Dumbest question you have ever been asked

[Listerfiend]

SCs ask stupid questions every day. Sometimes several times a day. Especially the "Do you work here" question. But the dumbest question I've ever been asked was:

"What's 50% off $10.00?"



.

I've had that one before; but that doesn't hold a candle to an ASSOCIATE who didn't know how to figure out 90% off.

[RammsteinGirl]

I've had that one before; but that doesn't hold a candle to an ASSOCIATE who didn't know how to figure out 90% off.

Well, if it was 90% off an easy number like $10.00 then that's inexcusable. However, if it's an odd number I can definitely see where they would have a problem doing it in their head - hell, I would myself. Hence the reason I'm a history major, not a math major!

I DO know how to figure out percentages off on paper. Say for instance you have 20% off $28.99

Convert 20% into decimal form=.20

Multiply:
28.99 x .20 = about $5.80.

So you know 20% of 28.99 is about $5.80. Subtract that off the 28.99 and voila! Your sale price is $23.19.

/mathlesson

Thankfully our registers at Kmart have a % off function so we don't have to waste time working out percentages off!

But some customers will get snotty with you when you have to resort to pen and paper or a calculator to figure a number out. Like when you type $200.00 into the register by accident when they've given you a $20.00. Sometimes they'll pipe up and show off their human calculator skills, "The change is supposed to be $xx.xx!!" Sorry, I'd rather NOT risk guessing in my head. The calculator is never wrong!

[Listerfiend]

Yeah, but if you have ten and you take away nine, you only have one left--so a price like $12.98 would translate into $1.29 if it was 90% off. I will say that I don't exactly have math skills, either, so I feel your pain. (shrug)

However, I forgot about this one just from this past week...

Our fall floral arrangements are 70% off. I had a customer ask me if she could use a 40% off coupon in ADDITION to the sale price.

I had to tell her that we couldn't *give her* money to take the arrangement.

[worddork]

I think the dumbest is "Do you work here?" while I was standing INSIDE the customer service desk, or BEHIND the register (both of which I have gotten).

The correct response to this question is "No, I'm robbing the joint. But, until I get a bigger take I was going to help some customers."

[smileyeagle1021]

But some customers will get snotty with you when you have to resort to pen and paper or a calculator to figure a number out. Like when you type $200.00 into the register by accident when they've given you a $20.00. Sometimes they'll pipe up and show off their human calculator skills, "The change is supposed to be $xx.xx!!" Sorry, I'd rather NOT risk guessing in my head. The calculator is never wrong!

well, i'm one of the customers you hate... because the calculator can very easily be wrong... push one wrong button (which is very easy to do) and it's more off than your original number that you are correcting... besides, counting change is painfully easy, no actually math involved if you do it properly, count the pennies up to the next nickel amount, the nickels up to the next dime amout, dimes up to the next quarter, quarters to the next dollar, then do the same thing with bills... once you learn the trick there is no way to get it wrong.
/end preaching

[BaristaGirl]

I work at TwinkleDollars. (It caught on, woot!) TwinkleDollars COFFEE.

I get this once a week. "Do you sell coffee here?"

*Headdesk* No. None for you. You have lost coffee privileges.

[Sparky]

I'm still trying to recover from the brain damage inflicted on my by working as a bus driver for 18+ years.

Dumbest question I ever had reported to me:
Caller: What time does the bus to town come?
Dispatcher: Where are you?
Caller: What do you have to know that for?

Second dumbest question I was ever asked:
Is this my bus?
Um... it would help if I knew where you were going.

All-time prize-winning dumbest question I have ever been asked in my life:
Oh honey! Are the buses running today?!
In all fairness to the idjit in question, I must report that it was a holiday, and city offices were closed so I can understand why someone would have wondered whether there would be bus service that day. BUT you'd think that the fact that the bus had just pulled to a stop in front of him, that I was behind the wheel in uniform, and that the bus was full of passengers just MIGHT have given him a clue.

The sad thing is that he actually stood there waiting for an answer.

[crazylegs]

I've been asked 'what are you?'

Aside from my job title being printed on 5 (yes five) seperate places about my person (on my chest, back, both shoulders and cap badge) you still can't work out what I am. Incredible

[Victoria J]

My job is giving people advice at an advice centre and I get asked a lot of very odd questions (I have actually answered questions about how one donates ones body to medical science, what to do if someone has stolen your grave, whether bailiifs can take kittens, how to change a name back having changed it while psychotic....

(I also do get to advise some of those idiots you all deal with - the ones that think they know the law and the comapny has ripped them off, or a contract shouldn't be binding. They don't listen to us either).

But I have only ever been asked 2 really stupid questions. All the others were merely strange, or perfectly reasonable if you lacked information on the subject.

The first :

MI - Man best described as a Malevolent Idiot (if you could do something wrong, he would - then he'd try and blame someone else)
Me - me

Me - I'll call you on Tuesday
MI - This Tuesday or last Tuesday ?

I wanted to say "Last Tuesday ? Because having invented a time machine I'm going to waste it on phoning you ?". I managed to restrain myself to just "Last Tuesday ?" in a really sarcastic tone of voice, the only time I've ever been sarcastic to a customer.

The other was a really sweet old lady. I was filling out a form to try and get her disability benefits, and she was telling me about her illness and how it affected her :

Old Lady "If I get down on the floor I can't get up again - would you like me to show you"

Me "Noooo. Then you would be stuck on the floor..."

I work for the police dept...

" Umm, I was arrested last night. They gave me back everything except for my weed! When can I get that back?"

One of my colleagues advised someone who wanted the police to return items they'd taken during an investigation. She was already to act on his behalf as it seemed quite unreasonable they'd kept his stuff for so many months - until he explained that the items were - Marijuana plants. Which had been seized because he'd been growing then on a balcony within view of the police station

SCs ask stupid questions every day. Sometimes several times a day. Especially the "Do you work here" question. But the dumbest question I've ever been asked was:

"What's 50% off $10.00?"

I can top that. I was asked "What's 70 as a percent ?" and screamed at when I couldn't answer. When I eventually managed to explain that you need 2 numbers to work out a percentage I was told it was 70 out of a hundred.

Sadly not a sucky customer but a sucky mother.

Victoria J

[Talonetc]

Customer are Idiots: "How do I make a call?"
Me: "...? Give me back the phone."

[RammsteinGirl]

well, i'm one of the customers you hate... because the calculator can very easily be wrong... push one wrong button (which is very easy to do) and it's more off than your original number that you are correcting... besides, counting change is painfully easy, no actually math involved if you do it properly, count the pennies up to the next nickel amount, the nickels up to the next dime amout, dimes up to the next quarter, quarters to the next dollar, then do the same thing with bills... once you learn the trick there is no way to get it wrong.
/end preaching

Yeah, but what if you do it in front of the customer and they verify the amount? I mean, it's not that hard to go [amount they gave you] - [total of their purchase] on the calculator. Would you roll your eyes and snort like the cashier's an idiot and cop an attitude with them? I know how to count small change up, but I'm too nervous to do it with larger dollar amounts because I just do -not- want to make a mistake and end up being short/over in my till. I understand it's probably annoying from the viewpoint of a person who knows how to instantly generate change in their brain, but there's just no need to assume someone else is an idiot just because they can't do it.

[Gothmog]

Yeah, but if you have ten and you take away nine, you only have one left--so a price like $12.98 would translate into $1.29 if it was 90% off. I will say that I don't exactly have math skills, either, so I feel your pain. (shrug)

Actually, that would be $1.30...
On the bright side, your lack of math skills is confirmed.

[cinema guy]

what to do if someone has stolen your grave,

Those pesky vampires just have no respect for other peoples' resting places do they? Dawn comes and they just lie down in the nearest empty coffin.

Me - I'll call you on Tuesday
MI - This Tuesday or last Tuesday ?

This just made me roar with laughter.

[Despina83]

"What's 20 cents plus 25 cents?"

*writing a check at the register* "What store is this?" "How do you spell that?" (Target).

[Imogene]

Our fall floral arrangements are 70% off. I had a customer ask me if she could use a 40% off coupon in ADDITION to the sale price.

Two things: I am now ABSOLUTELY certain we work for the same company.
Secondly:
To make it easy, let's suppose the item is $100 regular price.
70% off makes it $30
40% off that $30 is:
30*.1=3*4=12
30-12=$18, final price, but we can't use coupons (as far as I've seen) on anything that isn't regular price.