stupid people

[Skank]

I work in a store in Stockholm that sells cool gadgets and other stuff. I have been working for about a year and everyday the stupidity of people scares me.

example 1:

we have a radio controlled UFO

customer: how does this UFO work?
me: well, theres four propellers and a gyroscope which stabilizes the ufo, it flies up to 100 meters.
customer: ok but uuuuh... is there a cord between the control and the UFO?
me: eh? no.

as if the box would include a 100 meter long cord! wise up! seriously, just try to think for yourself once in a while!!!

example 2:

the youngster and the hand-held-fan-dilemma

customer: this fan doesnt work, I cant feel the wind.
me: thats because its in a plastic package... (dumbass)

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

example 2:

the youngster and the hand-held-fan-dilemma

customer: this fan doesnt work, I cant feel the wind.
me: thats because its in a plastic package... (dumbass)


I may be opening myself for ridicule here... But surely, no one is THAT stupid?

[Skank]

I thought about killing myself to ease the pain when he had left. actually it has happened again since then

[lordlundar]

I may be opening myself for ridicule here... But surely, no one is THAT stupid?

I say this in the nicest possible manner.:

You must not have been around here very long.:)

Some of the pre-hack stories humble this one.

[chainedbarista]

I thought about killing myself to ease the pain when he had left. actually it has happened again since then

egad! a repeat offense stupid! :eek:

[Jester]

Spaniard,

Haven't you figured out yet that not only are people that stupid, many of them are even stupider?

Heck, did you see (in another thread) my story about the guy asking about the upstairs of the restaurant? If not, here again is a quick rundown of The Single Stupidest Question I Have Ever Been Asked:

SC is an adult male, seemingly sober, seemingly not suffering from any "special needs".

Restaurant is a three level affair....Main floor, up three steps to the middle bar level, up three steps to the "upstairs" aka the mezzanine level, all plainly visible as there are no walls separating this.

Jester is standing by the bottom of one of the sets of stairs that goes up to both the bar and upper level.

SC: "Do you have an upstairs?"
ME: [turns head to look at the upstairs.] "Um, yes.
SC: "Where is it?"
ME: [pointing to the upstairs, without moving from where I stood]: "Right...there."
SC: "How do I get there?"
ME: [staring, dumbfounded]: "Walk....up....the....stairs...?"
SC: "Okay, thanks." [walks away]
:eek: :eek: :eek:

To this day, my brain hurts every time I tell this story.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I feel your pain.

Had a chick come in once and ask to use the rental computers.

I pointed her the the area that had about 6 or 7 computer cubbies.

SC: Where?

Me: right in that room there. (she was standing less than 10 feet away. No way she could be missing this. Helen Keller could have found the computer area in this store.)

SC: I dont see them.

Me: Right in there. (pointing.) You can use any of them you like.

SC: Where?

Me: Right in that little room there. See?

SC: I dont' see it.

Me: (dumbfounded.) Ma'am, can you not see the half dozen large computers in there???

SC: Well, yeah, okay, NOW I do, but you dont' have get all bitchy about it.

(Apparently, I do. I tried to be patient, but I think Ghandi himself would have wanted to pop her one. )

[Skank]

jesus....

but morons are at least ok. the ones I really hate are the bastards. one came in last week

customer: how much for this pokerset.
me: 1200 crowns
customer: ok, what wood is the case made of?
me: I dont really know
customer: if you sell it youre supposed to know that sort of thing!

I dont know what you think but I really dont think that it is a relevant question. The instructions doesnt say what wood it is made of so how am I supposed to know?

and then he started bitching about how I didnt give him enough attention. I mean come on! am I supposed to follow him around in the store and just wait for him to ask me something? the store is pretty small and I clearly stated that he could just ask if he wanted to know something!

[digilight]

Spaniard, thats nothing. Try reading some of PhoneJocky's Stories about her customers. Sometimes it just makes me want to either cry or punch something.

[heyew]

Clearly Ghandi never worked behind a counter. He wouldn't have had the patience for it.

[HYHYBT]

From a customer in Drive-Thru this past week:

"Where is your menu board?"

I'm not joking, and neither were they. And there's nothing unusual about the menu board, either: it's right next to the speaker box and very large.

Edited to clarify: they didn't ask this at the window, but from the speaker.

[Erin]

From a customer in Drive-Thru this past week:

"Where is your menu board?"

I'm not joking, and neither were they. And there's nothing unusual about the menu board, either: it's right next to the speaker box and very large.

When I worked for McD's, we'd have people come thru the drive-thru and they'd try to order from the trash cans that were placed along the drive-thru lane for people to (hopefully) throw their trash away. I heard some guy screaming (my d-thru window was open). I looked out, and he was about 7ft from the speaker box yelling into the trash can...which was labeled "Trash".

Then he has the nerve to yell at me when he got to my window for not taking his order from the "speaker box". I really wanted to charge him the "aggravation" fee for yelling at me. (15 cent miscellaneous charge we'd use when people wanted a lot of extra cheese or tomatoes on their sandwiches) He was only getting a cheeseburger and small drink, so he would have noticed the fee.

[WHShit]

They sound like regular customers to me...they are all alike: stupidity at it's best with no common sense.;)

I see you are from Sweden? If so. then you are the first person I have seen on here from anywhere besides, New Zealand, Austrailia, America or England. Cograts!

[AFpheonix]

..JW Purple is currently stationed somewhere in the Far East...Malaysia I believe?

I've had people come up and ask me if we carry aspirin. No, sorry, you'll have to go to a specialty pharmacy chain to get something like that....:angel:

[Rapscallion]

PrincessKatie is currently located in Jordan. Canarr lives in Germany. Kebable is in Finland. That's only the people I remember.

Rapscallion

[pbmods]

customer: this fan doesnt work, I cant feel the wind.
me: thats because its in a plastic package... (dumbass)

Heh. I had a similar experience. A customer came up to me while I was working in the lab and asked me about a fan. He said he read on the packaging that this was an amazing fan, and he wanted me to test it out for him. I shrugged and said ok, figuring that we needed another fan in the lab.

Now, you must understand that the fan in question is roughly 5 inches in diameter. We're not talking about a windbox here.

So I open the packaging, plug in the fan and turn it on. I'll admit, for a 5" fan, it's able to generate enough breeze to move the man's hair noticeably. But I guess this guy was expecting hurricane winds or something because he's clearly unimpressed.

Oh well. It's actually a really nice fan; it's still in my lab, as a matter of fact :)

[COMINATCHA]

When I worked for McD's, we'd have people come thru the drive-thru and they'd try to order from the trash cans that were placed along the drive-thru lane for people to (hopefully) throw their trash away. I heard some guy screaming (my d-thru window was open). I looked out, and he was about 7ft from the speaker box yelling into the trash can...which was labeled "Trash".

Then he has the nerve to yell at me when he got to my window for not taking his order from the "speaker box". I really wanted to charge him the "aggravation" fee for yelling at me. (15 cent miscellaneous charge we'd use when people wanted a lot of extra cheese or tomatoes on their sandwiches) He was only getting a cheeseburger and small drink, so he would have noticed the fee.

Omg that is so funny, how stupid must they have looked!
And if they actually figured out that it wasn't a speaker - how embarassing!

[Mixed Bag]

people come thru the drive-thru and they'd try to order from the trash cans that were placed along the drive-thru lane

"Hey, those alleged intercoms I tried to tell you my order on--they're garbage!"

"I'm afraid so, sir."


Who says the SC is never right? Better change the board's slogan. :confused:

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I dont know what you think but I really dont think that it is a relevant question. The instructions doesnt say what wood it is made of so how am I supposed to know?

Next time tell them that it's made of 100% genuine solid matter comprised of the finest atoms, the most reliable of electrons, protons, and neutrons, and just to give it that exotic flair, a goodly number of Quarks, Leptons, and other sub atomic particles.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I may be opening myself for ridicule here... But surely, no one is THAT stupid?

Stupidity has no boundries. There are many sayings used in here.

*God must love fools because he made a hell of a lot of them.
*As soon as you make something idiot proof, god comes along and builds a better idiot. (also sometimes described using evolution)

Just to list two.

People on this forum have been awash in a sea of jellybrains in some cases for years and we've seen most of it. Precious little surprises us anymore...until forumuserX posts the next low in the bizarre and the brainless

[Erin]

Omg that is so funny, how stupid must they have looked!
And if they actually figured out that it wasn't a speaker - how embarassing!

I've seen the same thing happen several times when I was a customer in a Burger King drive-thru. I think it's totally hilarious. Have to feel sorry for the BK employees when the guy gets up to their window and they have no idea what he just "ordered".

I also used to hate the customers who would whip thru the drive thru, passing up the speaker, and my cash window, to end up ordering at the pick-up window. These people dont realize just how much they fubar-ed our drive-thru times by doing that.

[dragonflygrrl]

How serendipitous it is that just as I was thinking, "Wow, these people are soooo stupid, I must start a 'stupid people' thread of cs.com to share their stupidity with the world," a thread entitled 'stupid people' pops up. Alright, here's my brush with profound stupidity for the day:

This morning, I had one of my stupider regulars, just to start off the Monday with a whimper. This woman comes in once a week, and has me check her voicemail. That's right, she can't figure out how to check her messages. At least she has the decency to come in when we are slow, but it is still the most irritating waste of time of my week. Every week I write down step by step directions on how to check her voicemail, every week she thanks me and puts them in her purse, and every week she comes in and tells me she couldn't figure it out, and could I listen to her messages and tell her who has called. Her purse has at any given point at least four of my very clear and concise directions. :headdesk:

Not an hour later, I have a young guy come in and tell me he needs me to help him set up his voicemail. OK, now the older lady from earlier I can almost (but not quite) understand. But how is someone in his late twenties/early thirties unable to navigate voicemail set-up? Especially since all you have to do is listen to the voice prompts and do what they tell you to. I gave him our 'welcome guide,' which has the most clear, detailed directions possible, and he just stared at me for a second, then said, "Can't you just do it?" I told him that unless he wanted me to record his outgoing message he would have to set it up himself, and he said, "Well, just get it to where I need to talk and hand it over to me." Then he wandered off to look at our new phones. So I had to go through the set-up twice because he couldn't get over to get the phone in time the first time. Seriously, I never in my life had a problem with voice mail on a cell phone, even before I worked at a cell phone store. I'm not sure if these people are truly this stupid, or if they're just too lazy to do anything for themselves!:doh:

[theredbaron47]

Dragonflygrrl, it sounds like the older lady you had was a combination of stupid and lazy. The younger guy, however, just had "lazy" written in huge letters all over him, maybe with a side dish of entitlement to go with it. You know, the whole "I'm paying you money, so why should I do this myself?" type of mentality.

Damned sucky customers.

[dragonflygrrl]

See, but what I don't get is why they bother to drive all the way to my store. Isn't it more work to leave the house and have someone set up your voicemail than to just do it yourself and stay the **** home? Oh, wait, my mistake, I'm expecting logic to apply. I take it back. :)

[Tikki]

I think the guy probably is illiterate (probably due to laziness) and just didn't want to admit it.

[Mr. Rude]

http://members.shaw.ca/delajara/NormalCurveSmall.gif

Well, you have to remember that "normal" IQ is about 100....But, there's a mess of people above & below that rating....Rather scary isn't it?

Of course, IQ tests are IMHO descriminatory.....I don't put too much value in them. Hell, I rated at 147 on the wechsler...:lol:

Shows how bad that test is ;)

[air914]

Totally understand the people w/ the drive-thru thing. I worked in a "popular" coffee drive-thru and people were such morons. THere would be a HUGE line and all of a sudden some idiot would come to the window and I'd open it up to tell them their total - and they would start to order. I'd look at them blankly for a minute and then say "you didn't order back at the speakerbox?" They'd look at me dumbfounded like "what box" - UM THE ONE BY THE HUGE FREAKIN MENU!!!! HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN THRU A DRIVE-THRU?????? Who ever orders at the window????? There's a reason there is a menu and a box - so you can figure out what you want to order, we can put hte price in, and get it started so when you're done paying you don't have to wait a really long time. And these people were so nuts.... I'd tell them it would take a minute b/c they had basically cut in front of all the people behind them and they totally didn't get it. It was stupidity at its best.

[HYHYBT]

They get it. They just don't care. Except the ones who do it on purpose, just to annoy you and your other customers, of course.

There is nothing so stupid that someone, somewhere won't do it.

The part about ordering at the trash can reminds me of the ones who tried to order from our newspaper box. While the store was closed. For renovation, and had had the roof, siding, windows, and doors completely removed.

Might as well list a few more: There was the one who asked if our french fries were low fat, several who asked if the apple pies had apples in them (and one who asked whether they were pies or sandwiches), "Do you sell hamburgers here?" "What's the difference between #x <McChicken> and #y<Filet-O-Fish>?", some who were *inside the store* looking at the menu that still thought we were a KFC (or in one case Dairy Queen), more than you'd believe that I had to bring actual product to the counter to show the difference between fried vs grilled chicken, or regular vs quarter meat... and none of that was language barrier, either.

[Jester]

I see you are from Sweden? If so. then you are the first person I have seen on here from anywhere besides, New Zealand, Austrailia, America or England. Cograts!

In addition to the ones Rapscallion mentioned, I know someone I read earlier today was living in Japan, I KNOW we have some Canadians in here, and I am sure there are other countries represented on the board.

[Erin]

I also remember people who would shake their heads "no" when I would ask them if there was anything else. These were people who were in the drive-thru ordering at the speaker box. I only know that they were shaking their heads "no" because I got curious about it one day and stood looking out the back window taking orders while another person was working the cash window.

me: "will there be anything else?"
sc: "shakes head" :no:
me: "will there be anything else????"
sc: "shakes head again" :no:
me: "hello? will there be anything else???"
sc: "didnt you hear me? I said NO!" :no:

[stickycoins]

Had a woman come in tonight, buying beer for a friend and herself. She wasn't sure what the friend wanted, and asked me if she didn't like it could she bring it back and get something else. Now as far as I know, in most states alcohol and tobacco are NOT returnable even if they aren't open. That's how it is in VA. She was old enough to know this by far. Had another one that tried to give me a Canadian quarter(US Here) and actually asked me why I wouldn't take it. Maybe because this isn't Canada ya think? This is a big military town and people try and use coins from everywhere. I've seen most of them in my own travels and can spot/hear a non-US one in a heartbeat.

[Bliss]

In addition to the ones Rapscallion mentioned, I know someone I read earlier today was living in Japan, I KNOW we have some Canadians in here, and I am sure there are other countries represented on the board.

A Venezuelan here :)

[Gurndigarn]

Had another one that tried to give me a Canadian quarter(US Here) and actually asked me why I wouldn't take it. Maybe because this isn't Canada ya think?

Many US states (most of the northern ones, except Illinois and New York) take Canadian coins (one per transaction, or so... someone shows up with a couple twonies, that's not happening. But a quarter or less, rarely a problem.) Since you get a lot of military, it's likely that your confused customers come from one of the "oh, who cares that that quarter's only worth 21 cents?" states.

[Bliss]

One that always makes me half amused, half angry is a thing I see daily on the building where I work.

There's seven elevators, four on one side, going floors 10 to 19, and three on the other wall going floors 1 to 9.

No it's not people who take the wrong one, that's justifiable if you don't know the building, since this fact is anounced in minuscule, hard to read signs that you have to look for to notice at all...

It's the people who call the elevators on my side (floors 1 to 9, 3 elevators) and turn either left or right, and stare at the central elevator and the left or right one, then the third elevator arrives, and they notice the call button's light goes off, but instead of looking back, they look up again at the two elevators they where looking at, and push the button again. Which turns off again....

They do this a few times, and I've only seen about 1 in 4 finally realize there's another elevator more in the wall (and they're HARD to miss, beleive me) and enter, the other three, well, they miss the elevator.

[Broomjockey]

Many US states (most of the northern ones, except Illinois and New York) take Canadian coins (one per transaction, or so... someone shows up with a couple twonies, that's not happening. But a quarter or less, rarely a problem.) Since you get a lot of military, it's likely that your confused customers come from one of the "oh, who cares that that quarter's only worth 21 cents?" states.

I gotta say, here in Canada, we treat American change just like Canadian change, we don't bother to exchange it or anything. Coin is coin. The amount you'd have to save up for it to make a difference is insane.

Of course this doesn't apply to the Fiji coin someone passed me once, or the other coins from strange places that show up from time to time.

[AFpheonix]

Had another one that tried to give me a Canadian quarter(US Here) and actually asked me why I wouldn't take it. Maybe because this isn't Canada ya think?

I guess one night I wasn't paying attention to the pennies I was handing out, because I gave someone a canadian one.
She came back later to give me stinky poop eye look.

Ok, granted, I should look at the change coming out of my till, but on the other hand, it's a freaking penny. Honestly.