What's the Most Stupid Thing You've Ever Heard At Work??

kittkatt

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Messages
6,108
Purraise
14
Location
Online
Reading Calico2222's thread got me to thinking of some of the stupid things I've heard while at work. There's been quite a few, but the one that sticks in my mind more than any other is this:

I also used to work at a call center, for a catalog company. One of the catalogs had photo related merchandise - such as photo albums, photo frames, etc. For most of the albums, you could choose which type of photo page you wanted - i.e. magnetic pages, scrapbook pages, pocket pages. I got a call from a customer, and she proceeded to ask me, "What size photo fits in a 4X6 pocket page?"
I was tempted to say, "Well, you could probably squeeze an 8X10 photo into it if you tried hard enough." But I bit my tongue, and answered her question - somehow managing not to burst out laughing..


What's the most stupid thing you've ever heard while at work?

~KK~
 

beck4582

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
Messages
856
Purraise
1
Location
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Well mine doesn't have to do with the work itself, but someone I worked with... In high school my first job was at a small local movie theater. There was this guy there that was absolutely the dumbest person that I've ever met - and to this day, he still is. My boss (who was 22 and HOT) came up to me and says "Hey Becca, go ask Todd how many states are in the country." I looked at him kinda funny, shrugged, and then went and asked Todd. His answer was "Duh...52" and he was totally serious. So, confused, and trying not to laugh, I said "Do you know what the last two added are?" and he said "Alaska and Hawaii" I said "Okay...thanks..." and walked away. To this day, I have NO idea what he thought the other two states are. He was definately one crayon short of a full box.
 

trouts mom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 4, 2006
Messages
23,949
Purraise
16
Location
Snowy Santa Land
I always get blamed and cursed at for auto insurance rates...like its me who makes the premiums..I sit at home late at night and think "Mr.Smith should have high premiums..."


Also, I always get the "well do you know how long so and so will be on the phone?" YES, I somehow know when his conversation will be over
 

calico2222

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 9, 2004
Messages
7,731
Purraise
41
Location
Over the river and through the woods...
I won't even go into what I've heard at my current job, but when I was in high school I worked as a receptionist at my church. On Christmas Eve we would always have a few people calling in asking what time midnight mass started...and they were serious!
 

starryeyedtiger

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Messages
22,317
Purraise
20
Location
USA
stupid guy inquiring about adopting a dog saw the word "canine" on the puppy's id card for its species and he said, "So uhhh ...what kind of animal is a canine?"

i just bit my tongue and tried not to laugh myself silly when my coworker responded "umm, basically a dog"


Seriously,...he didn't leave with a dog that day
Nobody should be adopting a dog if they don't know what a "canine" is
Come on people
Someone slapped him with a stupid stick i think
My coworkers and i still laugh about that
 

catkiki

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
4,591
Purraise
66
Location
Somewhere in the US
I work in a student loan call center... I have had people call in blaming me for a negative mark on their credit. Me... "did you receive the bills we sent you?" them "yes, but I didn't open them" me... "Did you receive our messages to call us?" them "Yes, but I was afraid to call" ... I wish I could say to them "You are blaming ME for your stupidity in not opening your bills or calling us when we could have made arrangements to postpone your payments? What did you get your degree in? Idiocy??"

And the best one was someone who was mad that interest accrued while they were in a forbearance (postponement of payments) I explained to her that this was on the form when she signed for the postponement. She actually told me "Who reads the fine print??" Get this.......... She was a practicing ATTORNEY!!!!!!!!!! I feel sorry for her clients...
 

esrgirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
2,163
Purraise
2
Location
Indiana
My husband worked for two summers at the Cedar Point amusement park. They had a fireworks show called the "9 o'clock fireworks show" and people would actually ask him, "What time is the 9 o'clock fireworks show?" He actually did offer a smart remark back by saying something like, "The 9 o'clock fireworks show is at 10 o'clock" and people would believe him and he would have correct them. Occasionally he would just stare at them and ask, "Are you asking what time the 9 o'clock fireworks show is?" and pause. Wow. People can be dumb.
 

amberthe bobcat

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2003
Messages
4,829
Purraise
18
Location
In the Cougars den
Originally Posted by Duchess15

Now that you ask that question...my brain is at a loss. I know I have some, but will have to try and think about it.
Same here. For some reason, I just can not think of any, even though I have heard many stupid things, since I am a police/fire/911/ems dispatcher. Maybe it's because I am working night shift at the moment, that has my brain at a loss. If I think of any, I will post them
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

kittkatt

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Messages
6,108
Purraise
14
Location
Online
Originally Posted by Catkiki

I explained to her that this was on the form when she signed for the postponement. She actually told me "Who reads the fine print??" Get this.......... She was a practicing ATTORNEY!!!!!!!!!! I feel sorry for her clients...
O - M - G!!


I can just hear it now: "I'm sorry your Honor for not having all the facts in this case, but I didn't read the fine print."


When I worked at Wal-Mart, there were two things that used to irk me to no end: the people who asked, "Do you work here?", when you're wearing that stupid blue vest. No - I don't work here: I just love Wal-Mart so much I decided to buy one of their vests to wear as a fashion statement.


The other thing that would irk me was while I was standing at a register, and some idiot would come up to me and ask, "Are you checking?"
One day I couldn't help myself, and when a customer asked if I was checking, I smiled at her and replied, "Are you shopping?" The look on her face was a MasterCard moment -- priceless!


~KK~
 

carwashcats

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
895
Purraise
1
Location
Texas
Here is mine....... The name of my beauty salon is "Bangs Hair Salon".....
ok.... everybody following so far??.......one day I received a phone call,
this lady preceeded to say, "I sure am glad someone cuts bangs in town"

Sometimes!!!!?????

Monique
 

theimp98

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
11,427
Purraise
2
Location
elyria, ohio
i posted this one not to long ago, I dont work the help desk but, i will log in there to help out sometimes,,

wanted to be nice, help out with phone calls this morning.

Me: IT opertions how can i help you
him: my computer is not doing anything
me: can you tell me what anything is that it is not doing.
Him: nothing.
Me: ok what do you want it to do.
Him: it wont turn on.
Me: ok now we are getting some place, when you try to turn it on,does it try to start, do you hear any sounds. any beeps.
Him: hmm i dont know, i dont have time for this why dont you just remote control my pc and tell me why it wont work.
ME: what? how can i do that
Him: well everyone else does it, they just come in and click this and that and it work fine
Me: and how can i do that if the machien is not on?
Him: oh you mean the computer has to be running for you to control it?

oh yea, forget to add,
bang head on desk, send ticket to the help desk
 

wildfire203

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
314
Purraise
10
Location
My own little world
Just last month close to christmas I over heard one of my co-workers and my commander talking My co-worker (Wooster) can be such a ditz sometimes:

Wooster: Good morin Sir
Commander: Happy Kwanzaa
Wooster: I didn't know you were Jewish Sir!

The whole office went silent and just looked at her.
 

arlyn

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
9,306
Purraise
50
Location
Needles, CA
The stupidest thing I ever heard at work was "Good Morning!"
Sorry, but the last thing I need at 6AM after a 1 hour commute is a cheery greeting to the 14 hour, daily incarceration known as work.
 

mom of 4

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
1,282
Purraise
12
Location
BajaOklahoma, should be 200 miles north
I work at an elementary school. I could make this thread go 100 pages - all by myself.

Bad weather days are rare in our school district. Cancelations are shown on all of the local channels by 6 AM, along with our district's channel on public cable television, the district's website, the main district number and the individual school's phone message. Ar you ahead of me yet?
Last Friday was predicted to be bad. I got up 45 minutes early in case it took longer to get to work. At 7 AM, we received the first call from a parent asking if school was open. Duh! We come in just to answer the phones and tell you there isn't school. To counter the frustration, we've made it a game to be the one who answers the most is-there-school-today calls.
 

goonie

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 1, 2007
Messages
588
Purraise
24
Location
riverside, ca
when i worked at the bookstore one day i had on the company's apron with nametag and was pushing a dolly loaded with books.
customer: excuse me, do you work here?

another time this customer comes up to me with a fiction hardcover book in his hand. he asks 'when this book comes out in paperback will it still be fiction?

this lady has a paperback and asks 'how much is this book? i said '$7.99. the price is printed on the spine and the back of the book.' she says 'but there are 2 prices printed on there, the US and th canadian. how is a person supposed to know which one it is.' i couldn't help myself and said 'as of this morning, california still was part of the US. she just glared at me and stomped off.

i know there's more but that's all that come to mind right now
 

bonnie1965

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
3,973
Purraise
3
Location
Portland, Oregon
Working in the towing and repo industries, I know I have some good ones - cannot think of a single one right now
 

catnip

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jun 5, 2007
Messages
737
Purraise
43
Location
Ireland
One of my ex-colleagues was asked by a client whether she should try taking up yoga for her back pain. The girl who is highly intelligent but a total ditz, turned around and said 'well there is no evidence to suggest it works but you could try taking yoghurt if you like'.

The client managed to keep a straight face then reported her to her boss. D'oh!!
 

lunasmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
8,801
Purraise
12
Location
Jersey Shore
Not so much at my new job...they all seem to be pretty intelligent.

My last job however...they have a receptionist that is probably one of the last people alive that would say "No problem" when a stranger at the airport asks her to deliver the ticking teddy bear to his/her niece at the location she's flying to


This was two weeks after we got a new phone system at work, she calls me up, freaking out because the lines were flashing but she couldn't answer them. The system wasn't working.

Turns out she had forgotten to take it off the night answer.
 

carolpetunia

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
9,669
Purraise
17
Location
Plano, Texas
Once upon a time, before the digital age, we used a room-sized litho camera to create "slicks" of black-and-white artwork to be placed in print publications. But the slicks were rarely perfect -- they almost always needed some touch-up with a pen. And an ordinary ballpoint pen wouldn't work on that paper, so I had to use a certain kind of finepoint marker to do it.

Well. I was working for a billion-dollar international corporation, sending out hundreds of ad slicks every month all over the world... and one day, I was called to the office of the owner of the company, where he and the Chief Financial Officer were waiting with grim faces. They asked why I was ordering "all these expensive pens." (The pens were seven dollars a dozen, and I was ordering a couple dozen a year, so... a $14 annual expense.)

I explained about the ad slicks and the touch-up, and I thought that would be the end of it. But no, the owner continued to berate me for this unnecessary expense -- "You can use a Bic like everybody else!" he said.

So I explained again about the emulsion on the slicks, and the kind of pen required... but he was fixated on this $14 expense and just wouldn't accept what I was telling him. He went on about what a "lack of judgment" I had shown by "throwing away money" on these pens.

Finally, I looked from him to the CFO and back again, and said, "Is this really what the top executives of a major international franchise should be spending their time on?"

Well. I expected to be fired on the spot, but they just looked at me. After a moment of silence, I stood up and said, "Tell you what, I'll just buy my own damn pens from now on," and I walked out.

Never heard another word about it.
 
Top