Not Always Right
Editor’s note:
Notalwaysright.com always has a slightly different take on the retail and service industry. It’s vignettes are true tales and anecdotes from the commercial trenches as told by the shop clerks, bag boys, receptionists and technicians of the world who daily shake their heads at the odd ducks they sometimes have to deal with.
Log On To The Clueless Wide Web, Part 3
Retail/British Columbia/Canada
(We have kiosks in our location that provide a number of services. We also have an online service that provides some different options than we are able to provide in the store. A woman in her 30s is on the kiosk closest to me trying to order something that we don’t do in the store.)
Me: “How can I help you?”
Customer: “I’m trying to order [product], but I can’t find it on this kiosk.”
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that item is only available online.”
Customer: “What’s that?”
Me: “It’s only available through the computer.”
Customer: *blank look*
Me: “You have to go onto a computer and go to the website to order that item, because it’s not available to order in the store.”
Customer: “What computer?”
Me: “You have to get onto the internet and order that product from our website.”
Customer: “I don’t understand what you’re saying! What’s a website?”
Me: *speechless*
***
The Kitchen Chainsaw Massacre
Remodeling/Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(Oftentimes, customers want free advice on the phone on what to do in order to save on getting an estimate or a inspection.)
Caller: “I need advice on something. Let’s say I have a big wall dividing the kitchen and the dinning room, but I want to open it up so I have a big room. Can I do that?”
Me: “Well, probably, but there might be complications. For example, if you have a load bearing wall, we’d need to set it up so that the load is distributed differently. Not to mention, there are pipes and wires you need to worry about. Really, we’d need to send someone out to look it over, sir. It’s not really something we can tell you over the phone without seeing it first.”
Caller: “No, no. I got what I needed.”
Me: “Uh, okay.”
(He then hangs up. One week later, he calls back.)
Caller: “I’m going to sue you. I’m going to sue the living heck out of your business. You ruined my life.”
Me: “What? What’s going on? Who is this?”
Caller: “I called for advice. You said I could remove my wall in between my kitchen and dinning room. Well, I did. I cut it out with my chainsaw and everything was fine until my ceiling caved in. And you know what’s above my kitchen? The upstairs bath room. The bathtub fell through and I had to turn off the water because it damaged my pipes. Now, who’s gonna pay for that?”
