jmanpc
5,000+ posts
CA.com Nostalgist.
One of my favorites was when I was working at a Wal-Mart photo lab, a lady came back to return a fancy Olympus camera. I asked her what was wrong with it, and I couldn't get anything out of her other than "It just doesn't work right." So I take the camera out of the box and it looked fine visually. So I open the battery slot, and to my amazement, she had managed to stuff the rechargeable battery in backwards.... with the poles sticking out. What's worse is that it was one of those batteries thats designed to only be put in one way- it's got the notch that allows it to slide all the way in. Well, she had broken the battery compartment by pressing in the battery till it snapped in. I simply took the battery out, turned it around 180 degrees, and reinserted it... and holy shit, the camera worked. It was like magic. So I showed the lady that the camera was fine (and that she was a dumbass) and she still just didn't want to have anything to do with that camera, and ended up returning it anyways.
Another day, I had an older woman come in, about 60. Since the photo dept is right next to electronics, it wasn't uncommon to get electronics questions. So this lady decides that she wants a phone and was asking me about it. She wanted to know how to plug in an ordinary, run of the mill, corded phone. You know, the kind that's been around for decades? I had to explain to her over and over that all she had to do was plug the handset into the base, and the base into the wall. Presto. She just got confused as hell. She asked why it had to go through the base, and if she could just plug the handset into the wall. I proceeded to tell her that the phone wouldn't know when to hang up. I just wanted to say something like "Holy fuck old lady... how do you get to your age and not know how to use a regular *** telephone? How do you remember to breathe?!" She proceeded to get pissed and walk out. Guess that shit was over her head.
Then one time this dude tried to buy a phone card with food stamps. I just loled.
Another day, I had an older woman come in, about 60. Since the photo dept is right next to electronics, it wasn't uncommon to get electronics questions. So this lady decides that she wants a phone and was asking me about it. She wanted to know how to plug in an ordinary, run of the mill, corded phone. You know, the kind that's been around for decades? I had to explain to her over and over that all she had to do was plug the handset into the base, and the base into the wall. Presto. She just got confused as hell. She asked why it had to go through the base, and if she could just plug the handset into the wall. I proceeded to tell her that the phone wouldn't know when to hang up. I just wanted to say something like "Holy fuck old lady... how do you get to your age and not know how to use a regular *** telephone? How do you remember to breathe?!" She proceeded to get pissed and walk out. Guess that shit was over her head.
Then one time this dude tried to buy a phone card with food stamps. I just loled.
