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Turn it around ... stupid customer stories.

Lizooki

Lizooki

Feb 24, 2008
757
1,420
#1
Yeah, I've been there and done that. GC or any other music store and the guy who worked there was a complete idiot.

BUT

I sell most of my stuff ... Outhouse Instruments, Cigar Box Guitars ... at street festivals. Talk about dumb store clerk .... they don't have nothing on the general public.
So ... for those of you who sell ..... share the stories!

I'll start.

A few weeks ago at a street festival in Oct.
Lady walks up ..... "What is it .... a birdhouse?" My daughters collapsed in laughter in front of her.

Back in the spring ....
A guy picks up a mando ...
Him -"How's it tuned?"
Me -"Like a Mando, GDAE"
Him-" I play a violin." (???) "tuned the same?"
Me-"I dunno what violin tuning is."
Him-"GDAE"
Me- "Then it's the same."
Him- "But it don't sound right."
Me-" I just tuned it"
Then he strums it and begins to turn tuners.
Me-"I just tuned it!"
Him-( still turning tuners) " Ok"
Another person walks up and asks a question, as I answer them I here "PING!" ( a breaking string)
Me- "What happened?" ( as I removed it from his hands)
Him-" I was trying to tune it like a guitar and it broke."
Me- "WHAT! WHY!"
Him- "My wife's calling me ...."

Panty waste p-whipped momma's boy idiot!

:eyebrow: :hmm: :rollno: :scowl:

Matt
 
#4
My sister works in a cable company office and emails me at least once a week with stupid people stories that she just has to share. Like the one that insisted that they HAD to come out to fix her cable that wasn't working so she could watch TV while the power was out.
 
#6
Idiot store clerk = stupid customer and vice versa. The only difference is when they go to and leave their jobs.

A few years ago, I worked in retail auto parts. I spent 10 years working various auto parts stores. Every day I would have new stories to tell with my buds at the bar as I drank my sorrows away.

My favorite, and a reoccurring situation.

Me: How can I help you?
Cust: I need this part (they set down a filthy grease covered vacuum solenoid from a misc part of the engine emissions system of his mid 80's toyota pickup)


Me: Ok, I see it's a solenoid. But wich one of many is it on your vehicle?
Cust: I don't know
Me: What does it do?
Cust: I don't know
Me: Than how do you know it's broke?
Cust: ::walks away and mutters under breath:: prick

BTW, here is part of vacuum diagram for said vehicle

1985-86Toyota22RFederalCanada.gif


1984Toyota22RECalifornia.gif


...don't get me wrong now. One of my most hated things is going into a Auto Parts store because you have to deal with the guy at the counter to get anything. And since I am a car guy, building and modifying hot rods/customs/trucks and I just moved to a new city. I have to deal with these guys too

Me: Hi, I need a 1/4" thick carb base gasket for a square bore holley. I'm trying to seal up a warped carb base. They are black and in the felpro line
Employee: Uhh... year, make & model?
Me: Your not going to find it in your computer, but I used to work for this company and I know you have them on the shelf back there
Employee: If it's not on the computer it doesn't exist
 
#7
Worked a tech support help desk for a year answering phones and processing trouble tickets. Trust me "they" were not calling to tell us what a great job we were doing!

One memorable ticket dropped in my queue was a customer complaining their unit would not turn off after they unplugged it. We sold and serviced UPS's (un interruptible power supplies)!
 
#8
Mykk said:
Idiot store clerk = stupid customer and vice versa. The only difference is when they go to and leave their jobs.

A few years ago, I worked in retail auto parts. I spent 10 years working various auto parts stores. Every day I would have new stories to tell with my buds at the bar as I drank my sorrows away.

My favorite, and a reoccurring situation.

Me: How can I help you?
Cust: I need this part (they set down a filthy grease covered vacuum solenoid from a misc part of the engine emissions system of his mid 80's toyota pickup)


Me: Ok, I see it's a solenoid. But wich one of many is it on your vehicle?
Cust: I don't know
Me: What does it do?
Cust: I don't know
Me: Than how do you know it's broke?
Cust: ::walks away and mutters under breath:: prick

snip...
Click to expand...

(adding to derail hahaha) Amazing how many auto parts store clerks are clueless about autos...around here there are so many high school kids who could run circles around them.
 
#9
Obe said:
(adding to derail hahaha) Amazing how many auto parts store clerks are clueless about autos...around here there are so many high school kids who could run circles around them.
Click to expand...

True, I feel I've worked during the wrong era of the automotive industry. I would have loved to of been working on cars in the 20's-30's & 40's, you would only need a handful of maintenance parts to fix the majority of vehicles.

"Hi. I need brake shoes for a Ford"
"Ok, you got it"

:-)
 
#10
I retired from the truck rental industry. I got a call from one of our serice guys that I needed to come out to a breakdown. I ran an entire state for the company, so this was not a common call.

When I got there I found a brand new 7000 series GMC moving van loaded with neatly stacked brick, floor to ceiling, all the way back to within 6 feet of the back door. All 6 tires were flat, the springs were broken and the frame was U shaped. The truck, (6 weeks old) was totaled.

The customer saw the look on my face and got defensive immeadiately.

"I didn't overload it, there was still room..."
 
#12
I've been working at a family owned music store for a while. Customer comes in and asks for a wall mount guitar hanger. He ends up buying a string swing and goes on his way. About an hour later he's back in the store, pissed off at me for selling him a defective hanger that has left his guitar with a nasty ding. He said as soon as he rested his guitar on the hanger it ripped right out of the wall and hit the floor...

Me- Where did you install the hanger?
Him- My bedroom
Me- Drywall?
Him- Yea(with a no **** Sherlock kind of tone and expression)
Me- Did you make sure you mounted it to a stud?
Him- ...what?

Lesson: A little research can go a long way. Even on the smallest of projects.
 
#16
A very long time ago I was a TV service engineer - until then I'd never been in a really filthy house or had to deal with people being obstinately stupid. Most customers were ok though and some made me laugh - I found this note on a front door; Dear TV man - had to go to my Aunty's house - please call for me there" Why did she think I'd know where her aunt lived?
 
#17
There used to be a saying that all programmers used, probably still do.
"You can't make any program idiot proof, because idiots are so damn ingenious."

One of the best stories is from my boy when he was a ticket manager at the auditorium.

Lady called and wanted FLOOR SEATS for the Ice Capades. Then proceeded to argue with him about it.
 
#19
I worked in a music store for a few years, once a customer came in and wanted me to put the "plastic" back on his Strat. I kept looking at the pickguard and saying, "I don't understand what you want me to do, it's right here..."

Turns out he wanted me to replace the thin layer of protective film that Fender puts on their pickguards to protect them while they're being played in the store.
 

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