"What time does the 3 o'clock parade start" and other stupid questions.

[Northstar]

This one is kind of pathetic... when my work unit finally voted to unionize, AFTER the vote, one of my office mates asked me:

How come we get paid more if we go on strike?

She thought the strike pay from the union would be paid in addition to her regular salary!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Most of the customers I get are very nice people, but there are some that just don't listen, and think that they're the exception to the rules.

 

[ChillyWilleys]

Not really a stupid question, but a scenario I encounter quite often as a nurse: I get out of report literally just starting the night out and someone I've never seen before will walk up to the desk and say "Hows my mother doing?"or something along those lines. Who are you and who is your mother?

 

[JCJRSmith]

There are no stupid questions......








...but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots!!!

 

[Mkaz]

Many years ago I used to work at an all inclusive resort (reservations department). This is my all time favorite conversation I had with a guest.


Me: Good afternoon xxx xxx resort, my name is xxxx, how may I help you today?

Guest: Are meals included in your rates?

Me: Yes sir. We serve three meals daily.

Guest: Which ones?

 

[PrincessPAC]

I work with high school students, one time, at the beginning of the year, I told one student (& her mother) - you HAVE to have 26 credits to graduate, so if you fail even ONE class this year, the state will not grant you a diploma.

I kept on her all year about how she had to bring up her grades, repeating: "If you fail even one class, you will not graduate!" I kept telling her (& her mother) that things did not look good for her, especially around springtime. I never understood why they didn't seem to care.

But then - About a week before graduation, this girl & her mother came storming into my office, demanding that I "fix" their problem. What was her problem? - she had failed 3 classes, and she got a letter in the mail stating that she would not be able to participate in graduation because she did not meet the minimum number of state and district requirements.

They were threatening to sue everybody from her teachers to the State Board of Education - because I had told her that if she failed even ONE class, she would not be able to graduate, and their argument was that she didn't fail one - she failed THREE, so, therefore, she should be able to graduate!

I got several calls from different lawyers trying to verify their story. They all just laughed in disbelief. I wonder if these people ever got it?

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I was down in WDW visiting several years ago when I heard a stupid question from a guest. I was sitting in bus at EPCOT waiting to back to my hotel room for a swim in the pool. Here's what happened:

Guest walks up to the open door of the bus and asks the bus driver:

Guest: Excuse me?

Bus Driver: Yes, ma'am.

Guest: How do I get to Walt Disney World?

Bus Driver: Ma'am, you're in WDW.

Guest: No, I'm not. I need to get to WDW.

Bus Driver: Ma'am, you're in WDW, where is it that you need to go?

Guest: I'm not in WDW, now how do I get there?

Bus Driver: (Very irritated by this point, but doing very well) Ma'am, you can't get to WDW from here, you have to fly.

Guest: Oh, ok. Thanks.

I had an encounter like that with a guest once while working at The Disney Store. This guest comes in, in quite the hurry, looking for Tweety Bird (Warner Bros.). It was basically the same conversation. She came in insisting that Tweety Bird was in the store and I told her that this was The Disney Store, and that Tweety Bird was Warner Bros., and that store was just at the end of the row. She insisted that Tweety was here in the store. I eventually gave up and told her that we were out and she eventually left.

 

[Huggles]

A bit of background

Edinburgh Castle has been there, in various guises since 850 BC with a recognisable castle being there since 1093 AD. Having had seiges and attacks against it, the 'current' one incorporates parts of the old one but is mainly the result of reconstruction between 1574 and 1578 AD.

The castle sits high above the city and looks down upon the main streets, parks and also the railway station.


Frequently we hear the comment " It was a good idea for them to build it close to the railway station"....eehhmmm , no, the castle has been here for considerably longer!

 

[Fitswimmer]

As I'm standing behind the register, in my PetSmart Shirt, waiting on a customer-another person comes in the door and says: "Do you work here?" The customer I was waiting on says: "Boy, I hope so because I just gave her $50 for all this dog food!"

 

[olena]

I had my usual stupid question yesterday. It never fails.

I was at Hartsfield airport working for the USO. Another lady was volunteering and in conversation, I had to explain that I was legally blind and needed help noticing soldiers coming up the escalators. She just looked at me, said she never would have known and then asked,"Why don't you just get glasses?"

It never fails.

Are there any hearing-impaired folks out there who get asked why don't they just get some hearing aids?

 

[nannerbadnanner]

I used to work at a temporary staffing agency. Employees could choose to have their paychecks mailed or they could pick them up on Friday. I had one person call because she couldn't pick it up that day and didn't want it mailed. She asked me to fax it to her. Even though I explained several times, she never seemed to grasp that she couldn't cash a fax.

 

[Chicago526]

well being in the same industry I get the same questions

My favourite is "I need to leave the West Coast at a certain time, go to the East Coast for meetings all day and return the same day" Which would be all well and good if they were in the same time zone!!!


My favourite job was working for a cruise line up in Alaska and the Yukon.

in Skagway there is a clock painted on a cliff. It is obviously PAINTED on there. Never fail, at least once a week... "Is that clock right?" yep twice a day.


Every cruise we would hear "Will we be seeing any animals today?" hmmm I dont know let me call ahead and see if they have released them yet.

Another common one was "With all the money Alaska has its oil, cant they do something to clean up those glaciers? theyre filthy!"


My all time favourite though was when I was helping greet passengers coming off the ship. Now if youve never been to Skagway, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. there are mountains on 3 sides and the ocean on the other. There are mountains that come right up from the ocean and tower over the town. Anyway, this guy gets off the ship, mind you it is an OCEAN GOING SHIP, and he says "Excuse me, Miss, but what elevation are we at?" Um well.... lets see you look to be about 6 feet tall... the dock is maybe 3 feet above the water.... so lets say 9 ft?

Hey Binny! I hoped you would see my post, I knew you'd understand more than anyone. There are a lot of really clueless travelers out there.

You'll like this one. I didn't take the call, my co-worker did.

The caller was a secretary booking a flight for her boss between New York and LA. Because of the time zone change, of course you "gain" time going West and lose it again going back east. The secretary wanted to know why the flight going from LA to NY took so much longer than the flight going to CA.

Believe it or not, this is a very common question, and usually as soon as we say "time zones" the light bulb goes off over their heads and they laugh at themselves for forgeting. No biggie, happens all the time and it good for a chuckle.

Not this time!

This secretary, somehow, did not understand the very concept of time zones. Did not under stand that when it's 3 PM in NYC it's 12 noon on the west coast. My co-worker spent a good five minutes trying to explain it to her. Finally, co-worker gives up and tells her the plane going to LA was much faster than the plane coming home. That made her very happy and she booked the flights and hung up!

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I get a number of dumb questions emailed daily from my contact at the home office, but the one that stands out in my mind was...

"This order reads 'A1387 balance cover - white.' The shop says this part comes in white or beige - which do you want?"

I think I actually answered with, "Are you seriously asking me this question?"

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I had my usual stupid question yesterday. It never fails.

I was at Hartsfield airport working for the USO. Another lady was volunteering and in conversation, I had to explain that I was legally blind and needed help noticing soldiers coming up the escalators. She just looked at me, said she never would have known and then asked,"Why don't you just get glasses?"

It never fails.

Are there any hearing-impaired folks out there who get asked why don't they just get some hearing aids?

Of course, didn't you know that glasses can fix blindness? Some people. I don't believe I've ever heard that one before. That's a new one on me.

 

[java]

I as an institutional sales broker(stocks) and I would have people ask how much will my stock go up. As I can't see into the future I can only speculate......

 

[Todd&Copper]

I was down in WDW visiting several years ago when I heard a stupid question from a guest. I was sitting in bus at EPCOT waiting to back to my hotel room for a swim in the pool. Here's what happened:

Guest walks up to the open door of the bus and asks the bus driver:

Guest: Excuse me?

Bus Driver: Yes, ma'am.

Guest: How do I get to Walt Disney World?

Bus Driver: Ma'am, you're in WDW.

Guest: No, I'm not. I need to get to WDW.

Bus Driver: Ma'am, you're in WDW, where is it that you need to go?

Guest: I'm not in WDW, now how do I get there?

Bus Driver: (Very irritated by this point, but doing very well) Ma'am, you can't get to WDW from here, you have to fly.

Guest: Oh, ok. Thanks.

I had an encounter like that with a guest once while working at The Disney Store. This guest comes in, in quite the hurry, looking for Tweety Bird (Warner Bros.). It was basically the same conversation. She came in insisting that Tweety Bird was in the store and I told her that this was The Disney Store, and that Tweety Bird was Warner Bros., and that store was just at the end of the row. She insisted that Tweety was here in the store. I eventually gave up and told her that we were out and she eventually left.

Did it ever occur to the bus driver to ask if the guest meant Magic Kingdom? I know that since the eraly 80's tehre has been more to WDW than just MK, but some of us still call it Disney World instead of Magic Kingdom out of habit.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I used to work in retail and would get so many stupid questions I can't even think of the best ones.

But I did think of a stupid answer I got this week...DH and I went to a local ice cream place one night we hadn't been to before, but we had heard it gave a Disney employee discount. We went in with DD, who is 6 months old.

Ice Cream Lady: "Tonight we are giving a free kid's cone if you buy a sundae."
DH: "Oh, thanks, but I think we'll just get two sundaes. How much is your Disney employee discount?"
Ice Cream Lady: "Off of free? Nothing. It's free. You don't get a discount off of free."
DH: "Right....how much is the Disney employee discount off of two sundaes?"

 

[Darth Cupcake]

In the spirit of the OP's parade question... When is the midnight buffet?

 

[Fitswimmer]

Or-"What time is Midnight Mass?" My favorite from volunteering at Church.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

This isn't a stupid question but .....

My DSis was over on Easter and our conversation turned to the WDW Girls Only trip we are trying to plan for me, DD, DSis #1, DSis #2 and DMIL. I had a copy of the Unofficial Guide to WDW out and DSis was thumbing through it. She hasn't been to WDW since 1975 and was reading about the resorts, attractions, restaurants and then I hear her say "Oooo! They have minature golf. We'll have to do that!".