Cis brother was denied service because they thought he was a woman

[Adam (birkin)]

I want to share this story with all of you, it definitely made me feel better about the rare time I get misgendered now. My brother is often mistaken for a woman on the phone and in drive-throughs, but we always laugh it off.

So the other day my brother calls to cancel his credit card. The guy on the other end asks security questions, and then goes "um...we can't do this service over the phone, you'll need to go to a branch." Brother (henceforth known as B) goes "well why did you ask my security questions? I said straight up that I wanted to cancel the card and now you say you can't do it?" And the guy goes "well, I tried, but it didn't work." And B goes "so now you're lying to me?"

Bank guy: You'll need to go to a branch and show two pieces of ID.
B: ...why? Tell me, is it my voice? I know it's high. Not convincing enough for you? I answered all my questions, I don't know what further measures I can take!
Bank guy: I'm speaking a woman right now.
B: Well last time I checked, I had f* balls between my legs!
Bank guy: I'm disconnecting the call.
B: Why don't you forward me to your manager?

They did exchange some other colourful pleasantries, but B was too mad to talk to the manager and hung up. So he goes to the branch today (I'm with him and I see this whole thing). He goes to the teller to cancel his card and she says he has to go through the phone. He said "well I tried..." and tells her the story. He said the guy told him he made a note on his file, so she looks it up, and it says "Female called in asking to cancel card."

So the teller calls the credit card people for us, and she must have been talking to the same guy, cause she said twice "well, uh, I can see why you thought that...but...it's not the case." Finally they cancel the card. My brother said "sorry if I came off as rude when I told you the story, I was just mad!" and she says "I'd probably be the same if that happened to me."

I just laughed the whole time. My brother is about a foot taller than I am, he's got a dark beard shadow, and in person, you'd have to be insane to think he was a woman. But voicewise...well, let's just say if he was MTF, he'd have no voice work to do.

[MadeleineG]

That's a great anecdote.

Now half the site is jealous of your brother.

Reminds me of the time I was accused of being FtM.

[Sarah Rose]

That's a great anecdote.

Now half the site is jealous of your brother.

Reminds me of the time I was accused of being FtM.

haha, yeah I was about to say I'm jealous..

That being said I've been called "ma'am" over the phone before..... so idk maybe I don't have to change much?

[amZo]

That's a great anecdote.

Now half the site is jealous of your brother.

Reminds me of the time I was accused of being FtM.

Ya, I pretty much hate him... 

[Ms Grace]

I once worked in an office where one of the guys was frequently misgendered over the phone as female. Sadly it wasn't me, I was very jealous of him...I knew he was really self-conscious about it. Other than the voice he presented as very masculine.

[Adam (birkin)]

Lol! Sorry for any unintentionally invoked jealousy.

Another time this guy was about to drop off a package, and he said to my brother over the phone "OK gorgeous, I'll be right there." Walks up to my brother's office and he's sitting there with this huge smile on his face, the guy goes "...did I talk to you over the phone?" "Yep."

[amZo]

Lol! Sorry for any unintentionally invoked jealousy.

Another time this guy was about to drop off a package, and he said to my brother over the phone "OK gorgeous, I'll be right there." Walks up to my brother's office and he's sitting there with this huge smile on his face, the guy goes "...did I talk to you over the phone?" "Yep."

LOL.

The delivery guy probably had to go kill a few deer or perhaps a grizzly to get over that one... 

[Arch]

Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode with the "high talker."

[Jessika Lin]

Lol! Sorry for any unintentionally invoked jealousy.

Another time this guy was about to drop off a package, and he said to my brother over the phone "OK gorgeous, I'll be right there." Walks up to my brother's office and he's sitting there with this huge smile on his face, the guy goes "...did I talk to you over the phone?" "Yep."

*Dies laughing*

[Adam (birkin)]

We get some pretty good laughs out of what his voice does for him. When he gets "sir" at the drive throughs, we're genuinely shocked.

[Sydney_NYC]

My wife had a similar problem canceling one of her credit cards years ago. Her legal name is more commonly a male name and she sounds more like a 11 year old girl on the phone. She was told that her that she needed to put her mommy or daddy on the phone. She was beyond upset. I had to get on the phone and clear it up. I spoke to the customer service manager what happened and they became very apologetic all of a sudden. My voice was rather androgynous on the phone even before I started transitioning.

[ThePhoenix]

Speaking as someone who has had very similar experiences, let me just say that it is funny and amusing until the 10th time the customer service reps refuse to help you, deny you access to your own accounts, and accuse you of trying to steal your own identity.   

[Bardoux]

I work on the phones and on occasion i've had to repeat the persons name and title a few times to clarify they heard right. Most of the time they just misheard, laugh and get the person requested. There are however a few times were that hasn't been the case though and they get rather annoyed after i ask more than once. I've also had more than a few callers sounding like they're in their teens.

I was crying with laughter when a new caller had from the sounds of it a young boy pick up the phone. She requested to speak to Mrs so and so, to which the boy replied that he was here. He hounded her throughout the call with random questions and random insults that she misheard for questions. Finally the boy announced this was all ******* and put the phone down lol.

[Jerri]

LOL this is funny, and yes I am jelous... I am just starting to have people ask to talk to Jerri when they call as my work ID still has me pegged as a boy for a few more days, it cracks me up to listen them hesitate when i reply this is her. the voice has been a very hard project for me, very much mid range male but slowly coming along, will be a work in progress for a bit for me. good thread I am looking forward to other stories about mis id over the phone and then peeps seeing who they have been talking to.

Jerri

[KarynMcD]

I get ma'amed on the phone all the time. The funny part is when I tell them my very male sounding name, they apologize and say "I'm sorry sir" and then they continue to ma'am me after that.

[lisarenee]

I wish I had a more feminine voice. I had the opposite problem from 16 (when my voice dropped) to 21 (when I started developing facial hair). I used to be mistaken for a girl until I would speak. My voice is is my biggest issue in passing.