You Don’t Always Want The Guest To Have A Whale Of A Time

Our museum has an indoor tropical butterfly house, and one of my shift positions is to monitor the flow of visitors entering the house and make sure they understand the rules. After reciting my spiel about not touching butterflies and picking flowers, I ask if the guests have any questions. A guy raises his hand and loudly calls out:

Guest: “Is this where the whales are?”

Me: *At a loss* “In the butterfly house?”

Guest: “Yeah, there were whales in the fountain outside, so I figured the whales must be around here somewhere.”

Me: “Sir, do you mean the orca statues?”

Guest: “Yeah, sure. Just tell me where the whales are.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but we aren’t properly equipped to house whales in our facility.”

Guest: “Then why do you have statues of them in the fountain?!”

Me: “I believe they are for decoration… like the dinosaur statues that are out there, as well.”

Guest: “Well, it’s deceptive, that’s what it is.”

He then stormed out with his family in tow, muttering about going to find somewhere in the city that did have whales.