Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...

[_Jessica_]

This week has been a doozy for me. First off, someone I know threw 30 tetras and guppies into a newish 29g tank about a week ago...I've been counting down the days until she came to me asking why she is all of a sudden losing fish. She still dosen't get it and says the fish were probably sick. Sigh.

Today someone came in, told me his nitrites and nitrates are off the charts and he's lost about 8 fish in the last day or so. I kind of cringe and ask what he has in the tank... like a dozen goldfish, a "bass", bala sharks, angels, "dragonfish". In a 35g. Whoo hoo... sigh.

And then the worst of the week...
Will this wolf fish hurt my turtles?
Not likely..but what kind of turtles?
Oh...two all igator snappers, but I have a 110g.
What? I really don't know much about turtles, but I'm 99% sure you are going to lose any fish you put in with those guys.
Oh, they don't mess with anything bigger than they can swallow. I'll take the wolf fish and an Electric Catfish.
Double sigh. If only people listened.

 

[creepyoldguy]

i was inquiring about a large flowerhorn my lfs had. to make a long story short, somewhere in the story, he told me you breed a flowerhorn and red devil to get a trimac! lol, think he has it a little backwards

 

[_Jessica_]

For those that work at LFS...do you guys ever get a little offended when people call certain fish ugly? Haha, for the most part I know each and every one of "my" fish, I get sad when some sell, they are kind of like my kids. I had some kids (teenagers) looking at "my" undulated trigger one time, one of them said it needed to be taken out back and stomped on it was so ugly...I really had to hold my tongue. My poor eels get the brunt of it too...I have a green wolf blenny, some girl said today he looks like a big fat ugly worm. 75% of women and kids are scared of him. Aww, it hurts his self esteem, hahaha.

 

[Darth Scohin]

For those that work at LFS...do you guys ever get a little offended when people call certain fish ugly? Haha, for the most part I know each and every one of "my" fish, I get sad when some sell, they are kind of like my kids. I had some kids (teenagers) looking at "my" undulated trigger one time, one of them said it needed to be taken out back and stomped on it was so ugly...I really had to hold my tongue. My poor eels get the brunt of it too...I have a green wolf blenny, some girl said today he looks like a big fat ugly worm. 75% of women and kids are scared of him. Aww, it hurts his self esteem, hahaha.

Yeah when people look at the little Sens and go THATS UGLY it makes me said ....Yeah Also apparently people don't understand the concept of a sump/open circulation system

 

[Gervahlt]

I had a guy come in today trying to figure out his water parameters. Said he knew everything there was to know about it and had been keeping fish for years...blah, blah, blah.

I'd be fine with that, but he couldn't understand why he was having a problem when I told him he'd somehow managed to kill his nitrifying bacteria. He was showing ammonia, nitrites, AND 200+ ppm nitrates. I told him he needed to do a series of immediate, small water changes over the next couple of days to bring all three parameters under control without shocking his somehow still-living fish. He looked at me blankly and tried starting his conversation over three more times.

I think he was confused by the idea of doing a water change.

 

[BenSow]

recently i was at a book store in portland, ME that had a very large, healthy oscar as a store pet. as i was admiring it a complete strange walked up to me and started talking to me, the conversation went as follows:

guy: those things are effing mean, they will take your finger clean off. (pointing at the fish)
me: is that so (i have learned that it is easier to just let people think you believe them, even when you know they are completely full of it)
guy: yeah, i fought them once (now i am starting to realize that this guys isn't quite "all-there")
me: really!? (again, humoring him)
guy: yeah them and pirahnas, smashed their effing skulls. like Bruce Li with fish. ROFL
me : wow, i used to have one as a pet, it wasn't very mean at all
guy: well these was wild ones in the rain forest, i spent three months in the rain forest, you know. (definitely full of BS)
me: cool, where 'bouts?
guy: in the rainforest, where these guys are from.... where are these guys from???
me: south america
guy: yeah south america, i spent three years in south america (notice how it's three years now)
me: wow, hey i have to go now, nice talking to you (he was starting to freak me out)

u shouldve said they're from canada!!

 

[Gearhead]

This happened to me the other day.

Customer: How big do ID sharks get?
Employee: I dont know. I've never seen one bigger than 6in so a 20 gallon should be fine.
Me: Actually they get about 5ft long.
Employee: Really? Well a 125 gallon is 6ft long so that should be fine.
Me: No, they need a tank of around 1,000 gallons.
Customer: Well I'll just get one for my 20 gallon. They only grow to the size of the tank, right?
Employee: Ya, if you put it in a 20 gallon it'll only get about 6in.

I just got annoyed and walked away.

 

[Dark Jester]

Wow. Finally finished this thread after reading off and on all weekend. My faith in humanity has been sufficiently destroyed.

Just curious, why do some people seem to have a problem with 'testing' a LFS employee? If I ask what size tank I need for an Oscar and they tell me a 20g will work, that tells me not to trust any other advice from that individual because either:

A) They are ignorant about one of the more common fish in the hobby so aren't likely to be any more educated on anything else.
B) They may know better but are willing to pass on bad advice to a customer to make a sale.
C) They don't know the answer but don't want to appear ignorant so they make something up.

If they give me a good answer to a test question or honestly tell me they aren't sure then I feel better about asking and taking that individual's advice in future conversations. If they lie to me or give me bad info trying to make a sell, I know that I can take anything they say with a grain of salt and I'll need to verify anything said through another source. I don't see the problem with that. A quick 15 second question-answer exchange can save a lot of potentially wasted time later on.

Unfortunately I don't have any actual LFS near me other than the big box stores (Petco, Petsmart, Pet Supermarket). With their turnover rate (especially in summer months), I'd like to know if the person I am asking for advice knows what they are talking about or they are just feeding me a line of crap. I'd agree with what some have previously said in that there are some knowledgable employees at the big box stores, and some that shouldn't be anywhere near a container with water in it.

=-=-=-=-=

On an unrelated note, I found another site a few years ago about a video game store owner in Canada relating his customer horror stories over a period of like 8 years. I laughed for about 6 hours straight the first time I found it. http://www.actsofgord.com/

Reading this thread made me think of it. If you guys like this thread, you'll love his site. No new content unfortunately though, as he got out of the retail game a couple years ago.

Anyway, keep the stories coming guys.

 

[moo.]

On an unrelated note, I found another site a few years ago about a video game store owner in Canada relating his customer horror stories over a period of like 8 years. I laughed for about 6 hours straight the first time I found it. http://www.actsofgord.com/

HAHAHAAH Ive been reading this site for hours! Its hilarious! Makes me feel better knowing that its not just the pet industry getting all the idiot customers.

 

[Gervahlt]

Well, I solved the Mystery of the Vicious Molly today...

A customer came in today insisting they had this "vicious" molly that was attacking, killing, and completely consuming their fish. So far it had managed to kill off three of their other fish. Unfortunately, my evening hobby-money job is at Petsmart, so not every employee there knows a ton about fish. They did their best, but the manager and one other employee had already given up and were just giving him new fish under the 14-day guarantee Petsmart has and were accepting the "vicious" molly back from the customer.

At this point, the manager leaves and the other employee is getting asked about some furry creatures that I don't know much about, so I take over. Before getting any fish for them, I talked to them a bit and figured out their issue: they never put the extension on the filter intake with the screen. Their fish were being made into margaritas which were then spread across the back of their filter media. They took the molly back and bought some more fish after feeling quite embarrassed.