Call Service Employee Creates Game About Daily Frustrations Of His Job, No Longer Has That Job After Bosses Find Out

Gallant describes the visual style of his game by saying, "Terrible art conveys a terrible work environment."

Gallant describes the visual style of his game by saying, “Terrible art conveys a terrible work environment.”

Late last year, a customer service rep for the Canada Revenue Agency launched a game titled “I Get This Call Every Day” that lets players experience the frustration of working in a call center. But now he no longer has to fret about this problem, as he’s without that day job.

Our former cousins at Kotaku wrote about the game right before Christmas, describing it as a depressing but worthwhile experience.

“Perhaps the worst part about it is recognizing myself as the caller, making someone else’s life more difficult than it needs to be,” wrote Kotaku’s Patricia Hernandez. “And even if you manage to get through the call without losing your cool or breaking the law by going outside of procedure, it still doesn’t feel like winning. That’s the point.”

When the game was launched, the creator, David Gallant, didn’t outright say where he worked. But he also didn’t hide behind a screen name, so it didn’t take much for people to figure this out.

And so yesterday, the Toronto Star ran a story on the game and Gallant, not only calling out his employer, but also getting comment from the office of National Revenue Minister Gail Shea, which told the paper that “this type of conduct [is] offensive and completely unacceptable,” and called for investigations into Gallant’s actions and whether or not any “confidential taxpayer information was compromised.”

Before the article was published, Gallant told the Star that he wasn’t naive about his employer’s possible reaction to the game.

“I made this bed when I released the game,” he said. “If I have to lie in it, I will lie in it. That’s just something I will have to deal with.”

And that appears to be the case now, with the Star and Kotaku both reporting that Gallant is no longer employed at his day job.

According to his Twitter feed, Gallant currently fielding calls from the press and seeing a surge in support and interest in his game.

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