Hello, everyone! I’ve been an avid reader of this subreddit for some time, but this is my first post here. I work at what I would consider a fairly unique call center. We’re a relatively new company (under ten years in existence) and we primarily field calls for dental offices across the United States of America (and some in Canada); we will occasionally get a random client that’s a chiropractic, podiatrist, nephrologist, etc., but we have a couple hundred dentists that we primarily answer for. For the most part, I enjoy my job. I will not deny, however, that it can become incredibly stressful. Most of the people I speak to are pleasant, The following is a recent encounter I had with a seemingly-pleasant person with very unpleasant views.
Yesterday, I was speaking to a patient of one of the dental offices we answer the phones for. He was very polite to me, despite knowing that I was with the office’s answering service (many callers feel at least somewhat slighted that the offices are not answering the call themselves) and we were concluding our conversation when he inquired where I was located. I told him the truth: that our company is located in the state of Georgia—and this is how our small-talk about the hot summer weather turned into a conversation about politics. For reference, I will be “Me,” he will be named “Yankee” for our purposes.
Yankee: “Wow! You’re in Georgia? You’re clearly not a native.” (Note: I was born and raised in Georgia, I just don’t have a very noticeable Southern accent unless I go above the Bible Belt.) “It sounds like Atlanta is up in flames right now.”
Me: “Haha, yes, it’s sure to be very hot this weekend, too.”
Yankee: “No, no, I mean with all of these protestors. I can’t believe that they’re tearing down monuments–it’s unconscionable.”
Me: “Oh, well… yes, sir.”
Yankee: “Listen, I may be a yankee, but I’ve been sympathetic to the Confederate cause. Both sides fought and died for what they believed in.”
Me: “Yes, sir.”
Yankee: “Well, if you ask me, those protestors deserve to be shot.”
Me: “…” (Stunned silence.)
Yankee: “Well, in any case, thanks for all of your help!”
Me: “My pleasure, sir, have a great day.” (Call ends.)
I spent a lot of time thinking about this call. I was and still am absolutely astonished that someone feels the need to so brazenly offer their opinions—during a call to their local dentist, no less—seemingly without even considering the idea that the other person may not agree with them. The truth is, I completely disagreed with him, and, either way, to suggest that someone, anyone deserves to be shot is something that I find downright disturbing and inhuman. If I was in a position where I could afford to lose my job, I would have told him just that.
I love my home state, and I love the South; despite what many people believe, it is a diverse place full of many wonderful people. The racism that our country’s past is steeped in must never be forgotten but it must never be celebrated. That is what I believe, not that the caller ever considered to ask. I suppose that since I live in Georgia he assumed that I must be just as racist as he is. To anyone reading this, I urge you: don’t talk politics with someone if you don’t care about their opinion. And definitely don’t talk politics when you call you dentist’s office to schedule an appointment to have your teeth cleaned!
Thanks for reading if you made it this far, and I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!
submitted by /u/cariame
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