Very interesting story. When I first read this opening quite, I thought about the alternative "Cruel to be kind". If we are cruel to others, we suffer, is the general view. Sometimes what seems like cruelty (so long as it isn't), can be an act of kindness. People can reflect back to us things we never considered or aware of, and vice versa. We learn from others, our mistakes and theirs.

Call centre work is very demanding and good to know what goes on behind the scenes. It takes a certain kind of person to deal with angry callers. I used to work in a hospital and sometimes had irate calls from patients who became abuse. There weren't that many like that but call centres must be worse. I am sure you were glad to retire, as it wasn't an easy job. Not sure I could handle other's anger a lot.