(We are whitewater rafting in West Virginia. While floating between rapids, a girl in her mid-20s from a large city in Virginia, randomly starts asking me questions.)

Customer: “Man! There are a lot of trees here. Why are there so many trees? Can’t you take some of them out?”

Me: “Um, okay. Why do we need to take the trees out?”

Customer: “Well, I thought trees had to be at least 20 feet apart!”

(It’s obvious she’s a city girl, so I decide to have a little fun.)

Me: “Oh, well let me explain. You see, over in Virginia, they plowed down the forest, built your parking lot, and then planted a couple trees to try and make it look pretty. Here in West Virginia, the trees naturally grew this way and we decided to leave them because we like oxygen.”

Customer: “Oh…well, trees are ugly.”

(I am a cave tour guide. I’m talking about one of the cave’s rooms when a tourist raises her hand.)

Tourist: “Where are we right now?”

Me: “I believe we are north of where we came in, ma’am, but I can’t be sure because of all the twists and turns down here.”

Tourist: “No, no, I want to know where we are right now!”

Me: *confused as to what she wants* “Um, near the highway? We’re in [city]?”

Tourist: “No! What state are we in?”

(The entire group stares in amazement.)

Me: “We are in Texas, ma’am.”

Tourist: “Good. I thought we were in South Dakota or some s*** like that! Carry on.”

(I work at a visitor’s center on a refuge, which is by a large pond. As this is Florida, we naturally have alligators. A visitor approaches the help desk.)

Visitor: “You have a fake alligator outside!”

Coworker: “No, sir. It’s real.”

Visitor: “There’s no way that’s real!”

Coworker: “Sir, all our gators are real.”

Visitor: “I’ll prove it!”

(My coworker follows the visitor outside. Suddenly, the visitor goes up to an alligator resting along the side of the pond and grabs it by the tail.)

Alligator: *dives into the water*

Visitor: *face goes white*

(I work in the barn, where I explain the rules of our corn maze. There are usually two or three horses in there as well, one of which is white.)

Customer: “That is a beautiful unicorn.”

Me: “He’s a handsome boy all right. Just missing the horn. You can pat him if you like.”

Customer: “But he is white, and strong like unicorn! They are very strong.”

Me: “He would make a very nice unicorn. He’s a Percheron, though, so no horn.”

Customer: “He must hide his horn, to protect! He cannot always be a unicorn!”

(During an audio/visual experience of the siege of 1216 within a castle, I am approached by a tourist.)

Tourist: “Excuse me, sir. Can you help me with a question?”

Me: “Of course. What would you like to know?”

Tourist: “Is the footage being shown actual live footage of the siege of 1216?”

Me: “You want to know if this video is showing actual footage of the siege of 1216?”

Tourist: “How silly of me. They only had black and white video back then, didn’t they?”

Related:
Lack Of Grey Matter, Part 2
Lack Of Grey Matter