(A customer sits down at my poker table. He is clearly high out of his mind.)

Customer: “Hey, man, what’s your sign?”

Me: “Uh…I’m a Leo. What’s yours?”

(The customer thinks about this for a full minute.)

Customer: “I’m a marshmallow.”

(A customer is returning a large pile of overdue books – about 90 for the entire family. She’s waiting while I process them in order to pay the fine.)

Me: “Well, they’re not very overdue. It’s just that there’s a lot of them.”

Customer: “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry they’re late.”

(I scan the last few books.)

Me: “Okay, over the three cards, there’s $50 in fines, but I’ll halve that to $25 as they’re not too late.”

Customer: “Oh, thanks so much. I just couldn’t get them in as we’ve all had scarlet fever.”

(I look at the pile of books, every one of which I have handled.)

Me: “Oh…”

(I am cleaning the lobby in the theater when a female customer comes out of the restroom. She goes to use the drinking fountain. As with most businesses, the restrooms are located right next to the fountain.)

Customer: *aghast* “This is disgusting!”

Me: “Is there something wrong with the tap, ma’am? We do clean it often but I haven’t made it over there yet this round.”

Customer: “No, it is lovely. You do a fine job. It was just horrible!”

Me: “If there is nothing wrong, why was it horrible?”

Customer: “Because when I was drinking the water, I heard a toilet flush in the restroom and it made the water pressure go down!”

Me: “Well, yes. The plumbing is connected as they both draw from the–”

Customer: “That water that I was drinking? A minute later, if I hadn’t come along, it would have been used to flush someone’s waste? That is so disgusting! I can’t believe it!”

Me: “Well, would you rather the water pressure went up when you heard the flush?”

(The customer takes a step back and looks confused. Suddenly, the implication of my statement reaches her nearly hysterical mind and she flees the building with a look of horror on her face.)

(I’m serving a mother and her two children.)

Me: “Are you ready to order?”

Mother: “Tell the lady what you would like.”

Son: “I’ll have the chicken fingers.”

Mother: “Say please!”

Son: *sheepishly* “Please.”

Mother: “And what would you like?”

Daughter: “A hot dog!”

Mother: “Say please!”

Daughter: “Please.”

Mother: “And I’ll have the fried clams.”

(She never did say “please”.)

(I’m refilling a bunch of buckets with pet food when a customer approaches. He’s dressed entirely in black, has long hair, and an intimidatingly large beard. I have previously seen him staring at snakes for a while.)

Customer: “Hi, I was wondering, which pet would you recommend for an evil overlord?”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “You know, for the aspiring world dominator. I want something that looks evil and intimidating…something that can tear my enemies to shreds!”

Me: “Uh…I’m sorry, sir, the most vile animals we have would be those kittens over there and I don’t think they’re quite big enough to kill someone.”

Customer: *completely serious* “What about sharks?”

Me: “Nope, sorry. We don’t have the space for such a big aquarium in here.”

Customer: “Well, d***. I don’t suppose you have lions or siberian tigers, then?”

Me: “I’m afraid not.”

Customer: “D*** right you’re afraid! When I’m your master, I’ll come back with an army of battlehamsters and feed you to them!”

Me: *trying not to laugh* “I’m looking forward to that.”

(He leaves the shop, but only after buying three hamsters.)

(I’m working as a trainer in a Internet service provider tech support team and I’m taking a call to show the new people how it’s done. One of my assistants is recording the call so we can replay it later.)

Me: “Welcome to [ISP] tech support. How can I help you today?”

Caller: “I’m having problems writing an email. I just can’t seem to do it.”

(This ISP is known for its less tech savvy customers, so this is rather common.)

Me: “That’s okay. Do you see a icon like an envelope at the top of the screen?”

Caller: “Erm, yes!”

Me: “Okay, click on that.”

Caller: “Oh, a big box with 2 smaller boxes above it has opened up.”

Me: “Okay, one of those smaller boxes will say ‘To:’. Can you click on that, please?”

Caller: “Okay, done that. There’s a little flashing line!”

Me: “Good, now in that box, we’re going to type an email address. We’ll use mine as a test. It’s C-G-E–”

Caller: “Wait, wait! How do I put that in?”

(At this point, I’m wondering if the user can be this stupid.)

Me: “Well, on your keyboard, hit the letters C-G–”

Caller: “I can’t.”

Me: “Why?”

Caller: “I don’t have a keyboard!”

Me: “What?”

Caller: “Well, I threw it away.”

Me: “Wait. What? Why?!”

Caller: “It didn’t match the furniture!”

(A customer has just had a heart attack, and our staff is giving her CPR. Another customer approaches.)

Customer: “Excuse me, but could you move? I need the ink behind you guys.”

Me: “Sir, this lady is suffering a medical illness. I’m sorry for your inconvenience, but you will have to wait.”

Customer: “How dare you treat your customers like this?! I’ll never shop here again!”

Manager: *fed up* “[Competitor] is across the parking lot. Have a nice day.”

(I answer calls for technical support within the company.)

Caller: “My computer is a fire risk.”

Me: “What makes you say that?”

Caller: “It gets hot. There are papers near it.”

Me: “If you’re worried about it, you can move the papers away.”

Caller: “I am moving the papers, but you must send someone to look at it.”

Me: “Computers usually get warm–”

Caller: “You don’t understand. My computer is a fire risk!”

Me: “Okay, I’ll log a job and get someone to look at it.”

Caller: “When? It is very urgent. I need someone to come now.”

(I log the job and ring the technician to explain that the customer is very keen to have someone come as soon as possible. The next day, he rings me back to tell me what happened.)

Technician: “You know that computer that was a fire risk?”

Me: “Yes?”

Technician: “She meant it was on fire.”