Be more specific?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I am pretty sure I posted this but it really fits this thread:

SC: What color can you make this?
Me: Any color, sir.
SC: And what color would that be?
Me: I don't know yet.
SC: Why don't you know?
Me: Because you haven't told me yet.

And the ever popular "How many of these flyers do you think I will need?" Erm...

Or, people would point to a picture of a sign and say "I want my sign to be this big."

Me: That's three inches across.
SC: No, I dont' mean the PICTURE of the sign. How big is the sign? That's how big I want mine.
Me: I have no way to measure that from the picture, sir. Show me with your hands how wide you want it and we'll go from there.

[wagegoth]

Quoth phillippbo

"Could you be a little less specific and a little more vague, please?"

One of my favority Buffy quotes, "Can you vague that up for me?"

[SongsOfDragons]

I reckon what comes out of our eloquent mouths transcribes to mental fuzz in their ear canals.

[dougiezerts]

Me--What city, please?
SC--Maryland
Me--Not the state, what city?
SC--PG
Me--Not the county, what city?
SC--Uh. . . Central Avenue!

[JustADude]

I was out shopping for an new monitor a few days ago (ended up with the Samsung 204B), and those curved Sony ones look like to me, if they're the ones I'm thinking of. You shouldn't blame him for being so clueless... his ability to process details was obviously removed with his good taste.

[MadMike]

Quoth Jet

SC: Where do I put them?

So why didn't you answer this one? Too easy?

[Dips]

SC: I get a free update, right?

Me: I'll need your serial number to look that up.

SC: I want version #.#. It's free, right?

Me: May I have your serial number?

SC: I bought in in 2002. That makes my update free, right?

Me: If you registered I can look up your name. Can you give me your last name?

SC: It's Vagueidiot. I get a free update, right?

Me: I can't find a Vagueidiot in our database, so the only way I can look you up is by your serial number. Beside, in order to get an update, free or otherwise, you will need to supply the serial number of your current version. You can find it by double-clicking [blah blah blah].

SC: Oh, I'm not in front of the computer, but I get a free update, right?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Dips, I feel your pain.

At Kinko's, if you drop off your order and come back within, say, two hours or so, your order might be still in the finishing system and not be filed yet. Orders travel around the room to different stations before they are filed and put into the system so they can be looked up by name. So frequently, when customers come in to pick up their quick-turnaround orders, it's helpful to know when it was due, so we can gauge where in the store it might be and find it more quickly.

I wish I had a nickle for every time I've had this conversation:

Me: Okay, when was it due?
SC: Well, you said it wouldn't be a problem.
Me: It isn't. When was it due?
SC: It was a stack of 500 orange flyers.
Me: Right. When was it due?
SC:I need it for a trade show.
Me. When. Was. It. Due.
SC: Is it done yet?
Me. When. Was. It. Due. I need to know when it was due. When was it due?


The idiots assume because I have to ask a question to find it, that either it has not been done or is lost. A lot of SC assume a lot of things. And we all know what happens when we assume.

[JustADude]

Quoth RecoveringKinkoid

And we all know what happens when we assume.

Pretty fairys fly out of nowhere and ring happy bells? Um... no, wait. That's not it...

But, in their defense, most times someone asks a question like that, it does mean there's at least a minor problem (such as not being able to find the order without the info). Of course, telling them what they need to know is the best way to make the problem not be there, so I cough up the answer, THEN ask what's up. Of course, we all know the rule about SCs and things that make sense.