Retail jobs: the dumbest customer question you've been asked?

[swani24]

I had a lady come in and ask us to install her printer for her (I was working at Geeksquad). My co-worker asked her for the power cord so we could plug it in and she freaked out claiming we didn't have any idea what we were doing. She then yelled at us that "It is wireless!" and so it needed no power cord and she could not believe we didn't know that.

Not sure where she thought the electricity was coming from but yeah.

 

[cookingwithrage]

We had a Plasma Tv with a fireplace channel on, some one asked if it was real.

 

[gphjr14]

Worked at Walmart in electronics back in 06 had a person ask if we Nintendo games at first I thought they meant game cube or Wii but they meant NES.

We had another Wal-Mart across town that had N64 games on the shelf, this was after inventory in 07. So I wouldn't be surprised if some Walmart some where, in 06, had NES games still on the shelf.

At best we had a few game cube games that they were still trying to get $20 for but NES the original NES? No that's pretty far fetched even in my small town you'd have a better chance of calling a Best Buy and asking if they have HD DVDs.

 

[Voulan]

My story isn't about working in retail, but about a guy that was serving me at a Cafe I went to with the family. He came up to take our order and I told him I wanted a bowl of chips, as was listed on the menu.

He gave me the weirdest look and said, "are you sure?"

I thought he meant because my family were getting actual meals and I was going for just some chips, so I said, "Y..yeah, of course." It's not exactly a weird thing.

He visibly gave me a look like I was stupid and said, "Okay then...."

After around half an hour our meals arrived, including my chips....which was actually a bowl of ordinary, gigantic potatoes. I mean, what the hell kind of cafe serves chips on the menu, but actually mean ordinary potatoes? Granted chips are made of potatoes, but seriously? And the guy didn't think to point it out to me, instead treating me like an idiot? Apparently I'm not the only one who's had the same issue with that cafe either, so it's obviously a common issue. And it's not the one cafe - this is a branch of cafes, and only this one location serves potatoes instead of chips, and doesn't specify that in the menu. I wouldn't be that angry, but this guy was such a git. My mum made a big show of pointing out they weren't actually chips, and he just left silently.

 

[LordLundar]

Not one of mine (the dumbest I had was a neanderthal trying to convince me that a standard DV-i splitter cable could produce two separate monitor displays)

That isn't completely stupid.

Many office computers have low profile cards, with DVI style output jacks, and an adapter to allow for two standard SVGA, or DVI connectors. There are even specialized adapters that can take the resolution of two monitors, simulate a single higher resolution monitor for the computer, and then split the signal between the two monitors.

So they don't know the different between DVI, and odd-ball connectors that look similar. That is your job, not theirs. They should listen to you though.

You are correct on this and I've seen these cards myself on my field tech work (and those adapters are RIDICULOUSLY easy to damage) but this guy was saying that ANY card with a DV-I output can have a regular DV-I splitter would always create two different signals. The guy even went around with me for ten minutes over this up until I pawned him off on a co-worker to help someone else. Afterwards he came up to me and said "I hope you learned something today" and the only thing that popped into my mind (not said mind you) was "yeah, you're a living lesson of why not to argue with an idiot".

 

[Kroxile]

Seriously, compulsory year in retail does wonders for human empathy >_>

Which is why I have none or very little depending on the day and whether or not I've had my coffee, lol.

I'm a manager at a McDonald's and the number of idiotic things people say or do could fill a book.

It isn't really a question but this was probably the funniest thing (in recent memory) that has happened:

We had just got done closing the store (cleaning, putting stuff away, preparing for the breakfast crew) and i had forgotten my ice scraper so I had to sit in my car while the defrosters thawed my windows out. Then this guy pulls up into the drive-thru.. with the store dark and all the lights off, including the outside lights, and he sits there. I sat and watched him start getting mad by the way he was moving about in his car it appeared he was yelling at his girlfriend, passenger, or whatever and then I could hear him yelling at the speaker "HELLO? HELLO?"

So I sit here laughing and then the guy pulls back and forward again and starts yelling at the speaker some more before he backs out and goes to the other lane and repeats the process before finally driving off.

 

[hewhocommunes]

My story actually happened yesterday to my cousin. She took a call from a spanish only speaking customer, while none of us in the store speak more than a phrase or maybe two of Spanish. After a minute or so of fumbled conversation she determined that the customer wanted to pay the overdue balance on their account. After several more frustrating minutes, and comments of "No, the account numbers for our accounts are only 6 digits long, not 13..." and "No that the customer's phone number, and last name provided weren't pulling up an account of any kind..." It took my cousin saying our company name 5 times in the course of the ten minute phone call, as well as having to ask of the child, who had replaced the lady in hopes of lowering the communication barrier, point blank "None of your family plays a musical instrument right?" for them to realize that they had called a musical instrument retail store rather than Comcast.

For non US residents Comcast is an Internet Service Provider among other things.

We are not Comcast, despite being in the same building. Sort of similar to a strip mall set up.

This baffles me for two reasons. First, I understand a bit of confusion with a language barrier, However if you know how to work a phone well enough to place a call, why not use the phone number on the bill your holding? I know it has the phone number on it you need to call to make that payment.

Secondly: for arguments sake, even if that bill doesn't have the phone number,( it does though.)
why would you then look up a phone number for a company which despite being in the same building has its own enclosed section of the building which does not overlap in any way with the company you are trying to reach, Rather than looking up their number instead?

 

[geK0]

I was working as a cashier at a grocery store

I am weighing some nappa (japanese cabbage)

Customer yells "NO! you're weighing the heavy part!" and turns it on it's side

"Mam, the cabbage weighs the same on it's side"

"No! look, the number is lower! you're trying to rip me off"

Apparently cabbages weigh less when they're oriented on their side and everything I've taken as common sense for all these years is invalid. Next time I weigh myself on my bathroom scale, I'll try laying on my side.

 

[DMShade]

I got this a lot working a concession stand. Three Cups for Popcorn, Easily distinguishable as larger or smaller in comparison to the others. Prices right Above, Small, Medium Large.

"Which one is a Medium?"

Also...when I worked there, apparently there was a Size I was never educated on. A size all the customers knew about but I was never taught, as a cashier or a stand leader.

That size was known as "Thing". "Can I get a thing of nachos/popcorn/pop?"

 

[smileyboybob]

I think mine takes the cake. I've literally only been working in retail for six months (this being my first job, and all) so this incident is still fresh in my mind.
I was still a young, fresh trainee and the manager felt that I could handle the job of making the pet food look good. So there I was in the cat food aisle when:

"Excuse me."

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I want to get some cat food for my neighbors cat. I don't think he feeds it enough so I want to give him extra food."

"How nice of you, and what a good neighbor, too. Any normal cat food will probably do." (which i thought was excellent advice).

Here's the part with the STUPIDEST QUESTION IN THE WORLD:
"Now, I don't know much about cats. Will any of this food kill the cat?"

My mouth dropped for a second, but i managed to compose myself and tell her that, no, none of these foods will, in fact, kill the cat. Call me crazy, but I think that even if you don't know anything about cats, you should at least know how EATING WORKS.

 

[joshthor]

I get the whole "do you work here" alot - i wear a vest with the companies name on it.
today someone asked me "do you carry lunch bags" - I work at a movie/music/video game/comic/book store (hastings).
oh, and yesterday a mentally challenged person walked in and immediately asked me if i could call their mom - he didnt know the number - but he expected me to.

I get alot of people asking why thier accounts have been banned - the store i work at buys all sorts of media and unfortunately we get alot of people stealing movies from walmart and selling them to us. its incredibly obvious when someone brings in all the last 3 weeks major releases blu ray copies (including the ones that were released that day) still shrink wrapped. or when the star wars blu ray set was released we had the same people trying to bring in a copy a day (we ended up with about 13 used copies in like 4 days)

oh, and the classic gem: do you guys have a redbox machine. we are a rental store.

most of the memorable stuff i deal with are assholes trying/succeeding to steal. i was ringing up a wii u for a guy and he tried darting with it. i caught him and he chucked it at me.

or the dumbest theif ever came in TODAY set up an account with their drivers licence (name, address, phone number, email, drivers licence number) then their friend stole a bunch of stuff and they were the getaway driver. i of course called the police with every bit of thier information, and recordings of them on 6 different cameras.

 

[Creator002]

Not really questons, but I work as a call centre agent for public transport in Victoria (Australia). I'm trained in assisting people with timetable information for the entire state (including some of South Australia and New South Wales) as well as making bookings for the regional trains and busses. Never-the-less, I have at least 3 customers a day who will not tell me where they are travelling from.
"I would like to go from here to Bairnsdale."
"Would 'here' be Melbourne?"
"No."
"Where are you traveling from?"
"Y'now. From the post office."
"The post office in which town?"
"Warnambool, of course!"

There's also customers who tell me the line they want to travel on instead of the station they want to get off at, leading me to give the wrong information or having to restart an entire booking, thus altering the price.
*completing booking* OK. So, that's Melbourne to Bairnsdale on-"
"What? I want to go to Sale, not Bairnsdale!"
"Didn't you say to Bairnsdale?"
"I said the Bairnsdale train."
"Did you say to Sale?"
"No."
Oh, sorry. Didn't realise I was meant to read your mind.

 

[Fuzzed]

Worked at Walmart in electronics back in 06 had a person ask if we Nintendo games at first I thought they meant game cube or Wii but they meant NES.

At least that person had class

 

[Mauler]

When i was on internship at computer parts store(or computer chop shop(used parts and all)) a coustumer (dude was like 50 y.o.) said he wanted a refund because his "computer wasnt" working like in he saw in tv... Guess what he showed me? A computer flatscreen monitor... Not an iMac or an alternative but just a plane monitor whithout anything... I had to argue whith him about a "coumputer" he brought about for 2 hours and in the end i sold him one and never saw him again...

 

[hardpixelrain]

I was a cashier for a year at Target (basically a higher-class Walmart).

The most infuriating question/statement, by far, that I received on a weekly basis, when having difficulty scanning an item or locating the barcode, was this: "Oh, if it doesn't scan, that means it's free, right?"

Every one of them deserves a punch in the face.

OHGAWD. YOU ARE SO HUMOROUS THERE IS NO WAY I HAVENT HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE.

 

[lechat]

Here's the part with the STUPIDEST QUESTION IN THE WORLD:
"Now, I don't know much about cats. Will any of this food kill the cat?"

My mouth dropped for a second, but i managed to compose myself and tell her that, no, none of these foods will, in fact, kill the cat. Call me crazy, but I think that even if you don't know anything about cats, you should at least know how EATING WORKS.

you would think but my cat has a condition where if he eats certain cat foods they will kill him, we will get a fair bit of warning before he dies but in a case like that it is a valid question

 

[BeastofShadow]

Working in the frozen meat section of a super market. A girl comes up to me with a family pack of mince and asks me "Would this be enough to feed my family?" No other info. After just being baffled for a good 10 seconds I managed to ask how big her family was.

 

[Mister Eff]

I work as a barman/waiter in a restaurant and I get some real dumbasses sometimes.

"What's the difference between the prawn cocktail and the prawn and crab cocktail?"
".... One's got crab"

"Why can't you serve me one last beer?"
"The final bell rang 20 minutes ago and I'm about to walk out the door."
"Just one!"
"There are no tills downstairs, all the money is upstairs and we can't take any more stock"
"I have the exact change!"

Dealing with drunk idiots is more annoying than regular idiots.