Retic People
Man, people are dumb.
I used to believe that everyone had a rudimentary understanding of basic mathematical concepts, a decent grasp of logic and common sense.
Then I got a job in retail.
I am at my retic store right now, and I had a customer earlier that really annoyed me, and I decided that if I still felt irritated after eating food and waiting a bit, I would write about him.
I still feel irritated after eating food and waiting a bit.
So normally when customers come in the store, I help them with everything. I have learned that it is best to treat them like two year olds who do not understand much about how the world works, but have a general willingness to learn.
For once, I decided I would provide a customer with information, and leave him to his own devices. Now, what he was asking for was not complicated, he wanted some sprinklers that would ‘go two meters’. So I took him to the sprinkler section and I explained that on each shelf are different distanced nozzles (for example, the top shelf has nozzles that go 2.5m, then under that is 3m, then 3.5 and so on). This is clearly marked with big lables, I put them there myself!
I then took extra care to explain the different nozzle arcs (like quarters, halves, fulls). These too, are clearly labelled.
So after arming him with all the tools he should have needed to get his bits and pieces, I went back to cutting some pipes (which I was also doing for this same guy).
A few minutes later, he comes up to me and says ‘So this is a half that will go 2 meters?’.
It was not a half that would go two meters, it was a full that would go 4.
Not only did he get the nozzle arc wrong, he also got it from the complete wrong shelf (keep in mind I showed him which shelf the 2 meter ones were on).
I ended up doing what I normally do and asking question after question and figuring it all out for him.
Why can’t people do these things themselves? Why? EVERYTHING (and I mean everything) in this store is CLEARLY LABELLED, yet people still can’t figure stuff out.
I was thinking of drawing a comic about this… but I can’t be bothered. Woop!
Man. Customer service sucks.
The hardest part of it all is giving a blank ‘I’m interested in what you’re saying’ look instead of the ‘GOD YOU DUMBASS’ look.
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