Workers for call support lines can face a range of issues. Customers may be abusive or may simply not be able to articulate their problems well, leading to agents spending hours on the phone just to diagnose the problem.
One such call center worker was TikTok user Marissa (@flaneurflaneuring), who recounted a time in which she worked at a call center that was open 24/7 year-round.
One year, Marissa was starting work on Christmas Eve when she saw that a caller had been waiting on hold for 3 hours, as the previous employee had gotten off work several hours prior. Due to the holiday, they had a brief period where no one was monitoring the lines. Upon entering the call, Marissa says the person on the other end began screaming.
Her video remembering the experience has garnered over 2.3 million views since it was posted Saturday.
@flaneurflaneuring I kinda wish I had asked her how to make jam to be honest, seems like a useful skill to have in your back pocket. Also I have about 2 diet cokes a day, sorry to that lasy.🎄☎️🧁#storytime #callcenter #customerservice ♬ original sound – Marissa
In response to the customer’s screams, Marissa recoiled and asked if there was anything she could do to help. The caller’s demeanor immediately changed, explaining that she was “just sick of waiting.”
Despite the fact that the call center was focused on ticket sales, Marissa claims that the caller told her about the supposed dangers of diet soda, her recent hobbies (which included jam-making), the weather in California, and an Australian Pink Floyd cover band.
When Marissa was finally able to get the customer to say what they needed help with, the caller revealed that she was trying to make a Christmas fruit cake and needed help caramelizing ginger. Despite that not falling under the call center’s focus on ticket sales, Marissa decided to help the woman, pulling up a YouTube video of the process and talking her through it.
The resultant call took about 2 hours, she says.
“I kinda wish I had asked her how to make jam to be honest,” Marissa writes in the caption. “seems like a useful skill to have in your back pocket.”
In the comments section, users shared their own experiences from time spent working in call centers.
“I’ve worked in a call center before and had elderly people call just to chat,” wrote a user. “I enjoyed those calls cause I didn’t have to take the angry calls.”
“I work for a call center and this happens more than you’d think,” echoed another. “Sometimes they’re my fav calls though.”
“I worked at a CC call center, and had a dude play me an hour and half harmonica concert because i told him his due date,” recalled a third.
“when i worked at amazon they told us not to stay on the phone longer necessary after i spent an hour listening to a woman talk about her dog,” claimed a further TikToker.
Some users speculated as to why the woman called in the first place.
“Maybe she just wanted someone to talk to on Christmas,” explained a commenter.
“She was lonely,” agreed a second. “I love that you were there for her.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Marissa via Instagram direct message.
