Who's dumber here, her or I?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay, my phone rings at work (less than 5 minutes ago, actually) and a woman calls with a problem that she needs to speak with her area sales rep about. In order to transfer her call to the proper person, I have to know certain information, such as geographical location and what type of product she ordered from us, in order to send her to the proper person. The following transcript of our conversation is verbatim:

Me: “What state are you in ma’am?”

pause

Her: “What?”

Me: “What state are you in?”

Her: “Boston.”

pause

Me: “What state is Boston in, ma’am?”

Her: “Massachusetts.”

Me: “Okay. Did you order Product A, or Product B ma’am?”

Her: “Yes.” [no, not “Yes?” but just “Yes,” period.]

pause

Me: Which one did you have ma’am, Product A or Product B?"

Her: “Product B.”

Me: “Okay, one moment.” transfers call
Okay, what I want to know is, am I dumb for not immediately realizing she was in Massachusetts? Granted, she’s kinda dim for thinking Boston was a state (and she could hear me just fine; I had asked her earlier) but still…

2

Heh, a slight hijack maybe, but she did in fact at least answer your second question correctly.

You asked, “Do you have product A or product B?” and she answered “Yes” which is the correct answer (by boolean logic at least).

In middle school my math teacher would drive us nuts with this. He’d begin handing out papers and someone would ask “Is this a quiz or a test?” and he would always just answer “Yes.”

3

FBI agent: “Do you advocate the overthrow of the United States government by force or violence?”

Rose Nylund: “Force! No, wait . . . violence!”

4

Her is, I guess.

5

Who knows, it could be Boston California for all you know.

6

It’s not really your job to know where Boston is. She lives there (or at least works there), so she should know right off the bat. You should have known it is in Mass., but it doesn’t make you dumb. At least you know it’s a city, not a state. If it were me, I would have asked her where it is anyway, though, just to politely point out her little brain fart. As for the Product A/Product B question, that seals in my mind that she’s either dumb as a rock, or wasn’t really paying much attention.

7

Therefore the answer to whether “Her or I” screwed up is:

Yes.

8

Her is dumb and you is polite.

Me, shouting to the living room: “Want me to put on some water for tea?”
Mr. S, shouting from the living room: “Sure!”
Me: “What kind?”
Mr. S.: “HOT water!”
Um, no, what kind of TEA, you idiot. :smiley:

9

Never send her up to answer the bridgekeeper’s three questions. :wink:

10

A Mapquest search for “Boston” with no state specified returns 10 hits in 6 different states.

Which isn’t to say that you had this in mind when you asked her, but it was the right thing to do anyway.

11

True. Because what if she’d said Portland? I would DEFINITELY ask the state, just to make sure it was Oregon or Maine. You never know…

12

Try Auburn, I swear there’s one in every state I’ve been in, and that’s a lot.

13

to say nothing of Springfield

14

Can open…
Worms… everywhere…
:wink:

15

I think she might have a hearing problem myself.

16

And don’t forget Hollywood…

17

Actually, what he said was: “Do you have product A or [do you have*] product B?” so he was correct.

    • implied by tone.
      Note that I was there but what he said, if stressed properly, was proper English and she shouldn’t have answered “yes.”
18

Stupidity’s a possiblity, but could it be she simply wasn’t paying attention to what you were asking?

Not that being rude’s much better than being dumb, of course…

19

Note that I was not there.

20

Rude?! Who was rude?!
And Cisco, it’s even simpler than you suppose. Since there were only two choices and she couldn’t possibly have both of them. The products are mutually exclusive; if you buy one you don’t need the other.