Author’s Note: This piece was originally posted November 19, 2013. Present day commentary is in italics.

Back in college, I had a part-time job providing content support to school administrators attempting to fill out an annual report to continue accreditation of their school (I really need to post more about this job) .  My main task from September through April was to troubleshoot problems that school principals encountered in completing this report (sounds much easier than it was).

Most of the time, the callers merely needed guidance on how to answer a specific question (and TBH they were usually stupid questions- amazing how many high school principals could not grasp the concept of an FTE).  Other times, questions were of a technical nature and the old “reboot your computer then log back in” trick cleared up most problems (ah- I still use that one with co-workers. 90% of the time it works, thereby avoiding a call to IT).

However, every once in awhile, the questions from callers were so bizarre it was mind boggling that these questions were coming from people whose jobs entailed inspiring children to learn and become productive members of society.

One of my favorite bizarre questions was handled by my co-worker Marta (as with all my posts- not her real name).  Marta’s phone call started off normal enough.  After the obligatory “hello how may I help you” salutation, Marta’s voice took on a startled and confused tone.

“I’m sorry, sir, can you please repeat your problem?  You say that when you hit the Delete All Records button, all the information in your report disappears?”

Marta paused for about 30 seconds before responding. “Sir, can you hold for a moment.” Marta then hit the mute button and announced her phone call to the rest of us in the office.

“Dude, what the hell am I supposed to say to this guy? He’s a principal and wants to know why his report clears out when he hits delete!  Does he not know what the word delete means?”

At this point, I was already halfway to the kitchen, laughing all the way.  I was just thankful I didn’t have to deal with this particular customer. Our supervisor, patient as ever, suggested to Marta that she just slowly and calmly explain the function of the delete button and advise him not to use the delete button.  Her advice worked, and Marta did her best to explain the function of a delete button without patronizing the caller.

Do you have a bizarre question you’ve had to answer on your job? Do tell! Share in the comments.