My First Horror Chain Story

[Miles]

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.

I'm glad you didnt try to come Quiz me that could of been funny


But yes we get the 'salties' in all the time that just come buy there bucket of salt and marine flakes and WONT EVEN MAKE EYE CONTACT with 'THE STUPIDs' at the podium.. I try to spark up a conversation like "So do you just do live rock and fish or are you a reefkeeper?" and I ALWAYS get the cold shoulder.. LOL..

or the foreign guys who kept fish when they were a kid and need absolutely no help picking out fish.. Then he buys neons and giant danios!?!?!?!?! wtf..

 

[Miles]

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.

I've learned that trying to 'prove' to them in any other way by offering solid help is a waste of time.. Then you get these jerks that get in the 'big johnson' match and always try to act like there crap is better..

I SELDOM tell people I have 1k gallons, a 375g and a slew of rays at home.. but if people ask me, I tell them, and they always act amazed.. It's funny because sometimes the fish 'experts' will come in 4 or 5 times before they realize that I know my stuff and start asking me questions. They always act real pompous at first too until I start telling them stuff they never knew before.. (ie: guy still says he wont pay over 300 for a black ray.. he wouldn't believe me about Brazil.. got online, came back, and said 'wow your right!'.. )

 

[Killerhap]

i love to go to my lfs and act like i dont know anything just to see how deceiving the sales reps. are.

I do the same thing, I just play dumb and ask lots of newbie questions. It is amazing what kind of answers I get.

 

[Bethany]

yeah, i watched a guy sell a baby oscar, to an elderly couple with their little grandson with a ten gallon, i wanted to say something so bad when he sold them a medium sized pleco along with it. but the guy is a jerk, and has refused to sell me fish before, saying 5 danios in a ten gallon community was overstocking. sales people are idiots...poor little oscar, probably going to come back when it's huge as a adoption fish that no one will pick up

 

[benzjamin13]

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.

Nah...not me. I'm always polite when it comes to any place of business. Cuz I do know that there are people like you who know tons of info who just happen to work for a corp. (hey, you get benefits...eventually). I knew a guy who worked for Petco who was amazing with his knowledge of fish. After 6 or 7 years of working there, he quit and now works for a manufacture. And I have to say that, that Petco hasn't looked as good or have the same service since he left. He was also in charge of the fish department. So he made sure everything was done correctly and shared info with employees working in the fish room.

That's why I was kind of shock when the manager had that talk with me. I didn't say anything about the employee to the customer or the manager, but he said, "I don't know anything about Oscars" And then the customer asked me. So I don't know why he got insulted and got the manager on me

 

[Fish on Fire]

Haha, dang, that reminds me of the other day when I went to a LPS that used to have a really good fish section. I was browsing the place when this guy asked one of the workers about HITH on his oscar. Naturally, the worker asked him what he was feeding the oscar, the guy said that he was feeding it goldfish feeders. And the worker goes.

"Oh, that's why. Goldfish feeders sometimes carry parasites that eat holes in your oscar's head." and I thought, ok . . . at least he's suggesting to get the fish off of the feeders. Then he continued. "You should switch the oscar to guppies and minnows. Guppies and minnows will heal the holes right up and the problem will go away."

I thought that he knew at least a little bit of his stuff, but I guess not, lol. I was gonna ask the guy about hiswater params, if he had carbon in his filter, if he fed the oscar anything other than feeders, etc etc. But he left already with a big bag of feeder guppies and minnows that were so small, it would probably take 20-25 of them to fill his 10" oscar up.

 

[WyldFya]

I'm glad you didnt try to come Quiz me that could of been funny


But yes we get the 'salties' in all the time that just come buy there bucket of salt and marine flakes and WONT EVEN MAKE EYE CONTACT with 'THE STUPIDs' at the podium.. I try to spark up a conversation like "So do you just do live rock and fish or are you a reefkeeper?" and I ALWAYS get the cold shoulder.. LOL..

or the foreign guys who kept fish when they were a kid and need absolutely no help picking out fish.. Then he buys neons and giant danios!?!?!?!?! wtf..

Salties like that act like that in corporate, full service private pet stores and marine specialty shops (I've worked all three). They are by far (as a whole) the worst fish customers.

 

[miss__kp]

Salties like that act like that in corporate, full service pet stores and marine specialty shops (I've worked all three). They are by far (in general) the worst fish customers.

How true! I see a lot of saltwater snobbery where I work, customers blatantly saying in front of other customers that they shouldn't be made to wait while we answer their "beginner" and "freshwater" questions.

Now I've seen my fair share of terrible advice from employees, though I feel the potential owner should accept some responsibility and do some research into their prospective tank / fish.

 

[Drewhop]

I just try and ignore most of the suggestions from LFS workers. But i have given advice to some people who were just starting out.

Im excited to get yelled at in the future for giving someone good advice tho.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Its mad the world we live in