I truely find this whole thing amuseing. why?
I work in a LFS and have a sign next to my register
"we reserve the right to refuse service"
Guess what? I have a petsmart within 10 mins and a petco w/in 30 of where i work. I do not BS my customers, neither does my boss. You cater to those goldfish in a bowl types guess what? You now get to deal with them each time they sacrifice a fish to their stupidity no matter how many times you tell them it won't work and yet still sell it to them. The whole reason chain stores have not compleately wiped out ma and pa type fish stores is they can't provide the same fish I can. I cater to the true hobbyists mainly, and my customers are dedicated to their fish. and my store. I'm sure they've been to petsmart or petco.. but if they have a serious issue or question they come to us. and they buy from us for the most part because of the service we provide, we are hobbists ourselves. If I don't know an answer I tell my customers this, and I find the answer for them. or we talk it threw to figure out what sounds best. I'de rather look like an idiot to my customers sometimes, then feed a line of BS and them not trust what I do say when I do know the answer. I actually had customers pissed off at the last place I worked because I was fired.
We don't QT our feeders but we do treat if their is an issue. I personally buy my feeders there, and rarely have I needed to QT them. But i will if the batch comes in questionable, and I also inform my customers of this.And yes we have a handful of fish in our store that get live upon arrival, an emmaciated fish in a petstore is a bad sign. and some fish are wild caught and will only take live food. our fish are offered a varied diet, and I feed them no different then I would my own.
I've sold more fish being honest, then some of my co-workers have by just grabbing a net. my customers trust me, and aren't afraid to get the checkbook out with me. so to say it's a cycle that is intentionally done.. I call bad juju.. if your lfs is doing this intentionally.. my advise is to find a new one! and I don't mind annoying the more advanced hobbists w/ my constant questions the first time I meet them.. That just means next time they are in, I know what they have, their likes, filtration, feeders, ect, ect and makes subsiquent visits even faster for them and me if they need to be in and out. Or ask them how their tank is doing. And why do they come back? because i just proved I'm not some retard with a net tbh. I have fun walkign into lfs' and asking the staff questions, why do I do this? I have alot of money wrapped up in my tanks. Why would I trust someone else who can't answer some of the simpilist fishkeeping questions with my tanks? and my own questions?
If Lfs' don't make an effort to educate their customers why would they expect the customers to be educated to begin with? You can read a book about keeping a particular fish, but most people would also want to talk to someone who actually has kept it. And someone who truely wants to get into the hobby will at least get a book, or go on the internet. as a saleswoman.. lol .. I make my customers comfortable talking to me so they don't feel like an idiot for asking pretty obviouse questions. and most people won't because no one likes to feel stupid. But once you get them talking you can also identify their needs as a customer. and some lfs employees are downright jerks. and yes some customers are downright jerks.
I just had a customer the other day who has tiger barbs in a 55 and wanted to add about 24 cardinal tetras.. or about 50$ worth of tiger barb toys. The customer listened to my reasons why and decided to add some albino and green tiger barbs instead to add some change of color. I explained my reasons for the no, and offered other alternatives. and warned the barbs may still fight. But it was a much more comfortable option. and i will see that customer again the next time they want fish, because the last ones I sold them didn't all get killed by what they had originally. and they will liekly end up buying another tank to set-up for the cardinal tetras they so wanted. or they'll go elsewhere, get the cardinals.. waste a bucnh of time and fish death. and come back to me because I steared 'em right to begin with.
/shrug. Thats why I'm amused, and slightly peaved.
One example.. FOOD for every living creature 
