Call Center Employees
Call center employees have to deal with all kinds of requests completely outside of their job description. This sentiment is even more true for non-emergency line employees. The majority of people don’t know about the non-emergency line in their city and for obvious reasons, the people that do really seem to abuse it. Most of the time, these calls don’t even require the assistance of the non-emergency line, most of these people just want someone to complain to.
Our friend, “Greg,” works for the non-emergency line in his city. Entitled people in his city were well aware of the non-emergency line and made good use of it. As a result, Greg was a veteran when it came to shutting down callers who called out of pettiness rather than necessity.
With this being said, the entitlement of some callers still shocked him. Even for people who had the wherewithal to call the non-emergency line as opposed to wasting the time of the emergency call center operators, they still had some outrageous complaints they expected Greg to be able to solve. Despite his experience, there was one issue Greg still couldn’t comprehend people finding necessary to call the emergency line for.
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“No, It’s Where She Parks”
One day, Greg saw a call coming through and answered, “Hello, non-emergency line, how may I help you?”
What sounded like an elderly voice on the other end responded, “Hello, I’d like to report a car blocking my daughter’s parking space,” then proceeded to rant about cars blocking the spots on her street.
This was a common thing Greg handled so in order to break up the rant, he asked, “Is it a car blocking your driveway?”
She responded, “Yes.”
To clarify, Greg asked, “Is the car in the driveway itself or is it on the street blocking the entrance?”
She corrected him, “No, it’s on the street, blocking my front door.”
Confused at this point, Greg asked, “Is it parked on the sidewalk outside your house?”
She responded, “No, it’s blocking my daughter’s car.”
Having no idea what exactly the issue was, Greg asked, “So, it’s double-parked?”
She responded, “No, it’s where she parks.”
After further clarification, Greg realized she was calling because someone had parked in the legal spot in front of her house where her daughter usually parked. The car wasn’t breaking any laws and they were parked in a perfectly legal spot. The woman was calling because her daughter couldn’t conveniently park right in front of her house for one day.
Ma’am, I don’t think this is a reason to call the non-emergency line. Believe me, I wish I could call the authorities when I have to walk farther to carry my groceries to my apartment, but that’s not how life works. How can people be so out of touch to the point they feel entitled to a public parking spot? Even worse, this lady probably genuinely expects Greg to solve this issue for her. I have a feeling this isn’t going to work out in her favor.
When Greg explained this to her, she said, “But it has out-of-state plates. Parking in this neighborhood isn’t good. My daughter will have to park around the corner and walk farther than usual. This driver from out of state shouldn’t be able to park here.”
Greg actually had to explain the concept of open parking to quite a few callers. He responded, “I understand it’s frustrating, ma’am. Unfortunately, I can’t make a police report about a car legally parked on the street just because your daughter wants to park in front of the house. It doesn’t matter if it’s from out of state.”
She eventually grew frustrated and hung up, ranting about how Greg was “useless.” He thought she would be the only caller about parking frustrations on this day, but little did he know.
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Illegal Parking
Greg received a call later on the same day. He answered with the usual, “Hello, non-emergency line, how may I help you?”
A man’s voice immediately began ranting, “This guy has four cars he leaves parked on this street and it takes up space. He always moves them from one side of the street to the other during street cleaning hours and then moves them back. He double-parks a lot and blocks hydrants and bus stops. We’re taxpayers and it’s really inconvenient for people who need to park here to go to work.”
I completely see how this is frustrating but what does referencing being a taxpayer do for this argument? Everyone with a job is technically a “taxpayer.” If anything, the guy with four cars probably has to pay more taxes than the guy making the phone call. With this being said, the guy is still completely obnoxious for taking up four street parking spots with his cars.
Greg immediately knew he couldn’t take a report for an abandoned vehicle because clearly the vehicles weren’t abandoned. Cars could be reported as abandoned if they were seen in the same spot without moving for over two weeks, but clearly, the man in question had his bases covered.
Greg asked, “Okay, is he double-parked, blocking a bus station or fire hydrant, or in violation of street cleaning rules right now?”
The man sheepishly responded, “No, not right now.”
Greg said, “Unfortunately, if he’s not doing it right now, I can’t take a report on it. You should call back next time you see him doing something like that.”
The man pleaded, “But he does it a lot and on top of that, he has out-of-state or no plate at all on his cars. Some tags are also expired.”
Greg explained he can’t report a car without a license plate unless it’s abandoned, which again, these cars obviously were not. He also explained he can’t report expired tags as this was something traffic officers enforced on cars being driven on the road.
The man repeated, “But the plates are from out of state.”
At this point, Greg muted his microphone.
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“But The Plates Are From Hawaii”
Greg took a second to swear at the man through his muted microphone before unmuting himself and using his customer service voice again. Greg repeated himself, “I’m sorry, sir, but again, I can’t file a police report unless the man is actively doing something illegal with one of his vehicles.”
Seeming to ignore this, the man clarified, “But the plates are from Hawaii.”
Again with the out-of-state license plates. I don’t think having out-of-state plates is a crime anywhere. Maybe in states with an obnoxious amount of state pride like Texas? Also, how did the man get his cars here from Hawaii? He could have paid a lot of money to have four cars to take up a solid chunk of the public parking in his neighborhood!
Greg responded, “Sir, the man could have a license plate from Canada, but as long as he isn’t actively doing anything illegal there’s nothing I can do.”
The man grew frustrated and said, “Well, there should be a law against people parking in the street with out-of-state tags.”
I imagine Greg gets a lot of suggestions for new laws from people calling the non-emergency line. I’m sure like the caller, the same type of people who call the non-emergency lines for petty reasons suggest a lot of laws that would seem to really benefit them in their predicament. This exchange completely exemplifies what working in customer service is like at this point. This is the equivalent of giving the Apple store employee tips on what to add to the new iPhone.
Questioning his job choice, Greg responded, “Sir, even if making that a law was a possibility, you wouldn’t do it through the non-emergency line.”
The man asked, “Well, who would I call about this, then?”
Completely over it, Greg said, “Sir, I don’t even know. Maybe your local representative?”
Suddenly, the man exclaimed, “Wait, I see him outside now!”
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Grown-Up Toddlers
Greg asked, “Okay, is he doing anything illegal?”
The man responded, “He’s pulling out his trash cans early!”
This guy is really giving off HOA vibes. If his neighborhood had an HOA they would probably harass the man in question to the point of either selling his cars or moving. Which might not be so bad in this situation? Owning four cars is absolutely obnoxious but again, not a crime. Should it be a crime unless your name is Guy Fieri? I’m willing to hear out arguments.
Greg informed him, “Sir, that’s not a crime.”
The man asked, “What good are you people for?”
Greg responded, “Honestly, I don’t even know, sir.”
The man hung up on him. At this point, Greg realized his job that day had consisted of explaining to grown-up toddlers why they had to share with other people, and just because someone had something they felt belonged to them didn’t mean it was breaking the law. In all of his years working for the non-emergency line, the entitlement of some people never failed to baffle him.
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Thoughts From The Author
Playing devil’s advocate here, I completely understand why the callers were frustrated about parking. Anyone who lives in an area where they are forced to use public parking any time they are trying to get home can identify with this frustration. There is nothing more upsetting than getting home after a long day of work and realizing you have to park way down the street because it feels like someone has personally slighted you by taking your unofficial assigned parking spot. I have to deal with this at my apartment complex all the time but you know what I don’t do, call the non-emergency line to try to report it as a crime. I don’t know who needs to hear this but someone parking in a legal spot you want is not illegal.
Also, I think if one man owns four different cars in a situation where he uses public parking for all of them, you should definitely be able to file a police report against him. Even if he uses one car exclusively for work, there’s no need to exceed more than two cars. The pain of having to move four separate cars every street cleaning day should be enough cause to not own four separate cars. The type of person who feels the need to own four separate cars is probably the same type of person who is constantly outside working on one of the cars in question and tries to stop you to talk about, you guessed it, his cars. In hindsight, Greg probably should have done everything he could to have the guy arrested because he undeniably sucks.
What is it with these people and out-of-state plates? I don’t understand the thought process behind thinking having a certain state plate grants you access to certain parking areas. There are so many people who move somewhere and wait as long as possible to switch their license plates over so these people in question were absolutely just their neighbors trying to park and go home, just like them. What were they expecting Greg to say, “An Alabama plate? The police are on their way right now! Stay in your home. Do not approach them.”
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