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About six months ago, I accepted my first call center job since it provides decent pay and benefits while I’m in school. Although there’s an asshat here and there, most of the customers are pretty nice, but this one was down-right perplexing.
This particular customer calls up, gives me an account number and says he wants to make a payment. He then states “his” name, birthdate and even the last four digits of “his” social security number. The issue is, the only name on the account is a person who was born in 1994 and their name is one that only became common in the past 30 years or so, yet the person on the other line sounds MUCH older (late 50s at least). However, I just decide to ignore it because it’s my job to ask customers verification information, not question them solely based on how they *sound.*
For the purposes of this story, the account holder is named Tyler Smith and the person calling in is named Fred Smith.
Fred: My name is Tyler Smith, date of birth is 7/15/1994 and the last four numbers of my social is 1234.
Me: *confused by his voice* Erm… thank you Tyler and how may I help you?
Fred: I would like to make a payment.
Me: Sounds good, we can definitely get that done for you today. What’s the name on the card that you are wanting to use for the payment?
Fred: Fred Smith.
Me: Okay, since the card isn’t in your name, I will have to ask Fred’s permission before we can go ahead and process the payment.
Fred: What do you mean? I am Fred.
Me: Umm… didn’t you just say your name was Tyler?
Fred: Yeah, because Tyler is my grandson and I wanted to make a payment for him, but he’s not here right now.
Me: Uhh… well, you can still make a payment on an account without being the account holder. I would never suggest pretending to be someone else in any case, but in this case it’s definitely not necessary.
Fred: Oh… *long pause* I just can’t believe that you thought that I was my grandson! I sound much older than someone that age! *mumbles something under his breath about how “they hire anyone these days”* Anyway, the card number is—
I was honestly too stunned to say much after that. The fact that he blatantly pretended to be someone else, outright confessed to it, and then was upset that I didn’t call him out on his lie???? The audacity????
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