The Customer Isn't Always Right Anymore

I think I've been noticing the trend of people in customer service being burned out or just enjoying being an anonymous voice on the other end of a phone line so they can be rude without fear of someone climbing over a counter and grabbing them by the throat. Just yesterday my mom got a call saying her debit card information had been stolen and to please call this toll free number to confirm this strange account activity. Mom waso out of town, so I took the message. First thing I did was go online to check that phone number. About half the of the postings I read said it was a scam phone number, and the other half said it was a legitimate number for the bank. Great - typical internet help. I call the bank's official toll free number and get an automated system that doesn't let me select any button to talk to a human being. My next step was to call the local branch. I tell the girl what's going on and that I'd like to verify the toll free number the caller gave me. She said, "Well, it sounds like it might be one of our numbers." Way to check something out for me, lady. I asked if she had a list of number somewhere she could check. "Not here," she said. It was obvious she didn't want to get up out of her chair and look for one or ask anyone else, so I asked her if there was another number I could call. "You can call our main toll free number." Well, I had tried that and could not get a person on the line. When I told her about this, she insisted that I could get a person, I just had to listen to the entire recording. It took all I could not to call her a moron. Instead I kurtly said, "I did listen to the entire recording and there is no such prompt, but I will call it again and see if I can find a way to get in touch with someone who can help me." When I called the number and listened again, I still didn't get a prompt for speaking to a customer service representative, so I improvised and pretended I wanted to open an account. Once that friendly voice was on the line, she verified the phone number for me and I let my mom know what was going on. Mom's information did get stolen but the bank stopped the thieves from draining her account, thank goodness! So, all is well and all it cost me was some frustration. I wonder if you can sue someone for driving you to drink.