Exactly. For the purposes of the post I framed it as a single interaction, but my honest response would be ’Cool. Do you have a video?”
While I recommend looking up the real thing or news, in case you are curious I started with a much longer version of the story before I realized it was distracting from the rest of the post:
“So I have an amazing fish. Marcy. She’s an archerfish. You know, the kind of fish that can spit at flying insects? She can recognize human faces! You see, I trained her to spit at politicians.
“We play a game sometimes, where I tap a spot on some glass by the tank. If she hits it, she gets a treat. We’d been doing this for a couple months when I put a TV behind the glass to see if she would react. She didn’t really; not at first. I turned it to the news though, and on a lark tapped the glass where that politician was talking. You know, the boring, long-winded one? She spat at ’em and got her treat.
“So I thought, why not? What if I tap all politicians faces when they come on? It became part of our game. Marcy couldn’t predict when I’d tap the glass because I couldn’t. She got a game and treats and I got to watch the news. Win-win.
“But then one day I got bored. I wasn’t tapping all the politician faces. It was that day, remember, where the thing happened? News was getting sound bites from everyone and their dog? Pelosi and Trump came up and Marcy nailed ’em both. Dead center. I was already giving her the treat before I realized that I hadn’t tapped the glass.
“So I test her, you know? She spitting at anyone now? Talking heads? Nope. Snoop? Nope. Vance? Dead aim. AOC? A little to the left but Marcy still got a treat. Every politician got hit. Well, not that Canadian guy. But I don’t think she’s seen that one before. So I figure she can spot faces. I mark the target and she spits ‘em when she sees ’em.
“So what do you say? Come see her, please? I want to know if she’ll do it for you, you know? Before I call a fish scientist? Promise it will be a hoot.”
Outside view, context, and details. I’d ask
How big is the fish?
How much did the fish cost?
How big is the aquarium?
What is the natural habitat of the fish and what kind of species is it?
I don’t understand how the rewarding works. Can you explain again?
How far away is the TV? Is it in the water?
How long did it take to train?
How often was it wrong on the politicians?
Have you shown anybody else?
Is this a person I know or somebody I know knows?
Exactly. For the purposes of the post I framed it as a single interaction, but my honest response would be ’Cool. Do you have a video?”
While I recommend looking up the real thing or news, in case you are curious I started with a much longer version of the story before I realized it was distracting from the rest of the post:
“So I have an amazing fish. Marcy. She’s an archerfish. You know, the kind of fish that can spit at flying insects? She can recognize human faces! You see, I trained her to spit at politicians.
“We play a game sometimes, where I tap a spot on some glass by the tank. If she hits it, she gets a treat. We’d been doing this for a couple months when I put a TV behind the glass to see if she would react. She didn’t really; not at first. I turned it to the news though, and on a lark tapped the glass where that politician was talking. You know, the boring, long-winded one? She spat at ’em and got her treat.
“So I thought, why not? What if I tap all politicians faces when they come on? It became part of our game. Marcy couldn’t predict when I’d tap the glass because I couldn’t. She got a game and treats and I got to watch the news. Win-win.
“But then one day I got bored. I wasn’t tapping all the politician faces. It was that day, remember, where the thing happened? News was getting sound bites from everyone and their dog? Pelosi and Trump came up and Marcy nailed ’em both. Dead center. I was already giving her the treat before I realized that I hadn’t tapped the glass.
“So I test her, you know? She spitting at anyone now? Talking heads? Nope. Snoop? Nope. Vance? Dead aim. AOC? A little to the left but Marcy still got a treat. Every politician got hit. Well, not that Canadian guy. But I don’t think she’s seen that one before. So I figure she can spot faces. I mark the target and she spits ‘em when she sees ’em.
“So what do you say? Come see her, please? I want to know if she’ll do it for you, you know? Before I call a fish scientist? Promise it will be a hoot.”