It was 33 years ago on a blistering cold Friday night in Billings, Mont., when the Grainger emergency service operator notified me that I needed to call a customer immediately. The man who answered was furious and desperate; he lived in rural Montana and had received two large unit heaters we’d delivered to his ranch.

“You &%$K#’s sent me the wrong units!” he yelled. “I’m trying to keep my cattle alive in 40-below temperatures, and I was very clear to the person I talked to at your branch: I need propane heaters and that’s not what you sent me!”

I wondered what had gone wrong — did my inside sales rep look up the wrong stock number? Did someone in the warehouse accidentally pick natural gas instead of propane units?

“So, to be clear, sir,” I asked, “the units we sent you are marked natural gas?”

He paused, obviously looking at the boxes. “No,” he replied. “It says they use LP.”

“Uh … sir … LP stands for liquid propane. You have the right units.”

There was a brief, embarrassed silence, followed by a mumbled apology and then he hung up. 

The following Monday, I told my branch team about the call and we all laughed. Then someone shared another incident about a customer who did something foolish; before I knew it, the whole team was competing to come up with the most impressive story about a dumb customer. 

This was a good lesson for me as a young manager: It’s OK to poke a little fun at silly customer interactions, but you can’t let it become a regular activity for your team. We’ve all gone into restaurants where you can tell the staff holds customers in contempt. Your customers will know if you create a similar environment in your business. 

What Happens When 100 Customers Ask the Same Dumb Question?

This one can be even harder to manage. A few years after the propane incident, I managed a Chicago branch. Grainger was running a “power tool trade-in” promo requiring customers to bring in their old tools to get a discount on new ones. To raise awareness of the promotion, I placed a big metal bin in the showroom; our counter personnel would fill it with the old, traded-in tools we were getting. 

The law of unintended consequences appeared suddenly (as it tends to); customers began asking what we would do with all those old tools. When we told them we were going to throw them out (company policy due to liability), they naturally began to ask why they had to trade them in at all. Couldn’t they keep their old tools and get discounts on the new ones?

My capable and professional counter lead person, Don, began answering the same question from different customers many times each day. Finally, he stormed into my office, holding the promo catalog and pointed to the cover. “When are these customers going to learn?!” he demanded. “I’m tired of answering the same question over and over again. It says right here — power tool trade-in!”

I sat Don down so he could cool off. 

“Don, I’m sorry you’re frustrated. I know it wears on you to get the same question ‘over and over again.’ Let me ask you this: Has the same customer asked you this question more than once? Or are you getting the same question from different customers?

“Same question, different customers,” he answered.

I nodded. “Can you see that for each customer, it’s the first time they have asked that question? It adds up to a hundred times for you and it’s annoying, but customers don’t understand your reaction when they ask what is for them a simple question.”

Don was a smart guy; he understood. The bottom line was that we had created the problem, and the evidence was multiple customers asking the same question. It’s not unlike the simple rule of process management: If multiple people keep making the same mistake, the issue is the process, not the people. 

We moved the metal bin of old tools into the warehouse and the problem disappeared. 

How to Handle Dumb Questions

We are all customers in some situations and service providers in others. Sometimes, as customers, we ask dumb questions, too. The problem is we are very understanding and generous with our own flaws, but can be unforgiving when other people make mistakes. It’s not unlike road rage: We accidentally cut off another driver sometimes, but when someone does it to us, we assume it’s intentional. 

Eliminate this double standard in your customer service organizations through training and communication. If someone tells a dumb customer story, tell them they need to come up with a smart customer story to match it. Make sure they know that getting the same question from multiple customers probably means something is wrong with your website, marketing materials or policies. 

If someone yells at you on a Friday night for shipping them LP heaters when they need propane, it’s OK to have a little fun with it. Remember that someday, you will be on the phone with the dumb complaint. 

A little grace and compassion go a long way. Don’t poke more fun at anyone than you’re willing to poke at yourself.