The Bigger The Luxury, The Bigger The Entitlement

I work in a call center for a popular luxury brand line of vehicles. Most of our customers, being business owners and executives, are polite and cordial to us, but there is one persistent jerkoff who constantly feels the need to condescend any one of our agents unlucky enough to take his call, i.e. “That’s why I command a $1.2 million salary while you get paid nine bucks an hour to drive to work in a 1997 Honda Something and take my calls!”

Another favorite antic of his is to threaten to sue the company over petty issues such as a service being down for maintenance.

Our company recently introduced a new service that became instantly popular with our customers, and as a courtesy, we offered an option online to set up a callback appointment so that an agent could get back to them about signing up. Then, we get a call from Mr. Wonderful.

Customer: “I put in a callback request for 4:00 pm. It’s 6:00 pm now. Why wasn’t I called?”

Me: “Sir, I apologize. We’ve been overwhelmed with an unexpected volume of calls—”

Customer: “That’s not my problem! I asked you to call me at 4:00 pm. Why was I not called?”

Me: “Again, we are experiencing a high volume of calls regarding this service, and there were not any available agents to call you regarding this. I apologize—”

Customer: “Your apology is not accepted.”

He starts ranting about his money, respect for elite customers, this is a premium brand and premium treatment is expected, blah blah blah.

Me: “Okay, well, were you interested in signing up for the service? I can get registered right now.”

Customer: “No, that’s not how this works. I’m the customer. You will call me when I tell you to, you understand me, young man?”

I’m thirty-five years old.

Customer: “Now, I’m going to hang up. At 4:00 pm tomorrow, you will call me back, and you will give a deep, thorough, heartfelt apology for disrespecting me the way you have, and I expect you to compensate me for this serious inconvenience. And then you will tend to my concern. Do you understand me, young man?”

I weigh out my options and consequences.

Me: “Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mr. [Customer]?”

Customer: “It’s a simple yes or no question. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, YOUNG MAN?”

I decide to take a gamble.

Me: “Have a nice day, sir.” *Hangs up*

Fortunately, that call was never pulled up for review, and no, I did not call him as he demanded. But something ironic happened afterward: he called two days following his disregarded demand callback appointment date and very politely asked for me to sign him up for the service. And from then on, he was polite with every contact he made to our office.