Had this older woman (70's, I guess) come in a couple of times over the last month. Seems like a sweet old lady, but I'm wondering if she has some sort of mental problems.
First visit: gave me a web site to look up, she wanted a list of the board of directors for some <blank>-American organization. Easy. I don't think I even charged her to print it out.
She mentioned she had another site she wanted the same info from. I asked what it was, but she didn't have the web site. No problem, I say. I can search for it.
She refused to give me the information. Something about her mother had once told her that she shouldn't take advantage of people's kindness and blah blah and all that noise. Since she has to walk a couple of miles here from her home (she doesn't drive) I tell her it's no problem, let's do it now and save her a trip. No, no, no - she won't tell me what she needs, she'll come back some other time. Whatever. Did my good deed for the day.
Second visit: Tells me the <blank>-American museum she's looking for, needs the board of directors list. Because five years ago someone told her that information was available online. Because surely nothing on the WWW could change in five years. I check the museum's web page, do a Google search, can't find it.
Aha - I say - here's a phone number to the fellow who runs the museum. Just call him and ask where you can get that information. No, no - she can't do that because she has some sort of problem with the guy and won't get into it.
Crazyyyyyyyyyyy
I do a couple more searches but find nothing. She asks if I can research it for her. Now I'm getting annoyed. I offered a solution but she refused it, and she can't comprehend that I KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I'M DOING. I don't claim to be a Black Belt in Google-Fu but my karate is strong. I can usually find anything I need to.
So I tell her yes - I can research it for her. For my hourly rate of $90.
Well, you can imagine how that went down. Couldn't afford it, so she'd see if the library could help but thanks anyway.
Fine. Have a nice day.
Third visit (some 15 minutes ago) - tells me the librarian used Google Word Search to find what she needed but wouldn't print it out because she couldn't afford the printouts. (I guess I'm a charity now) Of course she doesn't remember the web site and neither her nor the librarian wrote it down.
She tries describing how the librarian searched, with a black column on the one side and white column on the other side and adding/eliminating search words - I have no idea what she's on about. But I try a couple more searches my way, still can't find the info.
Since she won't call the museum I offer to do it for her. The guy won't know who I'm calling for - I don't even know this woman's name if he asked. No, no, no - no calls. She doesn't want me to do it. And she doesn't want to go back to the library because she's dealing with me. Well, yeah - because I'm the sucker who hasn't charged you anything yet and I'm wasting my time I should be spending on customers computers. No wonder you only want to deal with me.
I have to admit, I was getting curious exactly why she wanted this info and why she wouldn't talk to the guy at the museum. I tried to subtly find out but couldn't get anything out of her. I'll have to try waterboarding, I guess.
But this woman is pissing me off more and more, because I KNOW HOW TO DO MY JOB. She comments that I'm not really helping and I respond that I don't know how to help her any better. I've searched, made a recommendation, and she doesn't want to hear anything.
I tell her if the librarian can find the web page, all they need to do is write it down and I can pull it up. So she says she'll try getting help at the library. I couldn't tell if she was being passive-aggressive or not, but I'm now beyond the point of caring. If she comes back in with the URL I'll look it up real quick but otherwise, I'm just telling her I have work to do and if she can't pay us for our time I can't help her.
I can't even imagine her thought process on this. Why does she need the board of directors? Why won't she just call the guy at the museum or have someone else call for her? Why can't she understand that the information she wants may not be online? WHY WON'T SHE LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TELL HER I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING?
What's that line from Star Wars... who's the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him.
First visit: gave me a web site to look up, she wanted a list of the board of directors for some <blank>-American organization. Easy. I don't think I even charged her to print it out.
She mentioned she had another site she wanted the same info from. I asked what it was, but she didn't have the web site. No problem, I say. I can search for it.
She refused to give me the information. Something about her mother had once told her that she shouldn't take advantage of people's kindness and blah blah and all that noise. Since she has to walk a couple of miles here from her home (she doesn't drive) I tell her it's no problem, let's do it now and save her a trip. No, no, no - she won't tell me what she needs, she'll come back some other time. Whatever. Did my good deed for the day.
Second visit: Tells me the <blank>-American museum she's looking for, needs the board of directors list. Because five years ago someone told her that information was available online. Because surely nothing on the WWW could change in five years. I check the museum's web page, do a Google search, can't find it.
Aha - I say - here's a phone number to the fellow who runs the museum. Just call him and ask where you can get that information. No, no - she can't do that because she has some sort of problem with the guy and won't get into it.
Crazyyyyyyyyyyy
I do a couple more searches but find nothing. She asks if I can research it for her. Now I'm getting annoyed. I offered a solution but she refused it, and she can't comprehend that I KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I'M DOING. I don't claim to be a Black Belt in Google-Fu but my karate is strong. I can usually find anything I need to.
So I tell her yes - I can research it for her. For my hourly rate of $90.
Well, you can imagine how that went down. Couldn't afford it, so she'd see if the library could help but thanks anyway.
Fine. Have a nice day.
Third visit (some 15 minutes ago) - tells me the librarian used Google Word Search to find what she needed but wouldn't print it out because she couldn't afford the printouts. (I guess I'm a charity now) Of course she doesn't remember the web site and neither her nor the librarian wrote it down.
She tries describing how the librarian searched, with a black column on the one side and white column on the other side and adding/eliminating search words - I have no idea what she's on about. But I try a couple more searches my way, still can't find the info.
Since she won't call the museum I offer to do it for her. The guy won't know who I'm calling for - I don't even know this woman's name if he asked. No, no, no - no calls. She doesn't want me to do it. And she doesn't want to go back to the library because she's dealing with me. Well, yeah - because I'm the sucker who hasn't charged you anything yet and I'm wasting my time I should be spending on customers computers. No wonder you only want to deal with me.
I have to admit, I was getting curious exactly why she wanted this info and why she wouldn't talk to the guy at the museum. I tried to subtly find out but couldn't get anything out of her. I'll have to try waterboarding, I guess.
But this woman is pissing me off more and more, because I KNOW HOW TO DO MY JOB. She comments that I'm not really helping and I respond that I don't know how to help her any better. I've searched, made a recommendation, and she doesn't want to hear anything.
I tell her if the librarian can find the web page, all they need to do is write it down and I can pull it up. So she says she'll try getting help at the library. I couldn't tell if she was being passive-aggressive or not, but I'm now beyond the point of caring. If she comes back in with the URL I'll look it up real quick but otherwise, I'm just telling her I have work to do and if she can't pay us for our time I can't help her.
I can't even imagine her thought process on this. Why does she need the board of directors? Why won't she just call the guy at the museum or have someone else call for her? Why can't she understand that the information she wants may not be online? WHY WON'T SHE LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TELL HER I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING?
What's that line from Star Wars... who's the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him.
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