Very funny - I laughed so hard, I peed a little.
I have a lot of sympathy for the geezers of the world, now that I’m one of them. Things keep getting fixed that weren’t actually broken (wtf was wrong w/VHS anyway?), while real problems keep getting worse!
OTOH, though, dealing with the General Public is taxing.
Just be glad your customers are merely bored, and not hungry lissener. Hungry people are the worst.
To be fair, they’d have to be a complete moron not to realize that a VHS can’t fit in a DVD case.
Of course it’s a different context. One refers to the type of store, the other refers to the format.
This is true. There are only so many times you can take an order for a pepperoni pizza with the customer ordering their toppings as “cheese and pepperoni” before you have to stab someone. Nearly every day, I have this exchange:
“How can I help you?”
“I’d like to order a pizza.”
“Alright, what would you like?”
“I want a large pizza.”
“Alright, and your toppings?”
“Cheese and pepperoni.”
“Okay, one large pepperoni pizza.”
“With cheese.”
“Do you want…extra cheese?”
“No. Just cheese.”
“So you want the…regular amount of cheese that comes automatically on your pepperoni pizza?”
“Yes.”
Sure, it seems banal and stupid to be irritated by it to anyone who doesn’t have to deal with it every single day, but day after day it picks at you. I’m sure hearing the same stupid questions about videos day after day does the same thing to lissener, even if the questions might seem reasonable coming from one person, once. But it isn’t one person once. It’s dozens of people, every day, and some of them say the same damn stupid thing every time they come in.
The fact that I’m thinking about going back into the restaurant business is clearly a sign of my own masochism. You have my utmost sympathy, lissener. Bitch and bitch freely!
I thought of adding a disclaimer such as “if this happened as you say” for people like you but, you know, “smartest people in the world” and everything, I didn’t really think I’d need to.
I think setting is important which is why I specified in a movie store. I watch videos on my computer, too, but if I’m at Blockbuster, or whatever, and I want to rent Made of Honor and I’m too stupid and lazy to look for it myself, I’m going to ask the clerk if they have Made of Honor, full stop. I would expect to receive a DVD or directions to where I might find the DVD. If I wanted it on VHS, I can totally imagine myself saying “Hey, do you have that on video?” and getting an eyeroll from the 16 year old behind the counter who probably has no idea how to even operate a VCR and for whom the phrase “Be Kind, Rewind” has no meaning.
Anyway, I suppose it might be regional. Where I’m from, we eat hot dish and play Duck, Duck, Grey Duck so I understand if this idea is foreign to everybody else. A poll might be interesting.
Missed the edit.
I order cheeseburgers for my kid like that because they always eff it up when I ask for a “plain cheeseburger” because “plain” apparently means with ketchup but nothing else. I asked for a cheeseburger once with “just cheese” and got a cheese sandwich. Cheeseburger with nothing on it = burger with no cheese. It’s maddening. So now I ask for a cheeseburger with cheese and burger because, even though each of those things should be assumed GIVEN THE NAME OF THE FUCKING ITEM, they always, always fuck up the order otherwise. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to order a pizza, just pepperoni, and get a crust with JUST pepperoni on it. Or maybe even some pepperoni thrown into a box. You never know with these people.
So you can watch videos on a computer, but you can’t watch them on a TV unless they’re VHS?
I’m not going to argue about this, but I’m just pointing out how silly it is to assume that just because you use VHS to mean video, doesn’t mean everybody else does, especially when you’re picking up DVDs from a video store, and watching videos on your computer.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Thanks for pointing that out. I mean, I don’t know what “I suppose it might be regional” means, but it never, ever occurred to me that not everybody is just like me.
And I don’t get DVDs from video stores, that’s BellRung. I get DVDs from movie stores. Do try to keep up.
Thanks for the link Caerie.
CaerieD, that’s because the ONE TIME you don’t specify “Yes I want cheese on my pizza like almost every other pizza in America” is the time they bring you some naked-ass pizza.
Not me.
I plan on being a total pain-in-the-ass, drain on society once I’m old and feeble. I’m going to be the one standing in line at the flying car store trying to pay with my debit card, when everyone behind me will have there UPC tattoos ready to be scanned.
If I have to wait around for some octagenarian writing a check out at the grocery store now, I’m going to get back at the world when it’s my time.
I’ve also informed my kids to never pull the plug on me, and that they must come visit me in the home every Saturday, and bring me fruitcake and pudding, while I bitch and moan that no one ever loved me.
It’s the little things in life one must learn to enjoy.
Speaking as one of “these people”, I don’t mind if someone is specific about their toppings. I’ve had customers who shouldn’t have a lot of cheese because of dietary restrictions, but still want the pizza experience. I’ve had customers who like the crust burned, but the cheese barely melted. I’ve had customers who don’t like sauce, or only want a tiny bit, or want me to put together a Frank’s Hot Sauce and butter sauce for them even though it isn’t on the menu. As I said, this isn’t an unreasonable thing. However, repetitive interactions get annoying after the umpteenth repetition. Sometimes you have to rant about it, even if you recognize it’s silly and perfectly reasonable from the customer’s point of view.
I assumed lissener was coming from a similar place. He recognizes that his customers aren’t being annoying on purpose, but after a while it grates. So you rant, and then you’re over it.
Grave digger and solve all his problems and frustrations.
I am old . I think I will start going to the bank at lunchtime on Fridays of just after the work hours are over and take in my change to have them give me dollars. Fun.
It’s already begun for me: no iPod, no MP3 Player. I have a cell phone (not by choice) but I don’t have a clue how to text message. No GPS. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. In fact it makes life simpler!
I also get a kick out of some of the Cafe threads because I usually don’t have a clue about any of the music, movies, actors, TV shows, etc. I’m 46 and work in high-tech too!
You’d be surprised how fast you fall out of that catagory of people once you start making statements about things which are already so bleedingly obvious.
I’m 50 now.
Getting older itself isn’t so bad. What’s really bad is the numerous commercials that are aimed at the older demographic and allude to impending death and bodily decrepitude.
“Let me tell you about my insurance!”
“You can get life insurance!” (Which if you haven’t got by the time you’re in this demographic, and have nothing else to cover final expenses, is just sad.)
“You can spend time with the guys, instead of time in the men’s room.”
You are nothing but a giant water balloon hopping around town, so overwhelming have your bladder issues become.
“The gentle laxative”
Any denture commercial.
For some reason all these things are more depressing than the ones for impotence drugs. I told my wife if I ever start yammering on about the above-listed health issues, she must shoot me. I don’t want to become that old guy.
:p:p:p
naked ass pizza
You had feet? Lucky bastard. We had to walk on our ass cheeks and it was uphill both ways.
Yeah, I’m 29 and I JUST got my first “personal” cell phone, although I’ve had to carry phones and pagers of varying complexity provided by my workplace.
It has a built-in MP3 player. I don’t care enough to figure out how it works.
On the other hand, my PC cost me $1700 two months ago. =P
They ain’t dumb 'cause they old…
They dumb 'cause they wanted to rent “Made of honor”. 