# Customer servicers, telemarketers, and other phone people, tell us your horror stories.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-servicers-telemarketers-and-other-phone-people-tell-us-your-horror-stories/634927>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [September 17, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-servicers-telemarketers-and-other-phone-people-tell-us-your-horror-stories/634927 "2012-09-17T00:43:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-servicers-telemarketers-and-other-phone-people-tell-us-your-horror-stories/634927/21 "2012-09-17T18:27:02Z")

</div>

And actually, it isn’t part of your job to just blithely accept death threats, and there may be legal grounds to go after your employer for insisting you tolerate them. Most certainly there would be epic levels of liability for your employer if you ever were harmed because of one and they were found to have that sort of attitude, official policy or not.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-servicers-telemarketers-and-other-phone-people-tell-us-your-horror-stories/634927/22 "2012-09-17T23:51:57Z")

</div>

> [@Chimera](#):
>
> Well, the best answer I had when people made physical threats went something like this(with slight pauses between);
> 
> So you’re threatening physical violence.  
> To someone on the phone.  
> Someone a thousand miles away from you.  
> To someone who has all of your personal information.  
> Address, phone number, email address.  
> On a call very likely to be being recorded.
> 
> You’re threatening someone…  
> Who can provide all of this information to the police at the end of this call.
> 
> \<faster\>Well ok sir, if this is the direction you want to take this. Have a nice day. \<click\>

My mom is currently a manager in an IRS taxpayer help line unit. This happens weekly. As soon as someone gets hostile at all, the IRS rep clicks one mouse button, engages recording of call as well as popping up a notice on his/her supervisors computer that allows them to join the call.

The FBI does not smile on threats of violence to IRS buildings.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-servicers-telemarketers-and-other-phone-people-tell-us-your-horror-stories/634927/23 "2012-09-18T00:19:28Z")

</div>

> [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](#):
>
> Yep, I had a call escalated to me and the guy said he was “gonna come down there” and shoot me.
> 
> Ooookay. But, just so’s you know, sir? I can see where you live. And if you think I work in Delaware just because that’s where the bank is headquartered… Well, you’re off by 1600 miles.

Working for an insurance company, I had much the same thing happen. Of course, this was after speaking for about five minutes about the guy’s piece-of-excrement policy, as part of which he’d confirmed his identity and address.

An address 890 kilometres away, but an address nonetheless.

So a quick call to the filth local to him was in order. They said that they’d send someone out to speak to the guy.

He called back an hour later, incredibly indignant that we’d he’d just been visited by the cops… and again threatened to come “down there” and shoot everyone for my daring to get the police involved.

So that got immediately followed by another brief chat with Moonee Ponds’ finest. He didn’t call back again.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-servicers-telemarketers-and-other-phone-people-tell-us-your-horror-stories/634927.md?page=1)