The call center I work in happens to be for a company in computer software, and we are a small department at the main headquarters, simply because we have kind of a niche software and don’t need a separate location to manage the support teams. A lot of what I do involves talking to ITs for businesses, but I’m cross-trained in about 14 different applications, so my calls can vary greatly depending on the subject. One could be for a software install, another could be assisting someone find payments they received, and another could be how to explain to someone how to open a browser and type in a web address and then login to that site.
This was the worst call I’ve ever received in my nearly two years with this company. It came from an IT who decided that they wanted to spend the entire call just being a terrible person.
Me: “customer support, this is ‘x’.”
IT: “What if I don’t want you to record my phone calls?”
Me: “I’m sorry, is there something I can assist you with today?”
IT: “Yeah, you can tell me why calls may be recorded if I call in. If I want to use your product and need help, I shouldn’t have to wonder if the call is being recorded if I don’t want them to be.”
Me: “I’m sorry, I’m not in charge of deciding which calls are recorded and which aren’t, I’m just here to help. Do you actually need help today or is that all?”
IT: “No, I need you to remote into this PC and install this software. I just don’t like that you can record calls and I can’t tell you not to do that.”
Me: “I’m sorry you disagree but that’s the company policy. I don’t make the rules, I just help with the products.”
-They go round this same dialogue with me for another two minutes or so and then switch gears-
IT: “Okay, so are you going to transfer me to a man who can help me then or are you going to do this for me?”
(I’m a female so that line had my blood boiling.)
Me: “Sir, I am trying to help you, but you haven’t let me remote in. And also, I work remotely, so I don’t even know if they can record my calls, okay?”
IT: “Okay, I should probably stop ‘messing’ with you because you probably don’t think this is as funny as I do, since I have a ‘sarcastic’ sense of humor.”
As I’m nearly finished, this final exchange happens:
IT: “Oh hey, I was on a plane ride with the owner of your company once, what was their name again?”
Me: “Uhhh, do you remember their position with the company?” (We don’t have a single person as our owner, as we are owned by several large corps.)
IT: “Yeah, your OWNER. Do you not know the name of your own company’s owner?”
Me: “Well, seeing as I don’t get to sit down with the ceo and other higher ups, I don’t always remember their names.” (I figured trying to explain the ownership situation was pointless.”
IT: “So you don’t even know the name of your owner? What kind of an employee are you? Do you even like your job or care about it?”
Me: “Sorry I don’t remember the name of every higher position in the company. Your program is installed, was there anything else you needed today?”
IT: “No, that was everything, bye.”
I ended the call and immediately went into an unavailable status, as the guy was so immediately abrasive and aggressive, and kept piling it on the entire call, that I was holding back tears by the end of it. I consider myself a tougher person, as I handled wireless sales and tech support at a store for two years for one of my jobs, and was screamed at yet still smiled, more times than I care to remember there.
The blatant sexism and excusing their rudeness as “sarcasm” left me furious. This was the first time I’ve ever told a superior about feeling harassed at this job. I gave them their name, cell phone they called in on, and the name of the business they called for, so we could monitor if they call back.
My manager took it upon themselves to call this person back directly and basically say that they would be banned from calling in again if they harassed us in this way in the future. The guy went from super sarcastic and aggressive with them, to suddenly tucking tail and asking for my work email so that they could send me an apology note, because I have always provided great support the other times they’ve called in. (This person was a repeat caller for businesses, and was never pleasant, but had never been this crazy until now.)
Long story short, they emailed me to “apologize”, and once again cited their sarcastic sense of humor as something that others don’t always “understand”.
You’re not sarcastic, you’re just an asshole.
submitted by /u/weneedthebitter
[link] [comments]
