Spiralling after April Fools joke

[Lucy304]

Hi,
Please be kind. My anxiety is in overdrive.
I work in sales. There's a particular product, let's call it X, that's notoriously difficult to get hold of. Comes from overseas, long delays, awkward supplier etc. Thankfully, customers only request product X very rarely.
Anyway, I was speaking to a colleague the other day and the chat basically ended with, 'could be worse, we could be trying to get hold of X!' And we were laughing about it.
So this morning, a call is put through to me as I was asked for by name, even though there are several of us. The caller asked me about the availability of X. Instantly, I knew it was my colleague winding me up. I laughed and said 'I can't believe you've done this.' The caller asked about it again, and then I got sarcastic, 'oh yeah, I think I can get that for this afternoon for you.' The call ended with me laughing, telling him to jog on and hanging up.
Except... My colleague is absolutely adamant that it wasn't him. Adamant. I even got someone else to ask him, thinking he would confess. Still the same answer.
I can't stop thinking about it now. There is a very small chance it was a genuine customer with a genuine request. I'm terrified that they will make a complaint, and I'll get a warning, or worse.
I can't concentrate on anything else, it just keeps going round in my head, how I should've handled it differently.
I know none of you can tell me whether it was a joke or not. But has anyone got any advice about how I can stop it eating me up?!
Thank you for reading.

I think it was your colleague too. Why would a new customer ask for you specirfically because they read your name on social media? New customers ask for the person who might be able to help them with the issue. They don't decide themselves that the name they happened to spot on social media is the very person who can in fact solve their problem.
It doesn't happen like that.
Your colleague is a prat though to let you go home without telling you so if you receive a message from him about a 'complaint' then please do not respond.

I get you, I spiral about work shit all the time. I’m good at telling other people to rationalise and what’s the worst that can happen etc but shit at practicing what I preach.

I bet it was your colleague or someone he got to phone up and ask. How often do people ask for you by name? But even if it wasn’t and it was a customer - they may not complain. Even if they do I doubt much would happen. Complaints happen in businesses and if everyone who was complained about got sacked there wouldn’t be many people left in jobs!

I suspect it probably was something to do with this guy - it would have been easy enough for him to do something like get one of his relatives to make the actual call. If it was, let's say his brother or cousin, he could quite well sound similar enough on the phone to be mistaken for him, it would explain the mobile number not being his, and colleague could argue that he was telling the truth in that he personally didn't make the call.

But even if it does end up as a complaint to your boss, then as others have said, just say something like "I thought it was Joe playing an April Fool's joke because it sounded like him and we were talking yesterday about the difficulties in getting hold of X."

Well that's fuckin helpful telling someone that's anxious that they need to get their anxiety under control.
You should start a business counselling people with anxiety.
Arsehole.

Can you now treat it as a genuine call, check availability of the part and then call them back and say apologies that you did think it was available but you will be able to get it by [x] date? They will be confused but there is a chance you could turn this around to being a win.

good luck!

But that is exactly what any counsellor would say. People who are feeling anxious can learn to deal with the feeling. Feelings are not facts. Put the feelings aside and decide how likely the event is to be a real problem. Then deal with reality not the worries your brain is continually creating.

I'm sorry this happened it would stress me out too!

One thing - if it was a customer and somehow you get asked about it, you can honestly tell your boss that s/he can rely on you to never, ever joke on the phone again, because you were mortified!

If they are human they will get it.

Oh I've been here with the overthinking OP it's so unpleasant! But it is something you need to find a solution for, April Fools aside I assume this isn't the only thing you've over thought and stressed yourself over?
Non standard CBT can be very useful (does require waiting for face to face appointments though)
Being tired is one of the worst weaknesses for anxiety, so take care of yourself too by getting enough rest.

Have a look at "worry time" strategies

@Lucy304

You come across as a really good and caring employee who has been caught up in an April Fools prank (which are often pretty mean).

Many of us have been through similar and though it is not nice, as one poster said, consider if it will be a problem in 5 years.

If it were a real customer - explain to your line manager, apologise and try to move on (or if your line manager is a AH, come back here for advice on employment law!)

This is good advice.

I still think they'd have phoned back and complained straight away if they were going to - that is, if it was even a customer in the first place.

If the worst happens, be open with your manager about what happened and proactive about the lesson you'll take from it, i.e. in future treat all calls as genuine. Proactively offer to call the customer and apologise in person.

Can you call them back and say you spoke to them yesterday and if they genuinely need X to call back, you thought the call was a colleague wind up as it was April Fools Day, so apologies for my response if it was not a joke?

Are calls not recorded ?

If not they should be. Otherwise how do you disprove a customers claim that you promised something ? Or do you not bother ?

It was him op! He's just not owning up. Why would someone have asked to speak to you?

Everything points to it being him.

This is what I was thinking: surely there is at minimum a log of the numbers. Even I have that!

Thanks again for all the responses. To answer a few questions... Yes, calls are logged. I looked and it was just a random mobile number. PPs have suggested saving it to my phone and looking on WhatsApp for a name or photo. I'm going to do this when I'm next in work.
Yes, calls are also recorded. I imagine management only listen to them if there's a complaint or problem.
No, I don't want to call the number back. If it's a genuine customer, I would be completely mortified! And if it's someone associated with my colleague, then he would know how much it's bothered me, and I'm trying not to show him I'm stressing about it.
For the people commenting I'm over-reacting and I need to get my anxiety under control, yes I am and I wish it was that simple! As previously mentioned, it is something I have brought up with my GP before.
Today I am feeling more certain it was a joke. It's too weird, too much of a coincidence and the more I think about it, I think my colleague may have asked his dad to call me. It would explain the unknown number, the voice sounding like my colleague and also my colleague's ability to swear blind it wasn't him.
And finally, to the people who have been kind, empathised, shared their own experiences and offered helpful advice, thank you so much x

Honestly, I would let your colleague know how much it’s bothered you. If it was a prank (and I think it was) he should realise how much that sort of ‘joke’ can affect people, especially if he didn’t own up straight away! Leaving it this long before confessing is cruel.

@mycatwearsahat I think it would make him worse, make him do more stuff like this. I think he would find it funny if he knew how I truly felt. I'm trying to make it die down quicker by ignoring it (to his face anyway!)

In that case you would have grounds to raise a complaint. I know it sounds extreme but this behaviour or ‘banter’ isn’t acceptable , it certainly wouldn’t be in my workplace.

I did similar years ago, only worse.

I had a colleague who was known for practical jokes and he’d caught me out with a prank call previously.

One day I was very busy and my direct line rang. I answered and it was someone with what sounded like a silly fake accent asking for our CEO. Our CEO very rarely came into the office, and I’m not a receptionist and my direct line number is not published so the whole thing had prank written all over it.

I said “Fuck off (Colleagues name) I don’t have time for this” and hung up.

The person later rang back our main line, it was a genuine caller, and said someone said something and hung up on him. The only saving grace was they hadn’t been able to make out what I said!