Friday, September 08, 2006
Customers are idiots
More examples of people not exercising basic thinking skills, all culled from the first two hours of my shift today:
Customer: "So, this is what we call a 'number'?"
---
Customer: "What do I need to make a dialup connection?"
Me: "Well, the main thing is that your computer will need a dialup modem. The easiest way to check and see if you have one is to take a look at the back of your computer where everything plugs in. A dialup modem will look like a spot with two phone jacks side-by-side."
Customer: "I have spot with two plugs!"
Me: "That's two phone jacks?"
Customer: "No, it's the place where I plug in my mouse and my printer."
This customer was looking at two USB ports. They don't even vaguely look like phone jacks, and she knew that she plugged other things into those ports. The only things that they have in common with phone jacks is a vaguely quadrilateral shape and the fact that you plug things into them. This makes the next comment somewhat more baffling.
Customer: "I think I can make a phone cord fit into one of these..."
---
Customer: "What should I do?"
Me: "I would recommend that you just restart your computer."
Customer: "I what?"
Me: "You restart the computer. Restarting means you have the computer turn itself off and then back on again."
Customer: "What do I do?"
Me: "Click on Start--"
Customer: "OK, so I go to All Programs?"
Me: "No, you click on Start, then click on Turn off computer or Shut down, then click on Restart."
Customer: "OK, I've got this menu up that says Standby, Turn off, Restart."
Me: "Right."
Customer: "What do I do?"
Me: "Well, since we're aiming to restart the computer, you click on Restart."
Customer: "I click on restart?"
Me: "... yes. Yes you do."
Customer: "Oh, ok. OHMYGOD!! It says that Windows is shutting down!!"
---
Me: "Alright, now you'll need to doubleclick on the connection icon."
Customer: "Is that a right click or a left click?"
Me: "Doubleclicking means that you click twice quickly with the left button."
Customer: "OK, it says Connect and Create shortcut."
Me: "That means you've right clicked. You'll need to use the other button and doubleclick."
Customer: "OK, it says Connect and Create shortcut again."
Me: "Those will only come up if you've right clicked. Make sure you use the button on the other side of your mouse."
Customer: "I did right click!"
Me: "Yes sir, and what I'm saying is that you need to NOT right click. You need to use the left button, and you need to click it twice quickly."
Customer: "Oh, I misunderstood.
Customer: "So, this is what we call a 'number'?"
---
Customer: "What do I need to make a dialup connection?"
Me: "Well, the main thing is that your computer will need a dialup modem. The easiest way to check and see if you have one is to take a look at the back of your computer where everything plugs in. A dialup modem will look like a spot with two phone jacks side-by-side."
Customer: "I have spot with two plugs!"
Me: "That's two phone jacks?"
Customer: "No, it's the place where I plug in my mouse and my printer."
This customer was looking at two USB ports. They don't even vaguely look like phone jacks, and she knew that she plugged other things into those ports. The only things that they have in common with phone jacks is a vaguely quadrilateral shape and the fact that you plug things into them. This makes the next comment somewhat more baffling.
Customer: "I think I can make a phone cord fit into one of these..."
---
Customer: "What should I do?"
Me: "I would recommend that you just restart your computer."
Customer: "I what?"
Me: "You restart the computer. Restarting means you have the computer turn itself off and then back on again."
Customer: "What do I do?"
Me: "Click on Start--"
Customer: "OK, so I go to All Programs?"
Me: "No, you click on Start, then click on Turn off computer or Shut down, then click on Restart."
Customer: "OK, I've got this menu up that says Standby, Turn off, Restart."
Me: "Right."
Customer: "What do I do?"
Me: "Well, since we're aiming to restart the computer, you click on Restart."
Customer: "I click on restart?"
Me: "... yes. Yes you do."
Customer: "Oh, ok. OHMYGOD!! It says that Windows is shutting down!!"
---
Me: "Alright, now you'll need to doubleclick on the connection icon."
Customer: "Is that a right click or a left click?"
Me: "Doubleclicking means that you click twice quickly with the left button."
Customer: "OK, it says Connect and Create shortcut."
Me: "That means you've right clicked. You'll need to use the other button and doubleclick."
Customer: "OK, it says Connect and Create shortcut again."
Me: "Those will only come up if you've right clicked. Make sure you use the button on the other side of your mouse."
Customer: "I did right click!"
Me: "Yes sir, and what I'm saying is that you need to NOT right click. You need to use the left button, and you need to click it twice quickly."
Customer: "Oh, I misunderstood.
# posted by Terry @ 7:50 AM 
