I am sure there are many men out there who have voices that sound like one of a woman's when talking on the phone. I'm also certain that while some might take it to heart, others will definitely laugh it off for its no big deal. In my situation, I had always coped with the insecurity of being called ma'am on the phone by playing along with it just to mess with whoever was on the other line.
However, six years ago, I was the one who caught the last laugh at the expense of Wells Fargo mistaking me for a woman over the phone and then proceeded to block my credit card.
It was my freshman year of school at Berklee College of Music. One night my credit card declined at a restaurant, so I decided to check online to see what the deal was. Low and behold, the internet decided to be a bitch that day and not work, so calling Wells Fargo customer service was my only option and last resort. Once I had called, the conversation started off normal as it should have. Then, things just started to fall apart very quickly and painfully the moment I asked about the balance on my account.
The banker on the other line had asked me "Is this Brett?"
I responded: "Yes. Why?"
And then the conversation proceeded to the banker telling me that it did not sound like "Brett" I had responded by saying "If you truly think that I'm not a boy, then you are wrong."
From that point on, the banker had put a hold on my account and told me to go into a Wells Fargo branch and prove my identity.
And by proving my identity, of course, they meant to go to the bank, pull down my pants and prove my manhood. Unfortunately, given that there were no Wells Fargo branches in Boston, it was impossible for me to go into any branch. Of course, that did not matter to Wells Fargo as I kept calling back and kept getting the same unfortunate answer: "You need to prove your identity or we cannot unblock your card."
Ultimately, thanks to a longtime friend and banker at Wells Fargo, I was able to "prove" myself over the phone. Of course, I had to wait three weeks under stress and shame, but it was no big deal given that they were just caring for my safety, no?
Even as I am writing this, I can feel certain emotions of anger, but to dwell on them would be counterproductive AF. I am honestly just writing this article to show that discrimination can occur even when one is not face-to-face. In the banker's eyes, a boy should sound like a boy, and a girl should sound like a girl. In my eyes, I call it plain stupid.
