Manager demands copywriter continue answering calls in old tech support role, faces payback when he changes company handbook: 'The marketing team do not have any interactions with customers'

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Dec 15, 2025 9:00 PM EST

In any job, it pays to be aware of the small print.

Countless employees have found themselves screwed over because they didn't pay attention to some contract or rulebook, and conversely, many more have also played a situation to their advantage by knowing the law of the land better than those who are supposed to be experts on it. In these corporate environments full of power trippers, snitches, general ne'er-do-wells, you never know when this knowledge might be useful.

However, even many of those who know their company handbooks inside and out don't have the power to change what is inside them, much as this might be something that they long for at times. For those who do have this rare privilege, it is a perk that has to be used wisely. Coworkers should know better than to provoke somebody who has this kind of access, but that isn't always going to be the case.

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  • two men and one woman sitting at a desk, all talking on landline phones
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • In this story, an employee started in the company as part of the tech support team but transferred across to marketing to become a copywriter after his workplace realized he was qualified for the role. However, the woman who had been promoted to his old job decided that she wanted him to continue some of his old duties because her department was expanding, and she wanted to help.

    She claimed that this was acceptable, as there was nothing in the handbook that prohibited the marketing team from directly interacting with customers. The new copywriter had an issue with this, so he decided to take matters into his own hands to prevent it.

  • "There's nothing that says the marketing team doesn't work directly with clients."

    About 10 years ago I worked for a small web hosting company. Initially I was hired as entry level support, taking calls from customers that accidentally broke their websites or needed passwords reset. Then, I worked my way up to team lead where I was working with SSL certificates and cloud hosting accounts for high value customers. Finally, they moved me to the marketing team after they found out that I had an English writing degree. This was
    via archaelleon
  • my first copywriting job, and a huge step in my career (as I am still a copywriter to this day). I remember being overjoyed when I accepted the position and thought "I'm never taking another angry phone call for the rest of my life."
    via archaelleon
  • Cut to about a year later. I'm writing blogs, emails, video scripts, and most importantly, not taking phone calls. I'm at my desk in the marketing department, and in walks the team lead that took my position after I was promoted. We'll call her Ruth. Side note: I objected to Ruth being promoted into my old role because she's extraordinarily bullheaded
    via archaelleon
  • and rude. She would repeatedly overstep her bounds as an entry level tech, telling other employees when they could and couldn't go to lunch and trying to manage the call queue when her only job was to take said calls. Ultimately my concerns went unheeded and she got the job.
    via archaelleon
  • Ruth walks up to my desk and sets a bulleted list in front of me. It's a vague business strategy she's written up. Essentially, the cloud hosting division of the company is rapidly expanding, and the CSO tasked Ruth with figuring out how to field all of the additional high value customers. Ruth's solution? | resume some of my responsibilities as a tech team lead to take escalations from angry cloud customers.
    via archaelleon
  • three employees, two male and one female, sit at a desk speaking on landline phones
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I said absolutely not. She completely ignored me and just kept going over her strategy. Like, literally I'm saying "No Ruth, I'm not doing this" and she's like "Uh huh, anyway as you can see here, when a tech needs to escalate a call it will come to you." I was fuming, but patiently explained that I was on the marketing team now, and my tech support days are over. She
    via archaelleon
  • said "Well, I checked the Roles and Responsibilities section in the company handbook, and there's nothing that says the marketing team doesn't work directly with clients." She then gave me a shit-eating grin and says "We'll have to get a phone installed at your desk," and leaves.
    via archaelleon
  • I was fucking livid. I'd be going from no phone calls to specifically only taking calls from the angriest customers we have. Then, as I was recounting this awful situation to one of the graphic designers, something dawned on me when I remembered what she said about the roles in the company handbook. As the only copywriter, I was the one in charge of managing and updating the handbook. The graphic designer saw this dawn of realization on my face and was like "Oh man, please do what I think you're
    via archaelleon
  • So I logged into Evernote (or whatever system we were using to manage and edit the handbook) and added a subsection to the marketing team's roles and responsibilities that specifically said we do not take phone calls, emails, or have any direct interactions with customers. This also safeguarded the graphic designers and videographers from any future bullshit from Ruth. I took the changes to the CSO who gave me a smirk and signed off on the edits.
    via archaelleon
  • I then took the signed changes to Ruth and set them on her desk. "Yeah actually it DOES say in the company handbook that the marketing team can't take calls, as you can see here. I guess you'll have to figure something else out."
    via archaelleon
  • She stared daggers at me but I just shrugged and left. That was the last of our interactions. She ended up poaching some top performers from the entry-level tech team to make a dedicated cloud team that never really functioned well, and she ultimately quit without a 2-week notice a few months later. So, I got some extra "I told you so" satisfaction about her not being qualified for the job as well.
    via archaelleon
  • I still haven't taken a single customer phone call since I became a copywriter, and I intend to keep it that way.
    via archaelleon
  • closeup of a black ip phone
    via Dan Dennis
  • blamordeganis INFO: how was a team lead in tech support able to assign work to people in the marketing department?
    via blamordeganis
  • OP archaelleon So it was a tiny company and we all wore a lot of hats. Even before I was in the marketing department they had me and other workers do voice work for the call waiting system. Team leads were assigned other projects aside from just managing the entry level folks. So Ruth was assigned to "figure out how to manage our increasing cloud calls" and this was her solution. It's possible it was pointed at me since we butted heads when I was her manager and she kept line stepping. She might
    via archaelleon
  • PonyFlare Malicious yes. Compliance no. You very neatly sidestepped the compliance part. Not familiar enough with other subs to say where this could fit better, but I like the story!
    via PonyFlare
  • OP archaelleon I felt like I was was sort of creating the compliance part maliciously, if that makes sense. Glad you liked the story!
    via archaelleon
  • Reacts With Words They complied to the very compliance they made themself.
    via ReactsWithWords
  • OP archaelleon Those responsible for the complying of the compliance have been complied.
    via archaelleon
  • Beagle-wrangler Did you find an opportunity to work in your previous warnings about her to the higher ups? Would be some extra satisfying icing to a good post!
    via Beagle-wrangler
  • OP archaelleon When I found out she quit I just told the higher ups "I'm not surprised." IIRC I think she may have just walked out midway through the day and just never came back.
    via archaelleon
  • ediciusNJ You are truly my hero. I'm waiting for the day I don't need to take phone calls any longer.
    via ediciusNJ
  • OP archaelleon I had the advantage of earning a writing degree beforehand. If you don't, a baby step toward being a copywriter (assuming you have some writing talent) is volunteering to respond to customer emails. From there you can shift into notification emails, and possibly marketing emails.
    via archaelleon
  • fvives So a rando from another team assigns work to you, forces a phone on you without going through your manager and you think it's ok? Oh wait, you don't even mention it to your manager and you're just "livid and fuming". Give me a break. Also, FYI, employees handbooks are not here for funsies. It's a legal document and if you modify it you could be in a world of shit.
    via fvives
  • OP archaelleon It was a small company. At the time I didn't have a manager. I was taking writing assignments directly from the CEO, CFO, and CSO, along with some technical documentation from the senior server admins. As far as modifying the handbook, maybe you missed the part where I had the CSO review and sign off on my alterations. I didn't just edit it without permission.
    via archaelleon

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customer service tech support employee manager marketing work phone calls
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