Mini Madame Web

Years ago, when pet shops still sell actual animals, a woman walks in with her young daughter, maybe six or seven years old. They’re looking at the litters of puppies we have in the store and the mother is cooing over them, but the daughter looks uninterested.

Me: “Are you interested in buying a puppy?” 

Mother: “Yes! My daughter needs convincing, though, so I wanted her to see how cute they all are.”

Daughter: “I want a spider! Do you sell tarantulas?” 

Mother: *To me* “You see my problem?”

Me: “Well… we don’t sell tarantulas, but we do have books on how to look after them. It might show you that there’s quite a lot of work in the upkeep of exotic pets like those.”

Mother: *To her daughter* “You see, darling? It’s a lot of work to look after a spider!”

Daughter: “But I go find the spiders in the garden shed all the time! They don’t need any looking after!”

Mother: “Fine. Let’s go and find an empty jar, and you can get your ‘pet’ from the garden, and I can save me some money!”

And she left with her daughter.