Venting my frustration about non-reefers

[Sean_B]

make the drinks stiffer and practice your sarcasm

 

[HBtank]

”all those little clear things (aptasia) are so cool!” - ignoring everything else in the tank.

Unless the person obviously has an interest I just nod and smile. Never go full nerd.

 

[pulpfiction]

I get the nemo thing a lot. When Snowdogs came out everyone called my husky a Snowdog. When Togo came out my husky looks just like Togo so every child called him Togo. I can't win either . I feel the pain lol.

 

[mjszos]

I try my best to not get frustrated by people who simply don't know better. If they're interested in learning, I'll go as deep as they want me to on the subject... Otherwise they can sit there and poke the glass and stare at them for as long as they want. This is my hobby, for me. I probably couldn't have an educated conversation with them about their niche hobby.

 

[ShoreReefer]

Even my husband doesn't notice if I add something new. I suppose that's a blessing since he has no idea what I spend.

My wife will notice a new fish right away and ask me why I spent $80 on it yet won’t have a clue there’s $300 worth of new coral in the tank lol

 

[Tamberav]

I bet there are dog nerds out there who get irked when someone thinks their Belgian Malinois looks like a German Shepherd.

 

[Sean Clark]

I guess that I have the opposite experience where people will point and look and then see something else and point and look. Omg, what is this thing? Hey, did you see that thing? This is so cool. How does it all work?

All the while I am thinking "That looks bad, don't look over there... STOP TOUCHING THE GLASS!"

 

[Scorpius]

I'm into Bonsai. People think I torture trees in small pots. If you want to be ignorant and stay ignorant that's on you.

 

[Wild1]

Ah yes, I have my tanks in our shop where we get plenty of friends and customers in. People will sometimes comment how they’d love to start a tank with “Nemos” and then I stick my hand in the tank to show them what owning Nemos is really like. Dodging bites and getting splashed in the face. Lol
Someone posted a question on FB about how to get your clowns to stop biting… the consensus was, “if you ever figure it out, let us know!”

Bingo!.....lol

 

[Wild1]

I guess that I have the opposite experience where people will point and look and then see something else and point and look. Omg, what is this thing? Hey, did you see that thing? This is so cool. How does it all work?

All the while I am thinking "That looks bad, don't look over there... STOP TOUCHING THE GLASS!"

OR tapping on it!!!!!

 

[Jedi1199]

I don't have many guests over, but the ones I do are all amazed that all those "little colorful bits" are actually living organisms. I guess too many people are used to the plastic decorations seen in FW tanks. I have to explain that everything they see is actually a living entity. Then comes the next irritating question "how much did it cost?". I simply say that anyone that comes to rob my house would never know where the money is.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I should mention that I don’t dissuade anyone from the hobby… I just want them to know there are nicer fish and clowns aren’t all friendly little Nemos

Thats when u suggest hand feeding to see how nice they are, they love it, you’ll see.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I'm into Bonsai. People think I torture trees in small pots. If you want to be ignorant and stay ignorant that's on you.

Free the trees. Lol.

 

[Sean Clark]

The comment "Your tank eats better than we do" comes up a lot. They are not wrong...

 

[ZoWhat]

You wouldn't believe what they say about YOU behind your back when you go to their home make a stupid comment about their wine collection.

"I can't believe he chose a sauvignon blanc with his steak. What a Neanderthal...."

 

[PeterEde]

I hate it when people say my tank looks great with all those nice plants.
Corals are animals. NOT plants.

 

[Reefbuds]

This thread is the best

 

[I.AM.MR.MIKE]

No one I know or have over is interested in my tank and I just don't even talk about it cause they will never understand...

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I try my best to not get frustrated by people who simply don't know better. If they're interested in learning, I'll go as deep as they want me to on the subject... Otherwise they can sit there and poke the glass and stare at them for as long as they want. This is my hobby, for me. I probably couldn't have an educated conversation with them about their niche hobby.

+1. The fact that they are admiring your effort and are trying to engage in our hobby should be a great compliment. Imaging going to a ‘computer geek’ and try to connect on his programming hobby. You wouldnt even be in the ballpark of knowing what to talk about. Kinda amused about people conflating ignorance and microagressions.

 

[vetteguy53081]