When I called the HVAC company to have service done on my furnace, the first thing the HVAC company receptionist told me, was to make sure my animals were kennelled.
I had no problem putting my dog in his kennel, and I told her so. She gave me the time when the HVAC technician would arrived, and reminded me they had a three-hour window. Surprisingly, the HVAC technician showed up right on time. He told me he was running right on time, which was an oddity, and he hoped I had the animals put away. The only animal I didn’t have put away was my fish. They were happily swimming around in my fish tank, and knew they wouldn’t be a problem for the HVAC technician. I totally misjudged the situation. When the HVAC technician walked through the living room, he stood still and couldn’t move. He stared at the fish tank and was speechless. I told him they were only fish and they couldn’t get out of the tank. He started crying, and wanted to know why we didn’t tell him about the fish. I couldn’t believe this 250 pound HVAC technician was petrified of fish. He said his uncle used to teased him with fish. He couldn’t look at a fish without becoming catatonic. I apologized, but no one had ever told me I had to hide my fish from the HVAC technician. I had to call the HVAC company and tell them they needed to send another HVAC technician. When I told them what happened, the owner of the HVAC company started laughing so hard that he couldn’t breathe, and he asked me to repeat the story again while he put me on speaker.