I’m at a tobacconist and I’m the dumb customer in this one. To top it, I know the owner well.
Me: “Hi, two 16€ stamps, please, and I’ll need a receipt.”
The owner wraps the stamps and the receipt in an envelope and hands it to me.
Owner: “Here you are.”
Me: “Thanks, how much is it?”
Owner: “…”
I have decided that one of the assistant managers in our store might actually have memory issues. Whenever she goes on the PA system to give customers the fifteen-minute warning before we close, she’s always blanking on the name of our store. It’s the only place she works.
I feel like memory loss concerns were confirmed, though, when I got yelled at the other day. I work recovery, putting things back where they’re supposed to go when customers set them in the wrong spots around the store. This day I was working in the Chemicals/Cleaners department in the back of the store near the employee door to our backroom and break area. The assistant manager told me to go on break, so I put my cart in the backroom and then headed to the front of the store and punched out for my break.
When I got back after my break, the assistant manager yelled at me for not grabbing the cart from the back of the store and taking it to the front of the store because, “You’re wasting time going up front and then walking all the way back here to get the cart.” I was stunned, as the backroom was literally right next to where I would be putting the cart of product away — too stunned to point that out to her.
Later, when I did point it out to her, she didn’t even remember chewing me out in the first place. It’s not the first time she’s chewed me out for how I did something and then not remember she’d yelled.
Thankfully, she’s only the assistant manager.
I have a friend who’s the kindest person in the world but not always the smartest.
I invite her, her husband, and a couple of other friends over to celebrate my birthday with me and my husband and daughters. My daughters are vegan. My invitation, which I send out via email, says:
Me: “Don’t bring anything! No presents except your presence, and we have the food all taken care of. There’ll be pizza, appetizers, and two kinds of cake: one vegan for our daughters, and one non-vegan for everyone else.”
[Friend] replies to the email.
Friend: “Sounds great! See you then.”
On the day of the party, [Friend] arrives with her husband and hands me an enormous, very heavy container.
Me: “What’s this?”
Friend: “It’s homemade cheesecake! Remember how you said that you wanted me to bring dessert?”
She then looks behind me and sees the two cakes, and her face falls.
Friend: “Oh… you have dessert?”
I try to respond as kindly as I can.
Me: “Well, yes, but that’s okay. More dessert is always good, and I love cheesecake.”
Friend: “And the best part is that your daughters will be able to eat it.”
Me: “Um, no, I’m afraid they won’t.”
Friend: “Sure, they will!”
Me: “Oh, is it a vegan cheesecake?”
Friend: “Yes! Nothing but pure, natural ingredients: butter, cream cheese, and sour cream.”
Me: “I’m really sorry, but they won’t be able to eat it. Those ingredients aren’t vegan.”
Friend: “They’re not?”
The icing on the cake, so to speak, was that she hadn’t given the cheesecake enough time to bake. It was raw and gooey in the middle. Turns out that she’d woken up that morning, somehow got it into her head that I’d asked her to bring dessert, and frantically threw a cheesecake together as quickly as possible.
She meant well.
I work in a bank. The following scenario happens multiple times a week. Our deposit slips are clearly labeled and very easy to figure out.
Customer: “I want to make a deposit.”
Me: “Sure thing! Here’s a deposit slip.”
The customer stares at the deposit slip blankly.
Customer: “What do you want me to do with this?”
Me: “Fill out the parts you know, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
The customer pushes the slip back toward me.
Customer: “I don’t know any of it.”
Me: “You don’t know your name?”
Customer: “What?! Of course, I do!”
Me: “Great! Put your name where it says, ‘Name,’ please.”
And every time, I can see the wheels turning as the customer finds the line that says, “Name,” with text bolded and in all caps.
Customer: “Oh.”
Multiple times a week!
Our company has been bought up by another company. As of January 1, 2021, we’ll get all new systems, so they start training us “early” — in late November 2020. This means that some of us have a LOT of training to go through, at least two hours twice per week for different software and systems.
Due to the health crisis, the training takes place via video call. My colleagues next door, both adult women in their forties or fifties, have by far the most training scheduled. They put up a sign at their door that says, “Online training from [time] to [time]. Do not disturb!” every time they are in a video call.
Today, another colleague — male, in his early forties — comes into my office.
Colleague: “Hey, do the girls next door have remote training right now?”
Me: “I don’t know.”
Colleague: “There’s a sign on their door.”
Me: “Does it say that they have online training and to please not disturb?”
Colleague: “Yeah.”
Me: “…”
Colleague: “Should I go in and ask?”
I’m dumbfounded by this amount of ignorance, so I tell him the truth and decide to give him a little hint.
Me: “You shouldn’t. But if you tried, you probably wouldn’t get in anyway. They locked their door from the inside during yesterday’s training because too many people ignored the sign.”
Colleague: “What?! They locked their door yesterday?”
Me: “Yes.”
Colleague: “But why?”
Me: “Because… too many people ignored the sign that asked them not to be disturbed.”
Colleague: “Oh. So they locked their door so nobody would get in?”
He then left. I don’t know if he may have tried to go in there anyway.
