The “Deceased” Button: How One Call Center Worker Turned Rude Customers Into Credit Card Zombies
If you’ve ever felt your blood boil at a cold call during dinner, you’re not alone. But what if your angry outburst landed you on the “deceased” list—according to your credit card company? That’s the deliciously petty tale shared by u/BlueRoyAndDVD on Reddit’s r/PettyRevenge, where a single forbidden button click became the ultimate “goodbye” to rude customers. But was it justice served cold—or did it just create credit card zombies?
Let’s dig into the hilariously dark side of call center work, explore the wild revenge tactics that telemarketers wield, and answer the burning question: does being rude to a stranger ever pay off?
The Life of a Cold Caller: Dinner Interruptions & Death Threats
Picture this: you’re young, broke, and working an evening shift at a major credit card company. Your job? Cold call customers and try to sell them services that are, at best, mediocre. At worst? Downright predatory.
As u/BlueRoyAndDVD recalls, “Being reasonable humans, they typically did not enjoy this.” Understandable. No one likes their spaghetti interrupted by a stranger pitching credit protection plans. But what most people don’t realize is that behind every call is a real person—often just trying to pay the rent. The abuse dished out can range from annoyed sighs to full-on “occasional death threats.” (Seriously, who threatens to kill a telemarketer? Yikes.)
The community rallied around this shared misery. As u/lakas76 reminisced, “I lasted one week there. I hated that job. I’m not good with people being pissed at me for no reason… If they just said please put me on your do not call list, I did and hung up.” It’s a sentiment echoed by many: it’s an awful job, and the real villains are the corporate overlords setting these policies—not the folks on the phone.
Petty Revenge: The Mysterious “Deceased” Button
Now, here’s where things take a turn for the undead. After enduring one too many verbal beatdowns, our protagonist discovered a forbidden fruit: a call option labeled “deceased.” Officially, they were warned in training not to use it. Unofficially? It was the nuclear option for especially nasty customers. Click it, and—poof!—the account holder is marked as dead in the system.
“I was just making sure no other coworkers would have to deal with these assholes anymore,” writes OP. But what did that really do? While the original poster suspects it “probably caused a hell of a situation for the account holder,” the real impact is hazy. Did their statements stop? Did collections go haywire? Did some poor customer service agent have to explain to an irate, very-much-alive account holder why they’d been digitally buried?
The community had thoughts. u/Certain-Singer-9625 quipped, “The moment you hung up the phone and pressed that ‘deceased’ button, those people dropped over dead.” If only it were that easy! Meanwhile, u/chartyourway pointed out, “What kind of petty revenge is this if you don’t even know what your actions did and how it affected anyone?” Fair point—sometimes revenge is more about the satisfaction than the result.
Sympathy for the Devil (or, Why You Should Be Nice to Call Center Workers)
One major thread running through the comments: empathy for the people forced to make these calls. As u/nyehu09 wisely put it, “It’s not wrong to feel angry, but it’s wrong to direct that anger at someone who doesn’t even have control over what you’re angry about.” Many shared their own experiences, both as callers and as customers, learning that a little kindness goes a long way.
Even OP chimed in, reflecting on how their perspective has changed: “Having been on both sides it’s easier to direct the rage appropriately… Mostly just vile remarks and a TON of getting hung up on.” And while some customers were pleasant—simply requesting the DNC (Do Not Call) list—most took their frustrations out on the messenger.
The moral? Policies may suck, but the person on the other end is just doing their job. As one commenter, u/curlyq9702, noted, “If [they] were decent to me, I went out of my way to be nice. If they weren’t… well, I put notes that they were difficult & maybe add them to the DNC list.” Sometimes, a little patience spares you from being “deceased”—or worse, getting even more calls.
The Petty Revenge Hall of Fame (and Its Many Members)
Turns out, marking rude customers for telemarketer purgatory is practically a call center tradition. One commenter gleefully confessed to marking screamers as “interested” so their numbers got passed around to every branch: “I regret nothing.” Another admitted to signing up particularly awful people for unwanted magazine subscriptions. If you’re ever tempted to unload on a caller, just know: revenge in the call center world can be creative, enduring, and a little bit evil.
But it’s not all doom and pettiness. Many commenters, like u/DataAdvanced and u/curlyq9702, pointed out how much better things have become. Newer call centers block hostile customers and even file police reports for serious threats. Progress, one petty revenge at a time.
Conclusion: Be Kind—Or Risk Becoming a Zombie in the System
So what’s the takeaway from this saga of undead account holders and call center payback? Maybe it’s this: you never really know what button someone has access to—or what kind of day they’re having. Next time you get a call at dinner, remember: the person on the other end is just trying to survive, not ruin your meal.
If you’ve got your own call center horror story (or petty revenge tale), drop it in the comments! Have you ever been tempted to push the “deceased” button? Or maybe you’ve been marked as a zombie and lived to tell the tale. Let’s hear your best (or worst) customer service moments—and, as always, may your credit card never mistake you for the living dead.
Original Reddit Post: Enjoy being zombies, jerks