Saturday, February 21, 2009

Still looking for that ESP!

Customer: I'm looking for a book about a guy who gets lost on a mountain.
Me: Okay. Is it a true story?
Customer: I think so.
Me: Is it recent?
Customer: I don't think so. It came out around the same time as that movie about the boat and the big storm.
Me: The Perfect Storm? The one with George Clooney?
Customer: Yeah.

So I check it out and find out that The Perfect Storm came out in 2000.

Me: Okay so it came out in 2000. So the book about the guy lost on a mountain came out around then and it's a true story?
Customer: I think so.
Me: Okay, let me see what I can find.

I whittle the list of over 100 "guy stuck on a mountain" books down to the few between 1999 and 2001. I even try giving her the titles of some of the most popular books from other years.

Customer: None of those are right.
Me: I'm sorry, but there are so many books about people getting suck on mountains. If you can give me any more info about it I might be able to narrow it down some more but with just this info these all fit.
Customer: Well, I thought you could be more helpful.


WHAT? MORE helpful? More helpful than figuring out what movie from nine years ago you are vaguely referring to to find the book that you don't know anything more about then it's a guy stuck on a mountain. More helpful than finding out when that movie was made for you and then spending more than 20 min searching lists for books that match your info in the last nine years?
I'm going home now.

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