Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...
- Thread starter Miles
- Start date
NCStateFisher;4703500; said:
ive convinced people not to get balas for bowls.... but it was only because i pointed to the card in front of the petsmart tank with them that said they got to 12"... people listen for the wrong reasons, or not at all.
So I'm in petsmart last week buying dog food for my 4 dogs, I don't buy too many fish from them but like to go over to check out their stock just in case they may have gotten something I like. So these two construction workers or guys dressed like construction workers walk in and head straight to the fish section. One of the guys asks the other how big his tank was, I could tell the guy really doesn't have a clue what size his tank is and starts to look for a tank he thinks may be the same size as his as a reference. So now I'm locked in on their conversation. The one guy who asked about the tank walks off in a different direction while the other guy comes and starts looking at the fish.
Guy: Oh this is a nice Jack Dempsey
Me : That's not a Jack Dempsey (Blue Peacock Cichlid)
Guy: It' says on the sign it's a JD
Me: They may have had one in their previously and forgot to remove the sign
that's a blue peacock.
Guy: Oh, you know a lot about fish.
Me : No , I have three JD's so I am familiar with what they look like. What
Kinda fish are you looking for?
Guy: My oscar just died and I'm looking for some cheap fish to put in my tank to see if they live.
Me : What?
Guy: It's kinda of a funny story, my wife was complaining about how dirty the tank was so this sunday I decided to clean it, it had a lot of that "white algae" on the top and sides so I got some CLR and cleaned it off and added some more water.
Me:
You put CLR in your tank with the fish in it?
Guy: Yea, after the football game was over I looked in the tank and my fish was floating upside down.
Me: Have you emptied the tank, rinsed it the gravel and the filter thoroughly? You can't put any more fish in there until that tank is cleaned. You're basically gonna have to start all over and cycle your tank again before you add any more fish.
Guy: No I just changed the water, and my filter is broken so I'm gonna get a new one today.
Needless to say I spent another 15 minutes explaining what "cycling" a tank was, advising him to purchase a test kit(he didn't know they existed)showing the guy what a python was and how it could make his tank maintenance so much easier and effective, (he decided to buy one online because they were too expensive at the store). After that I gave up and walked away
I went home and told my husband(who knows a minimum at best about fish) and even he said what an idiot!!
Guy: Oh this is a nice Jack Dempsey
Me : That's not a Jack Dempsey (Blue Peacock Cichlid)
Guy: It' says on the sign it's a JD
Me: They may have had one in their previously and forgot to remove the sign
that's a blue peacock.
Guy: Oh, you know a lot about fish.
Me : No , I have three JD's so I am familiar with what they look like. What
Kinda fish are you looking for?
Guy: My oscar just died and I'm looking for some cheap fish to put in my tank to see if they live.
Me : What?
Guy: It's kinda of a funny story, my wife was complaining about how dirty the tank was so this sunday I decided to clean it, it had a lot of that "white algae" on the top and sides so I got some CLR and cleaned it off and added some more water.
Me:
You put CLR in your tank with the fish in it?Guy: Yea, after the football game was over I looked in the tank and my fish was floating upside down.
Me: Have you emptied the tank, rinsed it the gravel and the filter thoroughly? You can't put any more fish in there until that tank is cleaned. You're basically gonna have to start all over and cycle your tank again before you add any more fish.
Guy: No I just changed the water, and my filter is broken so I'm gonna get a new one today.
Needless to say I spent another 15 minutes explaining what "cycling" a tank was, advising him to purchase a test kit(he didn't know they existed)showing the guy what a python was and how it could make his tank maintenance so much easier and effective, (he decided to buy one online because they were too expensive at the store). After that I gave up and walked away
I went home and told my husband(who knows a minimum at best about fish) and even he said what an idiot!!
Plec123;4704313; said:
ive convinced people not to get balas for bowls.... but it was only because i pointed to the card in front of the petsmart tank with them that said they got to 12"... people listen for the wrong reasons, or not at all.
oh i tried... he wanted a columbian shark as well, told him how big they get, and he said 'i dun care its gon be in a big 10 gallun tank' so i made sure he got the sickest, most ich infested one we had (only tank in the store that currently has ich) mildly unprofessional but hey, he shoulda listened
This just happened to me like 10 minutes ago:
I went to the pet store around the block from work.
I was deciding which brand of sinking pellets to buy, cause I ran out last night. The guy was showing me all the different kinds, when this kid 9-10 years old comes in, and starts asking for stuff (dechlorinator, and other stuff).
I was making up my mind so the guy starts helping another customers, so I went to take a look at their show tank, containing a RTC, black Pacu and 2 12'' plecos.
While I was thinking how small the tank was for their stock, the kid comes by and tells me he really likes the big plecos, and that he had one that killed all the other fish in his thank.
So I get curious, and ask him, if he was sure it was a pleco, he says he is. So my best guess is that something else did the killing, and he being a kid blame the pleco, so I asked what size thank he had, what else he had in there, and how big was the pleco.
He showed me with his fingers that his pleco was about 3 inches (my first thought was that he had a monster pleco that crapped the rest to death).
My second thought is that he had something more agresive than a pleco, then he told me that his died after killing all the other fish.
He said he had tetras, angels, gold fish and an iridescent shark in a 10 gal. To which I explain all that is wrong with that, and that probably his fish died from overstocking, also that he shouldnt keep goldfish and tropical fish together.
He was still fixed in that his pleco killed all the other fish and then killed himself. After that I just got to the register, paid for the pellets and left. Still I thought it was pretty interesting to see such a young kid so into fish keeping, and I also felt sorry that I couldn't, (or the guy at the store or anyone) help him more, maybe prevent more plecos committing murder/suicide in his tank
I went to the pet store around the block from work.
I was deciding which brand of sinking pellets to buy, cause I ran out last night. The guy was showing me all the different kinds, when this kid 9-10 years old comes in, and starts asking for stuff (dechlorinator, and other stuff).
I was making up my mind so the guy starts helping another customers, so I went to take a look at their show tank, containing a RTC, black Pacu and 2 12'' plecos.
While I was thinking how small the tank was for their stock, the kid comes by and tells me he really likes the big plecos, and that he had one that killed all the other fish in his thank.
So I get curious, and ask him, if he was sure it was a pleco, he says he is. So my best guess is that something else did the killing, and he being a kid blame the pleco, so I asked what size thank he had, what else he had in there, and how big was the pleco.
He showed me with his fingers that his pleco was about 3 inches (my first thought was that he had a monster pleco that crapped the rest to death).
My second thought is that he had something more agresive than a pleco, then he told me that his died after killing all the other fish.
He said he had tetras, angels, gold fish and an iridescent shark in a 10 gal. To which I explain all that is wrong with that, and that probably his fish died from overstocking, also that he shouldnt keep goldfish and tropical fish together.
He was still fixed in that his pleco killed all the other fish and then killed himself. After that I just got to the register, paid for the pellets and left. Still I thought it was pretty interesting to see such a young kid so into fish keeping, and I also felt sorry that I couldn't, (or the guy at the store or anyone) help him more, maybe prevent more plecos committing murder/suicide in his tank
he'll eventually spend all his money and figure it out, and then if he stays in the hobby it will be something to learn from. The one monster I constantly have to talk people out of, even more often than oscars and plecos are ID sharks. They're like 2 inches when we sell em and people simply don't listen when i say they can grow 3+ feet and over an inch a month easily - so frustrating ;\
NCStateFisher;4705045; said:
Well, he could, I mean he is just a kid, he'll probably be discouraged and just give up, all because some salesman was to eager to make a sell to inform him that his new fish will outgrow his tank in a hearthbeat.
I bet when he bought the fish he just picked all the fish he liked, and the guy just bagged them without asking a single question.
was in my fave LFS yesterday, saw a little Rainbow cichlid and decided I would buy it ... but first I walked around, checking the other tanks ...
when I came back to where the Rainbow was, I spotted a large white Parrot cichlid lying on a shelf (i.e., not in the water) ... it hadn't been there before !
I quickly went to put him back -- somewhere -- but noticed all the tanks around him were saltwater (?) ... so I looked around, got a staff member's attention, and he came over and put him back where he belonged
his tank was about 5 feet above the shelf he was lying on ... so he had dropped all that way after jumping out ... ouch
it was a $60 fish ... I have no love for Parrots, but still hope he survives that fall ...
when I came back to where the Rainbow was, I spotted a large white Parrot cichlid lying on a shelf (i.e., not in the water) ... it hadn't been there before !
I quickly went to put him back -- somewhere -- but noticed all the tanks around him were saltwater (?) ... so I looked around, got a staff member's attention, and he came over and put him back where he belonged
his tank was about 5 feet above the shelf he was lying on ... so he had dropped all that way after jumping out ... ouch
it was a $60 fish ... I have no love for Parrots, but still hope he survives that fall ...
Can I cry in here? Just out of sheer frustration...some guy came in today and bought two baby angels, a rainbow shark, and two feeder goldfish....for his one gallon bowl. He didn't care, not one bit, absolutely ignored the advice I was throwing at him. I would hope he learns but he said he already tried a few different of combinations of fish from Walmart, so he was trying us to see if our fish are better. 
