Dealing with complete idiots...

joe stodge · 15-04-2013 12:45PM

Mocha Joe wrote: »

It is the terminal sometimes though.

.

vitani · 15-04-2013 12:48PM

Butterface wrote: »

I used to work in a book shop.. plenty of idiots darkened our door. "Do you have that book that was on the telly the other day?" "Do you have a book about eh, eh, eh, that guy, eh, eh, eh.. do you know it?" "Do you have that book with the orange cover?"

Also, the amount of people who returned books that they had clearly read.. every bloody day. I think they even used the receipts as bookmarks!

Yep. 'I was listening to the radio the other day and there was a guy on talking about his new book. Do you have it?'

'I'm sure we do, but I need a little more information. Do you know the name of the book?'

'No.'

'Do you know the name of the author?'

'No.'

'Do you know what the book was about?'

'Well, I only caught the end of the interview. I think it was about something to do with *insert generic term here*'

'Ok. Well, I can have a look at the radio show's website. Maybe they have the author's name. What show was it?'

'RTÉ'

*head desk*

I have to say, I got a great sense of achievement every time I managed to find the right book. It was like playing 20 questions half the time.

doolox · 15-04-2013 01:16PM

....like a woman holding up a queue. On more than one occasion I have had to walk out of shops, abandoning intended purchases because some dissaffected embittered and difficult customer was holding up the lengthening queue waiting for a manager or some other knowledgeable person to sort out some difficulty.

Its why I love automated payment systems and mulitiple lines in larger stores where you can avoid potentially difficult customers ahead of you in a queue.

I usually avoid queueing behind elderly people, and older women who look like they have all day to do nothing. They usually ask for a long litany of things which take a long time to complete. Also likely to cause delays are young people with drink purchases, foreigners with drink purchases and foregners in Bank queues who dont understand our strict money withdrawing policies.

Only once did I see a customer service person take the person to one side and clear out a rapidly building queue but most shop workers let the queue build up. The most infuriating thing is that most Irish people let the delay happen and don't push for quicker service when confronted with the delayers and the overly obliging shop staff.

Again only once did I see a man ahead of me in a queue in this situation escalate the difficulty to higher management and get a second till operational to clear the queue at the first till.

Sometimes the staff will react and do this automatically but don't count on it.

noodler · 15-04-2013 01:35PM

doolox wrote: »

....like a woman holding up a queue. On more than one occasion I have had to walk out of shops, abandoning intended purchases because some dissaffected embittered and difficult customer was holding up the lengthening queue waiting for a manager or some other knowledgeable person to sort out some difficulty.

Its why I love automated payment systems and mulitiple lines in larger stores where you can avoid potentially difficult customers ahead of you in a queue.

I usually avoid queueing behind elderly people, and older women who look like they have all day to do nothing. They usually ask for a long litany of things which take a long time to complete. Also likely to cause delays are young people with drink purchases, foreigners with drink purchases and foregners in Bank queues who dont understand our strict money withdrawing policies.

Only once did I see a customer service person take the person to one side and clear out a rapidly building queue but most shop workers let the queue build up. The most infuriating thing is that most Irish people let the delay happen and don't push for quicker service when confronted with the delayers and the overly obliging shop staff.

Again only once did I see a man ahead of me in a queue in this situation escalate the difficulty to higher management and get a second till operational to clear the queue at the first till.

Sometimes the staff will react and do this automatically but don't count on it.

Well, I think you are being incredibly hard on staff there.

Some places don't have extra staff or tills on demand like that.

Also, I know when I worked in retail you really had to be careful not to be (perceived as being anyway) too dismissive of even the most unreasonable customer.

I remember working in a well-known videoshop when they had a debt forgiveness scheme going on as long as someone rented something new. The small print on the ads and posters etc clearly said it was for legacy debt (i.e. debt existing before the promotion). Some guy comes in with 3 DVDs three nights late and fines of around 20e and when I tell him he points to the poster and asks me "what does that say?", I explain that it doesn't mean people can subsequently (i.e. once the offer is announced) just rent DVDs and purposely keep them out late and expect there debts to be paid (I really said that the deal was for pre-existng debt - was more polite).

He then said "well, thats no use to me"...cue awkward silence and then he demands my name so he can register a complaint. He even wanted my second name which I obviously wouldn't hand over.

I tell ya.

howyanow · 15-04-2013 01:36PM

work in retail so see lots of idiotic people every week.one of the best examples i have seen was a woman who couldn't use the automatic door when leaving.she came in fine,got her bits but when leaving she was sliding her hands across the glass panel windows next to the automatic door,the door was wide open and she even had one of her hands outside and she would have been able to feel the outside breeze but she still tries to walk out through the closed window instead.
another point i notice is the majority of people i deal with don't even have the common courtesy to say hello or reply when i greet them upon arrival to the shop,really hate that.

15-04-2013 01:39PM

doolox wrote: »

....like a woman holding up a queue.

Why is it worse when it's a woman?

krudler · 15-04-2013 01:47PM

So many stories I've lost count at this point, the general public are astoundingly stupid at the best of times, add mobile phones into the mix and it's a recipe for disaster. Best one ever was a woman who lost her phone charger in America, her phone battery was dead, I told her she should be able to get a travel charger for over there and it'd work fine just to keep her going, then this happened:

"Oh ok so, so can you get my phone working?"
"..no?"
"Why not?!"
"because the battery is dead, I can't charge it up from here?"
"But you're my network!!are you going to leave me stranded!?"
"Well no but I can't do what you're asking me?"
"Why?!"
"...because I can't defy the laws of physics?"

cue her saying "useless!" before hanging up, you'd wonder how some people don't injure themselves every other day from their own stupidity.

kunst nugget · 15-04-2013 01:50PM

true-or-false wrote: »

Why is it worse when it's a woman?

Because they have high pitched voices and they are prone to fainting.

Gmol · 15-04-2013 01:51PM

true-or-false wrote: »

Why is it worse when it's a woman?

Because 99% of them seem surprised when they scan all there messages and are quoted an amount to pay by the assistant. Then the general hunt for money in the purse begins and whay hey lets try pay everything in 1c coins as the people behind don't mind an extra 10 minute wait

Mocha Joe · 15-04-2013 01:54PM

joe stodge wrote: »

.

It's not really, sometimes a 2nd go does the trick. These terminals may not be the divine and flawless devices you think they are.

ajjmk · 15-04-2013 02:01PM

I work part time in a supermarket deli and I have this gem of a woman who comes in every Sunday morning. She queues outside the shop until it is unlocked, and then she follows me down to the deli, watches me turning on the lights and ovens and whatnot; then, every week without fail asks me if I have any chickens roasted yet. I mean wtf! The shop has only just opened, I have only just arrived! I wasn't able to instantly roast a chicken last week, or the week before that; so it's highly unlikely that I'll manage it today!!

But of course I keep all that in my head and just politely say "No, not for another hour and a half". Every week.

15-04-2013 02:02PM

Gmol wrote: »

Because 99% of them seem surprised when they scan all there messages and are quoted an amount to pay by the assistant. Then the general hunt for money in the purse begins and whay hey lets try pay everything in 1c coins as the people behind don't mind an extra 10 minute wait

Saying "99%" doesn't stop that being sexist, because it's just not true. The proportion of women that do that is not 99%, and surprise surprise men do it too. I've honestly never noticed a difference between men and women doing the paying with loads of tiny change thing. I'd suggest that older customers seem to do it more, but I think people seem to react more angrily when it's a woman, and seem to notice women holding up the queue more than when men do.

There's one man who actually does the reverse where I work. Rather than paying in 1c coins, he buys two packs of smokes with a €50 note and asks for his change in all sorts of coin.

SeaFields · 15-04-2013 02:04PM

Snobby people are the biggest fcuking idiots that I can think of. I fcuking hate dealing with them. I think there is a massive difference between people that are worth money and people that want to put forward the preception that they are worth money.

Its the latter that will put me in an instant bad mood. The idiots that talk to with stupid celtic tiger borne accent. That have the shabby Brown Thomas bag that they carry everywhere with them to ensure people know they once bought something there. And that believe because of this sense of superiority believe they can speak to me like I am something they scrapped off their shoe. That they are never wrong no matter how stupid their opinion is. A note to all of ye snobs, go **** yourselves. /rant!

joe stodge · 15-04-2013 02:06PM

Mocha Joe wrote: »

It's not really, sometimes a 2nd go does the trick. These terminals may not be the divine and flawless devices you think they are.

Even after the forth time and they still continue to blame the machine?

Grayson · 15-04-2013 02:09PM

true-or-false wrote: »

Saying "99%" doesn't stop that being sexist, because it's just not true. The proportion of women that do that is not 99%, and surprise surprise men do it too. I've honestly never noticed a difference between men and women doing the paying with loads of tiny change thing. I'd suggest that older customers seem to do it more, but I think people seem to react more angrily when it's a woman, and seem to notice women holding up the queue more than when men do.

There's one man who actually does the reverse where I work. Rather than paying in 1c coins, he buys two packs of smokes with a €50 note and asks for his change in all sorts of coin.

To be fair, more women do it. If only because their purse is lost somewhere in a handbag that's so large and cavernous it probably contains the holy grail.

kunst nugget · 15-04-2013 02:11PM

true-or-false wrote: »

Saying "99%" doesn't stop that being sexist, because it's just not true. The proportion of women that do that is not 99%, and surprise surprise men do it too. I've honestly never noticed a difference between men and women doing the paying with loads of tiny change thing. I'd suggest that older customers seem to do it more, but I think people seem to react more angrily when it's a woman, and seem to notice women holding up the queue more than when men do.

There's one man who actually does the reverse where I work. Rather than paying in 1c coins, he buys two packs of smokes with a €50 note and asks for his change in all sorts of coin.

I think what annoys a lot of people is when a woman gets up to the counter after queueing for a while and is buying one or two items does the whole 'Just wait a second, I'll get the purse out of my bag, where is it again, oh there it is, no it's not in that part, that's my tissue, just wait a second, ah there it is, sorry the zip's stuck, ah finally, let's just see if I have enough change, one... two... fifty... five... six... ah, no, just wait a second I have a note in here somewhere... ah there it is...' routine. It doesn't require that much brainpower to jot up roughly how much you need to pay and to locate that money in your purse before you get to the counter.

Corvo · 15-04-2013 02:14PM

SeaFields wrote: »

Snobby people are the biggest fcuking idiots that I can think of. I fcuking hate dealing with them. I think there is a massive difference between people that are worth money and people that want to put forward the preception that they are worth money.

Its the latter that will put me in an instant bad mood. The idiots that talk to with stupid celtic tiger borne accent. That have the shabby Brown Thomas bag that they carry everywhere with them to ensure people know they once bought something there. And that believe because of this sense of superiority believe they can speak to me like I am something they scrapped off their shoe. That they are never wrong no matter how stupid their opinion is. A note to all of ye snobs, go **** yourselves. /rant!

Funny thing is that even with their "superior" education they are usually the thickest people on this earth.

Ush1 · 15-04-2013 02:16PM

Working in a place that manufactured very specific industry electrical components, as in, for manufacturers of items. I had this old guy from England call in who was asking me why people walking past his house were able to change his tv channel??

He then put his wife on and she asked me the same thing. I just said we are nothing to do with remotes or televisions or anything like that, totally ignored that and just kept asking me how they could do it!

kunst nugget · 15-04-2013 02:18PM

Ush1 wrote: »

Working in a place that manufactured very specific industry electrical components, as in, for manufacturers of items. I had this old guy from England call in who was asking me why people walking past his house were able to change his tv channel??

He then put his wife on and she asked me the same thing. I just said we are nothing to do with remotes or televisions or anything like that, totally ignored that and just kept asking me how they could do it!

Why did you not just make up some bullsh¡t about microwaves from the atmosphere interfering with their satellite dish and most likely slowing cooking their insides in the process.

Ush1 · 15-04-2013 02:21PM

kunst nugget wrote: »

Why did you not just make up some bullsh¡t about microwaves from the atmosphere interfering with their satellite dish and most likely slowing cooking their insides in the process.

That would have been good yeah, I just could picture them walking around their house, slack-jawed bumping into things and being in a constant state of confusion.

Galwayguy35 · 15-04-2013 03:41PM

I work in a warehouse and and one day this guy parked his truck on the loading bay and came over to me with his paperwork.

His english wasn't great but I told him that he was in the wrong warehouse and the place he was looking for was down the road a bit.

At that he starts effing and blinding at me and demanding to be unloaded, I couldn't get it into his thick skull that he was in the wrong place so at that point I just walked away to avoid things moving to a whole other level.

Half an hour later he comes over again with his mobile saying his boss wants to speak to me, I explain to the guy on the phone that he is in the wrong place and this guy asks would I go in front of him in my car and lead him to where he wants to go which I did but didn't even get a word of thanks for it.

PaulieC · 15-04-2013 03:45PM

I miss working in retail because of the amount of piss that could be taken out of stupid customers. Stupid, drunk and angry customers kept us in laughs for a good many years and helped us while away the weekend evenings when everyone else was out on the piss.

thesandeman · 16-04-2013 08:30AM

Customer: 'Pint bottle of cider. Will you pour it for me?'
Me: 'No problem. Ice?'.
Him: 'No thanks'.

*clink,pop,hissss,clunk,glugglugglug,glug,sssssssss,plopplop*

Me: 'There ya go. 5-30 please'.

Him: 'That bottle wasn't full!'.

Me: 'Yes it was. You saw me opening it'.

Him: 'No. I got more in a pint bottle before. You poured that from the tap!'.

Me: 'No I didn't. You were looking at me pouring it'.

Him: 'Yeah I know, but I got more before. Is there any left in the bottle?'.

Me: 'Nope. Look!'.

*examines bottle*

Me: 'That's a pint glass isn't it?'

Him: 'Yeah??'.

Me: 'And that's a pint bottle and its filled the glass to the top?'.

Him: 'Mhh!'.

*hands over the money still looking at me suspiciously*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
FIVE MINUTES LATER!!!

Him: 'I know what was wrong'.

Me: 'What was wrong?'

Him: 'When I had it before I had ice in it so that made it bigger'.

Me: 'Yep'.

Him: 'Sorry about that'.

Me: 'Yep!'.

:-)

Tzardine · 16-04-2013 03:06PM

thesandeman wrote: »

Customer: 'Pint bottle of cider. Will you pour it for me?'
Me: 'No problem. Ice?'.
Him: 'No thanks'.

*clink,pop,hissss,clunk,glugglugglug,glug,sssssssss,plopplop*

Me: 'There ya go. 5-30 please'.

Him: 'That bottle wasn't full!'.

Me: 'Yes it was. You saw me opening it'.

Him: 'No. I got more in a pint bottle before. You poured that from the tap!'.

Me: 'No I didn't. You were looking at me pouring it'.

Him: 'Yeah I know, but I got more before. Is there any left in the bottle?'.

Me: 'Nope. Look!'.

*examines bottle*

Me: 'That's a pint glass isn't it?'

Him: 'Yeah??'.

Me: 'And that's a pint bottle and its filled the glass to the top?'.

Him: 'Mhh!'.

*hands over the money still looking at me suspiciously*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
FIVE MINUTES LATER!!!

Him: 'I know what was wrong'.

Me: 'What was wrong?'

Him: 'When I had it before I had ice in it so that made it bigger'.

Me: 'Yep'.

Him: 'Sorry about that'.

Me: 'Yep!'.

:-)

Tight fecker thought you were doing him out of a mouthful of cider lol. Thats a good one.

Galwayguy35 · 16-04-2013 04:27PM

thesandeman wrote: »

Customer: 'Pint bottle of cider. Will you pour it for me?'
Me: 'No problem. Ice?'.
Him: 'No thanks'.

*clink,pop,hissss,clunk,glugglugglug,glug,sssssssss,plopplop*

Me: 'There ya go. 5-30 please'.

Him: 'That bottle wasn't full!'.

Me: 'Yes it was. You saw me opening it'.

Him: 'No. I got more in a pint bottle before. You poured that from the tap!'.

Me: 'No I didn't. You were looking at me pouring it'.

Him: 'Yeah I know, but I got more before. Is there any left in the bottle?'.

Me: 'Nope. Look!'.

*examines bottle*

Me: 'That's a pint glass isn't it?'

Him: 'Yeah??'.

Me: 'And that's a pint bottle and its filled the glass to the top?'.

Him: 'Mhh!'.

*hands over the money still looking at me suspiciously*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
FIVE MINUTES LATER!!!

Him: 'I know what was wrong'.

Me: 'What was wrong?'

Him: 'When I had it before I had ice in it so that made it bigger'.

Me: 'Yep'.

Him: 'Sorry about that'.

Me: 'Yep!'.

:-)

€5.30 is a hefty price for a pint bottle of cider.

Mocha Joe · 16-04-2013 04:31PM

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

€5.30 is a hefty price for a pint bottle of cider.

About average in Dublin.

kylith · 16-04-2013 05:13PM

I used to work booking kids into swimming lessons. Without fail there would be some people who would leave their booking to the last minute and then yell at me because the class was full, then they'd try to get me to ring up the people who'd booked early and kick them out of the class so their child could have the place instead. My favourite was the woman who went mental because a specific teacher wasn't teaching her child even though she had requested he teach the class*. Eventually I had to tell her that requesting a teacher means nothing because every parent will request their favourite teacher, and until human cloning has been perfected there wasn't much we could do about it.

*Teachers were moved to different grades during different terms because if you teach three year olds for more than a few months at a time you start to lose your mind.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to the lady I yelled at in a mobile phone shop about ten years ago. I've felt guilty about it ever since it happened, but I still don't understand why they'd wipe the memory in order to deal with a simple loose connection.

Capt'n Midnight · 16-04-2013 05:26PM

Butterface wrote: »

Also, the amount of people who returned books that they had clearly read.. every bloody day. I think they even used the receipts as bookmarks!

From black books. Can't find a video

Book Return Man: [brings back copy of Tempocalypse] I bought this for a friend, and they didn't want it, i was wondering if i could exchange it, preferably for the money
Bernard: [grabs the book and begins flicking through it rapidly then stops] Aha! sand!
[collects some onto his finger]
Bernard: Manny!
[sprinkles it into manny's mouth]
Manny: [tasting the sand] Sardinia... South... Porto Scuzo... The little beach by the monastery.
Bernard: [to customer] Get out!
[shoves his book back into his hands]
Book Return Man: Damn!

paddy147 · 16-04-2013 05:32PM

joe stodge wrote: »

The other day in work, I had a customer come in spewing all kinds of piss and vinegar at me over a tin of spray cream.

I pointed out it was one of our competitors brands, sure it even had their company name and logo on it, did this convince her? Nope!

I couldn't fathom how someone could be so stupid, has anyone else had to deal with someone be it in work or not that is astoundingly idiotic?

No wonder she was in a right old state.........

She obvioiulsy wanted Veet muff cream,but picked up Regain by accident.:pac::pac::D.

Amy33 · 16-04-2013 05:36PM

ajjmk wrote: »

I work part time in a supermarket deli and I have this gem of a woman who comes in every Sunday morning. She queues outside the shop until it is unlocked, and then she follows me down to the deli, watches me turning on the lights and ovens and whatnot; then, every week without fail asks me if I have any chickens roasted yet. I mean wtf! The shop has only just opened, I have only just arrived! I wasn't able to instantly roast a chicken last week, or the week before that; so it's highly unlikely that I'll manage it today!!

But of course I keep all that in my head and just politely say "No, not for another hour and a half". Every week.[/quote

I work in a supermarket and the Deli and bakery staff are at work 2 hours before the shop opens to have everything ready and make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen. Roast chickens, amongst other things, should be available when the shop opens, not an hour and a half later.

Dealing with complete idiots...

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