For anyone ever on the register side of the counter

[Seth]

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sea/1192150038.html

Applies to virtually every hobby oriented sport and activity I can readily think of.....

[UW Mitch]

Wonder which shop he works at in Seattle? I'm going there next time!

~Mitch

[Jim Norman]

Substitute the Sport Craze Du Jour.

Or just about any service industry.

Jim

[John Dunn]

Excellent!

[Graham Smith]

Applies to virtually every hobby oriented sport and activity I can readily think of.....

Applies to my business too.

I design, create, and provide service for database applications. We run a free tech support forum and get a lot of odd questions there and will sometimes get calls that go something like this:

Caller: We just got some new stationary and need to make a small change to our invoices. Can you help us?

Me: Perhaps. Who normally works on your application?

Caller: He left, that's why we are calling you.

Me: OK. Do you have administrative access to the application and do you know which report the invoice is?

Caller: <Long pause with muffled talk in the background> We should have the administrative password around here somewhere but where can we find out the name of the report.

Me: <sigh> OK, here is what you need to do, go to {web site} and download the free remote access software... etc. etc.

And so it goes. Apparently, along with our reputation for doing good work, we are also reputed to be mind readers who can reach around the world (yes we get tech support calls from just about everywhere) to solve peoples problems without knowing anything about their application and without having any technical person to deal with. It can make for a long day, but it puts bread on the table.

[SLM]

I think "stuff" happens any time you deal with the public. Like a couple weeks ago I took a phone call that went:

ME: Good morning, thank you for calling. How can I help you?

CALLER: Hi, do you take my insurance?

ME: (looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong pause...) No, we don't.

CALLER: Ok, thanks. Bye.

I hung up the phone and just burst out laughing...

Like I already knew who she was, what insurance plan she had, etc, etc.

[Graham Smith]

CALLER: Hi, do you take my insurance?

Not trying to derail this, but people on telephones can be very stupid.

I don't use a cell phone much so I have a cheap pay-as-you-go phone that rarely gets turned on. Unfortunately, the number is a 302 extension version of an 800 number used by a local alarm company. So, anyone who just dials the number without the 800 extension gets my phone. Thankfully I don't get too many missdials because 800 is part of the company slogan.

Now, you would think that an average person calling an alarm company would be tipped off by the recorded message saying, "Hi, this is Graham, and I can't answer the phone right now. Leave a message." After all, how many big 24 hr a day operations would have a message like that at the central switchboard. Never the less, I once got a detailed message that included address, problem with the alarm, and going on vacation today." It really gave me pause to wonder how many U-Haul trailers it would take to clear out that house... But being the nice guy that I am, I called the alarm company and relayed the message.