In a viral new TikTok, a call center worker deals with an angry customer the day after Christmas who is upset the company was closed for the holiday.
In the video, content creator and employee Ashley Willams (@heyslim498) tries to calmly address the situation and assist the disgruntled caller.
“I’m trying to figure out if you’re calling about us being closed yesterday, or do you have a situation today that you're calling about,” Williams asks the customer over the phone. “If you’re calling about us being closed on Christmas, I have no control over that.”
Williams goes on to tell the customer the company sent out “worldwide notifications” of their Christmas closing date via text, email, and a physical letter to the homes of all of their customers on December 18.
“I really don’t want us to keep going back and forth about Christmas,” Williams says. “Today’s the 26th, it’s a new day, we’re back on regular hours. How can I help you today?”
As Williams is finally able to redirect the call for the customer, the video’s text overlay reads, “I just didn’t have the time today, because I couldn’t believe she was really mad at me over a decision that was made by corporate.”
The video had over 718,000 views as of Saturday morning.
The Daily Dot has previously reported on William’s videos chronicling her experiences as a call center worker. The content creator recently spoke of the difficulties call center workers face daily as she dealt with an "escalation call" (customer calls transferred from a junior agent to a senior agent) before 9am.
In the comments on William’s latest video, viewers shared their own sentiments about working in the customer service industry and dealing with frustrated callers.
“Having to toddler talk to adults is exhausting,” one user wrote.
“Is it not common knowledge that most companies close for Christmas?” a second viewer chimed in.
“I had someone say ‘it’s a shame you have to work today on Christmas Eve’… like sis I have to work because of you?” shared another user.
“The way I would’ve calmly hung up because why are you mad at me about something I have no control over?” came a fourth response.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ashley Williams via email for more information.
