Dumb Work Questions

[Dead2009]

What are some dumb questions that you have been asked at work, either by a co-worker, a customer or someone else. My favorite question is when I'm walking through the store, with my name tag on my shirt, pushing a giant red cart with a walkie in my hand and someone will come up to me and go "excuse me, do you work here?" Like no, I'm researching what it's like to work in retail for a movie role.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Not so much at work, but my family this week. I've recently been put on a low fat diet by my doctor and given a diet sheet. Various family members including my sister keep advising me about low fat recipes etc. My sister yesterday rang to tell me about about a low fat bolognaise she makes with turkey mince and proceeded to go through the entire recipe.

What the issue you say??? Well I went to chef school and worked for about 12 years as a chef in various hotels and restaurants in multiple countries!!! I got paid to cook!! I know how to cook and I'm perfectly capable of making restaurant quality low fat food at home!! Geeze, its like they suddenly all forgot about the years I spent in professional kitchens!

 

[AlohaKeke]

Not a dumb question to me, but I used to work in a garden shop when I was in college. We had a person who came in to return a sprinkler that she ran over with her car. And the customer service desk took the return.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

What are some dumb questions that you have been asked at work

Working at an amusement park "If it rains, and you close early, what time will that be?"

 

[bcla]

What are some dumb questions that you have been asked at work, either by a co-worker, a customer or someone else. My favorite question is when I'm walking through the store, with my name tag on my shirt, pushing a giant red cart with a walkie in my hand and someone will come up to me and go "excuse me, do you work here?" Like no, I'm researching what it's like to work in retail for a movie role.

I've had that happen before, and I don't work in a store. I guess it was because of how I was dressed. I had an outdoors jacket tied around my waist and someone mistook it for an apron. Also - don't wear a red shirt at Target unless you work there. That's just an invitation to be mistaken for an employee.

 

[Dead2009]

I've had that happen before, and I don't work in a store. I guess it was because of how I was dressed. I had an outdoors jacket tied around my waist and someone mistook it for an apron. Also - don't wear a red shirt at Target unless you work there. That's just an invitation to be mistaken for an employee.

That's where I work and even with a name tag on they still don't know if you work there

 

[NotUrsula]

Well, to be fair, retail stores (& especially supermarkets) often have vendors in re-stocking shelves, so at certain times of the week, the odds are about 50/50 that a given worker that a customer sees will actually be employed by the store itself. At my local Target, I know that I have seen vendors from the soft-drink bottling company, a bakery, a beer distributor, a greeting-card company, and a dairy, all working in the store. It can be confusing (though at Target it's usually better than at most places, because of the red/khaki dress code.) If you've asked for help a few times & been told that the person doesn't work there, it's kind of natural to start asking that first.

Some years back, my DH had a medical problem that required me to drive him to the hospital for outpatient treatments and wait for him. At the time, my own job required me to wear a uniform that happened to be the same colors as that worn by the nurses in that particular hospital. Patients and visitors were constantly assuming that I was a nurse, and getting angry with me when I could not help them with some medical device or another.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

What the issue you say???

Low fat doesn't mean low calories?

 

[kaytieeldr]

What are some dumb questions that you have been asked at work, either by a co-worker, a customer or someone else. My favorite question is when I'm walking through the store, with my name tag on my shirt, pushing a giant red cart with a walkie in my hand and someone will come up to me and go "excuse me, do you work here?" Like no, I'm researching what it's like to work in retail for a movie role.

Check out www.notalwaysright.com sometime. Plenty of stories about retail workers shopping at other stores, in street clothes or their own store's uniform that looks nothing like the current store being asked for help. Some customers even go so far as demanding to the manager that the non-employee be fired.

 

[tvguy]

I've worked in a TV newsroom for 40+ years. Too many dumb questions called into the newsroom to list them all
A sample:
"Can you put President Obama on the phone?" "No sir, he is not here" "He was just live on your station, go down to the studio and put him on the phone" "No sir, he was live from the White House via satellite 2,700 miles from here". "No he was just on your station, put him on the phone"

This year has been challenging with calls from frightened people who I can't help. People who are considered essential workers and don't feel their job should be considered essential. People who want to know why nail salons, barbers, beauty shops and bars are not essential because they feel getting their nails or hair done is essential.
And the calls this year about people having problems getting their unemployment. First, the employment development department can't legally talk to anyone but the person applying for unemployment due to privacy laws. Second, WE can't get through to them on the phone either. And when we do get a call back from the media person, THAT person is a Media person, and can't help solve issues.

 

[ctipp79]

How many tacos come in a 12 pack. I’ve been asked that many times.

 

[fly girl]

Oh, the stories I have at 30,000 feet. Just a few highlights of dumb questions ...

"Excuse me, how do I unroll the window?" ( ...you don't want a rapid decompression, so you can't!)

"What do you have on draft?" (this is an airplane, not a bar/restaurant)

"Can you put this in your fridge?" (We don't have a fridge onboard, which people fail to believe. A dinky chiller on some, but everything cold is either put on ice or packed with dry ice.)

"What does it mean when you say prepare your doors and crotch check?" (uh...it is CROSS check. We are checking the door across from the one we are are arming/disarming as a double check safety measure. Nobody is checking a crotch, but it would be a good time to make sure your fly isn't open when you are say goodbye )

"Do you know Jane Doe, she's a flight attendant? You don't, why not!" (there are 20,000 of us, I can't know them all. My favorite is when they ask about a flight attendant that works for a different airline, lol.)

 

[WDWJDS]

Nurse working night shift
Patient in the middle of the night - “How’s your night going? Did you get a chance to get some sleep yet?” Umm, I’m working...I’m not supposed to be sleeping . And if I was sleeping on the job, I certainly wouldn’t tell anybody

 

[WDWJDS]

Oh, the stories I have at 30,000 feet. Just a few highlights of dumb questions ...

"Excuse me, how do I unroll the window?" ( ...you don't want a rapid decompression, so you can't!)

"What do you have on draft?" (this is an airplane, not a bar/restaurant)

"Can you put this in your fridge?" (We don't have a fridge onboard, which people fail to believe. A dinky chiller on some, but everything cold is either put on ice or packed with dry ice.)

"What does it mean when you say prepare your doors and crotch check?" (uh...it is CROSS check. We are checking the door across from the one we are are arming/disarming as a double check safety measure. Nobody is checking a crotch, but it would be a good time to make sure your fly isn't open when you are say goodbye )

"Do you know Jane Doe, she's a flight attendant? You don't, why not!" (there are 20,000 of us, I can't know them all. My favorite is when they ask about a flight attendant that works for a different airline, lol.)

I am guilty of asking a FA a stupid question.
DD was in college and we usually took the same early morning flight to visit her. She was home for Thanksgiving and had taken that flight back to school and fainted in the aisle. We took the same flight a couple of weeks later and asked one of the FAs if she was working the flight that someone fainted on recently. FA said “Someone faints on every flight” I had no idea that it was so common (and after having flown dozens upon dozens of times over the past 35 years, I had never been on a flight where someone fainted). But she seemed annoyed that I thought that it was a rarity for someone to faint on a flight.

 

[ashley0139]

Oh, the stories I have at 30,000 feet. Just a few highlights of dumb questions ...

"Excuse me, how do I unroll the window?" ( ...you don't want a rapid decompression, so you can't!)

"What do you have on draft?" (this is an airplane, not a bar/restaurant)

"Can you put this in your fridge?" (We don't have a fridge onboard, which people fail to believe. A dinky chiller on some, but everything cold is either put on ice or packed with dry ice.)

"What does it mean when you say prepare your doors and crotch check?" (uh...it is CROSS check. We are checking the door across from the one we are are arming/disarming as a double check safety measure. Nobody is checking a crotch, but it would be a good time to make sure your fly isn't open when you are say goodbye )

"Do you know Jane Doe, she's a flight attendant? You don't, why not!" (there are 20,000 of us, I can't know them all. My favorite is when they ask about a flight attendant that works for a different airline, lol.)

These are great! I bet you have some really good stories.

 

[fly girl]

I am guilty of asking a FA a stupid question.
DD was in college and we usually took the same early morning flight to visit her. She was home for Thanksgiving and had taken that flight back to school and fainted in the aisle. We took the same flight a couple of weeks later and asked one of the FAs if she was working the flight that someone fainted on recently. FA said “Someone faints on every flight” I had no idea that it was so common (and after having flown dozens upon dozens of times over the past 35 years, I had never been on a flight where someone fainted). But she seemed annoyed that I thought that it was a rarity for someone to faint on a flight.

That was not a stupid question, just a rude flight attendant.

Scared passengers is an every day occurrence. Fainting, no. In 20 years I had about 5 faints. She was full of it.

These are great! I bet you have some really good stories.

Lots of great stories. Happy, sad, and hilarious. My dad will have me repeat stories he loves. lol

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

For the record, I work in the loan servicing dept at a bank, NOT a car dealership.

Not me, but a coworker the other day:

Customer: Can you just email me the documents so I can get them quickly?
Employee: Yes
Customer: Will I be able to print them?
Employee: Do you have a printer?
Customer: Yes
Employee: Yes

The one below has happened to me, on more than one occasion as well as others in the office, and the conversation goes on back and forth:

Customer: My car tore up (motor, or transmission etc...) and I can't drive it anymore.
Me: I am very sorry to hear that.

Customer: I am not paying for a car that I can't drive.
Me: You still owe $5,000 on your loan.

Customer: No, the car doesn't work anymore. I am not supposed to pay for that.
Me: I know the car doesn't work, but you still owe for the loan that you took out to buy it.

Customer: You don't understand, the car doesn't work anymore.
Me: You borrowed money to buy this car from wherever you bought it. You owe the money whether or not the car works.

Customer: I can't pay for a car that doesn't work.

Usually the conversation closes with: Can you guys come get it?

An unusual one I had a while back:

Customer: I paid off my car and you sent me my title, but you didn't send the extra set of keys. Can I have my extra set of keys now?
Me: What???

Customer: Once my car is paid off, you should send me the extra set of keys.
Me: We do not have any car keys here.

Customer: You don't keep the extra set of keys when you are owed money on a car in case I didn't pay for it?
Me: No, we don't keep anybody's car keys.

Customer: Are you sure?
Me: Yes.

 

[dclpluto]

my wife told someone at work we were going to go to Hawaii. The person asked her if we were going to fly or drive to Hawaii.

 

[SC Minnie]

I work in Logistics for a manufacturing company. We've had a customer service rep here ask if we can ship a truckload of product from SC to CA to arrive early the next day. When I told her 'no' she said 'can't you put a team (2 drivers) on it?'. We could but they still wouldn't physically be able to get there by 10am tomorrow. Then she asks if we can 'triple team it'. ??? I'm still not sure what that is.

I've also been asked by one of our customer service reps if we can stop a train to pull off a pallet in one of the boxcars because it might arrive late. Um, no. One there isn't a warehouse to unload at every rail yard. Two, there is a charge if there is an unloading spot. Three, if they can it usually takes a couple of days to move around. Four, taking that pallet out will leave a void in the car which will allow the shift.

 

[ashley0139]

I work in Logistics for a manufacturing company. We've had a customer service rep here ask if we can ship a truckload of product from SC to CA to arrive early the next day. When I told her 'no' she said 'can't you put a team (2 drivers) on it?'. We could but they still wouldn't physically be able to get there by 10am tomorrow. Then she asks if we can 'triple team it'. ??? I'm still not sure what that is.

I've also been asked by one of our customer service reps if we can stop a train to pull off a pallet in one of the boxcars because it might arrive late. Um, no. One there isn't a warehouse to unload at every rail yard. Two, there is a charge if there is an unloading spot. Three, if they can it usually takes a couple of days to move around. Four, taking that pallet out will leave a void in the car which will allow the shift.

I mean, this seems like a semi-fair question for someone who doesn't know shipping logistics. How are they supposed to know all that? Not really a dumb question.