I Might Have Made a Woman Cry Today

I finally paid off one of my two credit cards this month. This is a huge goal met. I called to cancel the card today, and wound up getting fiery mad by the end of the conversation. I am normally a very calm and patient person. I don't really give a shit about anything enough to get all that mad about it. This was a rare occasion, and by the end of it I felt really bad for losing my temper.



Not that bad though. I told the lady that I wanted to close my account, and this is how the conversation went:

Her: I'm sorry to hear that, can I ask why?

Me: I don't need the card anymore.

Her: Is there something I can do to improve your service, like a lower rate?

Me:...

Her: I see you only opened this card this year?

Me: I have been trying to pay off all of my credit card debt and now I've done it, so I don't want to have a credit card anymore.

Her: Well you need one for an emergency.

Me: I have another one for that.

Her: Maybe I can give you a better rate.

Me: I just want to close the account.

Her: What rate are you paying now.

Me: I just want to close the account, I'm not interested in keeping this one.

Her: So you must want to pay more. [This is where I start getting pretty angry.]

Me: It's an AMEX card, so there is no rate. I pay it off every month.

Her: Well then you've got an annual fee.

Me: The annual fee is less than monthly finance charges.

Her: But you can do that with any card, just pay it off every month.

Me: [Yelling now] I don't want to argue with you, I just want to close the account.

Her: [Still calm] I'm not arguing with you, I just want to give you a lower rate.

Me: [Yelling a lot] Can you please just close the account so we can end this telephone conversation?

Her: [Sounding a little upset] You'll have to hold.

Me:.......

Me:.......

[After being on hold for about five minutes]

Her: [Sounding even more upset now.] The account is closed. Goodbye.

When I heard how upset she was, I felt awful. I just wanted to close the damned thing, and she backed me into a corner until I got angry. When she tried to get smart with me and insult me by saying "You must want to pay a higher rate," I couldn't take it anymore.



I'm sure she's gotten worse calls though.



[Ed. note: Dad, if you're reading this, I am anxious to hear your take on it]