Reading & Comprehension

You know what they talk about teaching you in grade school -- reading and writing -- the reading part is important.  Maybe I should say that again, the reading part is important.

Probably second to reading, well, taking the effort to read, would be actually comprehending what you read.  Important skills for life.

I promise I'll stop talking about specific people being aggravating for a few days, but first, one last one...

Got a text today from someone who asked about geckos.  In case you haven't seen my gecko page, this is what it looks like, take a gander -- http://www.nwichinchillas.com/crested-geckos

So in looking at that page, you can see they're broken down into numbers.  I've crossed out the ones that have already found a home (in the master list up top) so it doesn't just look like a random string of numbers like gecko 1, gecko 8, and so on.  So, when the person contacts me, I ask them which gecko they are interested in.  Their answer: crested geckos.

No shit, sherlock.

But you know, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, maybe they don't know that the only geckos I have available are crested geckos, so I message back and tell them, you know, there's about 10 available, and so I ask if they were interested in a specific one, or if they were looking for something specific.  They respond back saying that they're not looking for anything special, just preferably females or something eye catching.  That's one of those things where, as far as the "eye catching" part... geckos I like may or may not be what you like... so I told them that I only have one female, and then as far as the eye catching part, I told them, "all the ones I currently have are on this page with pics" (and then I link the gecko page), figuring they could look at the pics and decide for themselves which ones they like the look of.

So I get a text with the number and sex of three different geckos, asking, if I have those. 

Now, if you're following along... I just said, the ones I have available are listed on that page.  So I guess, to me, that would suggest that if it's on the page... I do have those.  But because, again, trying to be helpful, I tell them, "all the geckos on that list are still here, I just updated that the other day."  Which you may have noticed, is also on that page -- up top, it says "gecko listings updated 11/30" (as of 12/2 when I'm writing this), which I intentionally have up there, so people can see how up to date (or not) the listings are.

So they say, ok sorry let them look again, and they mention they've seen two unsexed.  Yes, we just went over this.  If it's on the list, it is here.  So I go on the page and look up the numbers of the two unsexed geckos (which are the youngest ones, for non-reptile people... they can't be sexed until they're older), and I told them that those two were available and what numbers they were.  So they replied saying yes, those were the ones they were talking about.  So I asked, did they want to make an appointment to come see them?

They respond with, "yes, but I would like a picture though if I can get one."  Now, in case you don't remember that far back, when I originally sent the link over to this person, I mentioned that "all the ones I currently have are on this page with pics."  Note the last two words: with pics.  Oh yeah.  So I say, you know, if you scroll down on that page I linked above, there's a section for each gecko and each gecko has several pics.

So they tell me to hold on, and then come back saying, ok, so if they buy some, am I going to ship the geckos to them?  Now, if you made it a bit further down the page, the last thing before the individual gecko listings actually says something along the lines of "these geckos are located in Hammond, IN (zip 46324), sorry, we cannot ship these geckos."  And, EVERY ad I have for these geckos says the same, as I know many people ship geckos / reptiles, but it is not something I will be undertaking.  So I mention this.

Their response:  Ok, so how am I going to get them?

You ever have one of those days you just want to bash your head into the wall?

So I explained, everyone else has driven here and picked them up in person.  If I can't ship... that is literally your only other option.  I mean... how do people pick up most stuff if it's not shipped to them?

So the response is, "but I stay in Alabama in this small city called...."

Ok, so far away, fine.  My response was basically, well, I guess you're not going to be able to get these geckos then.  I mean, not to be mean, but there isn't some other magic solution to get someone in Alabama a gecko, if I don't ship.  Anyway, they asked if I knew of a place that did ship geckos, and I referred them to the only one I know of -- acreptiles.com -- and that was that. 

But here's the thing.  It's not that I don't want to have long, in-depth chats with all of you.  It's that this whole conversation could have been, not only shortened, but completely avoided, if this person had taken two minutes to read.  It says where we're located AND that we don't ship the geckos in EVERY single ad and on the website gecko page.  The person, if they had read that part, and knowing we were far away... they would have been like, well darn, ok, I guess I can't get them... and completely avoided this conversation.  In real life, this conversation took at least 30 minutes of back and forth texting (because of course I didn't type everything that was said).  Not the end of the world... but this is where it's so easy to get behind in emails or orders or whatever, because often time is spent on conversations like this, that lead nowhere, and could have been avoided.  That is all.