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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Realistic_Sorbet2826 on 2024-09-21 17:11:02+00:00.

About a dozen years ago, I was working in a banking call center. The company was informed of some governmental change that required us to have a tax ID number for everyone with our business credit card account and we had some ridiculously short timeframe to be in compliance. There were tens of thousands of accounts with this ID missing (it hadn’t been previously required).

A big group of us were given lists of customers and told to call them and ask for the tax ID number. If they had it, we added it to the account and all was well. If they didn’t have it, we were to switch them to a consumer (non-business) card. If they didn’t want that, we’d cancel on the spot. Due to the short timeframe for compliance, the customer had to tell us on the call which they preferred. Another nifty caveat was that were were only making TWO calls and were not leaving messages (we couldn’t drag this out waiting for people to eventually call us back). If we got the person on the first call, we were done. If we still didn’t get them on the second call either, the account was auto cancelled.

This sounds like a horrible job to do, but it was actually going really well. 99% of the people I called were happy to comply or switch accounts. Then I called Karen.

The phone rang and rang and I was about to hang up when I heard that pause and double ring that tells you the call was forwarded, so I waited.

Karen: WHAT?!! (I could hear background noise like she was out in public)

Me: Hi, this is Jane Doe with XXX bank and -

Karen: Why the F%#k are you calling my cell phone?! Are you F%#*ing stupid? I’ve told you people to NEVER call this number!

Me: I didn’t, the call was –

Karen: OMG, now you’re going to LIE to me? Pay attention, NEVER CALL ME AGAIN! I use your credit card for EVERYTHING and pay it, so you have NO reason to call me! Got it!?

Me: Yes, but -

Phone disconnects.

Malicious compliance kicks off. Okay, so I spoke to you (maybe a dozen words), you didn’t provide your tax ID, and I can’t call you back because you said to NEVER do that. Next button? “Cancel” Notes? “Customer did not provide the tax ID and demanded we never call her again.” I really, really, really hope she was out shopping and had fun when her card was declined at the next store.