I never thought I'd actually see this

[manybellsdown]

Went into the Bullseye yesterday to return some shorts that didn't quite fit my son. Next to me at returns is a little old lady trying to return an outdoor digital thermometer because "it doesn't work and the numbers are all messed up."

The clerk, who could not have been older than 19, very politely demonstrated that all you have to do is peel the little display sticker off the front...

She decided not to return it after all "if you say it's not broken."

[Slayer]

I happen to see it a lot and on numerous occasions, I was that cashier lol.

[Zenova]

Stuff like that happens a LOT.
Once had a customer return an electric toothbrush because it wasn't working. I pulled the little tab out from between the batteries and the contacts and it worked. He decided to keep it

[gremcint]

I've had that happen with a calculator

[fma_fanatic]

I work with people like that. I order calculators that have the peel off sticker, and it never fails I will get someone coming to me (99% of the time a new hire) who tells me that their calculator isn't working and hands it to me. I see the sticker is still on it, and after peeling it off, show them it works fine.

I am then apparently the admin who can fix anything! What I really want to ask them is if they missed the common sense class in college.

[cashierbex]

I had some people come in and say something is broken or whatever. Took me two seconds to fix it. Some people come in just for us to open the bottle or whatever. Now thats a new special. I guess some people are really that alone.

[wolfie]

Some years back, I read an article about the early days of Heathkit, and it had a few instances of this.

Someone had built an oscilliscope from a kit, but the display was extremely dim even with the brightness turned all the way up, and the dot/line was fuzzy. Technician couldn't diagnose the problem over the phone, so they had the person send it it. The problem was fixed on later batches of the same kit - printing "protective film - remove before installation" on the protective paper applied to the face of the "window" in front of the tube.

Another was a case of someone not recognizing jargon. In electronics, "Spaghetti" refers to plastic/rubber insulating tubing that you slip over a wire. Someone had used actual pasta.

[Moon]

Reminds me of when I got an MP3 player from my Sweetie.... I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I couldn't get it to play... Upon closer inspection, I noticed the single AAA battery was still shrink-wrapped. D'OH!!! Since it was a single battery I hadn't even noticed it since the plastic was so tight to the battery itself.