You cannot help someone who is unwilling to help themselves.

So, what would you do if a customer called in and was angry that his phone “wasn’t working,” but refused to say in what way? Would you transfer him to someone else? Or would you keep trying to make sense of the situation until he hangs up on you?

In the following story, one call center employee finds himself in this situation. Here’s how it plays out.

The Man Who Wanted Me To Help, But Refused To Do Anything

I worked in a call center for a major cell phone company about a decade ago. We were tech support for a very specific brand of fruity phones for this company, back when they were doing a huge changeover from 3G to 4G towers.

I say that because at least 70% of my calls during the first six months I worked there were related to this changeover and to towers being down in a whole area for two, three, or even four weeks sometimes. But occasionally, we still get calls about how to actually fix a phone.

So I get a call, and I do my whole spiel. Thank you for calling cell carrier’s fruit tech support, this is Morrighan1129, how can I help you today?

The man was yelling from the get-go.

The customer said, “My ******* phone isn’t working, and you better fix it.”

So already, we’re off to a great start. But it’s cool, I get it, I’d be annoyed too if my thing wasn’t working, that was the mindset I tried to take.

So I do my whole, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, sir, what seems to be the problem?”

Then, he yelled, “Are you deaf? I just said my ******* phone isn’t ******* working!”

His tone didn’t change.

While internally sighing, I keep my best customer service voice on and say, “I did hear you say that, sir, but there are a lot of things that could be wrong. Is it not turning on? Is it not connecting to the wifi? A specific app that isn’t working? Will it not let you make calls? I need to know the nature of the issue so I can walk you through steps to fix it.”

“It’s not working!” He barks, in the same tone of voice someone would use to accuse me of using their front porch as a bathroom.

Again, I say, “I understand that, sir, but I need to know what specifically isn’t working. Is the phone on right now?”

“Obviously it’s on right now! I’m talking to you on it!” he bellows.

He wasn’t willing to help himself at all.

“Oh. Well, is there any way I could call you back on a different phone? We won’t be able to do any troubleshooting on it if you’re talking to me on it,” I say, putting a light laugh in my voice, because otherwise I get accused of calling them dumb.

He yelled, “No! You can’t call me back! I’m not sitting around all day waiting for you to call me back, I just need you to fix my ****** phone!”

“It wouldn’t be all day, sir. I’d call you back two minutes after I end this call. But otherwise it’s going to be very hard to identify the problem and get it fixed if you’re talking on it,” I say, struggling like Hercules to keep my inner voice of ‘duh, you idiot’ from coming out.

Apparently, a coworker was getting their turn now.

“No! You’re not calling me back! You people are all the same. None of you will help me with anything! My phone isn’t working, and nobody will fix it!” Except with a lot more cussing, insults, and so on, before he finally just hung up the call.

So I’m wrapping up my notes on the call, making sure to note both the abusive language and the fact that he wouldn’t even tell me what was wrong with the phone, much less start trying to fix it.

Not only do I see that there are four other calls over the past two days, but I haven’t even saved my notes into the system yet, when I see another agent log into his account and start writing their notes.

Like… I can’t help you if I don’t know what the problem is, and I definitely can’t help you if we’re talking on the phone, I’m supposed to be fixing.

Wow! Customers like this never cease to amaze.

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit would’ve done in this situation.

Here’s how this person wishes they could handle it.

This reader would’ve hung up.

Now, this is funny.

For this reader, it’s the same in TV support.

This is life in a call center, unfortunately.

It’s sad people have to act like that.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.