Let’s face it: people can be kind of…how should I say this…silly sometimes.
Maybe it’s just a brain lapse, an error in judgment, or perhaps folks are genuinely stupid. Whatever the case, there are a lot of dumb questions floating around out there.
Do you remember the dumbest question you’ve ever heard?
Let’s see what AskReddit users had to say…
1. Good question.
“My mother works as a volunteer guide in a national park and she was asked “at what elevation do deer turn into elk?”
Mine is, as a pavement engineer, a citizen called me and asked me why on earth I didn’t bother to have the new pavement match the old pavement in color, because the new patch by her house is so unsightly with the ugly new black next to the older grey.
She also told me she was sure I didn’t spent the money for the “greyer pavement that would have matched” in her neighborhood because the County secretly saved that stuff for the richer neighborhoods and didn’t care about her lowly subdivision.”
2. Meet me halfway.
“Taking my kids on a ferry to see my parents. Buying snacks and magazines for the trip at WalMart on the way. Cashier asks where we’re going etc. Explain I’m going to take me kids on the ferry, parents meeting me on the other side, taking my kids and I take same ferry back. Total round trip on a boat for me, 4 hours.
Cashier said “That’s not really fair! Can’t your parents pick the kids up halfway?”
Me: “Halfway?”
Her: (Totally serious) “Yeah. Don’t they drive?”
3. Not that complicated.
“So, if I left at 3:37, what time would it be in 30 minutes? 4:12?”
Said to me by a 20 year old college student wondering when they had to be back from their break at work. She then said, “I took the 7 and added 5, then subtracted 30, and I can’t seem to get it right, so I just guessed”.”
4. Think before you speak.
“How long does one hour take?”
Granted, I was working in a one hour photo developing place and what they were actually asking was whether or not we were backed up or they could get their photos quickly. But, their actual question was responded to with some incredulously raised eyebrows. They did laugh after they figured out what they’d actually said.”
5. You got it!
“As a receptionist for a retail store.
Customer: What time do you close?
Me: Six
Customer: o’clock?
Me: …”
6. Ummmmm. No.
“I used to work at the zoo. Sometimes I would run this stand where you buy some fruit to feed the elephants. There were peacocks at the zoo that would roam free so they’d end up inside the elephant enclosure a lot.
One day, upon seeing the peacocks inside the elephant enclosure, a customer asks me: “So are they dinner for the elephants?””
7. We could give it a shot.
“Had a customer ask if she could pay her bill over the phone.
I asked what kind of credit card…. cash. She wanted to pay cash over the phone.”
8. How did you know?
“Me: Talking English
Random Guy: Wait do you speak English
My thoughts : WOW what gave it away?”
9. Fun times.
“I worked for a higher end retail store and quickly became the stand-in brand representative for Levi’s—in that I was the only one outside of the actual representative who had all of our Levi’s styles for our department memorized.
Our Levi’s area is clearly marked with a dozen-odd signs proclaiming Levi’s, as well as a sign over each display noting the cut.
As I was putting away jeans accumulated from returns and the fitting room, I had a woman come over to me and asked, “Do you sell Levi’s?”
The worst wasn’t even the question; after I had replied in the affirmative and indicated we were literally standing in the Levi’s area, she continued to hound me with “Do you sell Levi’s?” until she finally revealed she’d expected me to lead her over to the exact style in her head. She somehow didn’t know that Levi’s was a brand, not a style of jeans.
She also didn’t know what cut or size she was looking for, either.
Fun times.”
10. How does this work?
“Working at a restaurant on Maui, a group of younger girls were having dinner, and one of them stopped me to ask “how do you guys get from island to island? Is there a bridge or something?”
She was at least 25.”
11. This is brilliant.
“I was at a McDonalds once and I asked for a drink and by mistake i said “does the drink come with a cup” the workers face just said this is the dumbest person i have ever met.
When they called my order i made my cousin go get the food because i was to embarrassed.”
12. These are something else.
“What was Spider-Man bit by?
What country is Captain America from?
How many heroes are in the fantastic four?
How much chicken comes in a three piece?”
13. Keep it up!
“I witnessed the dumbest comment, does that count?
On the subway, some Irish tourists were chatting with a native Bostonian with a very thick Boston accent, like from Southie or Old Cambridge. As the tourists are about to leave, he shouts, “Your English is really, very good! Keep practicing.””
14. Clearly a genius.
“Why is Alaska so cold if it’s so close to Hawaii?”
She was looking at a map that had Alaska and Hawaii placed in boxes below the rest of the U.S.”
15. How does this work?
“I used to work with this girl who asked me if black people went bald.
We worked at a place where the average customer was above 50 years old.
Yes black people came in there, yes some of the black people who came in there were bald.”
16. Might want to look at a map.
“We are from South Carolina. My best friend from high school was sweet as can be, but I swear we didn’t take the same geography classes.
“Do I need my passport to go to Vegas? When we get there, can I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean?!”
17. About those puppies…
“I’m a veterinarian.
I once had the owner of a pregnant 3 legged dog (leg lost to car injury) ask if the puppies would all have three legs or four. With a straight face, totally seriously, she did not know.”
Man…people need to get their acts together…at least a little bit.
Can you remember the stupidest question that you’ve ever been asked before?
Please share it with us in the comments! Let’s see what ya got!
