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\*Some details changed for anonymity\*
I work at a travel agency call center associated with a bank. I get upset callers all the time but I had a particular caller who felt the need to be short with me and rude for no reason. If we messed up her reservation or an airline cancelled her flights last minute and she was scrambling to make alternatives, I could understand being in a bad mood. In this case, she was already in a bad mood for whatever reason and thought it was the perfect time to call us. We’ll call her Rude Witch or RW.
Me: Thank you for calling MyPlaceofWork, this is emerald-avenger and to whom do I have the pleasure of-
RW: \*cutting me off and already sounding annoyed at me\* Yeah, I’m Rude Witch and \*sighs\* I just need you to cancel a reservation for me now.
Me: Thank you, Rude Witch. Okay I’d be happy to-
RW: It’s for a hotel in Italy in June.
Me: …Yes, of course, one moment please.
RW: \*silence because saying thank you would be too much\*
Me: Okay I see a reservation here. Is this for ItaliaHotel-
RW: \*exasperated\* Yes
Me: For the check in dates June 2-
RW: \*won’t let me finish and still sounding irritable\* YES!
Me: …And for 4 adults?
RW: Yes, can you just cancel it???
Me: Yes, I see you are well ahead of the cancellation policy. You will get a refund back in about 7-10 business days.
RW: Okay, thanks.
If the call could’ve ended here, it would’ve been fine and I could just move on. But as a courtesy, we have to ask if they need more assistance and we keep getting pushed by upper management to make more sales to make up on lost revenue from Covid.
Me: Is there anything else that I can assist-
RW: \*because waiting for me to finish speaking is too hard\* Yeah, well, while I have you on the line, pull up my son’s flights. I want to see if you can change the return.
Me: Okay I see your son’s flights here.
RW: Can you change my son’s return so that he’s going to London instead of New York\*
Me: I’ll see what’ve available. Did you or your son have a preferred departure time or do you want to keep something similar to what he already has?
RW: \*asking me like I’m stupid\* Um, well can you tell me what’s available first?
Yeah, since you politely asked.
Me: I see a flight leaving at 1030a-
RW: Okkkaaaay, what else?
I give her several different flight times. All had limited availability. I grabbed a flight around noon and if we changed the return, it was showing an outrageous fare difference due to the flight only having full fare pricing (not discounted) left. Understandably, RW was not happy.
RW: What? How is that even possible? Why is it that much?
Me: The availability is limited and only full fare pricing is available on the return and to make the exchange, the airline requires his outbound to also be full fare pricing to match the return
I know that probably doesn’t make any sense but she asked and I’m trying to give her a honest answer.
RW: Okay, well I’m confused, I don’t have that much time, and you’re using too many words, can you just give me the cheapest flight?
Me: I would have to check and price out the options. (We unfortunately don’t see a list of prices where we see what is the cheapest right off the bat and based on what I could see, each flight was going to be expensive one way or another since I saw no more discounted fares available)
RW: \*snapping at me\* Okay, then check??? I don’t understand, you get asked this all the time, shouldn’t you know all of this this?
Me: \*fed up with her attitude but not wanting to escalate\* …One moment please
I chose not to say much the rest of the call. She even tried to get me to price a new round trip with the intention of just taking the outbound, which I told her was a prohibited ticketing practice and not allowed. She finally decided not to change anything and hung up on me in a huff and I wouldn’t be surprised if she left me a survey saying I wasn’t helpful and didn’t know how to do my job. I don’t know who took a dump in her coffee this morning but it was clear she was having a bad day before her call came to me and needed somebody to boss around and let her frustration out on.
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