Why would we even sell that?

[Fera Festiva]

well... did you?

people wanna know these things

I get my break in ten minutes, meet me outside then - unless - wait, are you a cop?

[Lace Neil Singer]

What are those?

Gotta love wikipedia.

[BrassCowboy]

At a pharmacy: Do you sell tire irons?

[powerboy]

Just yesterday, while working in a Japanese Anime shop, I got asked if we sold flowers and also, if we sold t.v's. I just said that we had just ran out of both, and the guy left.

[pbmods]

Somewhat related, I always get an inside chuckle when a customer asks if she can drop her camera off for developing. Somedays, I wish I had a big metal gate that I could slam down and shout NO!!!

And then maybe lift it up a crack and go, "Just kidding! Did you want 4x6's or 5x7's? Oh, she's gone."

[Lulu]

Ooo I get this too and I'm a fellow bookseller! Personally, I blame WH Smith's for making the moronic zombie public believe that ALL bookshops are in actual fact glorified stationers

Stuff we've been asked for :

Mugs
Oven Mitts (pot holder type dealies)
Net curtains
Jigsaws (get this one AT LEAST 3-4 times a week)
LP's (yes, the vinyl kind)
Dried flowers
Wrapping paper (slightly more understandable I guess)
Photo Albums
Printer Cartridges
Posters
Packing boxes (more than once)
Massage Oil
Bonsai Trees (?!)
Coffee (um...there's a coffee shop next door, wrong shop perhaps?!)

We get so many random requests, we actually keep a list in the staff room now

[Crow The Robot]

In Wally world we have a phone in most of the dpts. so if a cutomer wants something in that dept. a worker can handle the request.
Anyway some of the things people asked for while i was in Sporting Goods:
Cheese sandwiches
hair dryers
Cool Whip
guitars
tiaras
couches
rocking chairs
Velveeta
Pampers
kiwi fruit
parrots
cars

[Broomjockey]

Mugs
Net curtains
Dried flowers
Massage Oil
Bonsai Trees (?!)

hair dryers
Cool Whip
tiaras
rocking chairs
Velveeta
parrots

That sounds like a fun night!

[alphaboi]

Working in a PA supermarket we'd constantly get people asking where our beer (less often wine or spirits) were. Now in PA you can only buy beer at a beer distributor by the case or keg or in a bar by the 6-pack. Anything stronger go to a state store. Most people who asked were tourists and were fine when we told them we didn't sell any; a few commented on how dumb the laws are (which they are). However every so often people would freak. "What do mean you don't sell beer!?" "You're f_cking kidding me!" "When did they start that! I've done it before!"* They'd also flip out because we needed to see their ID for non-alcoholic beer and wine.

*since 1920

[tignish]

I work at an office supply superstore (you can figure it out)

Mr. gangsta trying to look tough walks up to the counter slams a $5 bill on the counter and says "pack of marlboros" then starts looking around while waiting.
I just gave him a stupid look and said "What??"

he looks right at me then with the same tough guy attitude says "pack of marlboros"

I told him, this is S*****S we don't carry cigarettes.

he just got a really stupid look on his face grabbed his five and stormed out.

[Blinky]

The Fazloi's I used to work at was next to a Taco Bell. At least twice a month someone would pull up to the DT and order some tacos.

[Jester]

Blinky, you can kind of understand someone doing that, though. Heck, I never got upset when people would come into my one bar and order a latte. I would politely say, "Um, Starbucks is next door." And off they would go, no muss, no fuss.

The gangsta looking for smokes in an office supply store is odder.

I had an odd one tonight.

This family of five comes in, and had some questions about the menu. They asked if all of the fish were fillets, or if we had whole fish. I told them no, we only had fillets. Then the father started complaining how "no restaurant in this town" seemed to have whole fish. He was quite put out by it.

Um, I have seen whole fish on menus before, but it is a rarity, not a common thing. And the bar I was working in tonight is just a fun waterfront dive, not fine dining, but even in fine dining places I have worked, whole fish? Not happening. I mean, do you really expect that every place or even more than an occasional place are going to have whole fish on their menu? Nitwit. After they got their food, they said the fish and chicken tasted the same (no, they don't), and asked if we cooked them in the same oil. Um, yes? It is fried. Show me a place that fries fish and chicken in separate fryers, I dare you. It may happen, but at a fine dining place. We ain't it. Dweebs.

And naturally they were not happy with their food. And naturally they told me so. And naturally as they were leaving the dad said, "I'm not complaining about you, I know you didn't cook the food. I know how it is. I own two restaurants back home." As soon as he said that, I expected a bad tip. He did not disappoint me.

[batmoody]

How about something you should carry? I live in Salem, Oregon. Our store sells maps of Portland and Oregon. But no maps of Salem. Thats ridiculous.

[Erin]

After they got their food, they said the fish and chicken tasted the same (no, they don't), and asked if we cooked them in the same oil. Um, yes? It is fried. Show me a place that fries fish and chicken in separate fryers, I dare you. It may happen, but at a fine dining place. We ain't it. Dweebs.

I've got a seafood allergy, so I always check with the waiter when I order something fried to make sure that fish isnt cooked in the same fryer as everything else. I think most places my parents and I visit have a separate fryer for their fish items...one place told me that they'd been sued when someone got cross contaminated by some shellfish that'd been fried in the same oil they cooked chicken tenders in, so they remodeled their kitchen to add an additional bank of fryers that are only for seafood...and the place wasnt a fine dining restaurant.

[Hempress]

They'd also flip out because we needed to see their ID for non-alcoholic beer and wine.

I live in PA too, and I hate this (well, I did when I was under 21 anyway). But I certainly wouldn't flip out at a cashier/associate over it. Luckily I've never had to deal with out-of-towners bitching about no alcohol in grocery stores. After reading so many horror stories I will never work at one.