I work in the office of a major insurance company, in the home department. I take a call that starts out fairly normal.

Caller: “Can you tell me if my TV is covered if I drop it?”

Usually, this means that the customer has dropped their TV but isn’t sure it’s covered. I pull up their policy.

Me: “Yes, I can confirm that you have accidental damage on your policy.”

The next sound on the line is an almighty crash: the sound of a television being dropped. There is another voice in the room talking to the caller.

Other Voice: “Does it look broken enough?”

Caller: “No, drop it again.”

Second almighty crash. I can hardly believe what I have heard.

Caller: “Oh, s***! The phone!”

The customer swiftly hangs up. Just a couple of minutes later, they phone again.

Caller: “Hello, [Insurance Company]? I just dropped my TV.”

Me: *In my politest tone* “Yes, madam, I heard; I was the agent who took your last call.”

Caller: “I want to claim on my policy.”

Me: “No, madam, you do not want to claim on your policy, not after what I just heard. All our calls are recorded.”

Caller: “No, I WANT TO CLAIM!”

Me: “Madam, before you decide to do that, I am going to send you, free of charge, a recording of your last call. You may then decide whether or not to go ahead with your claim.”

The recording was burned onto a CD and sent out to the customer. Oddly enough, she decided not to proceed with her claim.

I take a tour of an apartment complex, and everything looks above-board to me. Several staff are in the office, and the tour itself is very professional. [Manager] tells me the rate for a one-bedroom, and I say I’ll need to think about it. I tour a few other complexes. Two days later, I give the first complex a call in the morning.

Me: “I’d like to come in and sign a lease. Would that be possible today?”

Staff Member: “Oh, yes! You can come in at any time.”

Me: “Great! And it’s $575 for a one-bedroom, right?”

Staff Member: “Oh, it’s actually $605 for a one-bedroom.”

This is the first red flag. I decide to go in, anyway. When I get there, it’s mid-afternoon, and [Staff Member] is the only one in the office. She is running between phones and trying to help tenants who come in with issues while I’m there. I end up being there for about half an hour, during which time no other staff makes an appearance.

She gives me a blank application to fill out, and I ask about the price hike. She has to hunt around for a price list and explains that the rate increases with each day that passes, which is the first time I’ve heard this. She also mentions that the rate is now $625. While she helps a tenant, I look over the application. It is generic, with no details about the specific unit I’d be renting.

Staff Member: “If you just sign that at the bottom, I’ll make sure my manager gets that and gives you a call.”

Me: “I’d prefer not to sign a blank form. The monthly rate isn’t even on here yet.”

Staff Member: “Oh, it’ll be $625. It should be fine.”

Me: “Yeah, I’d still prefer for that to be written on the form before I sign it.” *Stands up* “I’m going to have to get some info from my co-signer, too, before I finish this.”

I did not go back.

We have one woman who comes through EVERY day with a $40 order, and always does the same thing:

Customer: *After eating ONE fry.* “This isn’t fresh! I demand that you remake my entire order fresh!”

She would do this even if it was made fresh just for her. Thankfully management caught on to her massive wastage and she ended up throwing food at them, resulting in her being banned.

I get a call and look up the customer’s purchase.

Customer: “Hello, I have a problem. My young son has, like, a mental problem, something wrong with him, but anyway, he made that purchase playing around on the computer because he didn’t realize what he was doing. Can you cancel it?”

Our system has a two-step verification system; when you make a purchase, we send a code to your mobile phone number that you will need to enter that verifies it is indeed you. I’m already detecting the BS.

Me: “One moment, please.”

I place the customer on hold. I read through the previous notes from different agents.

Note: “Called and said he found the same product with another company and asked us to match the price. Was told that we could not do this. Customer asked to cancel the purchase, was told that this particular sale was final, as was clearly stated on the website during the purchase.”

Note: *Timestamp, thirty minutes later* “Called and said he would not be able to attend the event; all three of his children were seriously sick. Asked for a refund. No refund possible in consideration of the previous contact that occurred only thirty minutes earlier.”

Note: *Timestamp, two hours later* “Called and said his mother had passed away, would not be able to attend event. Asked for a refund. Refund denied.”

Note: *Timestamp, one hour later* “Called and said someone had been using his credit card without permission and made the purchase. He was told that since this was a complaint involving credit card fraud that he would most likely need to do a chargeback with his credit card company, who would need for him to make a police report. He was further told that we would provide relevant information to assist in the criminal investigation. Customer hung up.”

We were already understaffed as it was, and customers who are kept on hold too long or hang up while on hold because of bozos like this are marked negatively on our team score sheet. This needed to be stopped.

Me: “Thank you for holding, [Customer]. Sir, we cannot refund this purchase or match the price of any competitor. THIS SALE IS FINAL. I’m sorry, but this is not anything that can be negotiated.”

Customer: “I told you, my son is mentally handicapped—”

Me: “This sale is final, [Customer].”

Customer: “I want the manager!”

Me: “This sale is final.”

Customer: “I can make a big deal out of this, you know! I’ll personally write the CEO and the board of directors!”

Me: “You’re welcome to approach this however you see fit. But this sale is final. Do you have any other questions that do not involve the cancellation of this purchase?”

Customer: “I’ve been recording this call, just to let you know—”

Me: *Immediately hangs up*

The following day, I checked the customer profile just to make sure he didn’t cause the team any further stress. He hadn’t called back, but I noticed after reviewing his purchase history that his family seemed to be “cursed”; his mother died three times, his children have either had cancer treatment or been in serious car accidents, his wife died twice, he was hospitalized after a serious accident…

I could write several novels on my first job out of college — all of them being what-not-to-do best sellers, I am sure. While the product the company sells could be quite lucrative as there is a market for it, the owner has selected the worst person to manage it. She decides to “take me under her wing and grow me,” but in actuality, it becomes me just doing her job for her on top of whatever odd tasks we need done. I learn a lot of useful management and soft skills simply because I am doing all the management straight out of college, but I am not improving technically.

Because of that, I let my boss convince me that I do not have a right to ask for a raise for four years. She insists asking for one would be selfish to boot, as we are struggling to get started, but always “acknowledges” how much work and effort I put in — privately, of course, so she can take credit publicly.

Sadly, my manager doesn’t just pull this with me. And even sadder still, I am not the worst case as I at least have a job with meager benefits — health care I have to pay fully for. The other people she does this to are contractors promised full-time jobs. And as to be expected, after six months of waiting for their actual job offer to go through, they end up leaving and looking elsewhere. This typically leads to her finally scrambling to get their contracts so as not to upset the owner. Not that anyone stays. She never knows why these people leave, though! And it is always “their fault” for not asking for what they need.

In actuality, what is happening is that my boss’s bonus is based on our profit margins, so it benefits her to severely underpay people and make them pay their own taxes.

For other reasons, I am pretty fed up with the job. I decide to go back to school to get my Master’s degree and leave the company outright. But before I do, I decide to finally ask for a raise, knowing full-well I have no real shot at getting it approved. I also know because of my boss’s shady business practices that she will try to exclusively speak to me and hide any potential paper trial of any promises made so she can deny everything.

Sure enough, it goes exactly as planned.

Friday #1: At 9:00 am, I send an email asking to sit down next Friday and discuss my compensation plan, pointing out all the things that she has thrust onto me that no one else knows how to do. I do not receive a reply, but the owner seems to be in a good mood with me after. As expected.

Next Monday: My manager stops by my office to say she cannot say anything officially but it was promising. Great! I ask when I will learn something more, to which she cannot give me an answer. Right on track.

Friday #2: I send a follow-up text message to the owner asking to meet about compensation. He doesn’t reply but forwards it to my manager, who calls me into her office to give me thirty full minutes of platitudes about how she sees I deserve this raise, but she cannot give me any information, not even if it is going to be approved. I leave and send a follow-up email thanking her for talking to me and asking to let me know when I can hear an official word. I expect no response except for her to stop me when I leave to let me know she told the owner we spoke.

Next Monday: My manager asks if the owner has responded to the email. I know she said she would take care of it, so I know he wasn’t planning on it, but I tell her unfortunately not. She “apologizes” and says that he was very happy we talked yesterday. I ask when I will hear something and get a vague excuse that he is busy this week. Checks out.

Thursday: I send a follow-up email asking when we can discuss compensation. Crickets from both parties.

Friday #3: I resign, making note that no one has given me official word on my compensation package. I do such at 4:30 pm to send her scrambling.

Monday: I come in to find my manager waiting for me begging me to reconsider. Apparently, as expected, the owner is unhappy, as he approved the compensation weeks ago. She says I am being unreasonable and not giving her enough time. I remind her I only wanted a meeting to have an actual discussion with facts, but both were ignoring me, so I figured this was my best course of action. She is unsatisfied, but what can she do?

Friday #4: I finally get my compensation package approved! (Verbally of course, with nothing in writing.) That’s great, but I am not the kind of girl who likes to resort to blackmail, so I am keeping my word. I wish them the best of luck moving forward.

Safe to say, my boss still hasn’t learned her lesson, but at least the owner is now wising up to what she is pulling.