My favorite though is your average person that doesnt know anything about fish. They decide to buy a small fish bowl and a goldfish and then tell you that fish only grow to the size of it's bowl/tank right?
Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...
- Thread starter Miles
- Start date
Pyramid_Party;2380983; said:
I did EXACTLY the same thing! I got crabs from the ocean and put them in this little plastic container with table salt and a dead goldfish so they could munch on it. XP
I once had an LFS worker tell me that the arowana gets to be 6' long, and that if I plop him in a 40 he'll stay small. I'm sure if you stuck a 5 year old in a TV-sized box he'd stay small too, albeit VERY unhealthy.
I started working at pet depot just to have a job surrounded by hot girls. first day there, i'm getting to know everyone and one girl wants to talk to me(note:this has never happened before, and probably will never happen again) but there was a shipment of new fish in and instead of letting the fish sit there, she just cuts all the bags and dumps them in, and if i remember correctly almost all the fish died within 10 minutes, she was not fired, and was employee of the month. I would have stopped her, but in my town we have "frog festival" and theres this guy who sells red ear slider turtle babies and sticks them in tubberware and so many people come in asking questions about turtles like "can it live in this or do we need to buy a tank?", "does it have any diseases like salmonella?", "does it need light?". Finally I started telling people its illegal for that guy to sell baby turtles(which is true) and that he does it for quick cash cause he knows the babies will die and next year more people will buy them. I worked there for about 3 more days and just couldnt take it, so my hat goes off to you guys that put up with this everyday.
Off the top of my head are these 2 things which happen often:
If you have a fish that does not move much, say a pleco or a water cow, it seems that there is a large cohort of people that like to say, as loud as possible, "what is that?," you answer, then "IT LOOKS DEAD! IS IT DEAD? I THINK IT IS DEAD."
other one
Cust - "Can I keep this fish in my tank?"
Emp - "No, because (too big, too aggressive, salt not fresh, etc.)"
Cust - "Please! C'mon, you know me!"
Emp - "How well I know you has nothing to do with weather or not this fish will live in your tank, sorry."
Cust - "C'mon, lets go to the other store (says to wife/gf/fam)"
If you have a fish that does not move much, say a pleco or a water cow, it seems that there is a large cohort of people that like to say, as loud as possible, "what is that?," you answer, then "IT LOOKS DEAD! IS IT DEAD? I THINK IT IS DEAD."
other one
Cust - "Can I keep this fish in my tank?"
Emp - "No, because (too big, too aggressive, salt not fresh, etc.)"
Cust - "Please! C'mon, you know me!"
Emp - "How well I know you has nothing to do with weather or not this fish will live in your tank, sorry."
Cust - "C'mon, lets go to the other store (says to wife/gf/fam)"
like after the Nemo movie, I had people come into the petco I worked and try to buy clownfish for their freshwater tank and then they act confused when I explain to them that these fish are saltwater, and they act like they thought any fish could live in any water
when i was 8 i was constantly seeing tiny little turtles being sold in nano tanks on the street. several times my dad almost bought one for me but his instincts said no. giood thing too. i netted a turtle of the same species last summer that was my "personal best" at almost 12'' long and over 6lbs. it had jaws strong enough to do some serious damage to a human finger.mrhayeshimself;2663759; said:
HUGE red-eared slider
My single best one was when a customer explained to me that his water is really green, and told me he needs a colostomy to eat all of it.
I had another customer a few weeks ago who points in the general direction of about 9 tanks, and says, "I need one of those."
Me: "Which ones are you looking at?"
Customer: "The tri-color. I want a tri-color."
The woman, her husband, and their two monstrous children (who both appeared to be borderline retarded) all four stand directly in front of the aquarium she's pointing at. All four stare at me, and I'm waiting for the son to start drooling any second. Finally one of the parents realises they're all standing directly in front of the aquarium they're asking me to scoop fish at, and they proceed to yell at their sprog and scream for them to get out of the way.
I proceed to open up the aquarium containing tri-color "sharks" and small plecos, and she starts telling me about how there's just so much algae in her tank that she doesn't know what to do about it. I don't even respond, and I proceed to scoop out a plecostomus, and don't even acknowledge her speaking. Then she says, "I used to have one before, but it was the other kind. You know what I mean?"
Me: "Ma'am, we have about 20 species of fish that eat algae in this store. You'll have to be more specific." (we don't have 20 species at a time, but we get in different types of plecostomus all the time)
Customer: "Oh, you know! The other ones!"
I stare blankly at her.
Customer: "You know!" and she holds up her thumb and forefinger estimating the size of the fish she used to have. "The OTHER ones!"
Me: "Oh. Yeah." Anything to get this lady to shut her mouth and leave my store.
At this point in the process I'm about 10 seconds away from vomiting because the entire clan reeks so bad of old cigarette smoke. I'm wondering if they lock themselves in the car and chain smoke with the windows up, or if they found "Stale Smoke" in the cologne aisle at White Trash Mart on sale 5 for $1, and decided they could skip showers if they applied that liberally. The group of them also all four resemble homeless people, based on the condition of their clothing. It appeared to actually be rotting off their bodies.
I bag the pleco and hand it to whichever one was closest to me and start to walk away. I didn't even ask if there was anything else I could do, I didn't even try to smile.
She yells at my back: "Do you have any guppies?"
D$%^. I have to wait on them some more.
Me: "Yes."
Customer: "Are they expensive?"
Me: "I believe they're $3.99."
Customer: "For feeders?!?"
Me: "Oh. Feeders are $0.20 each."
Customer: "Ok, I need some for my goldfish."
Me: "Well. Goldfish really shouldn't be eating guppies. They're vegetarians, not carnivores."
Customer: "Mine really like them."
Me: "It doesn't really matter if they like them, they're not good for them."
Customer: "Then why do they eat them if they're not good for them?" (This with a smart-alec 'I got you there!' look on her face.)
Me: "They're like children and candy. Just because they eat it doesn't make it good for them."
And I proceeded to walk away, abandoning them in the fish department all by themselves. My manager was standing an aisle over chuckling, trying not to laugh out loud. She said she's amazed at some of the people I can deal with.
I also had one person whose child kept trying to hit me in the crotch while I talked to her. I swear I almost smacked the brat. I'm speaking, and this 5 or 6 year old screams, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" and hits me in the crotch to get my attention.
I had another customer a few weeks ago who points in the general direction of about 9 tanks, and says, "I need one of those."
Me: "Which ones are you looking at?"
Customer: "The tri-color. I want a tri-color."
The woman, her husband, and their two monstrous children (who both appeared to be borderline retarded) all four stand directly in front of the aquarium she's pointing at. All four stare at me, and I'm waiting for the son to start drooling any second. Finally one of the parents realises they're all standing directly in front of the aquarium they're asking me to scoop fish at, and they proceed to yell at their sprog and scream for them to get out of the way.
I proceed to open up the aquarium containing tri-color "sharks" and small plecos, and she starts telling me about how there's just so much algae in her tank that she doesn't know what to do about it. I don't even respond, and I proceed to scoop out a plecostomus, and don't even acknowledge her speaking. Then she says, "I used to have one before, but it was the other kind. You know what I mean?"
Me: "Ma'am, we have about 20 species of fish that eat algae in this store. You'll have to be more specific." (we don't have 20 species at a time, but we get in different types of plecostomus all the time)
Customer: "Oh, you know! The other ones!"
I stare blankly at her.
Customer: "You know!" and she holds up her thumb and forefinger estimating the size of the fish she used to have. "The OTHER ones!"
Me: "Oh. Yeah." Anything to get this lady to shut her mouth and leave my store.
At this point in the process I'm about 10 seconds away from vomiting because the entire clan reeks so bad of old cigarette smoke. I'm wondering if they lock themselves in the car and chain smoke with the windows up, or if they found "Stale Smoke" in the cologne aisle at White Trash Mart on sale 5 for $1, and decided they could skip showers if they applied that liberally. The group of them also all four resemble homeless people, based on the condition of their clothing. It appeared to actually be rotting off their bodies.
I bag the pleco and hand it to whichever one was closest to me and start to walk away. I didn't even ask if there was anything else I could do, I didn't even try to smile.
She yells at my back: "Do you have any guppies?"
D$%^. I have to wait on them some more.
Me: "Yes."
Customer: "Are they expensive?"
Me: "I believe they're $3.99."
Customer: "For feeders?!?"
Me: "Oh. Feeders are $0.20 each."
Customer: "Ok, I need some for my goldfish."
Me: "Well. Goldfish really shouldn't be eating guppies. They're vegetarians, not carnivores."
Customer: "Mine really like them."
Me: "It doesn't really matter if they like them, they're not good for them."
Customer: "Then why do they eat them if they're not good for them?" (This with a smart-alec 'I got you there!' look on her face.)
Me: "They're like children and candy. Just because they eat it doesn't make it good for them."
And I proceeded to walk away, abandoning them in the fish department all by themselves. My manager was standing an aisle over chuckling, trying not to laugh out loud. She said she's amazed at some of the people I can deal with.
I also had one person whose child kept trying to hit me in the crotch while I talked to her. I swear I almost smacked the brat. I'm speaking, and this 5 or 6 year old screams, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" and hits me in the crotch to get my attention.
I was well annoyed this saturday for two reasons....
Reason 1
I was wearing a slipknot t-shirt and i walked passed this kid and his parents i think he was around 11-12years old and loudly said "Slipknot suck!" If i wasnt staff i would have said somthing LOL.
Reason 2.
Me and a collegue were advising a customer about cycling a tank, the nitrogen cycle etc.... We were showing him some plants and explaining whats the best easiest to keep and then this customer who thinks hes staff and a know it all, was pointing out a cobomba and saying 'oh this is an easy plant that lots of people go for... I use it when breeding my white cloud mountain minnows'
He kept constantly butting in so i said oh your an expert fishkeeper breeding whiteclouds, he goes "yeah they are tricky" do you know how to breed them? I replyied saying yeah easy, drop the tempreture down to around 18c and lower and really increase the flow rate as they come from very cool, fast moving mountain lakes and streams......
He goes "oh good, you do know somthing!" I was very tempted to say somthing that i might have regretted. I said well.... if you look after your White clouds well and feed them good they will breed regulary without any triggers...... He said no thats not possible.
So my collegue took him away cos he could see i was getting frustrated
Reason 1
I was wearing a slipknot t-shirt and i walked passed this kid and his parents i think he was around 11-12years old and loudly said "Slipknot suck!" If i wasnt staff i would have said somthing LOL.
Reason 2.
Me and a collegue were advising a customer about cycling a tank, the nitrogen cycle etc.... We were showing him some plants and explaining whats the best easiest to keep and then this customer who thinks hes staff and a know it all, was pointing out a cobomba and saying 'oh this is an easy plant that lots of people go for... I use it when breeding my white cloud mountain minnows'
He kept constantly butting in so i said oh your an expert fishkeeper breeding whiteclouds, he goes "yeah they are tricky" do you know how to breed them? I replyied saying yeah easy, drop the tempreture down to around 18c and lower and really increase the flow rate as they come from very cool, fast moving mountain lakes and streams......
He goes "oh good, you do know somthing!" I was very tempted to say somthing that i might have regretted. I said well.... if you look after your White clouds well and feed them good they will breed regulary without any triggers...... He said no thats not possible.
So my collegue took him away cos he could see i was getting frustrated
