‘I got extra pay, a box of chocolates, [and] an apology': Karen gets fired after screaming for 40 minutes at a customer service rep because they refuse to break company policy

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Nov 11, 2024 7:00 AM EST

Is it really so difficult to be kind to the customer service person trying to troubleshoot your problem over the phone? I get it, everything's falling to pieces on your end, but it doesn't make any logical sense to be unsavory to the one person who can actually help you.  

This Karen in our next story proved that being aggressive over the phone doesn't get you everything you want, and sometimes it can get you fired…. Or maybe even investigated by the Feds. 

Imagine, this customer service employee was about 15 seconds from clocking out for the day–it was Friday at 4:59:45 PM and they were grabbing their coats on their way out and the blasted phone rang. Seeing that the number was from an internal caller, as in, someone within their company, the employee thought this would be a simple thing to solve and that they could make quick work of their coworker's problem. Except, the woman on the other end of the line wasn't looking for solutions, she was looking for a customer service rep to break the rules for her. 

Keep scrolling to see how a 40-minute IT support call turned into an apology letter, a box of chocolates, and an immediate, dishonorable resignation. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10426519296
    via Getty Images

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Scream at me for 40 minutes on the phone? Enjoy getting investigated by the IT department for a data breach
    via Atvali
  • 03
    When I was working for local government I was manning the phones on the service desk. We were about to finish for the day, like we were preemptively putting our coats on because we were about to sign off and leave, that's how close we were to 5pm. At
    via Atvali
  • 04
    4:59:45, 15 seconds before the phone lines closed, someone decides to call the service desk. Let's call her Jane A. Jane had issues logging into her mobile phone, ok, easy, probably needs a quick password reset, it'll take a few minutes to do and we'll be on our way. Oh boy was I wrong. She
    via Atvali
  • 05
    decided that this was MY fault, demanded to talk to the mobiles guy who had already left for the day at 4pm and that was also my fault. Seeing where this was going I popped her in mute while she was rambling and asked my manager if
    via Atvali
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    I could hang up because she was r de. My manager took this opportunity to listen in to the call from her desk and what came was absolutely mind blowing. For almost 30 minutes I was screamed at by Jane, who decided that she didn't want any of my
    via Atvali
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    help because it was all somehow my fault. I offered to pass it right over to the mobiles guy so be could pick it up first thing in the morning because if she doesn't want to go through troubleshooting steps to help her out then there's nothing else I can
    via Atvali
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    do. More screaming continued, I was meant to go home 30 minutes ago and was now being verbally abused during my unplanned overtime. I killed her with nothing but kindness which didn't work. She agreed to let the mobiles guy pick it up after another 10 mins of screaming.
    via Atvali
  • 09
    We hung up and I broke down because I was so angry I couldn't say anything to her. I was in tears. My manager was furious with her. Worst of it all is she's a colleague, she couldn't believe that she'd speak to a colleague that way.
    via Atvali
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    The next morning my manager brought in a box of chocolates for me and went straight to our department leader to complain. I got a letter a week later from Jane, apologising to me.
    via Atvali
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    Then all of a sudden, she disappears. No active directory profile for her, she'd been fired. Turned out she was actually using another colleagues account for her mobile phone and accessing their files. Janes colleague, who also
    via Atvali
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    shared the same first name (let's call her Jane B), worked in child protection and Jane A was accessing files she had no business getting into. MASSIVE GDPR breach. She got hold of Jane B's username and password. She passed all the security checks
    via Atvali
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    using Jane B's information and got herself fired. All because she couldn't access Jane B's mobile phone and threw a fit to the person who had enough patience to let her scream at them for 40 minutes.
    via Atvali
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    I got extra pay for those 40 minutes, a box of chocolates, an apology and she got herself fired for verbally abusing me and getting investigated by the IT department
    via Atvali
  • 15
    FlanOfAttack 4h ago. called at 4:55 Towards the end of my support career I started telling those people "a reboot should fix it, go ahead and do that and call me back if it doesn't work." Then I'd leave.
    via FlanOfAttack
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    reddit_tookmybaby .7h ago. My wife works for the city. They can hang up, not answer your call backs, and put you on a "Do not answer" list with descriptions of why you are not to be answered.
    via reddit_tookmybaby
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    mommagoose4 . 9h ago. Sending applause to you for being kind despite her actions. 113 Reply Whole-Ad-2347 . 9h ago. You must be a very patient person. I couldn't have done that. Good for her for getting herself fired.
    via mommagoose4
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    Atvali OP 9h ago ⚫ • Weirdly, I'm not patient at all, especially when someone thinks they can walk all over me. I can very easily lose my cool and get into a screaming match with people. I think because I was getting some extra money and I was still new at the job I was trying to keep up the good impressions. The patience didn't last very long after that though lol
    via Atvali

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