I’m helping a caller make a flight booking.

Caller: “Why does the price drop so much on the Sunday?”

Me: “Oh! That’s because it’s July 4^th. Most people travel before or after the holiday, but not on the day itself, which is why it’s cheaper.”

Caller: “Is that because it’s so dangerous to fly? With all the fireworks?”

Me: *Waiting to see if this is a joke.* “Uh, no, sir. It’s just because there’s less demand.”

Caller: “But the fireworks, right? It’ll be dangerous to land if they hit the plane.”

Me: “There won’t be any fireworks at the airport, sir.”

Caller: “Why not?”

Me: “That would be very unsafe.”

Caller: “Hmph! Well, that’s not very patriotic!”

This story is part of our Fourth-Of-July-themed roundup!

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I work for a skincare company. I answer the phone.

Woman: “I found your number in my contacts. Why is it there?”

I take some information from her.

Me: “I have no idea why we’re in your phone, ma’am. I’ve never spoken with you, your phone number has never called our office, and your name is not in our system.”

Woman: “Well… what does your company do?”

I explain the services we offer.

Me: “Is there some skincare concern you’re looking to discuss?”

Woman: “No, not at all. None of that sounds familiar, and I’m not concerned about anything!”

Me: “Then you should probably just delete our number from your phone.”

She got angry that I was not working harder to figure out why SHE put OUR number in HER contacts list.

I work as a customer support phone operator for a large insurance company. We send reminders through email and post running from one month up to the day before their policy is due to be renewed. Depending on how busy the postal service is, it can take a few days, a week, or even longer to reach customers.

I can’t even begin to count how many times I have had the exact same conversation.

Customer: “I just received a request for payment for this year! I already paid this on [date]! What are you trying to pull here?”

Me: “I’ll be more than happy to check that for you… and I do see that payment was taken successfully. You said you just got this letter? Can you tell me the date on it?”

Customer: “Well, it says here [date before he called to make payment], but I don’t see what that has to do with anything!”

I understand you’d be upset to pay twice, but if folks wouldn’t only take two seconds to read the paperwork we send, it would prevent a lot of hassle on both our parts.

When I was still new at a call center, I was still very nervous about speaking to angry customers. During my first couple of months there, I got what is still probably one of the craziest customers I’ve ever spoken to.

If customers ask for a supervisor, then we have to advise them that we do not have a supervisor available and that the escalations team has the same authority as a supervisor (they actually have more as far as what they can do for a customer) and get them to accept speaking with them.

Also, any time we have to contact other departments, it counts against us in one of our performance-based incentives. It’s called contact rate, and it counts what percentage of our calls we have to contact another department for. Even if they don’t take over the call, it still counts on our contact rate.

I give my introduction, and immediately the customer goes into a long rant about what’s going on. Basically, she was sent a defective item. She returned it and was sent another item which also turned out to be defective. She definitely has a valid complaint. I would be super frustrated in her shoes, too. I start to offer to send another item (required as our first solution) and she interrupts me.

Caller: “No! I don’t want that. Here’s what I want. I want to send you this crap back and just get a refund. I don’t want to deal with this or your company anymore!”

She sounds pretty mad, so at this point, I consider contacting my escalations team, but we aren’t supposed to unless they specifically ask to speak to someone else. My contact rate is high already, I totally understand why she is upset, and she is asking for something I am capable of doing, so I decide to just push through my nerves and be helpful.

Me: “Absolutely. I completely understand your frustration, and I am so sorry this happened. Just return the item with the prepaid shipping label that was included, and I’ll go ahead and get started on a refund request.”

Caller: *Now shouting* “What?! I want to talk to your supervisor! So you’re not gonna come up with a solution? You’re just gonna do what I tell you to do?! Unbelievable! Get me a supervisor now!”

It really took my brain a few seconds to comprehend what she had said. I could not believe she was mad because I agreed to do what she requested.

It took several minutes to get her to accept the escalations team in place of a supervisor, but eventually, she said that was okay. I was just so shocked that I got yelled at for that.

Related:
That Escalated Quickly, Part 2
That Escalated Quickly

Our call center allows us to work from home due to health reasons as long as we have a stable Internet connection, which, thankfully, I do.

Caller: “Where am I calling? This had better be an American!”

Me: “You’re calling Cebu in the Philippines, sir.”

Caller: “I want to speak to an American, d*** it!”

I try to explain more but this caller just isn’t having it. Thankfully, due to watching too many shows and YouTube, I can do a pretty good accent from someone in the US. I put them on hold, switch accents, and come back to them.

Me: “Hello, sir, you’re speaking to [My Nickname]. How can I help you?”

Caller: “Thank God, you’re an American. Where are you?”

Drawing a blank, I just think about a line from a “Star Trek” movie I have seen recently where Captain Kirk says, “I’m from Iowa; I only work in outer space.”

Me: “Iowa, sir.”

Just then, a rooster cries the typical “cock-a-doodle-do!” in the backyard of my very rural, very Filipino home that is certainly not in Iowa.

Caller: “Good! Sounds like Iowa, too! Now, my problem is—”

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