Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...

[BellycrawlerJaws]

lotsa places dont cover tanks lol. actually ive never been to an lfs with all the tanks covered. all my lfs's only cover the monster tanks.

My lfs actually has glass tops on every single tank in the shop, mind you it's not a HUGE store, but they have about 45 tanks

 

[_Jessica_]

My favorite LFS store is in the heart of the hood. It's called Tong's and if you live in south LA you've probably been there. The "customers" in tongs are a mix of people with nothing to do but walk around in the swap meet next door or come in to the store and make small talk with the customers. So I'm there to by some rosies for my Oscar recently and ask one of the workers from a distant if he had an young black Aro's or any baby Cubans. He shakes his head no and continues to get my rosies, so I start to walk around the store and check out their new stock. About a few seconds later I'm approuched by this cat that says " Hey brother I know where can get some marijuana but I don't know any one that can get you cuban cigars" I couldn't help it I laughed right in dudes face and told him thanks but I'm good. Gotta love the hood

LMAO, that's great. I had a similar conversation with a coworker...she came over one day and started whispering to me that someone had come in looking for a "marijuana" fish. It took me a sec to figure out what that was .

 

[maxxxx]

had a nice couple come in today for a water test, the ph was high but not too bad and the nitrites were fine, the ammonia , however, was through the roof. I started asking all the basic questions and it turns out they had a 25 gallon tank with a small oscar, some angels, a bunch of tetras, and some minnows. the tank had been set up a week ago and all the fish were added at the same time when they started the tank. the fish were fed three times a day. it wasn't really their fault though because they just didn't know, i told them what they had to do and gave them some gravel from one of the store tanks to help start a bacteria colony

I've never worked at LFS; but I do have a few stories of rescuing nice people trying to get into the hobby and getting terrible advice:

1) "Nitrogen cycle; we don't need no stinking nitrogen cycle"​

I stopped in the Pet-Smart-Pet Co box store to grab a new net (2 minutes from my house) What I heard was so awful and got me so angry that I told the stores fish "expert" to take a walk. I make no pretense of being an advanced expert or having an encyclopedic knowledge of raising fish, but I'm knowledgeable enough to be freshwater useful. I started a number of years back with little Tetras moving up to the standards' Arowana's, Discuss, etc.

I've never intervened in the past and never thought I would ever do anything of the sort. I don't know if I was being a good person or just having a bad day and needed a target, but the stores "expert" basically killed the stock (x2) of a ten gallon tank that a single mom had bought for her disabled son.

"Throw the gravel in, fill it with water, add some store brand water conditioner and I'll sell you another dozen fish." ​

She wasn't overreaching, and did not have any unrealistic exceptions. She was just getting bad advice from some kid (Who was out of his element likely through no fault of his own.) The expert didn't mention anything about gravel vacuuming, inexpensive water test kits, biological additives, 3 types of needed filtration, cycling, adding fish slowly, etc. Short version: I told her the basics, gave her some of my river gravel, 1/2 a bottle of Seachem Prime & Stability and some good web resources.

I've seen a lot of blowhard customers while shopping at my LFS who deserve what the get;
but this woman was willing to listen and just needed some basic help to get her going

 

[_Jessica_]

Can I use this thread as sort of a venting spot for rude people?

A huge part of working in a pet store is having discussions with customers about anything and everything related to their animals/fish. But whether or not I am physically doing something or just talking, I am usually "helping" a customer. Please do not stomp over and demand assistance...and when I tell you I will help you in a moment, do not stand 6" away with an angry look on your face and repeat your demands every 30 seconds. I am not "chatting" with a friend, and I am not ignoring you...if you were customer #1, you would be annoyed if I left you for customer #2.

Oh, and I cannot control the fact that I usually order 500 rosy reds every week, because we usually sell a little less than that, and this week I happened to sell out. It happens, I'm sorry.

 

[knifegill]

Preach it! I see it, too. I'm a friend of my LFS and occasionally see people fitting these descriptions. The sad thing is, they aren't doing it on purpose. They are genuinely convinced the world revolves around them. It's all a big mess. Hang in there.

 

[Sab_Fan]

Preach it! I see it, too. I'm a friend of my LFS and occasionally see people fitting these descriptions. The sad thing is, they aren't doing it on purpose. They are genuinely convinced the world revolves around them. It's all a big mess. Hang in there.

exactly . . . I'm always patient at my LFS, and it pays off because it also means they are always happy to help me

and you get to hear them talk about the customers they don't like . . . hilarious!

 

[_Jessica_]

exactly . . . I'm always patient at my LFS, and it pays off because it also means they are always happy to help me

and you get to hear them talk about the customers they don't like . . . hilarious!

Of course, and if you are nice to me I am apt to help you out at some point. If I know you have been patiently waiting I'll throw in some extra crickets or feeder fish or whatever. Hell, I hook people up that come in often and are nice to me with very cheap drop offs or whatever I can do for them. I frequently get numbers for people with free animals (reptiles, birds, snakes, etc) and I will pass those along to the nice people. It does pay to be nice.

 

[maxxxx]

It's all a big mess. Hang in there.

A big Thank you from a customer who learned much of what he knows from good LFS folks taking the time to help me along the way.

A special thank you to Shawn, Ned, Ellis & Josh. MA LFS's who've helped me along the way. I've seen/heard the cr@p they've had to deal with and I knew it was bad; but after reading this thread and hearing firsthand about the prevalence and sheer volume of what you folks have to deal with makes me even more appreciative.

Please stay in the game, lots of us rely on you guys/gals.

Thanks again

 

[HighBackRTG]

Went to a petland discount today looking for a UV sterilizer. Some sales guy immediately decided to mark me for the kill. Asked me what fish I had, so I told him. He lit up when I mentioned my arowanas, so I assumed he was interested in those. Told me he had 4 of them in 75 and I raised an eyebrow. He proceeded to ask me what I fed my arowanas so I said Hikari food sticks and market shrimp. He was all like "you should feed it krill and crickets. You see in their natural environment in the Amazons of Austrailia they eat lots of these". At this point I told him that I just wanted to get a UV sterilizer and walked away.

 

[Bottomfeeder]

Went to a petland discount today looking for a UV sterilizer. Some sales guy immediately decided to mark me for the kill. Asked me what fish I had, so I told him. He lit up when I mentioned my arowanas, so I assumed he was interested in those. Told me he had 4 of them in 75 and I raised an eyebrow. He proceeded to ask me what I fed my arowanas so I said Hikari food sticks and market shrimp. He was all like "you should feed it krill and crickets. You see in their natural environment in the Amazons of Austrailia they eat lots of these". At this point I told him that I just wanted to get a UV sterilizer and walked away.

Oh gosh. That's horrible. I know most of the Petland Discounts in Brooklyn, and I need to know which one this is