With Someone This Grouchy Maybe The TV Disconnected Itself?

I work in a call center handling people’s Internet and satellite services. I take some installation calls, but most of my calls are for troubleshooting.

When a customer calls in, I ask for their name since that’s the best way to look up their account in our system. This means I have to be sure of the spelling of the name, since even one letter off means I can’t find the account. One weekend, I get a call from a VERY grouchy woman.

Me: “Hi, this is [My Name] with [Company]. Can I get the name on the account, please?”

She gives her name in a fast and irritated manner.

Me: “Okay, so that’s…”

I start to repeat the spelling back on her name to make sure I got it right. She interrupts me to finish spelling the name. Her tone of voice is clearly indicating she thinks I’m an idiot who is wasting her time.

Grouchy Customer: “You should have it right there in front of you on your screen!”

Me: *Trying to stay friendly* “I’m sorry, but our system doesn’t automatically pull up accounts when the customer calls. It sure would be nice if it did! What’s a good number to reach you at if we happen to get disconnected?”

She sighs loudly, giving me her phone number very quickly and impatiently. I repeat it back to make sure I have it right.

Grouchy Customer: “Yes! That’s what I just said! If should be right there in front of you! I’m calling in again today because my system is down. Again!“

As I attempt to quickly pull up the account, she goes on and on about how much she hates the company, how horrible the service is, and how she wishes she wasn’t forced to deal with us just because of where she lives, and she insists I send someone out Monday afternoon.

I can’t properly start my notes on the call, nor can I see the decision tree on what I need to ask/tell the customer, until I open the account and get some basics on the issue from her, so I’m scrambling to try to pull the account up as quickly as possible. As soon as she stops to take a breath, I quickly interject.

Me: “Okay, ma’am, I’ve got your account pulled up here. What can I help you with tonight?”

Grouchy Customer: “I already told you, your stupid service is out again! Send somebody out here Monday afternoon!”

Me: “Okay, ma’am, are you having issues with your TV or your Internet service tonight?”

Grouchy Customer: “All I have with you is TV! Is that not right there in front of your face?”

I’m only able to get three or so very impatient answers to my questions out of her — the decision tree has maybe twenty or twenty-five steps total — before she jumps right back into insisting I just send someone out Monday afternoon. The customer then starts swearing at me. Fortunately, my company has a policy that we do not tolerate being disrespected, especially being sworn at. The rule is one warning, and then we hang up if they can’t be respectful.

Me: “Ma’am, I’m more than happy to try to help you, but if you continue to swear at me, I will be forced to terminate this call.”

Grouchy Customer: “DON’T YOU ‘MA’AM’ ME! DON’T YOU ‘MA’AM’ ME!”

Me: *Taken aback* “I’m… sorry? That’s just what we’re taught to call the customers.”

Grouchy Customer: “I DON’T CARE! You will have somebody out here Monday afternoon! My service with this company has been nothing but horrible!”

Me: “Ma’am, I need more information—”

Grouchy Customer: “DON’T YOU ‘MA’AM’ ME!”

Me: “I’m sorry… customer.”

The force of habit to call her “ma’am” is VERY strong, especially when I’m feeling very flustered from being yelled at. I’m also really not sure what she wants me to call her instead.

Me: “I need more information in order to be able to assist you—”

Grouchy Customer: “NO! YOU DON’T! You will send somebody out here Monday afternoon! That’s all the information you need!”

The customer then hung up on me. Without more information to give the tech, I could not set up a service call, since the tech may need special equipment, depending on the issue. Also, once a customer hangs up, I only have about thirty seconds before the system will send me another call. It takes a few minutes to enter all the info we need to give the tech to set up the service call. This means I was left without the information OR the time to set up a service call for her.

As I hurriedly wrote up my notes, I had to resist the urge to put, “I’m so, so sorry you have to deal with this,” in my notes for whichever coworker had the misfortune to take her call on Monday when, inevitably, nobody showed up to fix her service. I’m still wondering if she’d forgotten to take some necessary medications or had just had a truly horrible week and wound up taking it out on me.