Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[gramma dishes]

There are small and relatively inexpensive sound-activated recorders.  Maybe you could buy or rent one of those for a few nights?  Some are even equipped with built in clocks that turn on and show the time and duration of the noise.

[ladyknight1]

My family, DH, DS and I, as well as my husband's parents live just over an hour away from MIL's only living sibling. Aunt R and her husband Uncle W refuse to drive any of the distance, not even to meet halfway.

They are retired, they spend their time puttering around the house and doing what they want, which is fine with me. But every few months, they want to meet for dinner, or to see us or MIL and they will never drive more than 10 miles from their home. They just bought a new vehicle, so having a reliable vehicle is not the reason.

[PastryGoddess]

There are small and relatively inexpensive sound-activated recorders.  Maybe you could buy or rent one of those for a few nights?  Some are even equipped with built in clocks that turn on and show the time and duration of the noise.

POD to this.  I bought one online when I was living in an apartment underneath a herd of horny elephants.  I'm going to see if I can find it and send you a link to buy one yourself.  It was pretty cheap at the time, even for a poor student like me.

[ica171]

I have filed complaints, which presents another brain-hurty situation itself. See, an employee of the building has to hear the noise before they'll file a complaint. So if the noise lasts all of 30 seconds and an employee comes in and doesn't hear anything...no dice. I've tried filming it but a) it's so sporadic that I can't get a camera up in time and b) my iPhone camera isn't that great quality. It's more of the fact that it's a thudding/thumping that rattles things than the actual volume.

Would it count for anything that she admitted to you that she was moving furniture? I assume that's what she meant by "I had just moved my chair," unless she was just saying she had just moved her desk chair to stand up, although I can't imagine that that would be loud enough to wake you.

[Adelaide]

I have been voice recording our conversations. I'm not sure about this state's laws about admissible evidence, but I'm sure the apartment managers would gladly listen to them. PastryGoddess, that would be fabulous. I might rig one to the ceiling.

When she last left, she seemed sufficiently upset at the thought that I will not back off on banging on the ceiling. I'm hoping that will be enough to discourage her from being noisy, but you never know.

[LB]

Yet another one from work. Answering calls is giving me a lot of fodder for this folder.

Me: Good morning, [company name]
Caller: Air Force.
Me: Pardon?
Caller: Is this Wal-Mart?
Me: No, this is [company name]
Caller: Oh. Wrong number.

So...was he trying to call Wal-Mart? Or the Air Force? So similar...

[MommyPenguin]

I did something the other day that would probably *almost* make somebody's brain hurt!  I was calling several stores looking for an item.  I had to try a couple of stores several times, because nobody would pick up the phone or it was busy.  So at one store, I finished talking to somebody and got the information I wanted and went to add it to the Notepad document where I was taking notes and... realized I didn't remember what store I was talking to!  It could have been either of the two stores that I was having to call over and over.  I didn't want to make somebody's brain hurt by asking which store I was calling.    So I asked for their address, and used that to verify the store.  Hee hee.

[LazyDaisy]

Yet another one from work. Answering calls is giving me a lot of fodder for this folder.

Me: Good morning, [company name]
Caller: Air Force.
Me: Pardon?
Caller: Is this Wal-Mart?
Me: No, this is [company name]
Caller: Oh. Wrong number.

So...was he trying to call Wal-Mart? Or the Air Force? So similar...

I can only speculate that WalMart was having a special deal for members of the military...no...OK I got nothing.

[LazyDaisy]

This thread is so long that I can't remember if I've posted this before... back when I worked at a job that I had to answer phones, I had not 1 but 3 calls within a month where the person (different each time) asked for our...phone number. That was it. I related the story to my SIL at a family dinner and we all laughed at it. Then she had one at her store (completely different industry) within the next month. These calls did not have any indication of being a childish prank. I know that one can connect through operator assistance (411 here in California) but if all you need is the phone number and you call 411 (which usually costs money), just ask them to give you the phone number, not connect you to the business.

[Mental Magpie]

Yet another one from work. Answering calls is giving me a lot of fodder for this folder.

Me: Good morning, [company name]
Caller: Air Force.
Me: Pardon?
Caller: Is this Wal-Mart?
Me: No, this is [company name]
Caller: Oh. Wrong number.

So...was he trying to call Wal-Mart? Or the Air Force? So similar...

Eagle used to be in the Air Force.  He once got a call at work where when he answered, the person on the other end asked, "Is this the Air Force?"  Eagle answered, "Yes, this is the entire Air Force speaking."

[Piratelvr1121]

A friend who works in Target recently complained about rude customers she's run into, namely ones that give her a hard time when she offers the debit or credit redcard and people snap  they're not interested, stop suggesting it! Well she has to, it's part of her job.

One woman really got ticked off and let friend have it.  "I AM NOT GOING TO SIGN UP BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TARGET TO HAVE MY BANK INFO!"  She was saying this as she was writing a check for her purchase.    Right, cause they'll never guess her bank name and account number that way!

[LazyDaisy]

A friend who works in Target recently complained about rude customers she's run into, namely ones that give her a hard time when she offers the debit or credit redcard and people snap  they're not interested, stop suggesting it! Well she has to, it's part of her job.

One woman really got ticked off and let friend have it.  "I AM NOT GOING TO SIGN UP BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TARGET TO HAVE MY BANK INFO!"  She was saying this as she was writing a check for her purchase.    Right, cause they'll never guess her bank name and account number that way!

I'm always surprised when people have never really paid much attention to the fact that their entire bank account number, bank routing number, name and address are printed on their checks. No one seems to notice all those number thingys at the bottom mean something.

[pierrotlunaire0]

I know I came close to spraining someone's brain once.  I was extremely tired, and it must have been on my mind, because when the phone at work rang, I picked it up, and said, "Now I lay me down to sleep........This is Pierrot speaking!"

Oh, well.

[cabbagegirl28]

A friend who works in Target recently complained about rude customers she's run into, namely ones that give her a hard time when she offers the debit or credit redcard and people snap  they're not interested, stop suggesting it! Well she has to, it's part of her job.

One woman really got ticked off and let friend have it.  "I AM NOT GOING TO SIGN UP BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TARGET TO HAVE MY BANK INFO!"  She was saying this as she was writing a check for her purchase.    Right, cause they'll never guess her bank name and account number that way!

I'm always surprised when people have never really paid much attention to the fact that their entire bank account number, bank routing number, name and address are printed on their checks. No one seems to notice all those number thingys at the bottom mean something.

At least for me, unless I'm studying really closely, they look like inkblots, so I can understand not seeing it. But I was taught that those numbers were on there at least.

[mmswm]

I know I came close to spraining someone's brain once.  I was extremely tired, and it must have been on my mind, because when the phone at work rang, I picked it up, and said, "Now I lay me down to sleep........This is Pierrot speaking!"

Oh, well.

When I was at university, I had a series of temp jobs.  One of those jobs was organizing the service records at a new car dealership (they had computer records, but the paper copies had just been tossed into boxes and my job was to create a filing system for them all).  I liked to get there early, before things got busy and I could work in peace.  Well, one morning, the receptionist for the dealership itself (not the service center) called in sick, and they asked me to cover the phones until they could get somebody else to come in and cover for the absent receptionist.  Well, it was a busy dealership, it was early (7-8am), and I wasn't all that experienced at that job, so I was a little flustered.  Near the end of the hour, I answered a call almost how I was supposed to.  What came out was "Thank you for calling [Car Company] of [City], how may I disconnect your call".  Thankfully, the guy on the other end thought it was hysterical and thanked me for brightening his morning, as I directed his call to the extension he needed.