Thee pens!! Thee pens!! Where are thee pens!

[SixFortyK]

It never ceases to amaze me how often customers will ask for help in finding something when they can't name the item, and they can't describe it! Seriously!! I can't do anything for you if you can't communicate the most basic information!! Yet, they still expect my help in finding it. It blows my mind.
So, I'm working on the sales floor, and this agitated man walks up to me rather quickly.

Man: Thee pens! Thee pens! Where are thee pens!

I wasn't sure at first what he was asking for. He kept saying he wanted 'pens,' but the 'thee' thru me off and made me think I was misunderstanding him. I was thinking maybe he had an accent, or speech problem.

Me: You mean pens? Like, to write with? They're in the stationary aisle, number ##.

Man: No! No! No! You know, thee pens, thee pens!

Me: I'm really sorry. I'm not sure what you are looking for.

Man: Thee pens. Thee pens. You know, they're for....like....you put....it's for.....well they're for.....I'm picking them up for someone, and they're.....thee pens!

At this point, I don't hear any obvious accent or speech problem. Every word he said was clear and understandable. His English was perfect, except for 'thee pens.'

Me: I don't know what you mean by 'thee pens'. Can you describe it for me? That would help.

At this point, a passing CW stops and joins us.

Man: Thee pens. Thee pens.

CW: Pens?. They're on aisle ## with the stationary.

Man: No! No!!! Thee pens!! They're for like...... well you put them.....you wear them for.....

As he is saying this, he's motioning a lot with his hands trying to describe the item. He tucks on his waistband, like he's pulling his pants up.

Man: Like this! You know!

CW: Sorry. I don't know what you mean. Say it again?

Man: THEE PENS!! (He's starting to sound upset now.)

Me: You mean, 'Depends'? Like diapers?

Man: Yeah!! Yeah!! That's it!! Thee pens!! Thee pens! Where are they? I can't find them.

(For those that might not know, Depends are a brand of adult diapers.)

Me: Depends are on the diaper aisle, number ##.

CW and I both agreed that he never said 'Depends.' We both heard 'thee pens' each time. Even after we said 'Depends', he kept saying 'thee pens'. Holy crap. All he had to do was say 'diapers'.
-----------------
Still Waw Beer

Apparently, it was the night for idiot mispronunciation. Later, I got a guy asking for 'Still waw' beer. I've never heard of 'Still waw' beer, and I'm fairly familiar with all the beers we carry, including the seemingly endless number of specialty micro-brews that we keep adding and dropping.
I must have asked the guy to repeat it six or seven times.
"Still Waw....Still Waw....Still Waw."
Now, if he was just mispronouncing it, I wouldn't be too annoyed. But he was deliberately trying to pronounce the name as though he was fluent in some foreign language. Each time he said the name, he would stop and then quickly roll thru the beer's name in an exaggerated accent. He insisted he bought it here before. I spent about ten minutes searching the back room, the sales floor, and calling other clerks asking them if they knew of a beer called "Still Waw." Of course, no one had ever heard of this beer. I finally gave up. I found the guy standing by a liquor display. I started to tell him I couldn't find his beer.

Beer Guy: Oh, that's all right! I found some right here! Thanks anyway!

I look, and in his cart is a case of Stella Artois Beer. Stella Artois!!! I don't know how the hell he got 'Still Waw' from Stella Artois.

[Mr Hero]

Customer should have asked for Oops I Crapped My Pants.

[MelindaJoy77]

Customer should have asked for Oops I Crapped My Pants.

Hahaha! I remember that one!

There's a large Hispanic population where I live, and many of the older folks either don't know English or have very broken English skills, so every once in a while I get a question for some strange mispronounced item. Can't remember any examples at the moment though.

[Monterey Jack]

NOTHING is more frustrating than dealing with a customer who has either a limited grasp of English, or else some weird speech impediment/pronunciation...if you can't accurately describe what you want, then come with someone who can translate for you.

[vikingchyk]

Um. No.

I stutter and sometimes it is super bad. That makes it hard to communicate with people, and I will be damned if I am going to bring in somebody to 'translate' for me. If the clerk/salesperson gets impatient with me I can very clearly say 'Get me a manager. NOW.' stutter or not.

I get that dealing with people you have a hard time understanding is frustrating, but taking an attitude with those people only makes it harder all the way around. And it's embarrassing for the person with the speech impediment as well. Trust me, I've had it happen to me and the salesperson wrote me off as a waste of their time. Even though I would have netted them a hefty sale. There are still stores I refuse to go into as a result of that sort of experience.

Yeah, this happens to my husband a lot. Sometimes he gets eye rolls, sighs, foot tapping, people trying to finish his sentence for him, interrupting, or otherwise treating him like he has mental issues. STOP IT. Shut yer pie hole, and give them a chance to get it out.

[AccountingDrone]

Yeah, this happens to my husband a lot. Sometimes he gets eye rolls, sighs, foot tapping, people trying to finish his sentence for him, interrupting, or otherwise treating him like he has mental issues. STOP IT. Shut yer pie hole, and give them a chance to get it out.

In a wheelchair, 75% of the time I will ask a question and the person will converse past me to whomever is with me.

[mathnerd]

Um. No.

I stutter and sometimes it is super bad. That makes it hard to communicate with people, and I will be damned if I am going to bring in somebody to 'translate' for me. If the clerk/salesperson gets impatient with me I can very clearly say 'Get me a manager. NOW.' stutter or not.

I get that dealing with people you have a hard time understanding is frustrating, but taking an attitude with those people only makes it harder all the way around. And it's embarrassing for the person with the speech impediment as well. Trust me, I've had it happen to me and the salesperson wrote me off as a waste of their time. Even though I would have netted them a hefty sale. There are still stores I refuse to go into as a result of that sort of experience.

I suffered a traumatic brain injury when I was 17. While I recovered 99.9%, I still have occasional problems with word retrieval (I can be holding something simple like a pencil, and fail to be able to come up with the word "pencil"), and even more occasionally stutter. I've been treated badly occasionally in stores because of this. Of course, that makes it even worse, as stress makes the word retrieval and stutter issues even more obvious.

In a wheelchair, 75% of the time I will ask a question and the person will converse past me to whomever is with me.

My 12 year old sometimes uses a wheelchair and is already starting to experience things like this. People will talk to him like he's a toddler and/or direct questions to me. My 13 year old who's perfectly healthy hasn't been talked to like that since he was 9 or 10.

[notalwaysright]

What is frustrating to me is when I can't understand what a customer wants and they can't describe it to me, or tell me what it's for, or basically give me any information at all. A lady was in a while ago and didn't speak English well, but knew the word magenta. So I showed her magenta fabric, magenta ribbon, and magenta beads. She yelled loudly "NO" at each thing I showed her, then proceeded to speak in another language to me and end with "MAGENTA!" I literally had no idea what she wanted, and honestly I was tired of being yelled at so at that point I just said I was sorry and went away. I don't know what else I could do. She did the same thing to a coworker. She also tried and failed.

I will try to figure it out, I'll ask a coworker, I'll walk with them around the store, but I don't appreciate being yelled at or talked down to because I don't know what they are asking for. It's the basic, treat others how you want to be treated.

For example: Toile is a "type of decorating pattern consisting of a white or off-white background on which a repeated pattern depicting a fairly complex scene, generally of a pastoral theme such as a couple having a picnic by a lake." It is pronounced "twale" http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=toile Now I do not expect anyone to know that. But a lady came in and asked for "tulle" she said it exactly like tulle, the net stuff that tutus are made of. I show her the tulle. She says, "Uh, you don't know anything about fabric, do you? TULLE. The fabric with the pretty pictures on it." And she said that last as if I was a child. Guess what? I do know about fabric, and I certainly would have shown the correct fabric if I had understood that when she asked for something, she really meant something else. Misunderstands happen!

[Dark Psion]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ1pO-tZbYA

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

NOTHING is more frustrating than dealing with a customer who has either a limited grasp of English, or else some weird speech impediment/pronunciation...if you can't accurately describe what you want, then come with someone who can translate for you.

Those people didn't ask for English to be their second language or to have a speech impediment.

I get that it can be frustrating to figure out what they're asking you for, but you really need to be more patient.

Now, the people who really frustrate me are the people who have their own "pet" terms they use to describe things, and get angry when I can't figure out what they want. How hard is it to ask where the toothpaste is, instead of where the Pepsodent is? (Pepsodent being used to mean toothpaste of any brand).

[bainsidhe]

In a wheelchair, 75% of the time I will ask a question and the person will converse past me to whomever is with me.

I've heard of this happening (probably from this site). This has always seemed odd to me. If you are paying attention to the transaction and looking at me, why wouldn't I interact with you?

I had a blind customer who pulled out his credit card and was feeling for the pad to swipe his card. I verbally gave directions where to move his hand and where to swipe it, since every store's pin pad is so different. He seemed surprised and pleased, and explained that many cashiers grab his hand, or grab the card itself (without permission!) to swipe it. I just can't comprehend getting all grabby with a customer unless someone is in danger.

[raudf]

After dealing with toddlers who are learning to speak, I am usually pretty patient with other people. Unfortunately, they don't tend to be very understanding of my inability to hear in public places. It's even more amusing (or frustrating) when I can't hear and the other person has a speech impediment. We resorted to writing. *sigh*

[mathnerd]

Those people didn't ask for English to be their second language or to have a speech impediment.

I get that it can be frustrating to figure out what they're asking you for, but you really need to be more patient.

Now, the people who really frustrate me are the people who have their own "pet" terms they use to describe things, and get angry when I can't figure out what they want. How hard is it to ask where the toothpaste is, instead of where the Pepsodent is? (Pepsodent being used to mean toothpaste of any brand).

Thank you. I am not a stupid person. Quite the opposite. I guarantee you that it's far more frustrating to me when I can't come up with the word for a simple object than it is for the person I'm trying to talk to.

[dalesys]

... It's even more amusing ...

My dad still gets the giggles about his time as a Mormon missionary in the Rochdale, England area when two other missionaries got into an argument on the bus... over which one "stuttered" and which one "stammered".

[MoonCat]

I think it's not the fact that they can't understand the person that upsets people....it's the fact that some people get huffy, angry or nasty about it. After all, it's not the listener's fault that the person has an accent or whatever, either. I totally agree we should be patient and try our best to help, but that can be difficult when the speaker him/herself is impatient and starts yelling.

How hard is it to ask where the toothpaste is, instead of where the Pepsodent is? (Pepsodent being used to mean toothpaste of any brand).

Heh, for the longest time tissues were referred to as "Kleenex" regardless of the actual brand name.