...like I told you yesterday

[edible_hat]

(on the phone, around 6 pm as I was about to finish a 1-6 shift)
Stupid person: "Hi, this is Stupid from Idiots R Us, is the manager there?"
Me: "No, he's left for the day. He's due in around 10 tomorrow morning."
SP: "OK thanks."

8 am the next day...
*phone rings*
SP: "Hi, this is Stupid from Idiots R Us, is the manager there?"
Me: "No, he's not due in until around 10." (thinks: like I told you yesterday)


It doesn't stop there... every day, the same idiot has this conversation:

idiot: "How come it says [price of ethanol] on the board and the pump says [price of unleaded]?"
CSR (myself or co-worker) "Because [price of ethanol] is the price of the ethanol fuel, [price of unleaded] is the price of regular unleaded. It says [price of unleaded] on the board too." (thinks: like I told you yesterday)

Wednesday and today (and told a co-worker who was working yesterday about it, she confirmed the same thing happened)
SC: "Do you have [rarely-changed part for rare car]?"
Me/co-worker: "The parts section is up the back there, if it's not there we don't have it."

What is it with people thinking the answer will be different on different days?

[Brightglaive]

It's the nature of insanity or short term memory loss (or alzheimers). Those who are insane expect that asking the same thing over and over is going to create different answers every time.

Those with short-term memory loss (or alzeimers) just can't remember what you said yesterday.

[protege]

Those with short-term memory loss (or alzeimers) just can't remember what you said yesterday.

Depends on how bad it is--my grandmother's got Alzheimer's now...and can't remember things from *5 minutes* ago. Trust me, it's pretty annoying to be asked "are you going to get something to eat" every 5 minutes, especially when it's *right* after dinner I can't be mad at her though, since it's *not* her fault...and even though she's past 90, she could probably kick my ass

The ones I can't stand, are the people who ask the same question multiple times, and do so to be annoying. My now-gone coworker J used to do that, and couldn't understand why it usually got him into trouble with the boss (who does *not* like it when people waste his employees' time).

One day, J kept asking me if I had the overnight packing slip. I kept telling him that I didn't have it. If it wasn't in the file, I had no idea where it was. Eventually, I told him that I didn't have the damn slip, I didn't have it 5 minutes ago, nor did I have it 5 minutes before that. His answer? Well, I'm going to ask you until your answer changes...

Boss heard that and told J... let us chat for a bit... and took him into the office. For some reason, J didn't harass me again after that

[Brightglaive]

Depends on how bad it is--my grandmother's got Alzheimer's now...and can't remember things from *5 minutes* ago. Trust me, it's pretty annoying to be asked "are you going to get something to eat" every 5 minutes, especially when it's *right* after dinner I can't be mad at her though, since it's *not* her fault...and even though she's past 90, she could probably kick my ass

The ones I can't stand, are the people who ask the same question multiple times, and do so to be annoying. My now-gone coworker J used to do that, and couldn't understand why it usually got him into trouble with the boss (who does *not* like it when people waste his employees' time).

One day, J kept asking me if I had the overnight packing slip. I kept telling him that I didn't have it. If it wasn't in the file, I had no idea where it was. Eventually, I told him that I didn't have the damn slip, I didn't have it 5 minutes ago, nor did I have it 5 minutes before that. His answer? Well, I'm going to ask you until your answer changes...

Boss heard that and told J... let us chat for a bit... and took him into the office. For some reason, J didn't harass me again after that

My grandmother also has alzheimers and she also can't remember anything from 5 minutes ago. So I understand completely. Well maybe not so completely. In reality it scares me and I hate seeing her with her mind so completely regressed. It's depressing, and scary and I'm in the denial stage I guess. I don't visit her much even though the care center is within 2 blocks of my home. It's just too hard on me to see her like that.


On a much lighter note you shoulda told J that, "I don't have the damn slip, I didn't have it 5 minutes ago, nor did I have it 5 minutes before that, nor will I have it 5 minutes five minutes from now when you ask again."

I think he got what he deserved though...LOL

[edible_hat]

So this thread did post! Hooray!

My internet connection went crazy just after I pressed the button to submit the thread, so I didn't know if it worked or not.

[CiggyStoreClerk]

I've actually found polite ways of telling people that their memory sucks when writing emails.

"As stated in previous correspondence..."
"We see here that we have informed you previously..."

The list goes on

[Reyneth]

Depends on how bad it is--my grandmother's got Alzheimer's now...and can't remember things from *5 minutes* ago. Trust me, it's pretty annoying to be asked "are you going to get something to eat" every 5 minutes, especially when it's *right* after dinner I can't be mad at her though, since it's *not* her fault...and even though she's past 90, she could probably kick my ass

I help feed my grandma at her assisted living memory care segment every weekend or two. One of her tablemates is nice, but I've had the "how do you know each other?" and "where do you work?" questions so often that once I told her my grandma was my sister, my grandma, my friend and my aunt all in about 15 minutes - and she didn't realize. The other tablemate was though. I wasn't being mean, after the last one I told her that no, I was her granddaughter that I was joking with her. She laughed at that too.

It does get a bit tiring but you can have a little painless fun with it.

[AdminAssistant]

I have terrible short-term memory...and I'm only 24.

[Fiyero]

I work in a call centre booking appointments, some hospitals don't use our service but our number is still on the letters for changing passwords and such.

The amount of time I have to say "As we told you yesterday you need to phone the hospital directly" is worrying, I try to reword it but sometimes I can see 6 previous calls with the same outcome.

[edible_hat]

I just realised this thread title fits nicely after any other thread title.

Reason and Logic? I'm too stupid for that!
...like I told you yesterday.

No, SC, it's NOT all about you.
...like I told you yesterday.

I will kill you! And call the police!
...like I told you yesterday.

[MadMike]

His answer? Well, I'm going to ask you until your answer changes...

"Can we get a pool, Dad? Can we get a pool, Dad? Can we get a pool, Dad? Can we get a pool, Dad?"

[Pagan]

Then there's the people that seem to hope, in vain, that rephrasing the question is going to somehow change the answer!