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Shop Employees: Stupid things customers have asked/said to you

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JayDope
Posts: 6842 - Karma: 408
I searched barred there is a similar thread about ppl who work in retail, here is one for ski shop employees. Here is my story from this past week:

So im renting this kid some skis, i ask him to take off his shoes to measure his foot, the first thing that comes out of his mouth is "Hey do u guys sell lawnmowers here?" I looked at him stunned and said "are u serious?" he replied with "yeah, outdoor store" I looked at him again, and said "No, we just sell ski and snowboard gear" And i continued on with my routine. WHAT An idiot!

Today i was hanging out in the Snowboard section and this woman was looking to buy her daughter some boots, so she asks my co-worker about boots, and he explained to her there are different types for entry level riders etc, she looks on the wall and noticed the snowboard bindings, and she said "Oh, are those like snowboard sandals instead of boots?" we just explained to her that those are the snowboard bindings that the boots go into that connect to the snowboard....i really was in disbelief

alright shop employees, share ur stores here
Oct 11 2009 12:22AM
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dylan.r.1080
Posts: 161 - Karma: 10
does anyone else hate when girls come in to be boot fitted with skinny jeans on then bitch when you tell them they need to change into a pair of sweat pants? i feel like i shouldn't have to explain why im not going to fit you with jeans under your socks.
Dec 17 2010 2:14AM
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purplejumpsuit
Posts: 2207 - Karma: 157
That really doesn't sound bad at all.
The rentals shop I used to work at we'd have people grabbing their own boots allll the time because it would be so busy or they'd demand to do it. Lots of people would end up with two diff sizes or two totally diff boots.
And then the larger ladys with massive calfs would come in.... like, HUGE, have to go through every style and several sizes before we can find one that would fit around it. Thats really no fun cuz they get angry.

But the worst id say, and only one that actually involves customer stupidity, was one time when a large group of asians came in (happens very often) and some of them went all the way through rentals, said they needed ski gear, got it all set up, out the door, ten minutes later they come back saying 'no, other type of ski!!" and stand like a snowboarder. Then we had to go back through everything and get them snowboard gear. Thought it would be hard to not catch on at the point you actually have the skis in your hands.. let alone try the boots on.

blah bed time... sorry if that was a poorly written story.
Dec 17 2010 2:25AM
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familyjules
Posts: 55 - Karma: 14
i heard this the other day and searched-barred because i figured there would be a thread on it. my friends bf works in a shop, and we were all talking and got on topic of asking him the dumbest things he'd ever heard while working. he told me some 50ish guy (last season) who he had sold bindings/skis/boots to came back in the shop a few days later after skiing and said "so you told me these boots had heaters, but I took a screwdriver and turned the number up all the way on my bindings and my feet still weren't any warmer."

obviously then my friends bf proceeded to explain that he's lucky he didn't get injured from changing his DIN (also needed an explanation) and that his boot warmth had absolutely nothing to do with his bindings. he also went on to explain the boot heaters needed to be purchased separately and weren't just in the boot ready to go.

i mean i guess if you've never skied before (not sure what the guys history was) or never paid any attention or bothered learning anything about your equipment, i can maybe see how someone with no knowledge would think what he did.

thought that was a pretty good one.
Dec 24 2011 2:27PM
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1337
Posts: 31038 - Karma: 29,003
hahahhaha holy shit that's hilarious
Dec 24 2011 2:33PM
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TOAST.
Posts: 7264 - Karma: 33,273
When I worked at my mountains rental shop I would get the following,

People not knowing that you need to take your shoes off to put ski boots on.

A mom insisting she needed different boots for her little girl because they had dirt on them. (It was the cleanest in that size to begin with)

The people I worked with often had no idea what they were doing either. They didnt know that the buckles expanded and would just give the customer bigger boots.
Dec 24 2011 3:27PM
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danbrown
Posts: 11932 - Karma: 21,775
some lady called to order a beacon for her son, under teh impression that it was a GPS for ski mountain trail maps. she asked if she had to get him a different one for when he went to canada, because when her friend drives to canada, she has to update the one in her car to accommodate for the different country. she was from texas.
Dec 24 2011 3:35PM
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RiddleMeThis
Posts: 749 - Karma: 117
Pigglywiggly's story but imma tell it cause we worked at the same place:

this one (black, 40's ish) guy that always comes into the restaurant he (we) worked at, drunk off his ass, every time, calls cole (pigglywiggly) over to his table to continuously explain why his 10-12 year old cannot order a beer. Cole had to try to explian that beer has alcohol in it and the kid cannot order one. bahahah
Dec 24 2011 4:28PM
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act.resist
Posts: 8875 - Karma: 513
my friend works at goodwill where i live and people have donated just straight up bags of garbage, hes found dead animals in bags, somtimes he'll find weed stashed in couches n shit.
Dec 24 2011 4:46PM
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matt.rad
Posts: 1813 - Karma: 302
Last season a father came into the shop to get his son's skis mounted. We asked for a skier type and the guy said, "Whatever the type would be for someone who does double front flips." Needless to say, we marked him down as a type II skier.
Dec 24 2011 5:01PM
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skithesprings
Posts: 9086 - Karma: 1,349
because the 123 rating system is for how many flips you can do, obviously...
Dec 24 2011 7:24PM
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Saac
Posts: 767 - Karma: 333
i work at a pizza place and someone called in and asked if we could peperoni on her pizza. i though for sure it was a prank call. but after i said yes she said she would like to get that then and came to pick it up ahaha
Dec 24 2011 7:41PM
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matt.rad
Posts: 1813 - Karma: 302
We have a winner. And we actually knew who's dad it was, which made everything 10x funnier.
Dec 24 2011 7:53PM
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djdiggidydave
Posts: 1216 - Karma: 554
threads for later
Dec 24 2011 8:15PM
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HomieJon
Posts: 621 - Karma: 134
I worked rentails at my hill, and all the black kids would come from chicogo and at least once per bus of black people they would ask " so do i take my shoes off before i put my boots on?"
Dec 24 2011 10:30PM
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ECB
Posts: 6991 - Karma: 618
person in the baseball hall of fame where i work asked if there was a petting zoo inside........
Dec 24 2011 10:34PM
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J.M
Posts: 2854 - Karma: 254
i work at a pizza shop and one woman asked if there was cheese on our cheesy bread......
i almost facepalmed, but held it back.
Dec 24 2011 10:52PM
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gengar.
Posts: 1042 - Karma: 1,641
these are all hilarious
Dec 24 2011 11:40PM
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Merrrick
Posts: 529 - Karma: 717
I worked in a bike shop for 3 years and I have too many stupid questions to remember but one of the good ones was....

Me: Hello sir what can I do for you today
Customer: Hi I'm looking for a spoke wrench.
Me: Great! right over here (customer follows)
Customer: How much does it cost?
Me: 5 dollars.
Customer: WHAT! No thanks (throws the tool at me and storms out of the store)
Me: what were you planning on paying?
Customer: NOTHING!
Me: .........

How many stores do you know of that sell there products for 0$.

Also love it when customers tell our mechanics they're wrong.....not like they fix bikes for a living or anything.
Dec 25 2011 12:18AM
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Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
Since not all of you have heard this story... figured I could share again.

One day, a fellow comes into the boot fitting department (not my customer, just relaying this for you). Says he skied all day and his one boot was just really uncomfortable and not fitting how it fit before.

They pull out the boot liners and find 3 dead baby mice in the boot liner. He skied on them all day.

Moral of the story, always check your boots before you put them down after any extended period of time.
Dec 25 2011 1:36AM
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JIBpsy^^
Posts: 2851 - Karma: 36
some chic told me to put cheese on her pizza.
Dec 25 2011 1:38AM
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DW.
Posts: 2683 - Karma: 74
What.
The.
Fuck.
Dec 25 2011 2:18AM
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shea.
Posts: 1606 - Karma: 193
I went to cut some old dude a slice of cake, i had a latex glove on my left hand and as i went to move the slice of cake into a box for the dude to take out i used my gloved hand to steady the slice. Imediatly the old dude started going nuts at me like "Why the fuck would you use the hand with the glove on to touch the cake... rahdy rah rah!" and i was like WTF... and he stormed out of the shop and the other customers just laughed.
Dec 25 2011 2:29AM
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ras_haslam17
Posts: 32 - Karma: 11
so I just got a new job working at the local shop on my mountain.

my boss sends me to this man to see if he need help. here is our conversation.

C: "hey can you help me?"
Me: sure i can, what do you need help with?
C: do you have skis?
Me: yes, right here along this wall, what type of skis are you looking for?
( shows him the wall with about forty different skis on it )
C: so you have like, trick skis, so my son can do whirly doos?
Me: uhm, yes we do have some twin tips.
C: so he can do reversies down the mountain?
Me: yes sir, he could become a great park skier one day.
C: okay so ill buy him these ones.
Me: i ask, are you sure he would want those?
C: yes, positive.

the man proceeds to buy some parabolic skis that we collected from our annual ski and trade sale. they were from the nineties.
Dec 25 2011 2:43AM
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skithesprings
Posts: 9086 - Karma: 1,349
you are a terrible sales person.
Dec 25 2011 9:40AM
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Randy_Quench
Posts: 5447 - Karma: 4,342
Somewhat related, only skate-world instead of ski-world.

I work here (old pic, half the park)

[imghttp://www.lat34.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ryeairfield1.jpg[/img]

and we have some stupid ass people come in all the time.

Ive had a family come in and pay for their sessions and strap into rollerSKATES. as in rollerdisco skates. They went into the park then came back to the front desk and demanded a refund. They thought we were a roller rink, not a skatepark. HELLO, ITS CALLED RYE AIRFIELD SKATEPARK. Why would there be skateboarders all over the hallways in a rollerdisco? and why did you try to take your family to a rollerdisco in the first place?

Another guy asked how we fit airplanes in the building with all the wooden ramps in the way. (the warehouse was an old airplane hanger, hense the name Rye Airfield.) but seriously? you didnt put 2 and 2 together that we no longer house aircrafts?

more stories to come, I have way better ones just dont remember any.
Dec 25 2011 10:27AM
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Randy_Quench
Posts: 5447 - Karma: 4,342
picture fail.

Click for larger image
Dec 25 2011 10:30AM
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uosdwiSrjewoH
Posts: 4220 - Karma: 121
any ski with sidecut is parabolic fyi
Dec 26 2011 12:53AM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
instantly thought of tony hawk pro skater 2
Feb 29 2012 11:33PM
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CassiusClay
Posts: 1757 - Karma: 2
So you planned on selling a pipe glove to an elderly man, and she was wrong? Hahaha I can't stop laughing at this. Seems like she was a little more qualified than you, at least in terms of accessing what the customer desired. Dude was old and looking for a warm spring glove... pipe gloves aren't warm spring gloves by any chance. Insulated or not, pipe gloves are straight up for park skiers, myself included, who don't mind cold/warm shifts. Do you really think an 'assumbly elderly person' wanted barely warm pipe gloves?
Feb 29 2012 11:52PM
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DERS.
Posts: 6299 - Karma: 1,293
yup. id love to combo this shit. perhaps collect S-K-A-T-E.
Mar 1 2012 12:02AM
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Moosen
Posts: 4285 - Karma: 2,585
I get this all the time.

"Do you guys rent go pros?"

"Do you rent bibs?"

I had a guy ask about backcountry skiing around here. And I told him to go to beehive basin. And then he said he was looking to do nordic skiing there. I said no, go to the cross country trail system its only 14 bucks for a ticket. and he says he doesn't want to pay. and then he says "What is the difference between cross country and backcountry skiing anyways, it's the same thing right?"
Mar 1 2012 12:03AM
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84west
Posts: 646 - Karma: 1,254
every single rental...

some of mine:

"so how often should you wax your skis, like every couple of years?"

Its the friday before presidents day 15 min before we close: "could you mount these skis so i can ski Saturday?"

We once had a dad who came in looking for a GS ski for his 11 year old, we only had a dual event ski in the kids size, so he had the bright idea of buying the kid an adult WC GS ski.

because we are one of the only shops on Portland's west side we get a good amount of people asking about that local ski company: "Open or whatever" one guy even asked me if this was where we made the skis...

and my personal favorite was the guy who demanded a Lange RS 130 in size 27.5, even though he was 5'5'' 120 lbs mid forties with a super-wide foot that measured at a 26. I tried explaining several times that this was the wrong boot for his foot and and that a different boot in a smaller size would fit him better. He insisted that since his 15 year old langes were a 275 he get a 275. I ended up bringing him about 6 different boots in both 265 and 275.(he could barely flex a 100 flex boot, much less a 130) He still demanded a 275, and told me i knew nothing about boots and demanded to see my boss, who told him the same thing I had. After that He decided that none of the boots fit and he would keep his old ones.
Mar 1 2012 12:40AM
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DaffyDaDak
Posts: 864 - Karma: 433
bump
Oct 21 2012 10:49PM
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