I’m a 19 year old male, and I’ve been working at a call center since I started college, which was around the time I turned 18. The job is easy, especially the day-shift. I call doctors offices, ask them if they take a certain insurance and get a few appointment dates and that’s really all, I can even play on my switch while the numbers dialing on our computer. The only real shitty part is being in the office, I have to just commute back and forth and sometimes I really wish I didn’t have to leave my house; so, I decided one day to ask about going remote. It was an easy process, just download the application we used to go through the number list and record answers, get a vpn and boom. I was able to work at home now, and for the first few weeks it was simple. 9 to 5, monday to friday, classes after work. Over a weekend though I got an email from my boss:
Dear Anon,
One of our dialers for the weekend shift quit unexpectedly, we need you to work this sunday, can you do that?
Best Regards, Delilah
I’m not a fan of night shifts, which is what the weekends are. It’s political surveys, and they suck. People scream at you, will randomly scream out slurs and overall it’s just really unpleasant. I needed the extra cash though so I took up the offer this time.
Now thankfully I didn’t have to actually go into the office, I could do it all from my home as if I was working dayshift. The shift started at 6pm and my first few calls were normal. “Who are you voting for?” “Trump, and that’s all you gotta put down on your survey.” “Sir we need to ask them in the words of the surv-” Click. I worked through the phone list, people hung up, others answered, some were pleasant and others weren’t. Things got weird though at around 8:30, I dialed like normal and the phone number wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. A mans voice answered the intro and his voice didn’t seem like that of someone who was young, or at least not THAT young.
“So, what you want me to answer questions for some guy who says he’s in Utah?” He asked, in a snarky tone. I heard this tone many times over during my calls, he wasn’t going to do the survey and he was only going to keep me on the line to waste my time.
“Yes sir, on behalf of [REDACTED].”
“Uh huh. So what’s your first question.”
“Are you currently living in Georgia?”
“No, I live in Michigan.”
“I see, sorry for bo-”
“Haha, I’m just fucking with you. I’m in Georgia.”
I didn’t find it very funny, and at the time I just shrugged it off as a slip up and continued.
“Alright sir, and what year were you born?”
“1992.” He said, landing him in his thirties.
“Thank you sir, and what is your ethnicity?”
The phone on the other line slammed down. He hung up the phone, of course he did. I sighed and just went to redial. Things went normally once again for another hour or so and after finishing the survey I decided to take my ten minute break. I grabbed my phone and went over to my bathroom when all of a sudden it began to ring. I looked down and it showed an unknown number, though it was oddly familiar; I was curious so I picked up.
“Hello?” I asked the unknown number.
“Hello.” The familiar voice cooed. “You should really stop calling random people.” It was the man from an hour ago, now talking to me on my personal phone. I was trembling as I attempted to respond.
“How… did you get my number?”
“You have a crappy vpn.”
He hung up on me, and as if it was muscle memory I ran from window to window, door to door, making sure everything was locked up. I went to the living room window, the blinds drawn to the side and could just make out a large black truck on my street. In the darkness it was hard to see but I could just barely make out the Michigan license plate it had. Nobody seemed to be inside of it, and as I closed the blind I heard a knock on the door. I rushed over to my kitchen, rustling through my silverware drawer to grab a knife. The knocks came again, louder this time. So loud that it felt like it shook my entire house. I whimpered, holding the knife close to me.
“Th… The Police are on their way!” I screamed out, and the knocking suddenly came to a stop, followed by the sound of footsteps making their getaway.
I couldn’t sleep after this, and I told my shift lead what had occurred. She told me she’ll be calling the vpn company we have a contract with and getting things cleared up, and in the meantime I’ve moved to a new place, far away from the border of Michigan, and I’m currently looking for a new place of employment.