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So this lovely case happened yesterday. For context, I work in a bank’s call centre- it’s pretty rough at the start of the month, so I was gearing up for some weird cases.
This customer calls in, enquiring about a payment that didn’t go through to a brokerage firm. While he talked, I went through his last calls and found that he was unfortunately, the male equivalent of a Karen. Uh oh. I did my best to be chipper.
*Me: Okay, sir! It seems like your payment’s made it through on our end. In this case, I would advise you to check with the brokerage if there’s been any problems.*
*Customer: Look, I just checked with them. They said to call my bank.*
*Me: I see. Did they mention anything about the status of the payment on their end?*
*Customer: They said it’s pending. That’s definitely on you.*
…It wasn’t. This particular payment type was usually instant, and it sure as hell looked like it was through on our system. I did my best to explain to him how it worked, and to let him know he could try and check with the brokerage again.
*Customer: Fine. If you’re so insistent on brushing me off, I’ll call them now. Stay on the line.*
The customer, to my dismay, proceeded to ring the brokerage up on his landline. While I was still with him in the phone. I sat through the dial tone, the hold music.
The call was picked up by this guy, Ahmed, who sounded like I felt. He had the unfortunate job of confirming that the issue was on the brokerage’s end.
The customer proceeded to go ballistic on him, shouting about how it was ridiculous his payment was being held for no reason. The line began cutting off at several points, and Ahmed’s voice was pretty muffled on my end. I cringed for him the entire time.
*Customer: HELLO?*
*Me: Yes, hello.*
*Customer: Tell this bastard it went through on the bank’s end!*
*Me, slightly panicked: Sir, I’m sure they’re doing their best to work on the problem–*
*Customer: JUST TELL HIM*
I kept up my customer service voice and got the customer’s permission to reveal his account information to Ahmed, and proceeded to convey what I saw to him.
Ahmed sounded a bit drained, and I wanted badly to give him the encouragement he needed. The best I could do was an apology for the trouble that sounded sickeningly scripted as ever. Ahmed gave me an equally professional ‘No worries’.
The customer curtly ended the call with me after.
So hey, Ahmed, if you’re seeing this: I wish we could have bitched about this customer together like we would have if we were colleagues. Our jobs suck, I know. I hope you had a smooth shift after this call.
If you happen to be named Ahmed, work in a brokerage firm’s call centre and recognise this case- do hit me up in my dms. I’d love to chat!
EDIT: formatting
EDIT 2: my grammar. I’m trying to remember the customer’s speech patterns
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