When you provide services to people you will inevitably run into someone who is very rude.

What would you do if a customer called in and demanded to speak with the CEO and was verbally abusive, yelling at you and your staff?

That is what happened to the manager in this story, so she did exactly what the customer asked only to have him admit that’s not what he really meant.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

Be careful what you scream for.

I work as a support manager for a company that sells credit card readers and other services for processing money.

Our story starts with a phone call that one of our newest staff members received.

The caller does not introduce themselves and instead loudly demands to speak to no less than the CEO of the company and will not give any information aside from his repeated demands, and some indirect swearing.

Normally, this would earn them a terminated call, but I want to know who has the guts to scream at my staff, so I have him transferred over.

She claims to be the second person in charge.

Having had some of these calls before, I introduce myself with a very fancy title and ensure the caller that whatever his support needs are, I can handle them without any issue.

The CEO is busy at the moment and I am next in line in the Support Organization. (This is not entirely true but it works to calm people down and get them to tell me what is actually wrong.)

The caller is named Steve.

Not just any Steve mind you, but Steve, the owner of Steve’s Cafe.

Woah, he must be a big deal…Yeah right.

And not just one Steve’s cafe mind you, but the owner of all seven Steve’s Cafes.

Steve is offended that he was given to me and not the CEO like he demanded.

He is the owner you see, and needs to talk to my owner.

Not me.

I don’t own seven cafes and I certainly don’t own my company.

So, I can’t understand Steve’s needs, and can’t make the hard choices he needs made.

She reassures Steve that she can help.

I again assure him that I do have the position and authority to do anything he requires.

I am the manager of the support department.

I can make any changes he requires.

I can set up new accounts or order new devices.

Anything.

He only needs to tell me his problems and I will provide solutions.

I will SUPPORT him.

This is an easy one.

The words are immediate and aggressive. “CAN YOU CANCEL MY ACCOUNTS!?”

Well… Yes, I can.

I inform him that we need a written request to cancel.

I also try to inquire why he needs to cancel his accounts.

This is standard procedure. If he wants to close his account then we close his account, but any feedback is useful.

Is he leaving because our product was bad? Because our service was bad? Because he found a better deal?

What a jerk.

But before I can get more than a few words out, he shouts again. “HAVE <THE CEO> CALL ME! He has my number!” and he disconnects.

I report this up the chain.

No email means no cancelation.

But still bosses need to know.

Steve emailed the CEO.

First thing next morning, I get invited to an emergency meeting by the CEO, as well as a few other pertinent admins.

We go over what happened, then I am shown an email.

Steve managed to find the CEO’s internal email address, and sent him an email complaining about one of his seven stores having a horrible time with the product.

He is demanding no less than the cancelation of all his accounts and a refund for three months of payments he has made for each, as the product is totally unusable.

OP checks into it.

I check the logs.

The problem location does indeed have a problem that started yesterday morning.

They are not down but they are having a bad time.

There are no emails or calls informing us.

Just the screaming cancelation request.

Recording calls is important.

I send over the call logs and we listen to Steve scream and curse at the support agent before he got sent to me.

And then, I hear two words that queue the malicious compliance.

“Cancel them…”

The meeting goes quiet.

The CEO has spoken.

We cancel all seven accounts and shut down services.

They start their day with devices that do not work.

The calls come in.

Great job CEO!

Again, the CEO speaks. “That account is canceled. Follow procedure.”

So each manager calls me franticly explaining that nothing is working.

The staff apologetically tell them that their account was canceled per their owner’s email. We can no longer provide support.

Shortly there after, the owner calls in, once again screaming to turn them back on.

Uncancel them this instant! Get the devices working. He is losing money!!!

I check with the CEO, and after receiving a nod I say:

Very polite and very professional.

“Per your request made over the phone yesterday and your email this morning, your accounts have been canceled.”

Steve just gets madder and says he didn’t mean to actually cancel them. He just wanted to let us know what would happen if we didn’t fix his issue.

He continues to yell.

I let the CEO know and at his request, I transfer Steve to his office phone.

I wish there was a satisfying ending to this story, but Steve and our boss talked.

Steve was informed that his behavior was unacceptable.

Steve admitted that he was expecting expedited service and possibly a discount when he threatened to cancel.

He has a weird way of saying it.

He didn’t really want to cancel his accounts.

He just wanted support to take him seriously and transfer him up the chain so he could get faster, better, service.

There was no real apology.

Though both I and the initial support agent were told that Steve would behave himself from now on, and to report if he didn’t.

Services were resumed and all seven locations were opened a bit late.

They could have been fixed faster if he were just polite.

The one location that did have issues yesterday got on the phone with a support agent and were sorted out in a reasonable amount of time.

All is right in Heaven and Earth…

But I do hope Steve learned that threatening to cancel your account sometimes leads to you canceling your account, and not to a discount.

Steve sounds like a terrible person to work for or do business with.

Let’s see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about it.

This person thinks the CEO should have banned Steve for life.

This is true for sure.

Every customer is important.

Yeah, the CEO seems like a good guy.

That would be the worst.

Steve seems like a horrible person.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.