My theory is that (in some of these cases), some people are starting to relate the same way computers sometimes relate to people. In the example of the person moving computers you get the feeling of “does not compute” and like some computer programs, he can’t go the step further to say, “I’m experiencing a conflict so I need to use my intellect to solve this problem.” So he just crashes in an endless loop.
Just heard one minutes ago here at work. Some of the girls were discussing having steak for dinner tonight and one asked another, “how do you like yours, rare or medium?” She replied, "I marinate mine. I make the best marinade. " and then proceeded to give the recipe :smack:
Dairy and egg products disagree with me, so I always ask them to be left out of meals I order. I am frequently subjected to the following kind of exchange:
“And I’d like it with lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers and onions.”
"Anything else?"
“No.”
“You want cheese?”
“No.”
“You want mayonaisse?”
“No.”
“You want honey mustard?”
“No.”
“That’s all you want on it?”
“YES!!!”
The record was at a place in Little Rock. I swear the guy went down a list of ten things after I’d said “That’s all”.
Augh. That’s just annoying. I’d never do that to my customers…as a ketchup-only kinda guy, I feel your pain. My policy: if there’s no obvious need, I don’t ask extraneous questions. I will follow up “Anything else you need?” with “Would you like some more to drink” if you say no to the first and your drink is empty. In the case of an order, forget it. What you get is what you order, and if you’re too dumb to order what you want, fuc…oh wait, I work for a corporate restaurant, so you’ll get it fixed and you’ll probably get it for free.
Anyway, if you order a burger “with cheddar and bacon”, you’ll get the lettuce, tomato and onion that normally come on our burgers. It says this on the menu, and I like to assume my customers can read unless they state otherwise. If, on the other hand, you order a burger “only cheddar and bacon”, I’ll leave off the LTO. “Only” means only, dammit. Now if I could just pound this into the head of the fast food places around here, who continually give me cheese on my HAMburger, ketchup ONLY, we’d be good to go.
Also, I got a great one last night. I still do not know what this person actually wanted me to do.
Q: …so, you’d like the grilled tuna?
A: Yes, but on the side.
Q: (???) Sorry, excuse me?
A: On the side.
Q: I’m sorry, ma’am, I must have missed part of your order. Did you want anything other than the grilled tuna?
A: (mildly annoyed) No. I want the tuna, but on the side.
Q: Ma’am, I’m afraid I just don’t understand. What is it that you’d like on the side?
A: highly annoyed sigh Look, just give me the tuna, okay?
So, I gave her the tuna. She ate it. I do believe I shall go to my grave wondering what this woman wanted on the side. The tuna doesn’t come with any sauces, just a plain ol’ lightly seasoned grilled tuna steak. Any ideas?
I hate it when people answer something other than what I have asked, but especially when they won’t answer because they think I should have asked something else.
Me: How do I break this out into a separate field when importing from a spreadsheet.
Them & other them: You don’t, if it is already there you don’t break it out, it would violate third normal form.
Me: I don’t care if it violates even first normal form, I need that broken out in a separate field. How do I do it?
Them: You can display it separately. You can make it display separately like this <technical steps>.
Me: NO I NEED IT IN ITS OWN FIELD. HOW DO I BREAK IT OUT. PRETEND THAT THIRD NORMAL FORM IS A SUGGESTION AND NOT LAW. HOW DO IT BREAK IT OUT.
Them: No one would ever need to break it out.
(repete next to steps about 5 times)
Me: I do
Them: no, you don’t
Me: <Hypothetical that does indeed need a break out of that field that doesn’t violate third normal form>
Them: Hmpf!!! That is unlikely!
Other them: For crying out loud! you just do <technical steps>
For what it is worth, not all things that seem to violate third normal form do. Best example: if you have a zip code, many ppl think you do not need to keep town and state separately or vice versa. I live near towns that each have multiple zip codes, but also some zip codes span more than one town.
That could be just exactly how she eats it, marinated, raw, and cold.
I don’t know about the tech support, customer service, and such, because those people get paid to listen to the people who call. They literally can’t do their jobs unless they listen to the questions being asked. So, no excuse for them, unless the question is so badly phrased they just don’t understand it. And I’m not saying that was the problem with anybody here.
The customer thing is different. Yes, they aren’t really listening, but they are answering the question they expected you to ask. You say, “How are you tonight”, they answer “Can I bring you something to drink?” You say, “Can I get you anything more to drink,” they are prepared to answer, “Do you need anything?” Silly, and probably embarrassing sometimes for them, not to mention frustrating for you, but only a result of preoccupation. Or a little too much anticipation, if you will.
My daughter’s baby doll got named this way. She got the doll for Christmas and when we visited my mom shortly afterward my sister asked her whose dolly it was. She responded with her name. Then my sister asked the doll’s name and my little one responded with the answer to the next standard question, “How old are you?” (It always comes after, “What’s your name?”) Child said, “Two”, my sister didn’t understand, thought she said, “Tula”, and the doll has been Tula ever since.
[slight hijack]
Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought normalization was more about breaking data up into smaller units, for example, keeping first and last names separate, towns separate from states, separate from zip codes.
It makes more sense to store things separately in a database and join them up, if need be, eh?
[/slight hijack]
Yes, but this is the key bit, you never keep the same data in more than one place.
Sorry, I have to laugh at these examples! Can’t people answer the question that is put to them? My goodness…
My thought is that she was thinking “on the side” = “a la carte”, meaning she didn’t want a salad, or potato, or anything else with her tuna.
For once I agree with Liberal. The only question a server should ask, other than one to clarify an unclear instruction, is “What can I do for you right now?” All of the answers quoted above are valid responses to that question. Well, except for the “how would you like your steak cooked?” one, which is a valid question to clarify an unclear instruction.
I prefer that servers should take my order efficiently and with minimum intrusion. Don’t suggest things to me unless I ask you to.
I’m “guilty” of the “Would you like a refill?” “Napkins” sort of thing, but that’s because I wanted napkins and it’s not my job, as the customer, to answer whatever random questions pop into your head. It’s your job to respond to whatever random desires I might have.
Oh, this isn’t a thread about John Edwards in the debate last night?
Never mind. 
Thing is, maybe YOU’RE efficient, but a lot of people aren’t. There are plenty of people who are idiots at ordering food; nonetheless, if the server doesn’t handhold them through the process, it’s the server who’s going to suffer, by virtue of getting a crappy tip for what the customer perceives as crappy service.
When I’m in a restaurant, therefore, I do my best to make the boundaries of my order completely crystalline to the server. “I’ll have the grilled salmon,” I’ll say, pointing at it on my menu which I’m holding so the server can see, “with a baked potato, and bleu cheese on the salad. And can I get a Sweetwater IPA with that?”
If the server asks me additional questions, they’re either relevant (“we don’t have Sweetwater IPA–will this inferior brand do?”), in which case I’ll answer them specifically; or they’re irrelevant (“Would you like an appetizer?”) in which case I’ll set the boundaries of my order even clearer: “No thanks; the salmon and the beer will be plenty.”
Do I have to do this? Is it my obligation? Of course not. But I very rarely suffer from screwed-up orders, and the wait staff seem to appreciate the cues I’m giving them that I know how to order food from a menu.
Daniel
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Luckily, it only somewhat bugs me now, since I have known one friend for 10 years (and he is an IT puter geek), I’m somewhat used to their inability to communicate in “humanese” ;D
But…for none IT folks to do it still gets me occasionally.
The best part of an exchange like that, is the part where they look at you, like you’re the dumb fuck who can’t understand english.
EXACTLY… Then you walk away shaking your head trying to make sense out of someone who is so obviously clueless.
And to the dumb lady with the “tuna on the side”. …What the???
The tuna is the meat, the MAIN part of the dish… the phrase “on the side” is, at least when I was a waitress, used to denote things like sauces, dressings, things like that.
What an ODD way to put it.
Just a WAG, but I’ll be she was trying to ask for Tuna a-la-carte, not a whole tuna dinner with salad an’ veggies an’ everything. For her, maybe on-the-side means and-nothing-else. I’d order a “side of fries” if all I wanted was fries.
And in defense of restaurant customers who answer the wrong question, is there any way American restaurant could be a little quieter? It’s often really hard to hear some servers, especially if they are tall.
Helluva simulpost there, Fat Bald Guy. Somebody must have fed the hamseters last night for all six of us to have posted at once.
Is your restaurant loud? Is your voice quiet? Is your accent heavy? I often find that I can’t hear waiters, and thus answer the question I think they may have asked, which is not necessarily the question they actually did ask. If you’re finding this happens to you a lot, I’d suggest you’re probably not making yourself heard clearly.