Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...

[vwilliams1475]

Why the hell is this thread not pinned yet? It has more pages then most the Pinned ones I have seen. On other sites I have moded on in the past this bad boy would have been pinned.

Anyway, I was at walmart and I was by the fish section picking up food and acouple filter packs. A guy was there wanting to build a 10g comunity for his daughter and was asking the Walmart employee about what he needed to do. So me being me I start educating the two on requirements, best community fish, ect. Needless to say the Walmart guy kept thanking me because he was learning and I was doing all the work minus bagging.

By the end I was surrounded by tons of people asking me about tanks, fish, setups, ect, and I feel something. You husbands know it, that slight uncomfortable feeling that burns deep inside. As if someone is peering deep into your soul dissapprovingly. So I look up and see my wife glaring at me by her cart. She hates my hobby and the fact that I can't keep my mouth shut when I hear bad advice and animal care. What can I say though, I was raised that way. You google Dr John Hoover(My father) and one of the first pictures you see is him working on tiger or a lion. She came looking for me when it took me over 10mins just to grab fish food. So I drop the site(MFK) get many "Thank you's" and walk over to the wife with my kids. My oldest son proceeds to tell her "Daddy is a genuis mom, he helped all those people". She laughs and wants to go pick up make up. In the words of the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, "I get no respect".

it would be nice if this was pinned then i would not have to keep looking for it.

 

[vwilliams1475]

i only have one short story... i could make it long but you probably dont want to read all that. so any way i was in petco and i met this the girl about 17-20 who had a ten gallon with 2 gold fish in it. ( was 3 but you will understand soon y one died)
Anyway she is there looking for a new filter for her ten gallon. i told her i like the AC and recomend a AC30 b/c goldfish are kinda messy. none the less she bought a ten dollar less
submersible wisper one.
u ased her a few common question

me: when did you set up your tank?

her:about 3 weeks ago

me:how many fish do you have?

her: 2, had 3 but one died already

me:do you know about the nitrogen cycle?

her: blank stare..no ?

after about ten mins trying to explain it to her we get to this question...

me what do you do when you clean the tank

o i put the fish in bowl and cleann the hole tank then fill it back up.(come to find out she washes her gavel off to).

 

[eatingleg4peanut]

sad, but she's just new an doing what she thinks is best, good thing you informed her. I'm only forgiving because I did the same thing when I knew nothing about fish.

 

[LGyure85]

I work at an LFS in TN. My biggest problem is rarely with the customers, I have no problem tell them "no" when a fish is innappropriate for their tank. The problem is that my dept. manager is so focused on selling things, and th4e store manager is so focused on no angering customers, that I am never allowed to refuse a sale (even though policy says I am). If I try, the customer complains to one of the managers and they get the fish for them. My department manager even condones putting plecos with goldfish,and goldfish with tropical fish. He sees no problem with 5-10 goldfish in a 10 gal tank either. If I didn't need the insurance, I would be calling PETA and the Humane Society (though I doubt either would really care, as "they are just fish" according to most people).

 

[burzumaske20]

Today,I actually had to educate a employee a little bit about cichlids.I asked him if he had any larger cichlids,he said yes we actually received this one into today.He was saying its a firemouth,but I couldn't clearly see it,so he took the fish that was still in the bag out of the tank real quick,so I can have a look.I told him that is no firemouth,that is a Flowerhorn.He said I will sell it to you for 10 dollars,which was very tempting,but I told him I can't do it due to having larger cichlids in a 125 gallon and it wouldn't work out properly,but let me think about it anyways just incase.So the tank this guy was going to put this flowerhorn into was a Oscar tank.They had one 2 inch Oscar that was going to be put with a 5 inch Flowerhorn.I told the employee,I wouldn't recommend putting that flowerhorn with that Oscar in the small tank,it will end up killing the Oscar in a day or 2.Even though the employee almost risked killing this 2 inch oscar,I did petland a favor and made sure a 2 inch Oscar will not get killed by this 5 inch gorgeous Flowerhorn.The employee actually put the flowerhorn into his own tank and listen to the advise I gave him.Even though not all corporate employees at chain stores are not that bright,but have those who are very smart.Its always nice to have conversations with them,to give good information on specific fishes that should be kept alone or talk about what tank set ups we have with fishes.

 

[TaratronVaeVictus]

Unfortunately overall I can't see this policy changing anytime soon. The managers in pet stores are largely spineless because their managers will fall on them for one slightly peeved customer. Customers have the idea that they are always right (and I'd like to kill the idiot that coined that term) and the schmuck working retail is wrong and stupid because he is working retail.

Sometimes the best you can do is nod, wear that fake smile Disney princesses always do (after they realized they married a street rat or a prince they know nothing about), and take better care of your own fish.

 

[burzumaske20]

I had one lady that works at petsmart saying I am sorry I am a novice with fish equipment,please due explain.So I told her what the eheim pro vac was exactly,very nice lady and didn't try to play it off like she knew what she was talking about.So you do have employees and customers who are willing to learn or tell the truth that they have no clue what they're doing first place.

 

[_Jessica_]

Unfortunately overall I can't see this policy changing anytime soon. The managers in pet stores are largely spineless because their managers will fall on them for one slightly peeved customer. Customers have the idea that they are always right (and I'd like to kill the idiot that coined that term) and the schmuck working retail is wrong and stupid because he is working retail.

Sometimes the best you can do is nod, wear that fake smile Disney princesses always do (after they realized they married a street rat or a prince they know nothing about), and take better care of your own fish.

The owners of my store aren't afraid to "fire" pain in the ass customers...but it always seems like it's all or nothing...they are either telling them to go elsewhere, or giving them a gift card. It is hard to stand up to a customer, and try to be firm on something like a store policy, when if they to management, management will okay it.
Like a few weeks ago..someone bought a hamster cage. Two days after she bought it, they went on sale...so naturally the woman called and was upset that she paid full price when they were going on sale and asked to have the difference refunded to her. I told her hell no (in a nice way), and she asked to speak to a manager and the manager let her do it. I just don't get it.

 

[Nighttouch]

.
Like a few weeks ago..someone bought a hamster cage. Two days after she bought it, they went on sale...so naturally the woman called and was upset that she paid full price when they were going on sale and asked to have the difference refunded to her. I told her hell no (in a nice way), and she asked to speak to a manager and the manager let her do it. I just don't get it.

Many retail store let you bring in a receipt from the last 2 weeks and refund the difference if an item goes on sale. This is a very common practice.

 

[redtailcatfreak]

A few days ago i was at the LFS and i over heard a couple talkin about getting a fish that could basically just live in a bowl. As a gift for their nephew. They were looking at bichirs and dragon fish and a phantom pleco. Well they finally decided to get one of those 2.5 gallon tanks that comes with lights, filter, heaters. Then they saw a RTCxTSN 4". I told them that wasnt a good idea because they grew big and they grew fast. They laughed and said that would be funny to see their nephew freak out whenit got to big. WTF!!?? I told the manager to bag it up and i took it instead haha