It's Not That I Don't Understand, I Just Couldn't HEAR You

[Sableonblonde]

Where I am, there is loud music blaring over the speakers and sometimes it is hard for me to hear people if they do not speak up.

WHY is it that sometimes when I can't hear a person's order and I have to ask them to repeat it, they proceed to repeat their order, veeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrryyyy sllllllllooooooooowwwwwwly like I am a complete and utter moron?! IT ISN'T THAT I DIDN'T COMPREHEND YOU, I JUST COULD NOT HEAR YOU!! ARGH! Nothing gets my blood boiling quite like situations like those.

[theredbaron47]

WHY is it that sometimes when I can't hear a person's order and I have to ask them to repeat it, they proceed to repeat their order, veeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrryyyy sllllllllooooooooowwwwwwly like I am a complete and utter moron?!

The answer is simple: because customers suck.

Seriously, don't let it get to you (although it's very hard, been there done that). Tell yourself that you're above the people who do that to you. I'd never DREAM of doing that to anyone who is giving me any kind of service.

[Pagan]

Or the women that apparently think it's "un-ladylike" to speak above a whisper. Those are the ones that I make repeat themselves louder when they happen to be asking for the restroom. C'mon, everybody pees, etc., no need to be embarrassed! Of course, they feel the need to use everything but the words "restroom" or "bathroom". BTW, it's downstairs in Mens Denim....yes, the one for women, too.

[Soulstealer]

Or the women that apparently think it's "un-ladylike" to speak above a whisper. Those are the ones that I make repeat themselves louder when they happen to be asking for the restroom.

I prefer 'where's the toilet room?'

[Trishlovesdolphins]

sometimes I do that because I know I talk fast, so unless I know why I'm being asked to repeat it, I assume its because I sped through it. Although, I don't do it to an obnoxious degree.

[Andara Bledin]

It's too bad you can't ask people to enunciate.

Hell, most of them wouldn't know what you were asking, anyway...

^-.-^

[BookstoreEscapee]

It's too bad you can't ask people to enunciate.

Hell, most of them wouldn't know what you were asking, anyway...

^-.-^

e-nun-see-ate? what do nuns watching people eat on the internet have to do with anything?

[customersruinmylife]

SC: OK, I'll have a pint of lager, vodka and coke and a gnwnfontgosdhgontobti!
Me: I'm sorry, can you repeat the last drink?
SC: I SAID, I'LL...HAVE...A...PINT...OF...LAGER....A....VODKA. ..AND...COOOOOOOOKKKKKEE....AND...A...BOTTTTTLLLLL EEEE....OF...BUUUUUUUDDDDD!
Me: *thinks* Jesus

[Sableonblonde]

Ooh yeah, that too. You ask them to repeat the last thing they ordered, and they get all huffy and go through their entire order again.

I don't understand why people seem to really take it very personally when you ask them to repeat something. They almost get angry! It seems like some people are just so sensitive and defensive. Maybe they think I'm just trying to be spiteful or snarky, I don't know. Or else they get this patronizing, "knowing" look on their face, as if their suspicions have just been confirmed - the cashier is, indeed, an idiot. Maybe they feel stupid for having to repeat themselves, so they try to turn it around and make me look like the fool.

[Imogene]

Had that today.
Younger, possibly early teens, kid comes in, does a trade. I'm busy getting his information, and I kid you not, I had to ask for his last name fifteen times before he finally slowed down and stopped mumbling enough that I could even recognize that what he said was intelligible. Hell, he even spelled it for me a few times, and I still had no clue.

[allniter]

Or the women that apparently think it's "un-ladylike" to speak above a whisper. Those are the ones that I make repeat themselves louder when they happen to be asking for the restroom. C'mon, everybody pees, etc., no need to be embarrassed! Of course, they feel the need to use everything but the words "restroom" or "bathroom". BTW, it's downstairs in Mens Denim....yes, the one for women, too.

That's an easy one to fix. Just repeat the question when you give your answer LOUDLY:

"The TOILET? YES! IT'S DOWN THE HALL TO THE RIGHT, JUST PAST THE MEN'S ROOM!"

LOL

[staticradio]

Please, do not mutter...

I always love the people, especially this older lady one time, when she said something to that of a mix of muttering and a whisper...and I was like, 'HUH?' and she then yells it. dang! Just focus your face my way and talk normally.

[Sharsarannon]

I am hypersensitive- yes all five of them- and so when people in stores mutter at me or speak softly, I have to tell them I'm hard of hearing and to please speak up.
I always wish I could tell them the truth. I am not hard of hearing, I can hear everything that's happening within almost a hundred feet of you, including your breathing and the shush of you shuffling your feet and the conversation being had by a guy with a lateral lisp three aisles over! I can't hear YOU over all that!

[Fera Festiva]

I get the same problem, but for opposite reasons. People assume that because they are in a library, and everyone knows libraries are quiet, they must whisper as quietly as they possibly can, to the point that I can't hear them despite the completely silent atmosphere.

[Ill_Used_Heroine]

Oh man, I hate when patrons do that. I mean, there can be kids running around screaming, 3 people loudly chatting by the front doors, and 1 man shouting into his cell phone and someone will come up the the Circ Desk and whisper a question I can hardly hear. I always use my regular voice at the library, and when people come up and whisper things that I can't even hear, while the rest of the place sounds like a school lunchroom ... well, I just don't get that!