Met up with someone who didn't know what what he purchased

[emeraldking]

Today I went to a store and an arab looking man stood beside me checking some large stones for his 2 meter tank as he told me. He just didn't know what fish came along with that tank. For he bought a tank all inclusive from someone. He told me he would show me a photo of those fish. But it turned out that those photos were on his wife's phone. So, he googled for some photos. And it turned out to be Malawi cichlids. 17 Fish to be precise. But he likes rocks in a tank. So, I told him that that was a good start. But there weren't that much stones available of a certain size. The former owner had only plastic plants in the tank. The store owner told him that they weren't getting any large stones anymore. Anyways, I don't understand Arabic but it seemed to me that this man was cursing in Arabic to the store owner for not having more stones. I told the man to calm down which he surprisingly did. Then he started to say something in his own language to me. I told him that I didn't speak nor understood Arabic. I did recognize some words for I've been to the Middle-East a couple of times. I asked him if he has ever kept a fishtank before. And he said no. But he's seen an episode of "Tanked" on Animal planet and that made him want to have a tank. He did show me a photo of a can of fish food he bought. And while I already knew that he bought Malawi cichlids, I had to tell him that he bought fishfood for goldfish instead of cichlids. I told him to do some research how to keep cichlids well. But he told me that he had problems to read Dutch and English. I asked the store owner to come back to us. And let the man offer his apologies to the store owner. And I was able to make the deal that the store owner would go to this man's place to see what he would need for this tank. And what I heard from this man was that all those fish were in buckets with a lid at his place. So, I asked the store owner if he could go there today in order to keep those fish well. For the man told me that those fish were already two days in those buckets. This is a good example of someone who just doesn't know what he was doing... So, it's very important to think first really well before taking any actions...

 

[GaryE]

Nice de-escalation of conflict there.

You could never get a fish store person in North America to agree to helping a customer that much.

 

[emeraldking]

Nice de-escalation of conflict there.

You could never get a fish store person in North America to agree to helping a customer that much.

Well overhere, more and more stores offer that service... So, that's why I didn't hesitate to ask the store owner to do so.

 

[Colin_T]

Goldfish food is fine for a lot of Lake Malawi cichlids, most of them are vegetarian anyway so less protein in goldfish food is fine.

We need universal translators, it would make life a lot easier. It reminds me of a time in the pet shops when I asked a guy if he needed any help. He pointed to a fish and I told him what it was. After a few minutes of talking about the fish, another guy comes over and apologises and says he doesn't understand a word of English. He was German and here on holiday so his mate was taking him to different pet shops. We laughed about it after

 

[jaylach]

Goldfish food is fine for a lot of Lake Malawi cichlids, most of them are vegetarian anyway so less protein in goldfish food is fine.

We need universal translators, it would make life a lot easier. It reminds me of a time in the pet shops when I asked a guy if he needed any help. He pointed to a fish and I told him what it was. After a few minutes of talking about the fish, another guy comes over and apologises and says he doesn't understand a word of English. He was German and here on holiday so his mate was taking him to different pet shops. We laughed about it after

Some web browsers DO come with a translator. I use Firefox as my default and here is part of the above post translated to German.

 

[sharkweek178]

Goldfish food is fine for a lot of Lake Malawi cichlids, most of them are vegetarian anyway so less protein in goldfish food is fine.

We need universal translators, it would make life a lot easier. It reminds me of a time in the pet shops when I asked a guy if he needed any help. He pointed to a fish and I told him what it was. After a few minutes of talking about the fish, another guy comes over and apologises and says he doesn't understand a word of English. He was German and here on holiday so his mate was taking him to different pet shops. We laughed about it after

Those are coming. I predict that within a few decades there will be an app on everyone's phone that instantly translates speech. It won't be the same as speaking the same language because of the pauses. But it will be functional.

 

[Back in the fold]

Jean-Luc Picard couldn’t have handled that better .

 

[jaylach]

Those are coming. I predict that within a few decades there will be an app on everyone's phone that instantly translates speech. It won't be the same as speaking the same language because of the pauses. But it will be functional.

Actually already here. Since I don't carry a cell phone I can't test as to how well they work. I didn't look at all but at least some do voice to voice.

Here 7 for Android:

7 Best Voice Translator Apps for Android - You Must Try

Traveling abroad for business or pleasure? Take the the best voice translator apps for Android with you and let them do the talking

joyofandroid.com

Here are 10 for Apple:

The Best Translation Apps for iPhone

If you are in another country and don’t speak the language, you can turn to your iPhone for help. Download an app and your device can serve as your universal translator.

www.pcmag.com

 

[emeraldking]

Goldfish food is fine for a lot of Lake Malawi cichlids, most of them are vegetarian anyway so less protein in goldfish food is fine.

We need universal translators, it would make life a lot easier. It reminds me of a time in the pet shops when I asked a guy if he needed any help. He pointed to a fish and I told him what it was. After a few minutes of talking about the fish, another guy comes over and apologises and says he doesn't understand a word of English. He was German and here on holiday so his mate was taking him to different pet shops. We laughed about it after

Oh, I do know that they'll eat it. But he bought the goldfish food just because he didn't realize what fish he had. Now he knows that he's dealing with Malawi cichlids. Btw, I gave my leftovers of fish food of my koi also to my livebearers when I stopped keeping my ponds. But I had to grind them first. The livebearers loved it.

 

[Ceez]

Oof...


I feel sorry for those fish that's awful. Hopefully store owner can get him on track and save those fish. It quite something for someone to just jump into not knowing the level of dedication it takes.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Today I went to a store and an arab looking man stood beside me checking some large stones for his 2 meter tank as he told me. He just didn't know what fish came along with that tank. For he bought a tank all inclusive from someone. He told me he would show me a photo of those fish. But it turned out that those photos were on his wife's phone. So, he googled for some photos. And it turned out to be Malawi cichlids. 17 Fish to be precise. But he likes rocks in a tank. So, I told him that that was a good start. But there weren't that much stones available of a certain size. The former owner had only plastic plants in the tank. The store owner told him that they weren't getting any large stones anymore. Anyways, I don't understand Arabic but it seemed to me that this man was cursing in Arabic to the store owner for not having more stones. I told the man to calm down which he surprisingly did. Then he started to say something in his own language to me. I told him that I didn't speak nor understood Arabic. I did recognize some words for I've been to the Middle-East a couple of times. I asked him if he has ever kept a fishtank before. And he said no. But he's seen an episode of "Tanked" on Animal planet and that made him want to have a tank. He did show me a photo of a can of fish food he bought. And while I already knew that he bought Malawi cichlids, I had to tell him that he bought fishfood for goldfish instead of cichlids. I told him to do some research how to keep cichlids well. But he told me that he had problems to read Dutch and English. I asked the store owner to come back to us. And let the man offer his apologies to the store owner. And I was able to make the deal that the store owner would go to this man's place to see what he would need for this tank. And what I heard from this man was that all those fish were in buckets with a lid at his place. So, I asked the store owner if he could go there today in order to keep those fish well. For the man told me that those fish were already two days in those buckets. This is a good example of someone who just doesn't know what he was doing... So, it's very important to think first really well before taking any actions...

Emeraldking- I think you should start working on resolving world conflicts. You have a knack for calming situations and getting good results, it seems.

 

[emeraldking]

Emeraldking- I think you should start working on resolving world conflicts. You have a knack for calming situations and getting good results, it seems.

Hahaha... Well, not always, tbh...
But this man thought that I was one of his own.
But in my career I did have to solve certain conflicts between people that my employer wasn't able to.