I work at a convenience store...Follow

Basically. Most private enteprises have the sign of "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." I would think same goes here. Think of the premiums paid by someone who got kicked out as akin to the charge one pays to get into a club, then gets drunk then gets bounced. They don't get a refund either and most likely the cops called on them too.

Besides, this is the internets. There are plenty of other forums that are more tolerating of spam and asshatery.

That's not only non-private anymore, the party's been busted!

You can't even tell if a post is on-topic or not in here

Not according to the disclaimer.

While some dumb questions are just dumb, I think that a good percentage of them are generated by people trying to be polite.

Somewhere along the line, we stop asking direct questions because direct questions are considered, well.. direct (and impolite!).

So. "I'd like to buy some smokes", turns into "do you have cigarettes for sale"?

"What time is it?", becomes "Do you know what time it is?".

In a lot of cases, it's customers trying to politely get the attention of an employee. They don't want to start right in on their business, becuase you might be doing something else. There's a sense that they need to start the transaction with something that's less direct then asking for what they actually need.


*cough*. And employees do this too. For example. Why ask "Do you need a bag for that?". Ask instead "do you want a bag for that?" (or "Would you like a bag for that?"). The first implies that they may need or not need it (and creates the potential for exactly the kind of exchange that occured). The second is actually asking the customer what she *wants*. If the customer wants a bag, you give them one. It's not really about whether they need one, is it?


A lot of seemingly silly questions make a lot more sense when you add in the goal of trying to be polite into the issue. Of course, that doesn't explain stuff like "How much are the 3 dollar lottery tickets?", but like I said. Some just are dumb... ;)

This just happened about ten minutes after I got into work today. Some of you know I work for AAA so I get to speak with some real nice people.

Me: I understand you would like to place a complaint against one of our garages?

Member: Yes are you a manager?

Me: No ma'am I am this particular garage's field representative, all complaints regarding them are forwarded to me.

Member: Why the **** would I want to speak with you?! I said I wanted to speak to a manager!

Me: Ma'am I assure you there is nothing a manager can do for you right now. If you have a valid complaint regarding this garage it goes through me.

Begin two minute and twenty-seven second profanity filled tirade where I literally set the phone down and get a cup of coffee.

Me: Ma'am are you going to explain to me what the problem is now or will you continue to waste both of our time?

The beautiful thing about being above management is I can be a **** and not have to worry about it.

Member: Your driver took twenty minutes to get here when my dog was locked in my car! That is unacceptable. I want this garage fired!

Me: Was your vehicle running at that time ma'am?

Member: Yes my dog was inside while it was running! My dog could have died! I want a free membership!

Me: I see that you have an '05 Deville ma'am and when I walked inside the temperature was 94 degrees. Am I to understand that you did not have your air conditioning on?

Begin dead silence.

Me: How long were you quoted for a response time when you originally placed for road service call?

Member: Thirty minutes or less.

Me: So the driver arrived ten minutes before the quoted time you received and you want me to fire him and give you a free membership?

At that point she started on another tirade which after another two minutes of me laughing under my breath, ultimately hanging up on her. Dealing with the public is great(and I also went back and listened to the recording for accuracy's sake)

This is a stickup!
Gimme 50 cartons of Kool and a Jumbo Blue Slurpy.
Now!