19/08/2026
I met a teacher this morning.
She doesn’t know she taught me anything.
I have pet fish. Not because I’m a huge aquarium person, but because I foolishly believed my son’s love of fish meant he would look after them.
The fish tank hasn’t been too high-maintenance, but one of the filters seemed to be struggling. I tried cleaning it, but no luck. So this morning I went to Petbarn to buy a new one.
While I was there, I thought I’d get some fresh plants for the tank too.
I waited around the fish section for someone to help me, but no one came.
So after a while, I went to the counter.
The woman there was organising things and wasn’t in any particular hurry to acknowledge me. Eventually I asked if someone could help me in the fish section.
She said, “There’s no point waiting at fish section. No one will be there. You need to come to the counter.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why I came here,” I replied.
She repeated her point.
And I could feel my impatience coming out. I was in a hurry.
“YES. That. Is. Why. I. Came. Here. You know what? It’s fine. I’m just going to get a filter for now.”
I’m pretty sure I was showing slight irritation.
She wasn’t.
She simply made a call for someone to cover the front, then came with me to the fish section.
Calm. Neutral. Unfazed.
She didn’t become extra nice to make me acknowledge my own impatience either.
She didn’t react to my reaction.
She just stayed exactly who she was — calm, knowledgeable and kind.
And somehow, my irritation disappeared almost immediately.
We ended up choosing some lovely plants for the tank. She told me she was Greek, and she sent me off with a smile.
I was smiling too.
And I thought about how easily she could have reacted to my impatience and made the whole situation worse.
My goal has been to become more non-reactive.
And this woman showed me what that can actually look like.
She doesn’t know she gave me that lesson.
Oh, and one more thing…
My filter wasn’t broken.
I just hadn’t cleaned it well enough. 😂
So, if I had been a little more patient with the filter, I could have saved myself some money too.
Time for me to scrape my neck.
Maybe I’m getting a little tight. 😂