The Great Balloon Caper

A Southeast Asian man came in to buy a Christmas balloon. He initially wanted one that was not already blown up (not sure why, I think maybe because he thought one in the package would be better.) After we made sure there were not, we settled on a nice, red, festive one (or so I thought.) Can we put some more gas in it, he asked. Sure, I said, warning him that too much would not be a good thing.

So, we filled it a little more; we verified the price ($7.99 plus tax); and he fiddled with it to make sure it was not leaking. We have to have a way to fill up the thing--there is a little vent hole at the bottom that allows you to fill the balloon occasionally. It self seals, and I have not seen it leak, but he questioned me closely as to its possible leak problem. I said it rarely does, although I did mention that all balloons leak, it's the nature of the beast. Those little helium atoms just naturally slowly get out, and nothing will hold them in (not in a balloon, anyway.)

Therein followed 5 or 6 minutes of close inspection of the balloon, as he searched for leaks and poked and prodded the thing. I thought: he's not going to buy this. But he got on line to pay, and then proceeded to try to put it in a large plastic bag he had brought in with him. The balloon was too big, and we don't have any bags large enough. It was hard for me to see the value of putting it in a bag.

He went outside, and returned. After a while, we determined it deflates slightly when he goes outside. I realized this was probably due to the temperature difference. (It was evening, and somewhat unseasonably cooler outside (45 or 50 degrees versus 70 to 75 inside the store.) I explained, but there was no way I could review (or teach) the physics of gases expanding/compressing in detail. I had already gotten a fair number of blank looks, and that was what I got on the temperature explanation.

We offered to let him return the balloon, and, after a short time, that's what he did. So ended the great balloon caper.

Postscript: here's my take on this: I speak a little Spanish, but just a little, and I cannot follow a fast stream of conversation. If you were to explain something to me, I would first have to ask you to slow down, and then ask you to repeat everything. If listening again did not help, I would ask more questions, and try again. But if it looked like I could not understand (from my point of view,) I would probably eventually thank you and give up. But no blank stares, if avoidable. I know my limitations, and there is no way I could understand a bunch of really different concepts in a second language--which is what frustrated me living the above story. 

English was this man's second language, and probably basic science principles, to make it worse. But I do not know how to make it better, especially in half an hour and over an eight dollar item. ;)