We’re Not Down (Under) With Racism

I’m Australian, living in the UK with my husband, who is English. I work for an ISP on their faults desk.

Me: “Welcome to [Company] Faults; how can I help you?”

Customer: “No, you’re Accounts. My number is [Account Number].”

Me: “I’m sorry, but this is the Faults department and I can’t access accounts. I’ll just transfer you—”

Customer: “NO! You will help me! My account is [Account Number].”

Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t access accounts at all. I’ll just transfer—”

Customer: “NO! YOU WILL HELP ME! MY ACCOUNT IS—”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m from Faults. I can’t access accounts. I’ll transfer—”

Customer: “ACCOUNT [NUMBER]!”

Me: “I’m sorry, this is Faults, not Accounts. I have to—”

Customer: “YOU WILL HELP ME NOW! ACCOUNT [NUMBER]! DO YOUR JOB! STUPID FOREIGNER!”

Me: “Faults. Not Accounts. Can’t help you.”

The customer continues screaming with bonus racist comments. Done with this idiocy, I begin dialing the transfer to the Accounts team while saying in my nicest “customer service” voice:

Me: “Thank you for calling [Company] Faults. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to assist you today, so I’m just going to transfer you to our Accounts team. Please wait one moment while I transfer you.”

I hit the transfer button.

Accounts Team Colleague: “Welcome to [Company] Customer Care. How can I help you?”

This particular colleague has a very broad Liverpool accent… but she’s of Indian descent.

Me: “This is [My Name] from Faults. I’ve got a customer asking for account assistance, [Account Number]. She was screaming racist s*** at me when I couldn’t help her with an account, so she might be… difficult.” 

Accounts Team Colleague: “One of those ones? Okay, I’ve got that account. Wish me luck!”

Later, I got an email from my accounts colleague with a link to the call recording. The customer had screamed at the hold music almost continuously and when my colleague picked up, with her Liverpool accent, the customer was suddenly all sweetness and light, except for the “d*** foreigners” comments that she scattered in constantly. My colleague’s single line comment? “What a c***.”