Some people get so overwhelmed by a situation that they start viewing everything like a problem.

This handyman company employee found himself dealing with exactly that when a customer called to schedule repairs for her elderly mother’s home.

The customer grew increasingly frustrated as he explained the requirements needed to arrange the visit.

And even after he found a way to move the appointment forward, the conversation never seemed to get back on track.

Then, while trying to get a word in and clear up a misunderstanding, he addressed the customer by her first name. That’s when the call took an unexpected turn.

Read on to see what she had to say about it.

AITA For saying the customer’s name to get their attention?

I (Male 30) was talking to a customer, Phoebe (Female late 30s or early 40s) today on the phone. I work for a handy man company and we set up visits for customer’s to have various issues repaired or to have material/equipment installed – this included plumbing, electrical, and HVAC.

Phoebe called in and wanted to get an appointment set up for her mother who owns the home. I took down details about the issue, half of the power out at the home, marked her address and contact info, and then told her that I understand her worry, and I want to get this taken care of.

I then explained that before I get a visit arranged that I need to get permission from the home owner.

At this point, the woman was getting annoyed.

She is annoyed because, as the daughter of an elderly woman, she feels she has the right to set up the visit. I explain we do have to get authorization from the actual home owner to arrange the visit.

She starts to talk at me, complaining about the situation but not actually allowing me to respond, and she rambles about how she has POA and that this is too complicated, and now I have to “wake up my mother,” and that we are such an inconvenience.

Not having room to say anything, I just try to get her attention.

He tried to get her attention.

“Phoebe,” I say.

“What?!” She responds.

“With what you just told me, I can arrange the visit with you, you would just have to show your POA documents to our tech when he arrives,” I say and pause, waiting to see if she says anything.

She doesn’t answer, so I ask, “Can you provided the POA documents when our tech arrives?”

Then, she had a new problem.

“No, I can’t do that,” then she continues to say how this is too complicated and how she is generally annoyed.

I get everything square with the owner and get permission from the mom to set up a visit with Phoebe. I talk to my scheduling team and get a 9 to 1 visit on Thursday.

She then launches into a request to get a price for the work before we come out to the and starts to ramble on about the last time we were out and what we offered her mom and if we can do that now and etc.

He interrupted her again.

Normally, I would just let the customer continue until I could find a word in, but she was going pretty hard and fast and WE HAVE NEVER BEEN TO THIS HOME BEFORE. Whatever company she was referring to was not ours. I wanted to say that, “I am sorry for the confusion, but we have not been this property before.”

I say “Uh, Phoebe.”

And see says “Yes…why do you keep talking to me like a child…this is too complicated just cancel everything. Cancel it. You are too difficult. I am sorry I wasted your time!”

When first working here, he got that complaint a lot.

When I first started on phone jobs, I was told I could come off as “condescending.” It is feedback I took to heart, and in the last two years, I have earned good call grades and never had the “condescending” feedback again.

But, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t condescending here.

Also, I have done the same method with other customer’s without backlash and some even saying, “I am glad you said that, I was about to give you my life story for work you don’t even do.”

AITA?

Eek! It’s easy to see both sides of this, but maybe there’s a different way to do this on his part.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a landlord who learned the hard way not to try to keep a security deposit he should have paid.

Let’s check out what the readers over on Reddit think.

According to this comment, overwhelmed people are just sensitive.

Some of this info make no difference.

It is a red flag.

Great question.

This woman really needed to take a breath and listen to what the employee was trying to tell her.

The entire conversation reads like someone who became so frustrated that she stopped processing the information right in front of her.

And, to be honest, getting upset because someone used her name to get her attention feels especially strange.

If she had slowed down for a moment, she probably would’ve realized he was trying to solve her problem the whole time.