Boss: So you’re Muslim, right?
New employee: Yup.
Boss: So you’re from the country of Islam?
New employee: No. Not quite.
Houston, Texas
Overheard by: feel sorry for her…
Boss: So you’re Muslim, right?
New employee: Yup.
Boss: So you’re from the country of Islam?
New employee: No. Not quite.
Houston, Texas
Overheard by: feel sorry for her…
Office manager: Civil War Battlefield Protection, how can I help you?
Woman on phone: Yes, I’m trying to find information on the Civil War and I just can’t.
Office manager: Well, have you tried the internet?
Woman: Yes, I typed "Civil War" into Google and NOTHING comes up on the Civil War.
Office manager: …Really?
Woman: Yes… so can you tell me who was in the Civil War?
Office manager: That would be the northern states and the southern states.
Woman: Not the British?
Office manager: Um, that was the Revolutionary War.
13th Street & H Street
Washington, DC
Overheard by: Astonished
Creative director: It’s so cold in here, my rock-hard nipples are chafing on my shirt. Can I claim workman’s comp for that?
Radio station
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Overheard by: it really is cold in here
Man on cell: What made you stick a magnet up your nose?
5th & Jackson Streets
Topeka, Kansas
Manager #1: So did you have a nice birthday party?
Manager #2: Not yet. My older brother’s birthday is two weeks after mine, so we always just have one big party that weekend.
Manager #1: Oh, wait, wouldn’t that make you the older brother?
Panera, 3043 Glendale Avenue
Toledo, Ohio
Advertising executive: Here are my recommendations: A. Can we simplify this? B. Consumers are stupid.
Chicago, Illinois
Overheard by: writer and consumer
Woman on phone: Could you please just act like a human being?… Oh, right, I forgot. You’re a Transformer.
42nd Street
New York, New York
Intern chick: Where’s Ithaca?
Bronx boy: It’s upstate.
Intern chick: Upstate?
Bronx boy: Way upstate.
Intern chick: So where are we?
Bronx boy: We’re southern. The very southern tip of New York.
Intern chick: OK, how far north is it?
Bronx boy: Really far north… it’s near prisons, if you really want to know the truth.
125th Street & Lenox Avenue
New York, New York
Customer: I’m looking for one of those things where I can plug it into my TV’s video and plug like four video game systems into it and push a button to switch between them.
Employee: Yeah, I don’t think we sell those.
Customer, picking up item: I’m looking for this.
Employee: Oh, we don’t sell those.
Customer: You… don’t… sell these?
Employee: No.
Customer: You’re sure?
Employee: Yeah, we definitely don’t sell those.
Customer: You don’t sell these? This thing that I picked up off your rack with a price tag on it?
Employee: No. Circuit City might carry them, though.
Best Buy
Astoria, New York
Employee #1: Yeah, so PETA has helped me understand the cruelty animals are subjected to by humans.
Employee #2: I’ve seen some of the videos. Heinous.
Employee #1: Like that shirt you’re wearing, it’s made of cotton, right? You shouldn’t be wearing it.
Employee #2: Huh? Why not?
Employee #1: It really hurts the sheep when they are shorn.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Overheard by: Debauched Angel