TikToker Says Customer Became Rude After He Refused to Reset Her Email Password: ‘You Have Not Been Very Courteous’

Rude customers are a frustrating but expected part of working in any customer-facing role. While many employees are told to simply deal with difficult customers, some, like TikTok user @gabectomy, would rather give rude customers the same energy in return, as discussed in a recent TikTok video. The post has received more than 138,000 views and 180 comments.

@gabectomy, who goes by Gabe, detailed his experience dealing with a customer who became upset when he tried to help her with an email password.

“Today I had a customer tell me it was unfair that I expected her to remember her email password because she, quote, ‘wasn’t born in the generation that used email.’ I looked at her and I was like, ‘Oh, sweetie, you’re the generation that invented email.’ To which she replied that it was very unprofessional, that I dare assume her age, and that she needed to speak to a manager immediately,” he begins.

However, Gabe said he was actually the manager. He explained that the interaction had already become tense because of the way he says the customer had treated him.

“Had she not been being disrespectful the entire last 25 minutes, we never would have gotten into this situation in the first place. Unfortunately for her, I like to treat people with the same level of respect they’re treating me,” he said.

After Gabe explained to the customer that he was the manager, she demanded to speak to someone else. But because it was a small store, he said that was not possible.

“You’re in a phone carrier store asking somebody to reset an email to a password that has nothing to do with us. I was gonna do it as a courtesy. We have moved past this point. Unless you got actual business that relates to your phone, we’re done here,” he said.

Gabe recalled that the customer continued to argue that the store should help because the email was on her phone.

“She looks at me, she goes, ‘It’s an email on my phone. Obviously you cover that. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to get you to do your job,’” Gabe recalled the customer saying.

He explained again that the store only handles phones and phone service, and that helping customers with unrelated passwords was something employees did as a courtesy.

“We only do that as a courtesy. And you have not been very courteous. I’m sure there’s somebody else in your life you’d like to belittle, so if you wanna take it to them. And make nine comments the entire time, more power to you,” he told her.

His Words Resonated With Many Users in the Comments

Gabe’s story sparked discussion among commenters, with many users sharing their own experiences working in customer service.

“If your sunglasses break while in your car, is it the dealership’s responsibility to fix the sunglasses? No, so it’s the same with email on your phone,” one user said.

“As someone who works in customer service… I hate that stories like these are almost always true,” another commented.

Others pushed back on the idea that being older is an excuse for not knowing how to use technology.

“I can’t stand the argument that someone doesn’t know technology because they are old. That’s not a valid excuse to me. They’ve had longer than me to learn it, so it’s not a good look that they haven’t learned email in the decades it’s been around,” another user wrote.

Some commenters also pointed out that the internet and email have been around for decades, meaning many older adults have had years to become familiar with the technology.

“A lot of people use age as an excuse. Ignoring the internet was invented in 1991,” a user said.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify Gabe’s account of the interaction or the customer’s statements. The details of the encounter are based solely on @gabectomy’s account in his TikTok video.