Favorite example of extreme honesty in a visitor:

The Exploratorium (very large interactive science museum in San Francisco,
California) had an unexpected power outage one evening when open to the
public.  This dramatic situation of machines whirring to a stop, alarm
bells droning on and emergency lights dimly illuminating the floor was
heightened by the staff's responsibility to jump into the role of emergency
evacuation team.  I was on staff at that time, happened to be working that
night and joined other colleagues in fanning out over the building to
direct visitors to leave and show the way to the numerous exit doors which
we propped wide open to allow the most efficient evacuation.

While standing at the exit door, I was apologizing to visitors for the
power outage and explaining that "No we really couldn't allow them to stay
inside" just because they didn't mind playing with the exhibits in the
dark, a young man approached with his friends to speak to me. A bit
anxiously, he explained that he had been playing with an electricity
exhibit that shows high voltage beads of plasma in a sealed glass vacuum
chamber of rare gases.  He confessed that he was responsible for the power
outage because the lights went out just as he touched the glass tube.  His
deeply sincere contrition left me momentarily speechless but I recovered
enough to reassure him that there was no possibility that the two phenomena
were related and thanked him for bringing the matter to our attention.

Claire Pillsbury
Exhibit Developer
Tech Museum of Innovation; San Jose, CA 95113
PH 408-279-7136,        FAX 408-279-7197