Call centre agent fired for calling female customer 'Ya Habibti'

Dubai: A call centre agent working in a big company operating in Saudi Arabia has been dismissed from work for calling a female Saudi customer ‘Ya Habibti’ (literally ‘my love’, but could also imply ‘my dear’) during a phone conversation. The Saudi woman told her husband about the agent’s alleged inappropriate use of words, who filed a case against the employee accusing him of harassment.

According to the Saudi lawyer Turki Al Hassa, the young agent was working as a call centre employee in a large company in Saudi Arabia and on a normal working day, he got a call from a female customer. During the conversation, the young man used nice terms, some of which should not be used in such situations, such as ‘my love’ or ‘my life’.

The lawyer added: “The woman was not served well by the agent, which got on her nerves. She told her husband that the agent tried to harass her by using flirtatious words such as my life, my love.”

The angry husband immediately filed a case against the agent and the case was referred to public prosecution.

The Saudi public prosecution accordingly contacted the company concerned and reviewed the recording. It was found out that the employee had indeed used flirtatious words during the conversation.

The company dismissed the employee from his job.

There was no information available on the verdict or whether the man was deported.