Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...
- Thread starter Miles
- Start date
I was the customer today 
.
New pet store (part of a small chain) just opened down the street from me...okay, I know, I know, they are new-but I'm already scared.
I figured I'd grab a few feeders while I checked it out. They had the normal stuff, a few interesting things like a lungfish and discus. The mollies already had cottonmouth though.
I asked the closest girl if they had any feeder fish, as I didn't see any in the tanks. She starts looking in every tank while stammering "uhhh...uhhh...I'm not sure...uhhh...I don't think so." Okay...so I walk away...and she comes and hunts me down a few minutes later and says that she asked someone, and they do have them. Okay, I need rosyreds/tuffies... she goes oh, the orange ones? No...tuffies..smaller than the goldfish. She says oh, the teeny tiny ones?
I finally ask to see them, I point out the ones I want, it took her over 10 minutes to get them for me. Bizarre that they wouldn't have showed everyone where the feeder fish were, or what they are.
.New pet store (part of a small chain) just opened down the street from me...okay, I know, I know, they are new-but I'm already scared.
I figured I'd grab a few feeders while I checked it out. They had the normal stuff, a few interesting things like a lungfish and discus. The mollies already had cottonmouth though.
I asked the closest girl if they had any feeder fish, as I didn't see any in the tanks. She starts looking in every tank while stammering "uhhh...uhhh...I'm not sure...uhhh...I don't think so." Okay...so I walk away...and she comes and hunts me down a few minutes later and says that she asked someone, and they do have them. Okay, I need rosyreds/tuffies... she goes oh, the orange ones? No...tuffies..smaller than the goldfish. She says oh, the teeny tiny ones?
I finally ask to see them, I point out the ones I want, it took her over 10 minutes to get them for me. Bizarre that they wouldn't have showed everyone where the feeder fish were, or what they are.Wow!! I work in a pet store and let me tell u, if a customer had to wait on me for 10minutes just for feeders, they would be very unpleaseant, which is totally understandable. Fortunately, this has never happened and will never happen. Im to good of a catch 
Sounds like it was her first day. You should go back and teach her about the fish. I do it if I find a hapless newbie at my LFS. Hasn't happened in awhile, but I do it. Managers don't mind. Just teach positive things and don't point out every obvious mistake the fish store is making unless it's something that can be fixed on the sly without making waves.
I’ve been beating myself up over an incident at my store yesterday.
We have a "New Guy". Super nice kid but pretty clueless. I see him scooping an oscar out for a customer and get a little worried, so I wander over to supervise. First, he's getting the oscars confused... He's netting two long fins ($12.99) but calling them babies ($7.99). So I go over to clarify which ones are which price. The customer is a little upset that they cost more than she thought, but says to go ahead. She then tells me they're to go with the other cichlids in her 10 gallon. Oh no. I try to explain that we don't recommend a single oscar for anything less than a 55 or 75, let alone two. But she's a know-it-all expert fish keeping b**** who tells me she's ALWAYS kept oscars in a 10. You can tell she’s one of those customers who won’t listen to a word you say.
Well, I’ve already had more than my fair share of crappy customers for the day, and a pounding headache to boot, and I just don’t have it in me to fight this one out. So I say fine, if you want to chance it, go for it, but I cannot give you any sort of guarantee on these fish. I tell New Kid to void her receipt and walk away. As she’s checking out, I hear her telling New Kid that I’m an idiot and don’t know anything because she’s always kept cichlids and Oscars in a 10 and never had any problems.
I know I should have told New Kid to put the fish back, but I felt like hell and just didn’t want to deal with another crappy, complaining customer. But now all I can think about is the fact that I allowed 2 oscars to be sold to an idiot who should be arrested for animal cruelty. I feel terrible. Ugh.
(The good news is I had a LONG talk with New Kid about how we never even pick up a net before asking the customer what kind of tank setup they have and what’s already in it.)
We have a "New Guy". Super nice kid but pretty clueless. I see him scooping an oscar out for a customer and get a little worried, so I wander over to supervise. First, he's getting the oscars confused... He's netting two long fins ($12.99) but calling them babies ($7.99). So I go over to clarify which ones are which price. The customer is a little upset that they cost more than she thought, but says to go ahead. She then tells me they're to go with the other cichlids in her 10 gallon. Oh no. I try to explain that we don't recommend a single oscar for anything less than a 55 or 75, let alone two. But she's a know-it-all expert fish keeping b**** who tells me she's ALWAYS kept oscars in a 10. You can tell she’s one of those customers who won’t listen to a word you say.
Well, I’ve already had more than my fair share of crappy customers for the day, and a pounding headache to boot, and I just don’t have it in me to fight this one out. So I say fine, if you want to chance it, go for it, but I cannot give you any sort of guarantee on these fish. I tell New Kid to void her receipt and walk away. As she’s checking out, I hear her telling New Kid that I’m an idiot and don’t know anything because she’s always kept cichlids and Oscars in a 10 and never had any problems.
I know I should have told New Kid to put the fish back, but I felt like hell and just didn’t want to deal with another crappy, complaining customer. But now all I can think about is the fact that I allowed 2 oscars to be sold to an idiot who should be arrested for animal cruelty. I feel terrible. Ugh.
(The good news is I had a LONG talk with New Kid about how we never even pick up a net before asking the customer what kind of tank setup they have and what’s already in it.)
wow. i would have denied the sale instantly! TWO oscars in a TEN gallon?!? wow i cant even think of how stunted they will be in a months time!
that was hilariousMiles;2321571; said:I think anyone who has worked in a LFS has a million of these..
Anyways, a guy came in the other day, and bought some clown loaches.. (twice my age, already knows more about fish than me based on this)
Inquired about 'dwarf angelfish'.. I chuckled, said no.. "we must be all sold out".. he continued on, to educate my young self on the wonderful world of 'dwarf angelfish'.. apparently if you were born after 1980 you probably wouldn't know much about the dwarf angelfish, and so obviously you would want to hear all about them because your young, stupid, and work for a corporate pet store.
I told him about our guarantee on the Clown Loaches, as they just came in a few days earlier, and I am a nice guy like that..
He told me he would 'climatize' them very well when he got them home.. I smirked, continued on with some good advice, made sure I threw the word 'acclimate' out there for him... he ensures me as he's leaving the department that he will 'emacitize' them for a long time..
Just so happens, I was the ole' back-up cashier to help him on his merry way.. We chatted a bit more, I asked him some silly questions just for S&Gs to see what kind of ridiculous retorts I would get. It was a fun time for all (mainly me, at his expensive).. but on the way out he told me again, and I quote "I will 'emancipate' them real well when I get 'em home!"...
So now our happy troop of clown loaches will live happily ever after with their dwarf angelfish, but only after adjusting to wheather changes, struggling with eating disorders, and becoming independant of their parent and/or guardian before the age of 18.
The End.
A few days ago I was going to look for some fish to stock my new 600. I was contemplating for a Jardini when some employee comes over. He asks me how big of a tank I have. I was like 60 grow out, and a 600 gallon indoor pond. That employee drops his jaw and tells me it's not possible. Then he refuses to get me the fish for my 60 g growout, which I explained, would be transfered to the 600. So I just ignore him and left. I never went back to that LFS.
