Misunderstood

Aaaaaaand it gets worse.

I’m over here doing fine, working hard until my lunch break.  I get a call from a guy who is clearly in a poopy mood to begin with.  I’m going through my spiel, trying to help him out and suddenly he wants to know my name and ID number and says that he has never been treated so poorly.  I tell him my name and ask what upset him and find out that he COMPLETELY misinterpreted what I said. I tried to explain the miscommunication, but he told me I had to take responsibility for the horrible, evil, unhelpful thing I didn’t actually say.  My coworkers around me overheard my side of the conversation and while we all get angry calls like this sometimes, it’s not often that someone wants to report you because they think you were just a blatantly disrespectful shithead that doesn’t want to do their job.  How the hell did it get to that?  What else could I do but apologize for the miscommunication?  At least I said my name and the name of my department proudly, knowing that my boss will back me up.  After he hung up on me, I finished the note for his request, sent it off, and took his name to my boss to let her know what was coming.  What was unavoidable for me, though, was losing my composure in her office.  I must be very close to my period, because I am an emotional mess today.

She promised me it’s okay, that she knows how compassionate I am with the vets and that I would never say anything horrible.  She said he wouldn’t be able to do anything to me, but that’s not what upset me.  I just couldn’t believe how horribly that went.  Taking calls after that was hard, because I was completely unsettled and thrown off my confidence.  George gave me hugs, having overheard the whole thing, and complimented me on my attempts at redirection.  “This is the job,” he said. He reminded me how many of these guys are dealing with PTSD or horrible health problems and that… well, it takes all kinds.

My coworkers were very empathetic and encouraging.  They know I am not someone who is poopy on the phone anyway, and my cubicle neighbors overheard the whole thing.  I am just too emotionally unstable to deal with it all today.  I have reached my quota.  I’m plugging through today, but I see a tall beer in my future.