Today, my boss at my new call center job said he'd gotten complaints about me. Apparently I sound "too black" and it's "upsetting" some of our customers. I don't know what that even means, but my boss said I need to "tone it down or we're gonna have some problems". FML
Collection
Black Friday
70% off something you didn't need, a stampede and a cart that crashes at checkout. Thanks, Black Friday.
Today, my coworker and I were swamped with coffee orders. I told him I would "take care of the blacks", and a customer who only heard that sentence screamed at me for several minutes about racism. FML
Today, my boss called me into his office and bitched me out for a good half hour for my attitude to our customers. Apparently I always look pissed off and sound sarcastic. That's just my face at rest. FML
Today, our desks were rearranged. I was seated next to a coworker who spends the entire day on the phone, chatting loudly with his relatives in another country while he works. I complained that it was distracting. Management won't do anything about it and warned me that "my complaints reek of racism." FML
Today, I received a two-page letter/rant from my boss notifying me of my imminent dismissal, based on issues such as me "speaking in a suppressed voice." FML
Today, my boss yelled at me, telling me that I can't answer the phone anymore. Not because I do a bad job, but because a co-worker whined about it being her job. People call her and complain about how rude she is and then ask to talk to me. FML
Today, the guy in the cubicle across from me complained about me to our boss. Apparently, his relatives heard me typing something on his daily 8+ hour call to them, and now don't believe he has his own office. My boss took his side and asked me to type quieter. FML
Today, my boss told me that people from work have been complaining about me. Apparently, I'm not doing part of their jobs for them, and the other manager sometimes does. FML
Today, I overheard my boss and a co-worker talking about me. Apparently when I speak, I slur my words so badly that it sounds like I'm speaking in tongues. According to my boss, "he could be possessed by a demon right now, and we'd never even notice." FML
Today, at my new job at a funeral home, my boss threatened to fire me if I didn't "lighten the hell up" while dealing with our grieving clients. FML
Today, I overheard the guy who hired me talking to one of my managers in hushed tones about me. I'm pretty sure he's going to send me an email soon, saying that my job "probably isn't the right fit" for me, which is part of what I overheard. FML
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Top comments
Sora_McKain 36
That's a bit racist in the first place. And you can't help the way you sound. Your boss is a douche.
Ltsdragons 19
Talk about a weird comment and it wasn't all too kind. You can't control how you sound. Your boss should definitely know that
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Comments (168)
MSbear456 5
What part of the Deep South do you live at?
RedPillSucks 33
racism happens just as much in the north too. they're just more sneaky about it
0o0o0 9
There is no excuse for racism.
pussystank 18
Vintage Texas.
DaggNabbit 8
ok.. your profile picture is going to give me nightmares
skittyskatbrat 19
When you have a job that interacts with the public, you need to have a proper public speaking style, period. If you have a strong accent or are difficult to understand, that's grounds for firing. I am a teacher and I have two very different voices. One I use at home and with family and that is very casual and has a very definite local accent. And one that I use in the classroom and when interacting with colleagues. If I start talking like a hick to my students with axking and y'all and twang, I can expect a pink slip promptly. It's not professional and not appropriate. If you can't sound professional and can't tone it down to a nice, boring, newscaster-type standard proper English voice, then you might not be suited to a call center job. You can't use your regular voice in that job, unless you are lucky enough to have your regional dialect be the very proper, boring, correctly-pronounced Midwest accent. A "universal" voice is a must.
teentee401 37
Why are you assuming he was speaking incorrectly? OP's boss said "black" not "unprofessional."
skittyskatbrat 19
any accent, no matter whether the term describing it is racist or not, is a problem. It has to be a boring proper-English voice. Big FAIL on the interviewer for not making sure the person had a good call-center type voice!!!! It's not a big deal in most jobs, but in a call center? With calls from all over the country? Boring and unaccented is a must.
brwneyes 17
A lot of call center jobs are outsourced anyway so chances are you will be speaking to someone that has an accent. If OP was not speaking in a professional manner then the boss should have said that.
skittle_QUEEN_YO 15
Two things One, you contradicted yourself You said the person has to have a bored ordinary ENGLISH type voice But guess what? There are so many english types of voices! Do you mean one from england or america? Perhaps maybe a canadian aye to the end? There is no one proper english way cause there are so many! Also in my days i have heard many different accents when calling companies in my country! As long as they speak slowly enough and anounciate it should all be okay. Excuse me while I twirl a dinger through my afro and smirk my smirk of victory. Ps. Excuse any Spelling or grammar mistakes typing on a tiny screen is no fun
skittle_QUEEN_YO 15
Wow ya sorry for all my spelling mistakes!
patrickeli 15
No offense to blacks, but maybe he meant "ghetto," and worded it in a politically incorrect way?
engineerosaurus 26
Where, by "politically incorrect", you mean "blatantly wrong".
Sasha_94 13
I stopped reading at "blacks"
Sathane 21
"What problems? You mean the problems your company is going to have once my lawyer hears that we even had this conversation?"
by4x4 4
I think it was more about your word choice then your actual tone.
brwneyes 17
What does "too black" mean? I would have questioned your boss. He needs to be more specific. Tone it down ...your boss sounds like a dumb ass.
RedPillSucks 33
what call center do you work for? The KKK hotline? what kind of customers have this issue
vikky538 29
I know how that feels OP...I got similar comments in a call center job..in Texas ...