Just when I thought there are no stupid questions, someone proved me wrong.

My friend was having lunch with someone yesterday. The waitress came over to take their order, and my friend ordered a Chinese Chicken Salad, with the dressing on the side. Her friend ordered a Turkey Club sandwich, with no cheese or mayo.

This is where the waitress should think, “These people are trying to make healthy food choices.”

Instead, she asked, “Would you like to start with our 4 layer, deep dish Macaroni and Cheese?”

After writing yesterday’s post, I remembered a teacher who said that the only stupid question is one you already know the answer to. If we modify that to say “one you should already know the answer to,” then this was a stupid question.

I’m sure the waitress was supposed to ask it because the 4 layer deep dish Macaroni and Cheese is a new appetizer the restaurant is featuring, and they want people to be aware of it. Fine, but tweak the question when you know it doesn’t make sense for the customer. “Would you like to start with an appetizer?” would have been much more reasonable.

If you sell cars, and someone wants to buy a Ford Taurus with anti-lock brakes and a baby car seat, it’s reasonable to ask, “Do you want side-impact airbags?” It’s not reasonable to ask, “Do you want neon underbody lighting and a direct port nitrous system?”

Asking inappropriate questions just shows that you’re not paying attention.

“There is no such thing as a stupid question. However, if there were such a thing, that would most certainly have been it.”

- Unknown

Is there such a thing as a stupid question? Tim Brownson doesn’t think so, and I’m leaning towards that myself. There might be annoying questions, like if you happen to be blessed with a 5-year-old who constantly asks things like “If oranges were blue, would we still call it orange juice?” But then you stop and think about it, and you realize that it’s a darn good question, probably better than any you’ve asked in a while.

The closest thing to a stupid question I can think of is when someone in my high school Spanish class asked “What does spoon mean?” But that wasn’t a stupid question, just a stupid way of phrasing the question that was supposed to be “How do you say spoon in Spanish?”

In Tim’s book Don’t Ask Stupid Questions – There Are No Stupid Questions, he says that our life is heavily influenced by the questions we ask, especially those we ask of ourselves. So what questions are you asking?

You have an inner voice, right? Does it ask questions? It probably screams at you and maybe tells you that you can’t do anything right, or nothing’s ever going to work out. But when it’s in a calmer mood, it’s asks questions, doesn’t it? If not, it really should, unless you already know everything. Sometimes the question is a lot more important than the answer.

In this book, Tim tones down his hilarious humor a bit and reveals more of the life coach side of him. OK, he also talks about ducks, whether curiosity did indeed kill the cat, and Mexican guys who can run 100 miles without stopping, but I mean the book has a lot more than just entertainment value. It’s very insightful, and each chapter ends with a great question to ask yourself. Don’t just read it–think about the questions!

It’s available as a $14.99 hardcover or a $9.99 ebook. I read the hardcover, and I was impressed that he managed to put out something that looks that nice. I just may have to kidnap his publisher to use for myself.

However, I’m still not 100% convinced that there are no stupid questions, so I’d like to ask everyone to leave the stupidest question you can think of in the comments. Then go check out Don’t Ask Stupid Questions – There Are No Stupid Questions.