Dumb questions

[Darkwish]

First real post here, so here goes:

Some background - several years ago, I worked part time at a local video game store (locally owned, not one of the national chains, so we could get away with just about anything). The store is just a small shop in the local mall, nothing fancy.

Dumb question #1

The store was completely dead since it was a couple hours after opening on a weekday morning and this older guy (50's perhaps) walks into the store. I greet him as he walks in and he ignores me. No big deal, I just go back to doing some paperwork. He wanders around the store for a few minutes looking at all the shelves and displays, etc. loaded with video games (the store sold nothing but video games and accessories and was wall to wall games). He then walks up to me and asks (completely serious):

"Do you sell video games?"



Dumb question #2

Ok, this one happened ALL THE TIME, from countless people, customers and people just passing by the store.

The store always had a large clock on the wall behind the counter. The mall had a large clock in the center of the building that could be seen if you leaned out the door of the shop. There were 2 jewelry shops within spitting distance that sold watches and had many time pieces on display, usually with the correct time, not to mention many, many other stores all over the mall. You can probably see where this is going...

Everyone would always come in and ask what time it was, even when they could see the clock on the wall right behind us in plain view. If we were busy when they asked (their favorite time to ask of course), we'd usually just point at the clock on the wall. Also note that 99% of the time they could see the clock right behind us when they asked and we would turn to look at it in order to tell them what time it was. If you were talking to an employee behind the counter, it was very hard not to see it.

Now, so far this has just been a rant, but there was one guy (call him B) that worked there that just loved messing with people that asked obviously dumb questions. Working with him was always fun!

The typical conversation with him when asked this question went like this:

SC: "Do you know what time it is."
B: "I sure do! Thanks for asking!"
SC: ... <stands there with a blank look, not quite sure what just happened>
B: <after 10-30 seconds of silence, depending on his mood or how busy he was>
"Oh! You wanted to know what time it was! Well, you see that round thing on the wall RIGHT BEHIND ME? Well, that's called a clock! It's used to tell time! The little hand points to the hour and the little hand points to the minute! So that means it's <current time>!"
SC: ... <would usually glare at him and walk out>
B: "Thanks for coming in!"

If there were other people in the store they'd usually be cracking up. And in case you were wondering, no, he never got in trouble for this. If anyone ever complained to the manager, she'd just tell them it was their fault for asking such a dumb question when the clock was right there on the wall for all to see. It was a great place to work!

I've got more stories from that job, but thought I'd start out small.

[EmilyRose1982]

Oh, I've had some good ones at the coffee shop...

"What's the difference between coffee and iced tea?"

Are you kidding me??? I had no idea what to say that wasn't stating the obvious, so I just stated the obvious. She thought about it and ordered the iced tea.

"Does the iced tea have caffeine in it?"

Ok, that's a legitimate question, being some teas are decaf. The iced tea we were serving that day did have caffeine, but not nearly as much as say a green tea. So, I said it had "some caffeine". She replied with, "what does that mean??" I said: "It has more caffeine than decaf but not as much as a cup of coffee." She ordered the tea.

No, I'm not making this one up-- "Does the decaf coffee have caffeine in it?"
Granted there are some that have a bit of caffeine in it, but our decaf coffee is covered with markings that says its totally decaf. Of course, I forget that SC's can't read...

I'll think of some more later.

Oh yeah, we get the "what time is it" question ALL the time, and there's a clock right next to the customer's head if they're standing anywhere near the register counter. /headdesk

I hate stupid people...

[Andara Bledin]

Glad to have you with us.

I'm sure many of us will get lots of vicarious thrills about working for a place where you are allowed to point out stupidity when it happens.

^-.-^

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

Funny thing, according to the show about chocolate last night, some amount of chocolate has 6mg of caffeine, the same amount found in the average cup of decaf coffee.

[Nyx]

My favorite has usually been when someone comes in and ask where ribbon is. Mind you when you walk into the store one of the first things you'll see is a big colorful wall of ribbon.

I also love when people come in the exit and ask "Don't you have any carts/baskets?" I usually say "Sure do, they are by the entrance."

But of course the best is the obligatory "Do you work here?" "Nope I think red aprons are cool, and I love to walk around stores and relabel product and move it."

D our assistant manager said once she wished she had an apron so people would stop asking her, she was shocked when we told her they still do, apron or not.

[chainedbarista]

i've had one ask me what shaken iced tea is...apparently, the task of putting iced tea with a verb mentally and figuring out the end product was too much for her.

let's see, we have iced tea; tea brewed and put over ice, fairly self explanatory.

we have shaken, which webster decribes as: to move to and fro in jerky movements (past tense).

hmm, put that together and you have: shaken iced tea.

that and the man who asked me if we 'sold coffee' are at the top of my list, along with 'what type of drinks do you have' as i stand with a large sign with a menu of what we sell off my left shoulder makes me want to stay and work from the saftey of my home.

[LifeCarnie]

No, I'm not making this one up-- "Does the decaf coffee have caffeine in it?"
Granted there are some that have a bit of caffeine in it, but our decaf coffee is covered with markings that says its totally decaf. Of course, I forget that SC's can't read...

Actually that's wrong. There is no such thing as a totally decaffeinated coffee, something to do with the brew turning to crap without having at least a little caffeine
.
By FDA guidelines any coffee with less than 5% of Caffeine can be considered de-caf. Most de-cafs are actually higher than that amount, but since it's only a guideline the FDA turns a blind eye.

[Gerrinson]

In defense of the less observant among us, if I'm not driving I'm not actively paying attention to everything around me, so I could easily miss the giant clock behind someone if I've just asked them for the time. Or if I don't have my glasses on (which I don't if I'm reading things - like the box for a video game) I probably can't read it at all.

So, I can see where someone might ask the time. Point me to the clock and I'll apologize for being completely unobservant.

[EmilyRose1982]

Ok, true there are no totally decaf coffees, but ours are naturally decaffeinated, and wind up being 99% decaf.


To bring this post back to the thread's original topic...I had an awesome dumb question posed to me this afternoon.

A pack of 4 pre-teens come into my shop and start rummaging for any money they may have. Only one kid has money, a total of $1 and one of our store gift cards that had $1.18 on it. Suffice to say, there's very little you can buy at a coffee shop like mine with 2 lousy bucks.

Just a quick reminder, I do NOT work at a Starbucks...

Another girl looked me right in the eye and asked, "Can we use a Starbucks gift card?" I said no, but made no attempt to hold back my laughter.

Dumb kids, lol.

They left.

[DesignFox]

Dumb questions are fun.

I get them all the time.

I work in a small store that sells satellite tv and a certain cell phone company's product. Our store is VERY clearly marked with the satellite services adverts and is completely in the color scheme of the cell phone service we carry.

Yet, I'll have people come in and try to pay their bill for [competitor's] phone service. I'll have people ask me if we sell [competitor's] service.

I get people asking if we are the cable company. um...would the cable company seriously be selling satellite service?

Not to mention that the cable company is a bunch of dumbshits and hasn't updated their website in about a decade...so people CALL all the time trying to pay their cable bill or figure out how to return their cable equipment.

I would think it would be pretty obvious that they have the wrong number considering I answer the phone, "[my company's name] this is Designfox. How may I help you?"

The minute you heard [my company's name] and not [cable company] you'd think people would get the hint....but noooooo....

[depechemodefan]

People are at the computer, which has a clock on the lower rt. handside. Now sometimes I can understand how people might have encountered clocks on the computer that are wrong (Though besides times were the clock on the computer might be 2 min. slower than the clock on the phone, I really havn't seen such cases) people yell out for me and I walk over thinking there's a computer problem when all they want is the time. I pointedly look at the monitor and say, "Well, the clock on the bottom of the monitor says x:xx" and they say "Oh."

[PCGameGuy]

Actually that's wrong. There is no such thing as a totally decaffeinated coffee, something to do with the brew turning to crap without having at least a little caffeine
.
By FDA guidelines any coffee with less than 5% of Caffeine can be considered de-caf. Most de-cafs are actually higher than that amount, but since it's only a guideline the FDA turns a blind eye.

'Well you could have the decaf,decaf,decaf,eggs,ham,and decaf. That only has a little decaf in it'

[bainsidhe]

i've had one ask me what shaken iced tea is...apparently, the task of putting iced tea with a verb mentally and figuring out the end product was too much for her.

Okay, now it's my turn to ask what you'll probably consider a dumb question. Why shake it? I don't usually go for coffee shops/cafes, so I tend towards the pour-from-a-pitcher-into-a-glass-of-ice variety of iced tea. So what's with shaking the tea?

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

i had a "where's Wal Mart?" once

and there's the plethera of "you got a light?" asked to someone who doesn't even look old enough to smoke

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

I used to carry a lighter before I was legal age to smoke. Which is part of the reason for my high school nickname of Nero. I still don't smoke & still try to keep at least of pack of matches on me at all times.

And for those who leap to conclusions, no I have never committed arson (& ChardonnayGoddess, I was not responsible for what happened at my old high school last year either )