(Our company doesn’t have a fax machine anymore. Instead, any faxes that people send to our line come through as email attachments. Unfortunately, the sender doesn’t get anything saying that we have received their fax. Usually, this isn’t a problem, but sometimes things go wrong, and we just don’t get the fax. Generally, when this happens, they call us to check, and we tell them to either resend, or scan and email, which is a bit more reliable.)

Me: “[Company], [My Name] speaking. How may I help you?”

Caller: “I sent you a fax on the 28th, and it still hasn’t been actioned!”

Me: “Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry! I will double-check and see where that request is for you, right away!”

Caller: “You do that! I sent it at [time] on the 28th!”

Me: *looking through our inbox* “I’m really sorry, but we haven’t received anything from you since [date well before the 28th].”

Caller: “But I sent it!”

Me: “Okay, let me just check one more place; it might have been misfiled.” *checks, nothing there* “No, sorry. It doesn’t look like anything came through. I do apologise, but we just didn’t receive it.”

Caller: “But I sent it!”

Me: “Again, I am sorry, but since we didn’t receive it, we didn’t action it. If you resend it to us now, I can make sure we do it for you immediately.”

Caller: “But I sent it!”

Me: “I realise that, but unfortunately, our system never received it.”

Caller: “BUT I SENT IT!”

(I had no idea what else I could say, at least not without getting fired. I just kept on apologising, and lost another ten minutes of my life with her saying, “BUT I SENT IT!” in reply to everything I said. She did eventually get off the phone, and we ended up getting multiple copies of her next request, with the note, “I SENT IT!” attached as a cover letter.)

Related:
Taxing Faxing, Part 22
Taxing Faxing, Part 2017
Taxing Faxing, Part 21
Taxing Faxing, Part 20

Customer: “Are you telling me I need to put in my social security number to complete the application?”

(It is an online application, and socials are typically required for this sort of form.)

Me: “Have you tried to submit it?”

Customer: “Yes.”

Me: “What did you do?”

Customer: “I pressed ‘submit.'”

Me: “And what happened then?”

Customer: “I got an error message.”

Me: “What did it say?”

Customer: “It said I needed to put in my social security number.”

Me: “Then, yes, it sounds like you do need to put in the number.”

Customer: “Fine. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Me: “Were you planning to put in your social security number?”

Customer: “I haven’t decided yet!” *hangs up*

(She later called my supervisor. Her complaint? I was making her give us private information before I would give her an acceptance.)

Related:
Social Insecurity, Part 3
Social Insecurity, Part 2
Social Insecurity

Me: *answering a phone call* “[Department]. This is [My Name] speaking. How can I help you?”

(Pause.)

Me: “Hello?”

Caller: “I can’t remember!” *hangs up*

(This is definitely unusual, and my coworkers and I have a quick laugh over it. Soon, though, my phone rings again.)

Me: “[Department]. This is [My Name] speaking. How can I help you?”

Caller: “I don’t remember her name.”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Caller: “I don’t remember who I was supposed to call!”

Me: “Maybe I can help you out. What—”:

Caller: *interrupting* “It was [Department]. I can’t remember the name of the person I needed to talk to.”

Me: “This is [Department]. I’m [My Name].”

Caller: *gasps* “That’s her! How do you know who I was supposed to call?”

Me: “That’s me. I’m [My Name].”

Caller: “Wow, I sure got lucky that you picked up!”

Me: “This is my direct number.”

(I work in a call center where existing customers can get support. As many call centers do, we have a script for call opening so we can quickly pull up account information.)

Me: “Thank you for calling [Company]. This is [My Name] speaking. May I start with your name and home address?”

Caller: *irate* “How dare you ask for my name?! That is the rudest thing I have ever heard! You should wait for me to introduce myself! Were you ever taught manners? I don’t care what your managers say; it is completely unacceptable to ask for my name!”

(The customer continued to rant along these lines for a full five minutes before giving me the opportunity to speak, and even then, I had to apologize for the very standard practice of asking for his name before he would tell me what his problem was, so I could help him! He does this same thing every time he calls, and I suspect he must do the same thing with every other call center he speaks with.)

Me: “Ma’am, do you have the keys for the vehicle?”

Customer: “Well, my ex threw them in the ocean. So, no, I don’t have the keys.”

Me: “Oh, dear.”