first job post-transition, as myself, where no one knows my dead name. I am openly out in a very safe and affirming work environment.

As I live in a very safe home environment, have a fantastic support system, and my coworkers only know me as me, I am very lax with my voice training. Adding in the electronics messing with my voice, and it makes it easy to misgender me over the phone, even with my very feminine name. Let’s say it’s Carol.

I have dealt with misgendering before, from very personal interactions to complete strangers. I have taken to correcting callers, which goes over mostly positively. But this call I took less than a week after getting on the phones was a whole different level. I’ll shorten it up a bit, but you’ll get the idea.

Me: “Thank you for contacting [Company]. My name is Carol. Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”

Caller: “Hi, I have a problem with [Product], and nothing I’ve done is fixing it.”

I take down the details the company asks us to gather for our cases.

Me: “Okay, sir, let me see what I can do for you. Can you please hold for a few minutes?”

Caller: “Absolutely, sir.”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry — the phones do tend to mess with my voice. It’s ‘ma’am’.”

Caller: “Oh, no problem.”

I do some standard troubleshooting and get back on the phone to have the customer handle his end.

Me: “Can you please try testing [Product] now?”

Caller: “Of course, sir.”

Me: “Sorry, as I stated before, it’s ‘ma’am’.”

Caller: “Oh, no problem.”

We go through several bouts of troubleshooting, but my cubicle neighbor can see that I’m starting to get upset. The guy is saying “sir” an unnecessary amount of times for normal conversation.

Finally, I’ve had enough; I put him on a long hold and stand up. My supervisor is next to my neighbor, who has clearly looped him in.

Me: “I can’t anymore. I have tried correcting him, but he keeps saying ‘sir’ no matter what.”

Supervisor: “Okay. You can send him to me. I’ll handle him. Go outside and take a breather.”

Me: “Okay, I’ll let him know…”

Supervisor: “No, you send him straight to me and do not get back on the phone. Go take care of yourself.”

I went to my car and lost it. I cried so much I could hardly breathe

My supervisor came out to check on me and reassured me that nothing was wrong with what I did; I’m paranoid about correcting people sometimes. He told me to take however long of a break I needed, get cleaned up, and get a drink, and not to get back on the phone until I was absolutely sure I was ready to.

To this day, I will never forget how this moment cemented me knowing I was safe at this company.

I am working in a call center on Christmas Day.

Caller: “Oh, my God, someone picked up!”

Me: “Yes, ma’am, we are keeping the lines open for this morning.”

Caller: “But why would anyone need to call the helpline of a stationery store on Christmas Day?!”

Me: “Well, forgive me for pointing it out, ma’am, but you have.”

Caller: “I was just calling to see if anyone was actually in today! I don’t actually have any issues, though. What time do y’all close today?”

Me: “The lines close at 1:00 pm Central Time, ma’am.”

Caller: “That’s twenty minutes from now?”

Me: “That’s right.”

Caller: “What happens if someone calls you at 12:59 pm with a complicated problem?”

Me: “Then we need to stay on the line to fix it.”

Caller: “Then I do have an issue! I estimate that it will take about nineteen minutes and fifty seconds to fix. Can you help me?”

Me: *Smiling* “I appreciate the gesture, ma’am, but really, I don’t mind—”

Caller: “No! I have an issue! My… um… my printer I got from you guys! It’s busted. I need help printing my… uh… my Christmas shopping list!”

Me: *Laughing* “You want to print your Christmas shopping list at 12:40 pm on Christmas Day?”

Caller: *Also laughing* “It’s for next year’s Christmas! I’m very organized!”

And so, taking the caller at their word like we’re trained to do, I help her fix a “printer issue”. Every time it seems like we’re going too fast, she accidentally presses the wrong button. “Oh, no, I did it wrong again.” Finally, at 1:01 pm…

Caller: “Oh, my, look at the time! I need to go and make sure the grandkids are safe. You hurry on home to your family now, y’hear?” *Click*

Thanks, crazy printer grandma! You were my Christmas miracle!