To wonder what stupid questions you've been asked

[backtolifebacktoreality]

Last weekend I phoned a local florists
and asked them to send some flowers to a nearby friend.

The friend lives in a relatively small cul de sac. The florist obviously asked the address for them to be delivered to. I advised they lived at No 12.

She then went on asking all sorts of questions about how she could find the house once in the street, ie what side of the road etc. She then asked questions about what would make the house recognisable to her, ie what colour front door.

I had to bite my lip but really wanted to respond "the fact that is has the number 12 on the door"!

@SunshineCake1 He didn't mean extensions, just wasn't thinking properly when he asked the question! Hence being confused when I answered "Longer!". We both found it quite funny.

I used to work for a place where I had to visit multiple addresses every week...Lots of houses are very hard to find- sat nav/Google Maps doesn't always take you to all addresses accurately, and peoples houses do have names or the road is laid out stupidly. I learnt to ask everyone if their house was particularly hard to find so I am not surprised the florist asked you what she did. Makes a lot of sense.

After my parents both died within a week of each other I phoned the bank to try to close their joint account.
Me: I need to close the account for Mr and Mrs Eyes
Him: Why are you closing the account?
Me: they have both died
Him: Is Mr Eyes dead
Me: Yes
Him: Can I speak to Mrs Eyes then please
Me: No, you can't do that, both have died.
Him: Well, I need to speak to one of them, it's a joint account.

@Romney981

In an Asda, years ago, I asked an employee if they sold trainer socks. She looked blank for a minute and then said "oh are they like trainer pants?".

#WeepingWithLaughter

When I mentioned I was going on holiday ...the person asked ...
Oh anywhere nice ?

My reply ...
Urmmm no I've chosen somewhere horrible to go on holiday to 🤣

Wearing a blue top. Nan asks "Do you like blue?".... 🤨 No I hate it, so I thought I'd torture myself for a day.

My friend is Grey and a SIL is Gray or possibly the other way round, my brain doesn't retain this info. I am an expert at doing a looping vowel on envelopes that could be either.

@MarianneFaithful , it was actually a rare form of brain tumour

By the time I finally got a diagnosis and emergency surgery the surgeon said if it had been left a few more weeks I would have been dead. Shocking how often women don't get taken seriously by health professionals

@Lulu1919

When I mentioned I was going on holiday ...the person asked ... Oh anywhere nice ?

My reply ...
Urmmm no I've chosen somewhere horrible to go on holiday to 🤣

This is just making conversation. They aren't literally asking you if you're going somewhere nice!

Is it just me or are loads of the examples just people making polite / slightly disinterested conversation / small talk.

@Hoppinggreen

Unfortunately I have to admit to one myself. While on a corporate event many years ago we went to Universal studios in Florida. A staff member pointed to one of the sets where there was a large pool with a catamaran in it and said “that’s the actual boat from the Kevin Costner film” Me ‘which one?” Colleague “Dances with Catamarans you muppet”

I press 9 for an outside line on my landline

I must be stupid too: I'm not a film fan at all and I wouldn't have a clue which Kevin Costner film it was either.

NHS 111 when ds was poorly as a baby and had screamed for hours. It was 3am. "Have you tried cuddling him?" ..... As if I'd not tried that! No medical help. I took him to A&E myself where he was admitted for a bowel blockage.

Is it just me or are loads of the examples just people making polite / slightly disinterested conversation / small talk.

@Animood

Not just you! I think some of the posters just don’t like people very much!

DH has form for many stupid questions that any normal person would know I couldn't possibly answer
Ddog whines
DH what's up with the dog?
Me; I don't know I don't speak dog
DH looking out of window: who owns that jag ?
Me: no idea I haven't canvassed the neighbourhood on car choice
DH: dishwashers full shall I put it on?
Me: no lets let it all sit and go mouldy for a while
DH: next door has sold, who bought it?
Me: I'm not a fucking estate agent

It is really infuriating sometimes, it's a good job he is otherwise lovely 😁

Dh is an amputee. I was once asked whether he had had the top part OR the bottom part of his leg removed.

@Sistedtwister

DH has form for many stupid questions that any normal person would know I couldn't possibly answer Ddog whines DH what's up with the dog? Me; I don't know I don't speak dog DH looking out of window: who owns that jag ? Me: no idea I haven't canvassed the neighbourhood on car choice DH: dishwashers full shall I put it on? Me: no lets let it all sit and go mouldy for a while DH: next door has sold, who bought it? Me: I'm not a fucking estate agent

It is really infuriating sometimes, it's a good job he is otherwise lovely 😁

But assuming you both live with the dog, surely it’s perfectly possible you might grasp what’s up, or indeed happen to know the car belongs to your neighbour’s visiting relative, or be wanting to hold off on putting on the dishwasher because you have a few teaspoons you want to squeeze in? I mean, they’re not unreasonable questions.

Two main things to note from this thread:

1. Lots of people take small talk as real conversation and are perplexed by it

1. Lots of people will try and explain to you how your interpretation of a conversation you were having is wrong, because . Sometimes they'll be right but I suspect not as often as they think

My example is the young lad I worked with many moons ago - said he was going out to buy new shoes at lunchtime as for some reason these ones were really uncomfortable.

I looked down and said "have you definitely got them on the right feet?" Reader, he did not . At least I saved him £30!

Then he moonwalked out the room and caught the end of his nose between the double doors and gave himself a blood blister

@Sistedtwister

DH has form for many stupid questions that any normal person would know I couldn't possibly answer Ddog whines DH what's up with the dog? Me; I don't know I don't speak dog DH looking out of window: who owns that jag ? Me: no idea I haven't canvassed the neighbourhood on car choice DH: dishwashers full shall I put it on? Me: no lets let it all sit and go mouldy for a while DH: next door has sold, who bought it? Me: I'm not a fucking estate agent

It is really infuriating sometimes, it's a good job he is otherwise lovely 😁

He is just wondering out loud.

He isn't literally asking you. He is just saying, out loud, wondering to himself "what's wrong with the dog?" He isn't asking you to find an answer... obv...

At work in a well known company shop, other well known company shop is next door.
Almost daily 'excuse do you have any well known product that's well known company next door only sells?'
No we don't have you tried next door?
Every
Damn
Day

Ok..... because I haven't lived with him for 15 yrs 🤣. If I don't answer he will ask me again.

To the other poster. He's lived with the dog as long as I have and is home more than I am. If he doesn't know what's wrong/ who the car belongs to then how am I supposed to and washing a few items by hand is not such a big deal, I don't have autonomy over the washing up, he would be able to see if anything else needed to go in the dish washer.

Quite frankly this thread seems to have degenerated into posts explaining why others peolples examples are not good enough to make themselves feel superior...... have fun

My friends daughter had a friend staying over & she (daughter ) had bought a new set of pyjamas. The girls got changed into their nightclothes & the daughter said 'you'll have to excuse my pjs, they're rather loud. To which the friend replied "oh do they play music then?" She was not joking. They are both 22.

@megustalacerveza

It sounds like the woman could well have had some kind of disability, such as a visual difficulty, OP. Lots of people have trouble being able to see house numbers, and the fact she asked for the colour of the door suggests this. She also doesn't actually know that your friend lives in a small cul-de-sac and that it would be fairly obvious which house it was. She delivers to dozens of houses every day and has probably wasted a lot of time trying to find houses, and having some hints about how to find somewhere more easily cuts down on the wasted time and delays.

Likewise, the person who asked if the form was complete - you must never have worked in an admin role if you don't know that it is in fact common for people to submit incomplete forms missing crucial information. There's a reason people ask questions like that.

I can't believe how many people jump to the conclusion that someone must be stupid for asking things like this, rather than the far more likely scenario that there's a good reason they're asking.

Has anyone ever suggested that you might have a problem with empathy and understanding where other people are coming from?

You don’t actually need any kind of disability for this information to be useful. In my experience very few houses have numbers that are visible from the road and it’s much easier to look out for e.g. ‘Red front door next to the pillar box’ or ‘blue front door with monkey puzzle tree in the front garden’ than to stop and check numbers every few houses, especially as many streets have non-standard numbering. Multiply this kind of search by 10 or 20 deliveries and you can save ages and a lot of frustration by having this info.

@Mother87

Someone looking at a photo of my Singaporean Chinese grandma - and my English Nanna... And asking which one was from the Chinese side of the family

To be fair, they could have been criticised for making assumptions.

"Nobody says "I want twins". "

My friend did.