The Spread of Misinformation Is Like A Virus

It is early in the pandemic, and even through lockdown, our telco stores are open with restrictions on customer limits. Enter elderly female customer.

Customer: “I’m having issues with my phone. It keeps going slowly, and I get these pop-ups.”

I request the customer to wipe down the phone as per protocol.

Me: “Ah, I see, it looks like your phone has a virus. This is easy enough to take care of.”

I proceed to start looking into the app that may be causing this.

Customer: *Leans in close and whispers.* “Is it… contagious?”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Customer: “The virus… is it contagious? Do I need to contact my family and friends?”

I realise at this point that we are dealing with the pandemic, and of course, someone who isn’t familiar with technology and its viruses would get confused. I explain this as simply as I can to the customer, and even though I’ve assured her it’s not THAT type of virus, she wasn’t convinced and left the store muttering about needing to let people know.