No Such Thing as a Stupid Question

I have been told all my life that there is no such thing as a stupid question. And I fully intend to relay this principle to my students someday when I am a real life teacher, (which, FYI, is totally going to happen), because asking questions is an essential part of the learning process.

That being said, I also think there becomes a point when a question becomes stupid. I know this may seem contradictory, but really it is not. Let me illustrate with the following scenario:

A fellow Team Member (TM) calls me up to ask me a question. The question: what does the “CP:0” mean on SVT? (SVT is a system this particular TM uses daily). SVT is the one system I do not have access to and therefore I have no clue. So, I escalate the question. My superior also is clueless as to what “CP:0” means and suggests that the TM call our technology department for an explanation. I go back to the TM, who is waiting ever so impatiently on hold, and advise her to call technology. She then proceeds to inform me that she has already spoken with technology. They couldn’t give her an answer and referred her to my department. She then gets pushy and asks (demands) if I could find an answer and get back to her. Uh…okay. I put her back on hold so that I can escalate the question for the second time (because I don’t’ have anything better to do). I explain the situation to a different superior who explains that opening a ticket to research the meaning of “CP:0” would be a waste of everyone’s time, especially since the desired information is not crucial to know, nor does it impact the work process. So, I go back to the TM and inform her that unfortunately I am not going to be able to open a ticket. She then gets RUDE. She hotly tells me that she finds it funny that no one can tell her what “CP:0” means and then proceeds to call me worthless. My response: YOU ARE THE WORTHLESS ONE WITH THE WORTHLESS QUESTION. WHY DON’T YOU STOP WASTING EVERYONE’S TIME AND GET BACK TO WORK YOU ARROGANT TEXAN.

Okay, so I didn’t actually respond with such hostility. But boy did I want to. Thank you Holy Spirit for that extra dose of self-control.

So you see, I don't believe the TM asked a stupid question. It was perfectly fine for her to be curious. But her insistence in finding the answer to a question that really had no significance to the performance of her job, AND the way she treated me when I could not give her an answer was flat out STUPID. I mean seriously, get a life.