If you’ve seen mob movies or The Sopranos, you’ve probably noticed that people in organized crime routinely work with private business to get their work done.

You might think the person in this story is a fan of these based on what he expected a customer service rep to do.

See how the worker handled it.

No sir, I can’t show you how to commit a federal crime

The repair company I work at is a small business and has two locations, one of which is in an interesting area. As such, we get a lot of interesting people.

This guy came in yesterday.

He had some nerve!

User: “Hi, can you show me how to access someone’s text messages? I found some tutorials on YouTube but they didn’t work”

I assume he wants to backup the messages so I start walking him through how to sync his phone

User: “No no no, I want someone else’s messages.”

Me: “Wait, this isn’t a device you own?”

User: “No”

Me: “Do you have consent from the owner to read their messages?”

User: “No, that’s why I need you to show me how to see them.”

Then he got even more brazen.

Me: “Sir, if you don’t have permission from the other person to read their messages it’s illegal to access them. I can’t show you how to do that here”

User: “Well do you know anywhere else that can?”

Me: “No sir, I’m not aware of any other repair shops that can help you do that, it’s a federal crime. I can pull up the relevant laws regarding unauthorized access to someone’s personal devices if you’d like.”

Cue standard rant of “You guys are supposed to be the experts” as I stare blankly into the distance losing more faith in humanity.

Here is what folks are saying.

Good answer. I love this.

It’s hard to say!

LOL I’d watch that episode of Body Cam.

It’s hard, I know.

Good for you but yikes awkward.

I’m still curious why this person wanted to do this.

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.