So much stupid...

[Trixie]

Did you ever have a shift where it seemed that every customer was stupid? Cuz that what I had tonight. There was so much stupid that nothing even stands out. Or else I've finally gotten to the point that I just block it all out. But I do know that it wore me out.

I do wish I had some stories to share but all I have is this quote from my coworker..."I'm tired of looking at people today." And that just pretty much summed up the whole evening.

[Seanette]

I'm pretty sure this is most of my shifts. I swear I get off the phone at 5pm with at least 15-20 IQ points less than I started with at 8am. Fortunately, they seem to grow back.

[Racket_Man]

Most of my "stupid" tends to come from those calling in. Don't know the address, a WORKING phone number, apt #, "no sorry that address does NOT exist", mush mouth translation, just can't decide what to order, cancels first part of order orders something completely different, bitches at the door this is NOT what they ordered, delivering internet orders and getting screamed at because the order is WRONG or a few items are "missing" (meanin they did NOT fully check their order before hitting SEND and then not check the confirming e-mail), wash rinse repeat many many times in one shift.

[mjr]

Most of my "stupid" tends to come from those calling in. Don't know the address, a WORKING phone number, apt #,

I have to ask -- is this people in their own residence? "I know where I live...I just don't know my address!"

That might be more common than we think.

"no sorry that address does NOT exist"

A little slack here -- maybe. What if it's a new residence, and this is the first person who has called from there? Would that still be in your system?

[Racket_Man]

I have to ask -- is this people in their own residence? "I know where I live...I just don't know my address!"

I can cut some slack for just moved in but in many instances we get NEW burn phone number and the same people. I have had people call in multiple times and ask the following question: "Do you guys deliver to 123 XYZ St?" yes we do. proceed to give phone number and name and a already existing customer record with that name and address pops up and the record shows they just ordered 1 - 3 days ago.

A little slack here -- maybe. What if it's a new residence, and this is the first person who has called from there? Would that still be in your system?

OK the best instance I can give happened on Sat. night. I get a delivery for 301 ABC St. Now with my towns addressing scheme this is impossible because

1. ABC St. dead ends at the 500 block and

2. 301 would put this address literally in the middle of a factory. This address does not exist. even Google maps puts this address in the middle of a factory.

I call the customer to inquire where they are. They insist they are located at 301 ABC St. I tell them 301 ABC St. does not exist. They tell me they are at the corner of WX St. and ABC St.. OK I KNOW where that is and the address would really be 301 WX St. They happen to have their apt. door on ABC St. not WX St. but the building IS ADDRESSED as 301 WX St (has 3 apts.).

[mhkohne]

OK the best instance I can give happened on Sat. night. I get a delivery for 301 ABC St. Now with my towns addressing scheme this is impossible because

1. ABC St. dead ends at the 500 block and

2. 301 would put this address literally in the middle of a factory. This address does not exist. even Google maps puts this address in the middle of a factory.

I call the customer to inquire where they are. They insist they are located at 301 ABC St. I tell them 301 ABC St. does not exist. They tell me they are at the corner of WX St. and ABC St.. OK I KNOW where that is and the address would really be 301 WX St. They happen to have their apt. door on ABC St. not WX St. but the building IS ADDRESSED as 301 WX St (has 3 apts.).

Until she died a few years back, I had an elderly neighbor at the corner of A and B streets.
Her house faced A street.
She had her mailbox on the B street side of her property and labeled it with a number that wasn't in sequence for B street.
When we got new neighbors after her passing, they moved the box back to A street, which was the actual, official address of the property.

I've no idea why the post office put up with this nonsense, but goofiness abounds.

[Pixelated]

I recently moved and I have *some* sympathy with people who have a brain fart when trying to remember their new address.

However, there's a simple solution in three words: Write It Down. I have little trouble remembering my new street address. My new postal code? Hooboy ... forget it. I keep wanting to give the postal code of my late mother's house. Or worse ... the postal code of my maternal GRANDPARENTS' house. Grandpa moved out of there decades ago and in face he died about a decade ago, so ...

But I've written it down in a small notebook, and also put it in "Notes" on my cellphone, so I don't have to look like a total dweeb when asked for such basic info.

[Trixie]

I understand brain farts. Heck I've tried to use a zip code for the house I grew up in after I was gone for years one time. But after so many years of dealing with the public, I've just concluded that people are dumb. Sometime I think it's like the weather. "We have a cloud of stupidity coming from the northwest today. Tomorrow will be angry with a 20% chance of pleasantness. Back to you, Jim."

[Mental_Mouse]

OK the best instance I can give happened on Sat. night. I get a delivery for 301 ABC St. Now with my towns addressing scheme this is impossible because

1. ABC St. dead ends at the 500 block and

2. 301 would put this address literally in the middle of a factory. This address does not exist. even Google maps puts this address in the middle of a factory.

I'm reminded how in NYC, movies and TV shows normally use addresses that would be in the middle of the Hudson River or somesuch. (I assume for other cities they do something similar.)

[morgana]

Trixie, I've made people laugh by complaining about the "stationary weird front" over the town I used to live in.

[MoonCat]

I must be weirder than I thought, when I bought my house the new address was practically engraved on my brain. And that was after living at my old house for 47 years.

Maybe it was because I never thought I would ever move out of the house I'd lived in all my life, and it seemed so unbelievable to have a new address that I just couldn't get it out of my mind.

[Trixie]

Morgana, I may have to steal that! I swear sometimes it feels as if the weather really does do something to people.

[Sparklyturtle]

Where my late aunt lived, she had a post office box, but if I'd had to give a street address I couldn't have done it. She'd lived there for over 45 years, and while everyone in town (population less than 2500) knew where she lived I'll bet no one knew the house's actual address. Late aunt had inherited the house from late great aunt, who in turn had inherited it from great-grandmother, who'd bought the house in 1935, so I'm sure that even 911 responders could have found the house easily. (My great aunt referred to her neighbors as "that dingy outfit." It wouldn't surprise me if the rest of the town referred to my family that way, since that description fit us as aptly as the neighbors.)

[Trixie]

Last night was another parade of stupid. I sold tons of alcohol and almost half of the customers came through my line talking on the phone. Early in the evening two hipster kids wanted to return an Uber gift card they bought in another state because the pin number off the back was scratched to the point it couldn't be read. I said there was nothing we could do. All sales final and all that. The manager said the same thing. At least I give them credit for still having the receipt. After they left the manager said that it wasn't even that recent.

But the topper of the night was the kid that came in and said his girlfriend bought the wrong birth control. It looked like it was prescription. I told him he'd have to go to the pharmacy for that. He said he figured "that part" would be closed. I said no and then he just walked out. There are just so many levels of fail with that one that it hurts my head to think about it.

[Buzzard]

But the topper of the night was the kid that came in and said his girlfriend bought the wrong birth control. It looked like it was prescription.

Oh yeah. Birth control is always prescription, so the only way to get that one wrong is getting a name brand instead of generic, or vice versa. Don't know the story, and I don't think I want to, either. The headache is just not worth it.
As to the pharmacy doing a return of product that has left their controlled environment? Good luck, chumpus. It's not something they can ever restock.