The Fault Line Supersedes The Phone Line

I’m working in a call center in the Philippines. Our nation commonly gets earthquakes, and we’ve learned to barely acknowledge the little ones. This evening, we experience a bigger one, and it’s enough to announce an evacuation of the whole building. I inform my current caller:

Me: “Sorry, sir, there’s an earthquake.”

Caller: “Really? I don’t feel anything.”

Me: “I’m in the Philippines, sir. I doubt you’d feel it in the USA. I will need to evacuate now, but I will call you back when normal service is restored.”

Caller: “So, if you don’t call me back, I’ll assume you died in the quake.”

I do not know what to say to that, so I just hang up and rush out along with everyone else.

About half an hour later, we’re given the all clear and we go back to our desks. The first thing I do is call the customer back. The first thing he says:

Caller: “Oh… you’re alive.”

He almost sounded disappointed.