No Russell Stover? I'll take 10 Woogie Lights!

When I walked into Joie this morning after several days away, I was told that someone had called through AT & Ts hearing impaired system, and wanted to place an order. The phone call - where an operator translates what you say by typing it, then translates what she gets back - took a half an hour, and finally he agreed to email us. When I read the email, he was requesting ten gift baskets (warning sign - there are no gift baskets anywhere on our website). The ten baskets were to be filled with Russell Stover candy, flowers, jams and "animals." They needed to go out for his "client," "urgently," today. I emailed him back explaining that we did not sell any of those type of items, and said that if there were things on our website he wanted, he should let us know via email. He called back with another patient operator, and a very odd list - 10 Rabbit Woogie lamps, 10 Wine Monkeys, 10 Bags of Happiness and 10 pieces of jewelry. Something about the phrasing was making me suspicious (to say nothing of the quick switch from chocolate and jam to expensive Woogie lights and Wine Monkeys.) An example of text: "so i will like you to get back to me with the cost for this different items and i want each items to be pack in one pack and i want ten pack of all items okay so can i have the cost and also send me your location address so that the carrier Manager will be able to quote pickup charges and delivery cost to all my client am sending this to and as well confirm to me if you can get this done for me today so that the carrier will come for the pickup alright." Then he called back again. It was only because of the hearing impaired operator that I was now giving him the benefit of the doubt . . . and we were going back and forth when I said to the operator (which seemed safe as he presumably could not hear) - that I doubted his credibility and thought this was most likely a scam. A scam that was starting to take up a lot of our time. She hesitated. "I can't really say anything about this," she said. Then she added, "But I would go with your gut feeling." "Thanks," I said. Please tell him that we can't get this done today, and I don't think we are really the right store for him. Can I hang up now?" "Yes, of course," she said. He did not email back to protest that he really did want those rabbits and wine monkeys, or to threaten a lawsuit for treating a hearing impaired customer badly. One hour of our time and end of story. Luckily, due to piles of snow it wasn't terribly busy - and we did get a few laughs out of it in the end.