I had to run to a big box Superstore to get some pellets. Don’t like doing it much but the place isn’t far and I was damned near out. I also picked up a few reasonably priced toys. I took my purchases up to the counter and fished my wallet out of my bag. As the sales associate was ringing up my items, she asked, “How many birds do you have?”

I told her I have three African Greys.

She replied, “Those are nice toys for them. Too bad they waste them.”

“Waste them? What do you mean waste them?”

“Well, they chew them all up and ruin them.”

Kathy Mancuso’s Overalls.

I was absolutely flabbergasted. Here is a woman working at a pet store and she doesn’t know that bird toys are supposed to get chewed on? They are supposed to be torn to bits? That’s the entire point of the toys!

Kris Porter’s toys at “Parrot Enrichment” Read here!: Parrot Enrichment

I simply said, “Well, that’s what they are for. That’s what they are supposed to do with them. Do you sell rawhide chews for dogs?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, do dogs chew on those?”

“Yeah.”

“Same thing. The toys for the birds give them that chewing and gnawing instinct a workout. They spend their life in the wild doing just that. This is what the toys are for.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“Well, now you do. They aren’t wasting them. They are doing to that toy precisely what they were designed for. Have a good day.” And I simply smiled.

“You too. And thanks.”

And that was my frustrating moment for the day.