Is this tech support or 911? (long)

[XCashier]

... I'm never going back to a phone-related job, I don't think I could handle it!

I've never worked in a call center, and I know I couldn't handle it.

All of you who've had to deal with calls like this have my total respect, especially when you get them the help they need. God bless you.

What the fuck was wrong with SUV woman that she didn't immediately volunteer to have the woman and kids come in with her as soon as she heard about the situation?

MeMeMe Syndrome. Too self-centered to care about her fellow human beings dying from the cold right behind her. I'm glad she finally let them in, but I agree that she should've done it right away instead of the dispatcher having to beg and plead with her.

[PepperElf]

Train Wreck:

holy crap. i hope it's not the same. if it is... then that's sad. and it's why people need to take these things as seriously as you did.

Spare the Rod:

Phew! I'm glad you and your supervisor were on the same page on that one. Sometimes doing the right thing is not the easy choice, unless you feel that there is no other choice of course.

Domestic Bliss:

wtf. both of them are so classy. i especially like how she threatened to kill him and then started acting worried about him killing her. Sounds like both of them need help.

I'm reminded of a story from a friend of mine who used to work at a call center doing roadside assistance:

You'd like one of my friends then. He was a military recruiter for a while in Minnesota I think. At one of the recruiter training events he went to the instructor was reminding everyone that they can't pick up people / guests in the government vehicles. One of the recruiters in charge of his region pulled the group aside and pretty much said "yeah forget about that" because of the heavy winters. As my friend said, "I'm sure the pregnant woman whose car was broken down on the side of the road wasn't a threat. It was snowing pretty hard out so I gave her a lift."

[NoLongerAShoeDog]

Kudos to you for calling CPS on that Mom and GrandMom. Hopefully you saved that child from years of physical and mental torture.

[MoonCat]

Wow, in all the years I've worked on the phones I don't think I've ever had anyone say they were going to kill themselves. Had a few who screamed they were going to "come down there" and do something to us, but we used to hang up on those and they rarely called back.

I've had lots of people on the phone who needed someone to talk to, though. Usually older people. Some of them have been very sweet (one old lady told dirty jokes!) and some depressing.

The train story, I find really depressing, because not long ago a guy I used to work with killed himself by walking out in front of an oncoming train. He'd lost his wife less than a year ago, and was also diagnosed with some kind of nasty brain disease. Seems very unreal to think of him doing that, though.

[GuardingYourLife]

I don't know about the laws where you live, but where I live I would be legally obligated to report the child abuse. If they fired me for reporting it, they would be breaking the law, and I would be breaking the law if I didn't report it!

Here, professionals are obligated to report any suspicion of child abuse immediately.

[mysticgirl5]

I feel your pain. I was working in a call center for Allhell once and a little girl called up and asked if I could turn their phones back on so she could find her mommy..she was probably 8, had been left home alone all day with no food and no electricity and she was scared. I ended up calling the police on the family and staying on the line with her til they came, and they showed up just when the dad did. He was screaming at the cops (and at me) that she was fine, what the hell were they doing there? Cops took the kid away with them. She had been left home alone for 12 hours, no food, no water, no power, no heat in the middle of winter.

That poor girl! And the dad had the nerve to scream at you? I cannot believe the gall of some people. My husband and I found a baby (maybe about 18 - 20 months) running up and down the street as we were driving home only wearing a diaper with no one in sight. We were about to put her in the car and drive off after we'd called out a few times when dad finally comes running out of his house and he was so annoyed. Um excuse me, but wasn't it you that let your daughter run out of the house unsupervised wearing the 'free baby' sign? (OK, that last part may have been an exaggeration ) So glad the little girl got you on the line!


I've never had calls that bad but only by the grace of good fortune.

Still, when I worked at <government agency>, I had to deal with a lot of suicide calls. Those were the ones where afterwards, you had to take some time to smoke a cigarette, take a walk, what have you. Some may have been looking for attention. Others were sincere. I treated them all the same as best I could.

I only had one call that scared me.

AG(Angry Guy): (profanity, questioning my heritage, questionable biological statements involving my butt and head's relative positions) I swear, I'll come down there and kill you all!
ME: (intrigued eyebrow) Really?
AG: Yeah, I will! I'll kill all ya'll!! And I know where you are. You're off of (correct highway) in (correct town). B, I'll be there TONIGHT!
ME: (icy chill down my spine but kept my voice bored) Uh-huh. (Start writing and making sure my active call recording is going) So, tell me. How do you know where we are if we were actually there?
AG: Please. I live over by (address).
ME: Really, Mr. Stupanowitz?
AG: Yeah! So you better.......AH SH!!!! (CLICK!)

Aack! That is scary! Thankfully the guy was a dumbass...hope the cops paid him a not so pleasant visit.

I'm reminded of a story from a friend of mine who used to work at a call center doing roadside assistance:

Several people were stuck on a bridge somewhere in Michigan in a blizzard, waiting for someone to come dig them out. One woman in a fancy SUV was indignant and impatient and angry that it was taking so long. She had a full tank of gas and was sitting there with the heat going, bored but otherwise unharmed.

Another call came from what turned out to be a car right behind the woman in the SUV. It came from a mother with two children who had been stuck in the snow, running their car for the heat, long enough to run out of gas. The mother and her children were beginning to freeze to death and had reached that stage of this endeavor wherein you get very sleepy.

What followed was a frantic, high-stakes game of phone tag with my friend calling the woman and her children to make sure they were still alive, then calling the woman in the SUV to beg her to let the mother and children in the SUV with her.

After several calls back and forth, the woman in the SUV relented, and the last my friend heard of it was the woman in the car gathering up her children to head up to the SUV. According to my friend, after that it was break time and she took a nice, long one, sitting there smoking until she stopped shaking.

She needed convincing to let the freezing children in the car with her? She is like the Queen Massengill of Douches! At least she finally did it...I'll bet when she tells that story she twists it so she looks like the big hero...'And then I insisted those poor wretches join me in my warm car, and I saved their lives!'

I don't know about the laws where you live, but where I live I would be legally obligated to report the child abuse. If they fired me for reporting it, they would be breaking the law, and I would be breaking the law if I didn't report it!

Here, professionals are obligated to report any suspicion of child abuse immediately.

I know that in our state teachers, counselors, doctors, day care workers, etc are all mandated reporters that have to report even a suspicion of child abuse, but I don't think that applies to us. In fact I'm just about sure it doesn't - it would have been crammed down our throats 7000 times by now if it was. The part I would have gotten fired for was taking the customer's info from the account. It's a huge no-no, which I understand, but at that point I'd reported the incident and as far as I knew, nothing was going to be done. I figured it was worth it.

[fireheart]

AG(Angry Guy): (profanity, questioning my heritage, questionable biological statements involving my butt and head's relative positions) I swear, I'll come down there and kill you all!
ME: (intrigued eyebrow) Really?
AG: Yeah, I will! I'll kill all ya'll!! And I know where you are. You're off of (correct highway) in (correct town). B, I'll be there TONIGHT!
ME: (icy chill down my spine but kept my voice bored) Uh-huh. (Start writing and making sure my active call recording is going) So, tell me. How do you know where we are if we were actually there?
AG: Please. I live over by (address).
ME: Really, Mr. Stupanowitz?
AG: Yeah! So you better.......AH SH!!!! (CLICK!)

I got on the phone with our emergency line to the Boys in Black. They called the local Boys in Blue. We never did have a crazed gunman. Just a bomb threat a few years later that was a pipe and wires.

Sorry, but this had me giggling a bit. Why on earth do you call a government agency...when they can most likely TRACK YOU DOWN?!

I don't know about the laws where you live, but where I live I would be legally obligated to report the child abuse. If they fired me for reporting it, they would be breaking the law, and I would be breaking the law if I didn't report it!

Here, professionals are obligated to report any suspicion of child abuse immediately.

Down here, that obligation only applies to people who work with children on a regular basis. That also extends to volunteers and student teachers (I had to sit through 8 hours of training on this before my placement. The guy was cool though in that he let anyone leave the room if they were uncomfortable for whatever reason. I managed to make it through about 3/4 of the day and only had to rush out for about 10 minutes while he was talking about sexual assault). My little sister has to do this because she's the leader for her Joey mob and my mother has also had to do it because she's a wardrobe lady for Adelaide Gang Show.

[thansal]

I always knew call center work could be hell, but I never even THOUGHT along these lines. All I can say is huge amounts of thanks for doing everything you did there.