Creepy customer

TLDR; Worked at a call center, caller told me that they wanted to gather a following of people to start a world changing revolution. Tried to get my personal information. Went so far out of their way to keep talking to me that they created a strange loophole of sorts. Somehow got them on the phone again months later, recognized the sound of my voice and listed the details of our conversation including where I'm from. Odds of it being a coincidence are insanely high and I think they could have been a cult leader trying to recruit me.

So this insanity happened during the trying time that was the last five years I spent as a call center rep for a pretty large cable, internet and cell phone provider. Thankfully I got out right before the plague hit and have slowly been able to recover mentally from what would otherwise seem like an easy job, but is really the devil's work. That's an entirely different story but anyway, I digress.

At the time my call center had had just converted from billing for cable and internet to mobile billing/tech support. I had already been there for 4 years so I was pretty good at my job, both at doing my job but also in the sense that I could make myself sound really friendly (I tried to be as genuine as possible but sometimes you just have to fake it because it does make a much better experience for everyone involved, including yours truly) and would do my best to humor people with whatever small talk they threw at me. I was proficient in the art of pretending to be interested, most people calling in really liked working with me even those who were filled with rage long before I answered their call. I fixed issues quickly and tried to be kind and friendly while doing so. Sometimes people were genuinely interesting but once in a while I got some odd ones who took my pleasant exchanges... a little too far, you could say.

So on a day much like any other l was answering calls, business as usual dealing with the public, and I received a call that ended up being not so much like any other. I answered the call and gave my greeting, "Thank you for calling \_\_\_ Mobile, this is femmefatalx to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" This person stood out right away because they said they liked my name. It reminded them of Catherine the Great, who is one of their favorite historical figures. Ensue explanation of why and facts about Catherine the Great.

Aside from this it was all fine and well at first despite the person being a little.. quirky. But that was fine, they were nice enough and while I was working on their account they started making small talk like many people do. They started talking about energy work and how they believe positive energy attracts positive energy, that you get the energy you put out into the world back and manifest what you want in your life accordingly, other things of the sort. Cool, I thought, I'm into it myself and feel similarly. So I said as much because, why wouldn't I? I soon found out what a terrible mistake I made.

This person proceeded to tell me how glad they were that I agreed, because they're trying to spread this message so they can build up a following of like minded people. They want to start a revolution, they say. They wanted to build up this following so they can start a revolution to change the world through positive thought and manifestation. Granted it was a very positive revolution, I'll give them that, but still so very odd. There was honestly only one thing I could think to do at that point, and that was agree. I already walked myself right into this and there was no walking back out now. I figured that I was almost done helping with their account and I'd be off the phone with them soon anyway, right?

Wrong.

They kept going on. I don't remember the specifics unfortunately because this was probably a year ago now, but after the word "revolution" was mentioned the conversation continued to be just as out there. The grand finally... after dropping some much needed hints that I needed to get off the phone this person says something to the effect of, "We've had such a great conversation and I've loved talking to you so much! I'd really like to continue this conversation and keep talking to you when you're not at work so we have more time! How can I get in touch with you again?" They ask me for my phone number then my email, to which both requests were met with a "Oh I'm so sorry, I'm not allowed to give out my personal information at work." (Thank god). Usually most drop it at that point or just try to give me their information instead, even a "Oh well, you can obviously see my phone number/email on my account, so you know how to get in touch if you'd like to." But no, not this person.

They go on to say "Oh that's okay! I know what we can do, I'm going to make you an email address right now. I'll make the email address and password and give it to you, then i'll send you an email from my email address so you can sign in later and we can continue talking!" My god, I can't tell you how utterly speechless I was. This person came up with the only loophole so fast it was unbelievable. Never in my 5 years working there had anyone done anything like this. The email was even something weird like "[peaceandlovefortheworld@\_\_\_.com](mailto:peaceandlovefortheworld@___.com)" and the password did not disappoint either, to the effect of "beautywithinusall". So, once again, I did the only thing I could think to do... I pretended to write down the email/password combo then got off the call as fast as possible.

If you're thinking that interaction would have been weird enough to end there, well so did I.

But it didn't. Oh no, it did not.

Another fine unsuspecting day about oh, 8 or so months later I get a call and what do you know. The. Same. Fucking. Person. I knew their voice because it was equally just as weird as they were, and I could never, ever forget any part of that interaction. I knew it was them, and let me tell you, I could barely get my name out before they said "OH femmefatalx? I talked to a femmefatalx before! Are you in \[state that I'm in, which was mentioned in passing during the last conversation before it got weird..\]??" I was caught so off guard that I unfortunately could only say yes, which I hate myself for. "OH really?! Are you femmefatalx in X part of \[my state\]??" By now some, just some, of the shock wore off enough for me to at least say that no, I was not in X part I was in Y part... which I thought some how would make it better.

It didn't.

They kept asking me if I remembered them, I kept denying that I was ever part of that interaction and saying that I didn't think it was me they talked to before. They kept insisting it was me, and said they remembered my voice because it was so beautiful and my name reminded them of Catherine the Great, so they could never forget me. I tried to change my voice a little and use my regular voice instead of my "phone voice" in hope of throwing them off a bit.

The part that freaked me out even more if it was actually possible, they remembered the exact email they made for me, exactly what it was without missing a beat and the password too. They asked if I remembered them making it for me. I obviously stuck with denying all of it but I could tell they didn't believe me at all. They still dropped it after a while and I was very curt for the remainder of the call. I think they may even have mentioned it again before we hung up. Something like "Well I really do think you're the same femmefatalx, but if you say you aren't then okay."

I clearly stayed on their mind all that time. They kept and remembered that email for 8 months. They remembered my voice, where I was located and all of the specific details of our conversation. And they happened to randomly get me on the phone again, out of all of the hundreds of thousands of representatives in all of the call centers across the country. And what really was (again) weird to me was that they only called to ask really simple questions about their account and confirm information that they already knew... so it really made me think that they were calling back consistently over that 8 months, trying to get me on the phone again after I never used the email they created for me. That, or they do this for fun?

After recounting this I'm starting to feel like there possibly could have been some weird cult-like situation going on... I could be way off base, but the whole Catherine the Great obsession coupled with some of the phrases, like: "spread the message," "build a following," "start a revolution," and how they seemed to get me interested in the conversation by appealing to my interests and things I'd agree with, and only *then* taking a weird turn in the conversation... all really scream potential cult to me, now looking back on it.

Yes, maybe it could have been innocent and a huge coincidence but the aforementioned details combined with the strong insistence on/effort put into "continuing the conversation" and not taking no for an answer, all of that is not really normal for someone who just simply enjoyed the conversation. I've taken 30+ calls a day for 5 years, so that I *do* know for sure.

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Either way, to the person who at the very least made me extremely uncomfortable, insisted on continuing the conversation to the point of making me an email address, remembered the sound of my voice and specific details about me 8 months after the fact, possibly tried to recruit me into their cult, and either defied the insane odds of doing it twice or stalked me at work.... you make me glad I don't have to deal with this anymore