The Marshmallow Test

I've been thinking about the Marshmallow test a lot this week.

You know the one where they sit a kid down at a table, place a marshmallow on a plate.
And tell the kid that if they wait for like...two minutes? Five minutes? and Don't eat the marshmallow during that timeframe, that they'll get a second marshmallow. 

And it's like an example of patience and fighting between the want of having the marshmallow now, and holding off the desire to eat it so they can get a second marshmallow later. 

I've been thinking about this test this week....mostly because it's amazing how many people would actually fail the test if it were to occur at work.

Because their desire to have something "Now" outweighs their potential reward for a better experience for later.

Mostly this deals with fish.
As we highly recommend that customers have their fish tanks set up for at least a day (the longer they wait the better) before buying any fish. And when they do come to buy fish then they should only buy a few at a time and not 'all' the fish that they want. 

But there are some customers who can't wait.
You must buy the fish today despite our strong discouragement on how that won't work out well for the fish.
No it's the "My kid needs a fish today. I need the fish today. I live too far away I need the fish today."
Like...sure the kid may be happy to get a fish today....but will they still be happy when it dies the next day due to stress? I'm not so sure.

It's amazing how many customers just focus on the "Now." and not on the potential consequences of later. 

But there's also something to be said about the people's patience levels.
Like we've had customers hang around the store for a couple of hours waiting to see our fish shipment once it's been fully placed on the floor, or waiting for their dog to be done with grooming.
They'll just...hang out. Hover.
It's crazy.

It's also crazy how short people's patience can be.
Like the number of times I've gone to the back of the store to search for a product for a customer only to come back up to the front and have the customer gone. 
Like...you asked me to go look for something and couldn't wait four minutes for me to make the roundtrip?

We had a customer in the store today who wanted to talk to the dog trainer...
But they ended up only waiting around for a couple of minutes before leaving.

It's just....crazy.
Crazy to see which customers would pass the marshmallow test and which ones would fail.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi