This happened a few months ago, but has come up in Thanksgiving conversation, so I figured I'd share and give people a (possible?) laugh. Standard warnings: long time lurker first time poster, on mobile so sorry for formatting

I'm obsessed with fish. Not like eating fish, but pet fish. Sadly, I was in the hospital for an extended stay and my large tank had no one to care for it properly, so I lost all my buddies. Over the summer, I started to build up my community again as I normally do: buying fish on a whim.

In the Mart of Walls by me, they have a small selection of fish. I was there with my mother when I first realized this and she agreed to buy me a small pleco to replace my 16" pleco that had died in the tank at her unskilled hands. I'm picky about my fish, so I'm looking intensely for the healthiest looking one (which was hard because all the fish there were surprisingly healthy). There wasn't a designated fish worker, so I was told it would be a 5 minute wait before someone who knew what to do could come. Okay, fine, I'll look at some other fish.

A young boy (around 8/9) comes up and is absolutely entranced. Seeing his joy and knowing it myself, I asked if he had any fish; he didn't. He was looking at some tricky salt water fish, so I off-hand mentioned he might want to start with something a little easier. He asked a few questions, and I helped him narrow in on a few choices. He then asked me to wait until he came back with his mom, and ran off before I could tell him I wasn't a worker.

A few minutes later, he comes running back with his mother in tow. She's smiling as she sees me and thanks me for watching her kid, because she hadn't known where he was. Then he starts telling her everything I had just told him about the fish, and the mother is seriously considering getting him some. Another few minutes, a worker comes up to tell me that the fish person was delayed and apologized. No big deal for me, I'm excited for my new tank mate. He walks off and then the mother is right in front of me, the boy bouncing on his toes behind her. "Can you help us get a few fish? I don't know anything about them."

Huge smile, of course I can help. I tell her all about cycling a tank first, and how you should really do that without fish. She gets the son to agree to wait for the fish, so that they can be healthy, and we set off down the aisle to pick out a tank and decorations. I'm reading the different tank kits, explaining to her and the boy, and helped them choose the best one for the type of tank he decided on (fresh water semi-aggressive, for anyone wondering). I help them get the proper water conditioners, and even explained the foods for when they did get fish. They're all set, supplies in their cart, and I wish them luck. Suddenly, the lady asks me to stop and wants to know my name, so that she can tell the manager how helpful I was. Fish guy is finally getting there just as I tell her I didn't work there. She looked ready to cry as she thanked me for being so helpful and even offered me money for taking a good 15-20 minutes to explain everything to them. I didn't take it. I got my special little pleco, wished the kid good luck on his fishy journey, and set off to find my mother and ice pops.

Sometimes people are assholes. But for every asshole is a curious little kid and his grateful mother.

Tl;dr I taught I kid and his mother about fish for 20 minutes while waiting for the fish guy to come and get me my fish

Edit: autocorrect doesn't like the word "fish"