Sweetly and patiently. No one has ever asked such a great question where have you been my whole life?
Although it might be tempting to make the questioner feel stupid and small because their question is kind of dumb and has been asked a zillion times already-for customer service this is a very bad idea.
No matter how “stupid” the question might be you never want to let the person asking it know they’re asking a really dumb question.
Case in point:An experience I had in a grocery store using the credit card machine to pay for the goods. This particular card swiper doohickey was set up differently than the ones I was used to-therefore the enter and clear buttons(the yes and no buttons) were in a different place and I didn’t see them. So I asked where the yes button was and the clerk said in a very snarky tone “it’s where the button that says yes is”. I’ve never gone back to that store.
Was I being too sensitive? Probably. But I am a customer and we are a sensitive crew. We like it when clerks are helpful and nice. We go back to those stores because being in a helpful and nice environment is a nicer place to spend our nice money.
If you want to make money don’t risk losing return customers just to have a one time “I’m smarter than you which isn’t that hard to be because you are incredibly stupid” triumph.
Most folks who run an online store aren’t going to act like that clerk in the grocery store.That clerk didn’t lose a dime when I never went back-the franchise owner did. Clerkie couldn’t give a crap and acted accordingly. If it’s your store it’s just that much more likely you’re going to be nice,that is if making money is more important to you than feeling smart. I used to be a clerk in a store. Like a former waitperson who tends to tip more than 20% because they remember how it felt to get stiffed, a good ex retail worker never forgets the customer is always right even when they’re wrong. We are all still customers no matter what our current occupations are. It’s easy to know how to treat other customers: like you would want to be treated.