Fish Are Friends

For a while, I worked for a small company that rented aquariums. Instead of having to purchase the tank, the equipment, and the fish, and make sure the water was right, we’d do it for you. All you had to worry about was feeding the fish every day.

Most of our work came from businesses that wanted pretty fish displays, but eventually, we also rented out to individual persons and homes. This happened because one day in late November we got a phone call from a lady who was very upset. As a Christmas gift, her workplace had given her a fish.

This lady knew nothing about fish except, “Fish DO NOT belong in bowls!”

After listening to this lady talk about how gifting living creatures was an absolutely awful idea, but now that she had the fish, he was her responsibility, my boss agreed to rent and set up an aquarium for her new fish in her house.

At first, she paid the more expensive business fees, but as time went on, with her paying dutifully every month and offering us snacks and drinks whenever we came to check her setup, he created a new price scheme for individual rentals.

We later went on to reuse this option for two of this lady’s friends whose kids wanted a fish, after she suggested to their parents that rental might be a good idea to test if they were ready for the responsibility.

After several years of watching us, asking questions, and helping out with her fish’s setup, it got to the point where our lady customer was doing most of the work herself and our check-up was really just a check-up. Then, it got to the point where we stopped charging to come by every fortnight and instead only came in if she called.

Eventually, she and my boss came to an agreement for her to buy her tank and equipment outright, and she stopped hiring us.

I don’t think this lady actually LIKED her fish. But I’m sure Alpha the Betta fish is still being treated like the king he is, regardless.

This customer is an amazing pet owner, who did the research and gave her fish a happy life, unlike those found in these 10 Shocking Stories About Customers Who Have No Business Being Anywhere Near A Fish Tank!