Rude ‘know-it-all’ customer lectured a cold-caller for 10 minutes — until the salesman’s unexpected goodbye hit like a gut punch
Salesmen often face rudeness from customers, putting their patience to the test with every call. A Reddit user who goes by u/Rantamplan began his career working as a Sales Development Representative. Since the job required him to deal with many customers through cold calls, unpleasant interactions were common. Recalling a particular instance, he revealed how he shut a man down after being lectured with a hint of "politeness." His gut-punching goodbye left the customer dumbstruck. Sharing the story on Friday, February 6, 2026, the Reddit user wrote that his response made the person "die inside."
The Reddit user worked as a Sales Development Representative for B2B companies. This required him to cold-call people. One day, he got on a call with a man who was very rude to him. "Despite his rude words, he had this overly polite and overconfident tone that implies he considers himself well above you," he wrote. The man kept lecturing the salesman about his wisdom for over 5–10 minutes, which was longer than his usual cold calls. After the chat, when the man was about to say "goodbye," the salesman decided to end the call with a gut-punching response. While the customer was expecting a rude response, the Reddit user surprised him by thanking him. "Thanks a lot for your words, you have been the kindest person I spoke to so far," the representative said. The customer's voice trembled upon hearing this.
He also added, "Yeah, thanks a lot, you dedicated 10 minutes to speak to me and never yelled like other people usually do." As the man was caught off-guard by his reply, the salesman realized that he was "dying inside." He then broke the silence by throwing another jab, "And what you said you do?" Soon after the post gained traction, many people reacted to the Reddit user's "kind response." u/uCannoTUnseEThiS expressed, "Haha, this is brilliant! Sometimes, the best revenge is making them realize how terrible they've been without actually telling them. Well played commander!"
u/redhairdgal4 recounted, "I had an elderly patient get really upset with me over a 'timed draw,' which means a blood draw is set up at certain intervals throughout the day. He complained and moaned. When I was finished, I thanked him. He said, 'What are you thanking me for?' I said, 'Well, you're the nicest person I've met all day. I hope they discharge you so I can see you tomorrow.'" u/Disastrous-Media9505 mentioned, "As an ex-telemarketer who used to do cold calls to businesses to ask if we could do a quote for cleaning for them, I learned that quickly. Kindness throws them off so much easier than being rude."