Morbid Comedy
Never in my entire career as a Customer service representative have I experienced such a mortifying moment. It's been two weeks since I started working in this 'call center'. We've been answering for a top power tools company which sells items from miniscule electric screwdrivers to large bulldozers. It's not much, taking calls and answering questions about the company's equipment... It's not much, that is, until last night...
Graveyard shift as usual. Everything was the usual; thin, tired looking fellow employees, the buzz of voices speaking English far from the Filipino accent. I just finished my third call with that 'thank you for calling' line when it started. It was a man's voice on the other end of the line. For someone with a problem with the equipment he was handling (and the fact that he's getting quite frustrated, according to him), he had a pretty calm and cheerful voice. He was asking about a chainsaw he bought; he has no idea why on earth it wouldn't work.
"I have no idea why on earth it wouldn't work, sir."
"Please hold." I replied.
"Thanks" He said
Right after he said 'thanks' there was a muffled scream on the background; no, not a scream more like a whimper. It was a woman's voice. I failed to catch what it said. I dismissed my curiosity by convincing myself that it was just my imagination, considering this hour of night.
After a few moments, I got back to him and told him what was to be done. He followed my instructions and, to his surprise, his chainsaw started to whir.
"Well, what do you know! It works" He said in the same tone of voice.
"Thanks" he said again, but this time, there was a sinister laugh trailing after his word of gratitude. His chainsaw started to whir loudly now, but just behind all the noise, there came the woman's voice again. This time, I caught the words:
"Oh God!! Please no!! Oh, God no!! Please, just let me go!! God!! No!! Please, no!!"
The woman was wailing at the top of her voice. The caller, maybe thinking that I heard her screams, lied with a "oh, it's just the television, don't worry about that". Then, there goes the woman again:
"No!! Please, help me!! Help me!! HELP ME!! IT'S NO TELEVISION!!"
Then and there, it was confirmed; there DEFENITELY is something fishy going on. I braved to ask the caller if there was something wrong. There was nothing but the wailing and the ever getting louder sound of the chainsaw for a long moment. I asked again…
"Sir?"
"Oh, nothing wrong, sir! In fact, you just helped me with my problem, thanks for your help. Bye!"
All that, almost drowned, by the chainsaw revving and a woman screaming ever louder than before with pleas of "DON'T HURT ME!!! PLEASE GOD NO!! DON'T KILL MEEEEE!!!"
Mortified, I ended the call and tried burying the memory of it all...