Caller: “Yeah, hi, I want to get roadside assistance for my daughter. She’s stranded.”

Me: “Is she on your membership?”

Caller: “No, it’s just my wife and I. Can I add her?”

Me: “Unfortunately, your membership only allows you and one other family member. May I suggest removing your wife for now and adding your daughter so she can get roadside assistance, and then switch them back afterward?”

Caller: “What?!”

Me: “Sir, I—”

Caller: “That’s… just… outrageous! I want to talk to your supervisor right now!”

Me: “Of course, sir.”

I pass the call over. Later, my supervisor comes over and tells me that the caller was angry with me because I was “making him choose his daughter over his wife, and no father should have to make that kind of decision.”

My sister works as a roadside assistance agent for a well-known car insurance company. Essentially, she is the first contact for people asking for an emergency tow to be set up if their car breaks down and/or they need to take it to a mechanic. 

She received a call from a woman broken down on the interstate asking for her car to be towed to her home. After going through verification details and what the car’s issue was:

Sister: “Alright, and what’s the address you need this towed to?”

Customer: “Four-hundred-and-one [Street].”

My sister runs a search for 401 [Street] and finds nothing in the customer’s city, but does find something under 4001 [Street].

Sister: “I’m not finding four-hundred-and-one [Street], but I do see a four-thousand-and-one. Is that what you meant?”

Customer: “No, I said four-hundred-and-one! Four-zero-zero-one.”

Sister: “…ma’am, that’s four-thousand-and one.”

Customer: “No, it isn’t. It doesn’t end in zero, so it can’t be a thousand. I’m telling you it’s four-hundred-and-one. Four. Zero. Zero. One!”

Sister: “Uh-huh. Four zero ZERO one, correct?”

Customer: “YES! God, don’t they teach people math anymore?”

How this woman survived long enough to have multiple digits in her age without understanding the concept of a one’s digit is beyond me…

I work emergency roadside assistance (ERS) as a dispatcher. Just FYI: we call tow companies “garages.”

One of the benefits we offer is battery installation (if available in your area). The protocol if a member wants to buy a battery is to test the old battery first to make sure it actually needs to be replaced, so that the member isn’t wasting money.

Well, we had this call today. The member didn’t speak very good English, so I don’t think she was understanding the driver when he was trying to explain why he was going to test the battery first instead of just replacing it right away.

Our driver gets on location and walks up to the member’s car with the tester, only for the member to start swinging at him and hitting him. The driver had to run back to his truck to get away from her. So now the garage is, understandably, refusing to service her. Yet this member is still trying to get service and demanding a different company.

I just don’t understand why people think stuff like this is okay. If she were really that adamant about replacing the battery without testing, we would have done so as long as she wasn’t trying to have it replaced under warranty. The driver was just under the impression that she didn’t understand that he was trying to help ensure she didn’t waste money on something that wouldn’t fix her issue, because she was adamant that it needed replacing, since a jump didn’t work.

A lot of members aren’t aware that a failed jump could mean more than just the battery being bad, so it’s not uncommon for members to insist the battery needs to be replaced, only to find out that it was the alternator or something else that was really the problem.

Testing the battery costs NOTHING to the members, so it wouldn’t matter if he tested it and it did need replaced like the member said. I’m not sure if the member knew that or not, but regardless, that still does not make it okay to physically assault the driver!

It never ceases to amaze me how many people think assaulting someone, or just threatening to harm someone, over stupid stuff like this, is acceptable. And of course, they always act shocked that we’re denying service as a result of their threats or actions.

I swear, they feel that because they pay for our services, it makes us legally obligated to service them no matter what they’ve said or done.

I forgot to mention that she has since called the garage screaming:

Member: “I’m going to take you and them to court!”

For what exactly, I have no clue.

I worked for a well-known roadside assistance call centre for almost a decade, and dealt with many “unique” calls during that time period. The most memorable, though, was quite brief:

Me: “Thank you for calling [Company]; how may I assist you today?”

Caller: “I’m on the highway, and my car is on fire.”

Me: *Legitimately very concerned.* “Is everyone who was in the car safe?”

Caller: “Yes.”

Me: “Have you called 911?”

Caller: “No; should I?”

I’m glad he had so much faith in his roadside assistance company, but PLEASE, if anything is on fire, call emergency services first!

One of the corporate managers made a big speech last month about all us “being in it together” to get through some troubling economic times for the company. To make good on his speech he promised to come “work the trenches” one day a month in the call centers.

He has arrived today for his very first day taking calls. I tell him to come to me if he has any issues with the caller or if he needs to escalate.

Corporate Manager: “I know the business better than anyone, I should be fine.”

Me: “I don’t doubt it, but customers are idiots. You need to be prepared for that.”

Corporate Manager: “That’s a horrible thing to say about our customers! They can’t be idiots if they choose to get service with us!”

I just shrug and get him set up on the phone. Literally, one call later, he’s handing a call over to me.

Corporate Manager: “Okay… maybe this one is an idiot.”

I take the call:

Caller: “Hey, I’m driving to work right now and I have a flat tire, but someone at the dealership told me that you guys can remotely fill up the tires with air via satellite. Could we set that up please?”

The corporate manager was a little more sympathetic to the “workers in the trenches” after that.

Related:
Not Even Remotely Possible, Part 2
Not Even Remotely Possible