Difficult questions to answer... Apparently.

There are times when i am required to ask certain questions. These are questions that i wouldn't really expect to be challenging. They run along the lines of 'So how long do you need that lead to be?'

This is met with a long, blank stare. It doesnt appear to be the kind of stare that tells me my customer is mentally measuring the distance between his appliances, but rather the stare of someone who doesnt comprehend what I've just asked him.

I try repeating my question. Maybe he didn't hear me. This is met with the same blanks stare.

I try a different approach. 'Is it a very short lead?' (measuring a short distance with my hands).

This seems to do the trick, and we shortly figure out that yes, we do need a short lead. (This might not be the case. It occurs to me that they might just be repeating what i've said, in place of actual thought. It seems to work anyway).

Sometimes we reach similar problems with other questions. Challenging questions like 'Can i take your name?' and 'would you like a bag?'

Imagine how fun the difficult questions are.