They should hire people who at least has some knowledge about fishes or are also into the hobby not just any person that thinks he knows everything. And the manager should teach thier employees information about the animals they are selling.
My First Horror Chain Story
- Thread starter benzjamin13
- Start date
dark_knights_99;1981323; said:
The problem is these big box pet stores are full of people who dont know much about properly keeping aquarium fish and the managers of the pet depts. dont care enough to be bothered to learn basic information so any minimum wage employee who bs'es their way through an interview is only gonna be concerned with selling what they can,doing as little as possible to actually help a customer while waiting for payday.
Kudos to you and your family for your efforts. Aside from having dept managers getting angry with you, you can also get a job by showing some level of knowledge.
I started helping in answering customers questions at a local lfs, about 30 years, only to have the manager offer me a part-time job (I was on Navy shore duty). The store's sales increased over several months and I kept getting raises. It was pretty cool.
When I came off my next sea tour and went looking for a moonlight job, several store owners looked to hire me. I went with another fish-only lfs and soon all of the regular customers at the 1st store switched over to the 2nd store. The owners eventually had me doing all of the livestock ordering so, you know I got whatever I was in the market for. By the time I left, I was making the same hourly wage as the manager.
I started helping in answering customers questions at a local lfs, about 30 years, only to have the manager offer me a part-time job (I was on Navy shore duty). The store's sales increased over several months and I kept getting raises. It was pretty cool.
When I came off my next sea tour and went looking for a moonlight job, several store owners looked to hire me. I went with another fish-only lfs and soon all of the regular customers at the 1st store switched over to the 2nd store. The owners eventually had me doing all of the livestock ordering so, you know I got whatever I was in the market for. By the time I left, I was making the same hourly wage as the manager.
I hate it when that happens once i stopped some guy buying oscars, angels, neons and a pleco for a 10g. So the assistant asked me if i was some sort of fish expert and i didnt like to lie so my answer was yes 
he said he would now more as he had 3 tanks (wow!!!) so i regailed him with storys of my tanks and ponds and now im banned 
he said he would now more as he had 3 tanks (wow!!!) so i regailed him with storys of my tanks and ponds and now im banned 
we have pets at home here in the uk like your petco, petsmart etc. they have no labels on the largest, most aggro cichlids in store, oscars and texas, and one guy was looking at the cute little texas' wanting food and i could see the "awww how cute, i want one" look. so i happened to mention to the wife, a tad louder than normal, about how they get to 12" ish and can be quite aggressive and even stone cold killers on occasion. he glimpsed at me as if to say "thanks for the warning" and quickly wandered off. the fish guy at that moment did not look impressed.
although they arent all bad. i had a good conversation about GT's and saums to one staff member who was interested, and surprised, to find out that saums and GT's are in fact different fish and how saums can in fact be gentle souls like my old one. so there is some hope and i did, in fact, feel reassured that someone in the shop cares, even if its just a little more than the others.
although they arent all bad. i had a good conversation about GT's and saums to one staff member who was interested, and surprised, to find out that saums and GT's are in fact different fish and how saums can in fact be gentle souls like my old one. so there is some hope and i did, in fact, feel reassured that someone in the shop cares, even if its just a little more than the others.
unfortunately, its business. refusing to sell fish to someone who will abuse it is (while moral), bad business.
it would be like owning a liquor store and refusing to make sales to anyone planning on having more than 2 drinks a night. while you are behaving morally, you will also be out of business within a month (maybe 3, if you have enough liquid assets to keep the sinking ship afloat).
it would be like owning a liquor store and refusing to make sales to anyone planning on having more than 2 drinks a night. while you are behaving morally, you will also be out of business within a month (maybe 3, if you have enough liquid assets to keep the sinking ship afloat).
LoL that is similar to when I was starting out, I wanted to keep Cichlids. My grandparents were going to buy me the fish so we went to petsmart and I said I wanted an oscar (for my 150 at the time, which I told her I had) + a JD but as soon as I said "oscar and" the know it all fish manager said that Oscars eat fish (the JDs were the same size as the O) so you cant keep them with other fish.
I told her that from what I have read and from what I have been told it is fine to house oscars with other cichlids, so just give me the oscar and the JD and I will see what happens. She says no I will not sell you the Oscar with a JD but because she was the manager my grandparents believed her over me...
But I just said ok fine I will get them from some where else, which is what I did.
I told her that from what I have read and from what I have been told it is fine to house oscars with other cichlids, so just give me the oscar and the JD and I will see what happens. She says no I will not sell you the Oscar with a JD but because she was the manager my grandparents believed her over me...
But I just said ok fine I will get them from some where else, which is what I did.
You know what is sad..
is when these stories proliferate all over the internet and then people go into corp. pet stores with a pre-determined disposition on how they will act towards the associates.. then they miss out on having the chance to actually have intelligent conversations and learn something because they are so ignorant that they refuse to believe anything that the fish people tell them..
For example, a guy came into my store the other day bragging about his sweet stingray he bought at the LFS and how it started eating his tetras. He had his 8" motoro in a 48 bowfront, told me it would live there for life..
I tried for.... about 30 seconds.... to help him.. He cut me off mid-sentance, told me I wouldn't know because I work for corp. So I let the jackass buy a bunch of fish that will kill his ray .. good. It's going to die anyways. If he wouldn't of been such a jerk he could of had a chance to talk to someone more versed about rays than every LFS owner combined in the entire city.
BOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Don't be ignorant.
PS. - Majority do suck, but there are hidden gems. If you don't look, you won't find.. and if you act ignorant, you surely will miss out.
is when these stories proliferate all over the internet and then people go into corp. pet stores with a pre-determined disposition on how they will act towards the associates.. then they miss out on having the chance to actually have intelligent conversations and learn something because they are so ignorant that they refuse to believe anything that the fish people tell them..
For example, a guy came into my store the other day bragging about his sweet stingray he bought at the LFS and how it started eating his tetras. He had his 8" motoro in a 48 bowfront, told me it would live there for life..
I tried for.... about 30 seconds.... to help him.. He cut me off mid-sentance, told me I wouldn't know because I work for corp. So I let the jackass buy a bunch of fish that will kill his ray .. good. It's going to die anyways. If he wouldn't of been such a jerk he could of had a chance to talk to someone more versed about rays than every LFS owner combined in the entire city.
BOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Don't be ignorant.
PS. - Majority do suck, but there are hidden gems. If you don't look, you won't find.. and if you act ignorant, you surely will miss out.
Don't you love those customers that come in and know it all, and don't need help? Gotta keep your head in the game though miles, and prove to them that you know what you are talking about.
