Might As Well Explain It To A Robot

(I work at a small museum for a university. We have an exhibit on robotics that has nothing hands-on. The text panels are very technical and, to someone who has not studied robotics, rather dry. The exhibit is designed for older students and adults. However, many people want to bring their young children, anyway. I have this conversation over the phone.)

Me: “Hello, [Museum].”

Caller: “Hello, my son is in kindergarten and loves robots. I see on your website that you have a robotics exhibit. Do you think that coming to [Museum] would be a good way to introduce him to robotics?”

Me: “We do have a robotics exhibit; however, it is more about the history and development of robotics. There is nothing hands-on, and we recommend it for middle-school age to adult audiences. Lots of people do bring younger children, but some of the technical stuff on the text panels might be a little over his head.”

Caller: *her voice absolutely dripping with disdain* “It would not be over his head.” *hangs up on me*

(So, she basically called to ask a question to which she had already decided the answer. Unless that kid was a robotics prodigy, he was not going to get anything out of those text panels! She would have been better off buying a basic robotics kit to start him off. This was not the first or the last visitor who believed they had a genius child.)