LythSalicaria
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 122
I was going to post this in the "silliest thing you've heard in petstores" thread but it's not quite the same thing. When a pet store employee gives you bad information it's infuriating - it's their job to inform people about the animals they're purchasing and they're misinformed. That's not cool.
But what about when some regular schmuck plays armchair arachnologist? I will gleefully gush about my Ts to anyone who'll listen. I'm not trying to force my hobby down anyone's throat - if it's obvious that they're not interested, I'll drop the subject. I don't care about the geniuses who think that a tarantula escaping = multiplying or the ones who threaten to end me if one of my Ts escape, but the ones who actually -are- interested can be pretty entertaining.
People have this annoying compulsion to contribute to conversations even when they have nothing valuable to say. So, rather than asking thoughtful questions, giving themselves the opportunity to learn something, they end up pulling random "facts" from the dark recesses of their brains that have been sitting collecting dust since they were in grade school.
My favorite bit of "information" came from someone I seriously suspected to be a Jack Russel Terrier in a man suit.
"Hey, hey, hey, Donna, hey Donna! You wanna know how to tame your tarantulas? See I know this because my roommate had one once. Wh-wh-wh-what you do is...what you do is...you feed it a GRASSHOPPER and then - cuz tarantulas don't like to move much and have to use a lot of energy to eat bugs - you can hold it and pet it and do whatever you want to it!"
*FACEPALM*
I'll be sure to give that a try. Really. Y'know, because I'd totally want to be man-handled while I'm trying to eat my dinner.
But what about when some regular schmuck plays armchair arachnologist? I will gleefully gush about my Ts to anyone who'll listen. I'm not trying to force my hobby down anyone's throat - if it's obvious that they're not interested, I'll drop the subject. I don't care about the geniuses who think that a tarantula escaping = multiplying or the ones who threaten to end me if one of my Ts escape, but the ones who actually -are- interested can be pretty entertaining.
People have this annoying compulsion to contribute to conversations even when they have nothing valuable to say. So, rather than asking thoughtful questions, giving themselves the opportunity to learn something, they end up pulling random "facts" from the dark recesses of their brains that have been sitting collecting dust since they were in grade school.
My favorite bit of "information" came from someone I seriously suspected to be a Jack Russel Terrier in a man suit.
"Hey, hey, hey, Donna, hey Donna! You wanna know how to tame your tarantulas? See I know this because my roommate had one once. Wh-wh-wh-what you do is...what you do is...you feed it a GRASSHOPPER and then - cuz tarantulas don't like to move much and have to use a lot of energy to eat bugs - you can hold it and pet it and do whatever you want to it!"
*FACEPALM*
I'll be sure to give that a try. Really. Y'know, because I'd totally want to be man-handled while I'm trying to eat my dinner.