The Three Towers of Evil

 

The Provocations

Call centres can be very interesting places to observe human interactions. When I have more time for my writing, I will reach back and recount some more stories.

One call centre I worked in featured a trio of middle-aged women known as The Three Towers of Evil. They were good at their jobs, but they bullied other people, gossiped endlessly, and were quite openly bigoted. I got on their bad side, which wasn't a challenge.

First off, they objected to my religious beliefs. Sabbatarian Christians, Muslims, and Hindus were all the same to them. That attitude is so ignorant and wrong on so many levels. No sense even trying to educate people with that mindset.

The second thing I did was get recognized as the top-ranked representative on the same team as the three of them. Ranked second in the call centre. It wasn't such a big deal for me, but it seemed to really rile them up for some reason.

The last thing I did to provoke them was being sociable toward Mohammed when he joined our team. My suggestion that we could include the half dozen Muslims in the call centre in the company barbecue was kind of the last straw. I said that we could get hot dogs prepared according to Islamic law (available at the store across the parking lot), put some foil on a section of the grill, and use a separate fork so that there would be no concerns about cross-contamination. The increased cost would have been very minimal. Besides, I don't eat pork myself, and it would have been nice to eat more than empty buns at the next call centre barbecue.

After that, I became a target for barbs and insults.

The Slights

I wasn't the only victim on the team. I don't have too many problems with insults and all, and I'm not easily intimidated. One of their targets was Eileen. She was the sweet little grandmother working on our team. She wouldn't insult a fly. One of the nicest people you could ever meet. I didn't much like how she was being disrespectfully treated. On the other hand, she did provide me with the best accomplice for the conclusion of this whole thing.

Their behaviour toward me was bad enough that I could have gone to management and made a complaint. I just find that it doesn't really solve the problem. It might drive it underground but you might have to watch your back in the parking lot.

They went so far as to suggest I was a potential terrorist. The groups I associate with have historically been conscientious objectors/pacifists since the American Civil War. I'm not sure whether I subscribe to that, but it illustrates the ridiculousness of the point.

The last straw for me involved them making sure virtually everyone knew that they felt I was too stupid to get the kind of ranking I had. Excuse me, but I get my good stats by being honest and genuinely caring whether I do a good job or not. Intelligence isn't necessarily the most important factor, but I don't think I lack in that department. I found out later that at least one of them had figured out a way to avoid work and cheat the stats sheet at the same time.

We'll see how stupid I am.

Touche Evil Trio

I had a very important non-work-related meeting in the evening after work. The call centre where I worked had a very casual dress code, and I wasn't going to have time to change. So I went to work with dress slacks, shirt, tie, and sweater vest. I looked like I was dressed up for something really important.

At work, I went straight to our sweet team grandmother and asked her to start a little rumour for me. She spread it with great enthusiasm. I worked quietly, pretending to be above it all. It spread like wildfire.

The rumour stated that the department I was working in was going to be closed soon (a well-known fact) and would be replaced by a small team to take care of the remaining files and issues called the Archive Team (total fiction). Of course, management had decided to bypass the usual hiring process and was going to name me as the new supervisor for the new department. Why else would I be at work all dressed up?

Eileen told everyone what a wonderful opportunity that would be for such a deserving person. She sold the story well.

The ringleader of The Three Towers of Evil all but went ballistic. "How dare they offer a position like this without notifying everyone through the proper channels?" If someone hadn't ratted us out, it would have gone to management as an official complaint. Management did find out about it later, though, and laughed their collective heads off.

The three of them didn't bother Eileen and me after that. Not smart enough, eh?