A TikTok user named Gabe posted about a customer who became rude after he refused to reset her email password, and the post has drawn more than 138,000 views and 180 comments. Gabe, who posts as @gabectomy, says the customer complained when he suggested she should remember her own password, arguing she wasn’t born in the generation that used email.
Gabe told the customer she was the generation that invented email. She replied that it was unprofessional and asked to speak to a manager. Gabe said he was the manager, and that the whole exchange had become tense because she had been disrespectful for the last 25 minutes of their interaction.
Gabe’s Response to the Manager Demand
Gabe explained that the store couldn’t help with an email password that had nothing to do with phone service. He said he was willing to reset it as a courtesy, but the customer’s tone had crossed a line.
“She looks at me, she goes, ‘It’s an email on my phone. Obviously you cover that. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to get you to do your job,'” Gabe recalled the customer saying.
Gabe pushed back. He reminded the customer that the store only handles phones and phone service, and that helping with unrelated passwords was a courtesy that depended on mutual respect.
“We only do that as a courtesy. And you have not been very courteous,” Gabe said. He added that if she wanted to belittle someone else, she could take it elsewhere.
What Commenters Said
Users shared their own customer service stories in response to Gabe’s video. One commenter compared fixing broken sunglasses to fixing an email problem: neither is the store’s job.
“As someone who works in customer service… I hate that stories like these are almost always true,” another wrote.
Several commenters argued that age is not an excuse for not knowing how to use technology. One user noted that the internet and email have been around for decades, and that older adults have had plenty of time to learn.
“I can’t stand the argument that someone doesn’t know technology because they are old. That’s not a valid excuse to me,” another wrote.
The Limits of the Account
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify Gabe’s account of the interaction or the customer’s statements. The details come solely from Gabe’s TikTok video.
A Small Store’s Limits
Gabe noted that because it was a small store, he couldn’t pass the customer off to someone else.
The video has drawn attention because Gabe chose to respond to rudeness with honesty rather than silence. He treated the customer with the same level of respect she was giving him, and he made that trade explicit.
Timeline of the Encounter
| Event | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer complaint | Expected him to reset an email password |
| Gabe’s comeback | Called her ‘the generation that invented email’ |
| Manager demand | Said he was the manager |
| Customer’s final demand | Asked to speak to someone else |
| Gabe’s reply | Said it wasn’t possible |
Source material: “TikToker Says Customer Became Rude After He Refused to Reset Her Email Password: ‘You Have Not Been Very Courteous’,” The Daily Dot.
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