Tank Problems?

I get my share of odd encounters at work.
Ones where you just end up shaking your head after you're done interacting with the customer and you're like "how?" 

In any case.
Today one of my coworkers directed me to help an older customer to get stuff for her fish tank.

Though what size the fish tank is she had no idea.
When I reached her she stated that it was around a 60 gallon size.
My coworker had said that she'd also said it was as big as a 125 gallon tank or as small as a 36 gallon in the course of their conversation with her.

So like the customer has no idea how big her tank actually is.
Why?
It was her husband who took care of the tank. But then he ended up in the hospital...and if I'm understanding it correctly...he also ended up passing away. :( 

In any case.
The customer has literally no idea on how to care for her tank.

When I encountered her she stated that she had this empty tank and she needed to get everything for it.
Everything meaning like the filters and heaters and such.

So I was like. "Okay." 
And at this point I'd figured she had this tank she'd bought and now just needed supplies for. 

But nope.
You see.
What actually happened with the tank....at least from how I understood it.
Was that the customer had left for the holidays.
And the tank had been set up and running with fish in it before she left.

HOWEVER. 

This customer has only recently moved to the state apparently?
Or at least never consciously thought about the fish tank around vacation times because her husband always took care of it.

In any case.
She's never dealt with the fish on her own before.
Especially not in the WINTER where it's COLD. 

So because she was going to be gone for a while she had the power and heat turned off.

Which...with fish is a bad thing.
Like...did she even think about feeding them while she was gone?
Probably not.

Because winter hit while she was gone.
And when she came back. She said that "the tank was frozen and all the fish died." 

*exhales*
Well duh. 

So okay. The fish had all died.
But that didn't make sense why she would need a new filter and heater and such.

Because it sounded like she would just need to make sure the tank had water that wasn't frozen in it...and then get the fish.

But the power had been turned off. 
So like...shouldn't be a simple matter of turning on the power and then making sure the filter and the heater worked. 

So while we were talking about potential filters that she would need.
I was like "so the filter is broken?" 
To which she was like "I don't know is it." 
...like lady how am I supposed to know if your filter works or not? I don't live at your home.

In any case I was like "Well you probably need to know if your filter and heater works before you buy new ones."
But like she was like "I don't know if I even have a heater, what does that look like."

Like I've met clueless people before....
But like...if this was your husband's hobby...shouldn't you know something about the tanks?? 

So yah.
After showing her the heaters.
I established that she should probably go home and make sure the things actively don't work...
before spending money on buying new ones.

And she was like "How do I make sure they work?"
...plug them in and see if anything happens?? *shakes head*

Like you said the power was turned off right? Turn the power back on, make sure things are plugged in and go from there.

To which she was like "But the tank needs to be filled with water right?"

.....
From how she'd spoken earlier I thought it still had water in it.
But now she was making sound like the tank had been taken down and mostly drained for a while now?
Or else she hadn't paid attention to the tank for so long the water had evaporated over time.

So I was like "Yes, make sure it's filled up. Make sure the things don't work and then come back." 

She left to supposedly do just that.

Which is when I found out from my coworker that this customer has been in the store before with other tank problems.
Like I felt like she was familiar. 
But still.
In any case. Apparently at one point she'd taken everything down and like...cleaned them with soap or something...which isn't good.

So yah.
Not sure.
The whole interaction was just strange like I'm not sure what to expect anymore. *exhales* 

Hopefully the customer figures it out.

But at this point...if all the fish in the tank were already dead...and the customer doesn't know anything about caring for fish....maybe it would be best if she just took it down permanently and not worry about trying to maintain it.

Maybe she'll end up doing that anyways.
We'll see. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi