People Who Make You Think “How Are You Allowed To Drive?”, Part 7
Part of my daily work routine puts me in a parking garage to assist people when they have trouble with the automatic machines we have installed for the specific purpose of not needing to have someone present.
Unfortunately, we get a lot of customers who struggle with simple instructions printed on the machine, like “Scan Ticket Here” and “Insert Card Here”. It’s a daily occurrence that customers will try pressing their tickets again against the display screen or try to force them into the receipt printer while ignoring the three different signs that point them to the scanner.
Suffice to say, I see all sorts of instances of customers who struggle with problems that could be solved if they just read whatever is in front of them. But today, things went beyond anything I could have ever expected. I should add that this was not a language barrier thing; the customer spoke perfect English with a local accent.
A customer pulls up to the exit gate and sits there, staring at the machine. This happens sometimes, and I give them some time to figure things out before heading down from the booth to help them. After a few seconds, most people would try to interact with the machine in some way, but this guy just sat there staring at it. So, I came down to help.
Customer: “How do I pay to get out? I’ve never been here before.”
Me: “Well, you just scan your ticket on the machine right under the sign that says scan ticket here.”
Customer: “Okay, I don’t know how to use this machine because I’ve never been here before.”
Me: “You just hold the ticket up in front of the scanner where it says scan ticket here.”
Customer: “Oh, well, I don’t know this stuff because I’ve never been here before. How do I do that?”
Me: *Giving up.* “Can you hand me your ticket?”
Customer: “Oh, I don’t know if I got one, I’ve never been here before.”
Me: “It’ll be the paper that you got when you came in, I can see it sitting on your dashboard now.”
Customer: “I don’t know what that is. So, can you let me out? I can pay, I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.”
Me: “You hand me that ticket on the dashboard so I can scan it on the machine.”
Customer: “This? I don’t know what this is. I’ve never been here before.”
Me: *Finally gets ticket, scans ticket.* “Okay, that’s $12.”
Customer: “How much is it?”
Me: “It’s $12.”
Customer: “Okay. So how much do you want?”
Me: “12.”
Customer: “I don’t know, I’ve never been here before. So, what do I do now?”
Me: “Now you give me either give me your card so I can charge it $12, or you give me $12 in cash.”
Customer: “Okay, I’ll give you my card.”
Me: *Puts card in the machine. Gate opens. Hands them back their card.*
Customer: “Well, now what do I do?”
Me: “…Uh, leave?”
Customer: “Oh, I didn’t know. I’ve never been here before.”
As he drove off, making a left turn out of a right turn-only exit, no doubt because he didn’t know which direction was a right turn even with the arrows, I figured he must never have been here before. Or anywhere else that involves basic instructions.
Related:
People Who Make You Think “How Are You Allowed To Drive?”, Part 6
People Who Make You Think “How Are You Allowed To Drive?”, Part 5
People Who Make You Think “How Are You Allowed To Drive?”, Part 4
People Who Make You Think “How Are You Allowed To Drive?”, Part 3
People Who Make You Think “How Are You Allowed To Drive?”, Part 2
