At my first retail job, when the store was closing, we put up signs to alert people to that fact. Oh my stars and garters! The influx of asinine comments was astounding. That lead me to put up a sign that implored our clients, "Please refrain from asking stupid questions."
And yes, I had one middle-age woman who then went on to read the signs, ask a stupid question (After looking at the, "Store Closing on this date" sign, she asked, "What do you mean the store is closing?"). Only then did she see the stupid question sign. She then asked, "Was that a stupid question?" AHHHHHHHH.
9AM Might Be Best to Start with the Sunday Through Friday Ones
Caller: I need to know about courses on Saturday.
Bored operator: Which center would you like to go through to?
Caller: Yes, uh, Saturday courses. Nine o'clock 'til five o'clock.
Bored operator: Okay, which department?
Caller: Saturday -- S-A-T--
Bored operator: --Which center? Clapham, Vauxhall, Brixton?
Caller: Uh, no, I want to know about Saturday courses. Saturday courses!
Bored operator: Do you have a contact name? ... I'll just put you through to someone, then. Bye!
College
London
England
via Overheard in the Office, Mar 11, 2008
FTR, my refusal to work in the hell that is retail did not insulate me from the idiots. I had a conversation VERY similar to the one quoted above when I was trying to book tickets to go to my cousin's funeral. I'm sorry, but you have no right at all to be an idiot when someone has experienced a death in the family and made you aware of that fact right from the initiation of said phone interaction. If that person is being an ass, you have a little bit of leeway. I, however, was not. Well, I admit I did turn into one after I tried to tell the agent the same thing 5 or 6 times, but I was pleasant and polite initially.
Perhaps I'll post that conversation in the future. Maybe I'll submit it to one of the "Overheard" sites as well.
1 comment:
Here's a conversation pretty much word for word from the days I worked front counter at a cute little Italian restaurant in a college town.
Me: Hi, how can I help you today?
Customer: Um.
Me: (smiling)
Customer: Um, what's the difference in spaghetti with meat sauce and spaghetti with vegetable sauce.
Me: Both dishes are served with a salad, and three breadsticks, spaghetti with meat sauce has a tomato based sauce with ground beef in it, and the spaghetti with vegetable sauce has a tomato based sauce with no meat, just vegetables.
Customer: But what's the difference?
Me: One has meat, the other has no meat.
Customer: But what's the difference?
Me: I don't understand your question. They're the same price, the same size, the same side dishes, the same pasta, one has meat and the other one doesn't.
Customer: (frustrated) But what's the difference?
Me: Dead cow or not. Your choice.
Customer: I'll have a cheeseburger.
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