Stupid People I Have To Deal With At Work

The BBQ Pit
1

Generally, I like my job. I work in an independent bookstore, and my customers are nice, thoughtful, well-read, and intelligent. However, as you probably know unless you’ve been living under a rock, Harry Potter #4 just came out, and it brought out all the nitwits. Don’t get me wrong, I have already finished #4, I love it that kids who normally don’t read a lot are into this, it’s great! But I have recently been dealing with a LOT more people than usual, and a number of them are just…stupid.

Here’s my favorite example:

Book #4 came out yesterday. A woman comes in to buy a copy, and asks me, “Do you have any autographed copies?”

While this is a fairly dumb question to begin with, it is true that at the release of the last book, J.K. Rowling did an American tour, and she stopped at my bookstore and did a signing. So I think, maybe she thinks Ms. Rowling will come back, and I say, “No, J.K. Rowling is in Scotland.”

And the woman replies, “Yeah, but sometimes they sign them at the publishers.” I managed to avoid calling her an idiot, but I’m thinking, “YEAH, LADY! J.K. Rowling, who has made $100,000,000 from royalties alone on these books is going to autograph 3 million books! Any day now!”

To her credit, the woman then said, “I guess that was a pretty stupid question.” DUH!

So what stupid people do you have to deal with at work?

2

My job is as a counterperson at an autoparts store. Customers who have no idea what they need , but try and fake it. Please, if you need a part for your car try to know what you drive. We are here to help you but we need correct information whiches why I ask so many questions.thank you for starting this thread, if I read how bad oyhers have it, it will make me feel better.

3

You think you have it bad.

I do computer tech support…

Geezum! TO have 80 year old men call in to ask how to write a damn emial address drives me up the wall.

Then there are the non-english speakers, who you must repeat e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g t-h-i-s s-l-o-w…

Don’t get the damn computer if you don’t know how to use, Or at elast try reading the manual for once in your life!!!

4

Try working at the front office at a doctor’s office. Not just a doctor, but a FAMILY PRACTITIONER. (read: we see everyone)

EVERYONE who walks through that door wants a refill on their prescription (for narcotics) without a consultation with the doctor, doesn’t want to pay the balance they’ve owed for 5 years, doesn’t know their insurance benefits, so we don’t know if they owe a copay or if they’re on an 80/20 plan… oh, and since they’re here, could their 3 kids be checked for lice and chicken pox?

And let’s NOT get me started on the dumbfuck shit-for-brains that want to walk in without an appointment and expect to be seen IMMEDIATELY, even though we’re an hour behind because the doctor was in surgery over his lunch break, and hasn’t eaten in over 16 hours. (Oh, and the kid he was operating on died, thanks for asking you selfish asswipe).

Then there was the lady who called and wanted antibiotics for her husband. Why? He was having an allergic reaction to a beesting. THEN she got abusive over the phone with me when I told her to get him to the ER right away before his throat swelled shut, because ER visits weren’t covered by her insurance. Sure, forget the fact that her hubby could DIE, dammit, it was cheaper to come to the office… never mind that we don’t have epinepherine shots handy. Hell… I just graduated from high school and I know that you don’t use antibiotics for allergic reactions. But what the hell do I know? I just answer phones, right?

And THEN, there was the lady we hired to do billing… and proceeded to write off hundreds of dollars of charges for herself and her family… and double bill Medicare and pocket the money. Now I have to go through the patient accounts and refund the money to insurance companies before we are audited and nailed with fines.

Considering the doctor in question is my dad, some of these narcissistic freaks are lucky I haven’t gone over the counter and beat the living shit out of them right there in the waiting room. People suck.

5

Computer tech support? Ah…

I spent two years in a work-study job for the humanities college at my university. It’s amazing how many really intelligent people (i.e. professors) can have no clue what’s going on with their computers, and can manage to screw things up in such royal ways.

My favorite was the prof who somehow managed to install the Japanese version of Windows 98 over the English version on his computer. Combined, they conspired to make the thing pretty much unusable, especially since nothing was readable–all text turned into a collection of random characters. That was interesting. Trying to fix it was even more interesting.

6

Tubagirl - your sense of humor would get a workout if you worked with me.

I love our techs. They probably laugh their asses off at me behind my back, but they have the good grace to answer my stupid questions with a straight face.

I don’t deal with any “stupid” people at work – we each know our jobs, at least after awhile, but no one knows everyone’s job.

So I might snicker at the Plant Nurse when she asks for help with the laser printer again – but I don’t know what to put on a plastic burn. So we’re even.

Gee. I don’t even know why I butted into this thread. Maybe because most of us (me included) could use a bit more tolerance, I guess. Who among us hasn’t asked a stupid question, or been an uninformed consumer? With luck, someone in the know helps us out, and next time we do better.

7

One thing, Auntie. I’m sure we’ve all been uninformed or asked stupid questions. I seriously doubt that we’ve been assholes about it, though. Unfortunately, that’s the particular sub-species I have to deal with on a daily basis. I can only be cussed at so many times a day before my toleance goes down the shitter along with my good mood and ideals of customer service. Tolerance, patience, and common sense SHOULD be the common denominator between consumer and provider. All too often, the former is lacking in any, if not all of these attributes, and proceeds to blame the latter for their shortcomings.

8

Can’t disagree, Tiggeril.

There seems to be a definite increase in the number (and volatility) of people who engage in rude behavior under the guise of standing up for their rights, or not letting themselves be taken advantage of.

[sarcasm] I blame Ralph Nader.[end sarcasm]

9

I’m going to have to do some researching to see if I have the right to use an air horn over the phone if they insist on calling me a “fuckin’ lyin’ bitch.”

10

So who dies, already?

11

A customer called because her 27" TV/VCR “didn’t have a picture” and she wanted to return it.

“It’s plugged in, right?”
“Yes, it’s plugged in.” So I proceded to give her return authorization and instructions. She then proceded to tell me:

“Yeah, it’s really funny. When I put a tape in the picture is fine, but when I take it out all I see is dots.”
“Dots?”
“Yes, dots.”
“Like static?”
“I don’t know about static. All I see is dots.”
“Do you have it hooked up to an antennae?”
“A what?”
“An antennae. Do you have it hooked up to an antennae or to cable?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

<sigh>

“There’s something wrong with my adding machine. It’s always on.”
“Well, sir, it’s solar. When the light hits the sensors it turns on.”
“Yes, but when I first take it out of the drawer it’s on. It has 123456789 on it ALL THE TIME. And when I hit the ‘on’ button a 0 shows up underneat the 9.”
“Did you take the plastic sticker off of the window?”
“Of course I did.”
“You took it off of the display window?”
“Yup. Oh, wait a minute.”
<silence>
“I must really sound dumb, huh?”

There there are the people who, when their package arrived flattened, act like I personally went out to the warehouse, found the one box among thousands with their name on it, dropped it off the loading dock, and jumped on top of it, just to make sure.

12

Why disappoint them? :wink:

13

Oh, tiggeril, HAVE I been tempted!!!

14

I work in an auto dealership in the service department and some idiot will call up on the phone and ask how to fix something. You tell them the answer and then they ARGUE with you!!! The more they argue, the more it becomes obvious that they have absolutely NO business working on their own car. The putz’s !!!

15

Harry does. Professor Trelawney’s divinations have finally come true.

16

tubagirl (and everyone else who has ever worked with computer tech support):

You must check out the site http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/. It is a collection of stupid questions and answers about computers. I laughed my ass of reading it.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the world needs stupid people like that to make the rest of us feel smart.

17

That period was not supposed to be after the URL. It doesn’t seem to affect Netscape, however. It still loads the page.
Go figure.

18

I think I have covered this in a few threads!

19

I worked at a concession for a couple years and generally I was in there by myself making the food, coffee etc and selling it… it was especially annoying when the city (I worked in the Arena concessions run by the city) changed over from those regular hot chocolate machines that mix sauce and water to the fancy Cappuchino ones… lots of people love to get Mochas (we would mix the hot chocolate and coffee) when they switched the machines we weren’t allowed to do that… plus the machines fill a certain cup to a certain height so the ONLY way to make mochas the way we used to was pour half of the hot chocolate out and add coffee which is quite annoying plus often you ended up with extra chocolate. What we did have now was Swiss Mochas which were almost exactly the same thing only sweeter… I got bitched out several times just cuz I wouldn’t mix the mochas like we used to… It wasn’t my idea to switch! I am only the person who serves you I don’t change the machines or decide what our policies are on selling things! Bitching me out will not change anything!

Ugh… I just had to let that out…
Kyla! That can’t be true! Nonononono… Don’t say anymore I want to read the book myself…

20

Sorry. It’s true. I mean, would I ever tell a lie?

[no smilies used in deference to Pit regulations.]