In the world of phone surveys, you encounter all kinds of people and perspectives.

When this surveyor repeatedly encountered outdated attitudes about household responsibilities, they found a way to sneak a little humor into their script.

Read on for all the details!

Behave like a child? Get treated like one

A couple of years ago I was working as a phone surveyor, calling people up to do various kinds of market research.

One client was a large grocery chain, and the script started with the question “Are you one of the people responsible for food purchases in your household?”

Certain people seemed to be offended by this question.

Now, it’s none of my business how people split chores in their relationships, but the amount of (seemingly older) men who would straight up laugh mockingly at the very idea of them doing the shopping did get on my nerves a bit.

So they decided to flip the script.

So, any time it happened (and they didn’t explicitly mention a wife/partner) I started saying “I see, then could I talk to your mommy or daddy?” in my bubbly super-friendly work voice.

Luckily, their boss was cool with it.

Got “caught” by my supervisor once, but since I was still friendly and professional and had good numbers in general she just found it funny.

That should shut up those hyper-masculine jerks.

What did Reddit think of this hilarious petty revenge?

You should never bite the hand that feeds you.

Some people’s fathers are the primary grocery shoppers and they’re dang good at it.

This user’s father also enjoyed doing the shopping.

You should also never assume someone’s role in the household.

Keeping it professional while having a bit of fun was the perfect way to turn the tables.

Time to act your age!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.