Some policies are there for a reason.

This call center employee has had enough of callers who would stress the age of the client, expecting her to break the company’s policy on identity verification.

Read the full story below.

Ma’am she’s 97

Some of the worst calls I can get are when I am reminded the entire call how old someone is.

Me: “Thank you for calling ******. How can I help you?”

Caller: “Hello, my name is *******. I’m a caregiver at ****, and I take care of *****. She has a suspicious charge on her account that we would like looked at.”

Me: “I can assist with that. Are you authorized on the account?”

Caller: “Well, no, but she is 97 years old.”

Me: “Okay. Well, in order to speak to you, we would have to get her verified first.”

That’s when she turns from sweet to nasty.

Caller: “Ma’am, did you hear me? She is 97!”

Me: “I understand, but she would need to be verified for us to speak to you, and I’ll be more than happy to look into it.”

This employee is agitated by the repetition among callers.

Caller: “Ma’am! Ma’am! I need you to understand something. She is 97. She is in a wheelchair, can hardly see, is in a nursing home, and has a suspicious charge. You will take care of this.”

Me: “I understand your frustration, but for security reasons, we need to verify her. If you are unable to assist with that, then we cannot proceed.”

Caller: “You hear that? She’s 97, and you are making her cry! I guess I will need to conference her lawyer in, and you can explain to him why you can’t talk to me. Just a moment.”

At that point, it is no longer our call. Once you get legal involved, it goes to an escalation team.

It really grinds my gears when they mention age over and over as if it is going to change some policy, and we will talk to anyone. But when they get fraud, they get furious that there aren’t securities in place.

Caregiver has a point, but older people need to be protected.

Other people in the comments are sharing their thoughts.

This one shares a similar exchange.

Here’s another related conversation.

This person is chiming in.

A valid point.

And this one has something to say.

Older people still need their privacy.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.