petsmart vs me

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pharmaecopia said:
Clearly most of you have never worked retail in a pet store. The amount of people that come in that are not hobbyists are why questions are asked. See how many people try to buy "nemo" and a fish bowl, and you will quickly see why.


Myself I generally ask two questions. What size of tank are the fish going to? How long has the tank been set up and running? As well any potential large growing fish, or incompatible fish are advised about. Now if this is too much probing and prying for you, I feel this reflects more on your self as a fish keeper than anything.
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It is true the vast majority of use have never worked retail in pet stores and I can understand you get asked a lot of stupid questions every day. That is the scenario most people are in. Most of our customers are stupid to the things that we sell them (be it service or product).

Those two question you ask are perfectly fine. The ones most of us have an issue with are not questions, but advice. I personally get sick of hearing the guy in Petsmart who keeps giving awful advice on things like an Oscar and a bunch of guppies getting along forever, or that I shouldn't gravel vac my gravel more than once every two months because all the good bacteria will be lost because the filter doesn't hold any. Things like that, which show a severe lack of knowledge. And that lack of knowledge will bite the company in the ass when they lose a customer because the dummy in aquatics sells an Oscar to a little girl and it eats Mr. Goldie and all his friends. Or they recommend the instant bacteria (which in my experience doesn't work even 1/4 as well as a fish less cycle or seeding a new aquarium with old media) and the customer loses all of their fish, so they think they are bad at it or lose heart and quit, which doesn't bring in any more money to the company.


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Mythic Figment said:
It is true the vast majority of use have never worked retail in pet stores and I can understand you get asked a lot of stupid questions every day. That is the scenario most people are in. Most of our customers are stupid to the things that we sell them (be it service or product).

Those two question you ask are perfectly fine. The ones most of us have an issue with are not questions, but advice. I personally get sick of hearing the guy in Petsmart who keeps giving awful advice on things like an Oscar and a bunch of guppies getting along forever, or that I shouldn't gravel vac my gravel more than once every two months because all the good bacteria will be lost because the filter doesn't hold any. Things like that, which show a severe lack of knowledge. And that lack of knowledge will bite the company in the ass when they lose a customer because the dummy in aquatics sells an Oscar to a little girl and it eats Mr. Goldie and all his friends. Or they recommend the instant bacteria (which in my experience doesn't work even 1/4 as well as a fish less cycle or seeding a new aquarium with old media) and the customer loses all of their fish, so they think they are bad at it or lose heart and quit, which doesn't bring in any more money to the company.


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This is where other procedures or guidelines can come into play. For example at my work we have certain species that are usually recommended as beginner fish, ones that we generally find hardy for new tanks. In additions we have certain stocking guidelines that are recommended for the first couple weeks. Certain guidelines for how often to clean the tank, and how much water to change. Different ways of labelling fish to provide general guidelines on compatibility.

By no means a perfect system, and it's up to the customer to decide to either follow the advice or not, but it's at least a standardized procedure that everyone follows.
 
Clown loaches went down to $5 each at PetSmart.

The company teaches the employees that a tank must be seeded and let sit for at least a week to get the cycle going, after the tank has sat the water is tested and then only a very small amount of fish can be added, anything outside of that will get you no guarantee for any fish you buy. It's a stripped down way of doing it and easiest for beginners who would usually otherwise just want to go home with the tank and fish and slap it all together in an afternoon. I think it's fun to educate employees if they'll listen, especially with petco and petsmart most are just getting into the hobby if at all, everyone has to start somewhere. Don't go out of your way to be rude to nubbie employees, they're just trying to make sure their fish live and don't know any better. As an employee I get treated like I don't know anything on a regular basis.

And everyone seems to have that 'well I had a goldfish that lived for 7 years and I never changed its water' story...


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pharmaecopia said:
This is where other procedures or guidelines can come into play. For example at my work we have certain species that are usually recommended as beginner fish, ones that we generally find hardy for new tanks. In additions we have certain stocking guidelines that are recommended for the first couple weeks. Certain guidelines for how often to clean the tank, and how much water to change. Different ways of labelling fish to provide general guidelines on compatibility.

By no means a perfect system, and it's up to the customer to decide to either follow the advice or not, but it's at least a standardized procedure that everyone follows.
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Well I would assume that you are a fish keeper since you are on this forum. That alone makes the difference in a good aquatics sales person in any big chain store. You have the knowledge through experience that allows you to be an asset rather than a hinderance to your customers. And even if you aren't a keeper, the fact that you are here means you have a desire to learn the topic either out of curiosity or a desire to better yourself at work. It's the aquatic sales people who don't have the knowledge who often are a hinderance.

And guidelines and procedures are all well and good. In fact, I can guarantee any big chain store has resources for their employees to further educate themselves beyond whatever material (if any) they are forced to learn for the position. The downside to all this is most of those employees with not read the extra material and will not likely follow the guidelines and procedures when it suits them.

But yes, at the end of the day the customer is the one who decides what advice (if any) to follow. But it should be the responsibility of the employee to give good advice regardless of whether the customer follows it or not.


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lilpendragon said:
Clown loaches went down to $5 each at PetSmart.

The company teaches the employees that a tank must be seeded and let sit for at least a week to get the cycle going, after the tank has sat the water is tested and then only a very small amount of fish can be added, anything outside of that will get you no guarantee for any fish you buy. It's a stripped down way of doing it and easiest for beginners who would usually otherwise just want to go home with the tank and fish and slap it all together in an afternoon. I think it's fun to educate employees if they'll listen, especially with petco and petsmart most are just getting into the hobby if at all, everyone has to start somewhere. Don't go out of your way to be rude to nubbie employees, they're just trying to make sure their fish live and don't know any better. As an employee I get treated like I don't know anything on a regular basis.

And everyone seems to have that 'well I had a goldfish that lived for 7 years and I never changed its water' story...


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Click to expand...

I am torn on clown loaches. I want them, but I sont have room to house full grown adults and likely won't for years to come. :(

I agree on teaching the employees a thing or two if they will listen. Unfortunately, my local Petsmart is full of people who have the "I know everything" attitude and anything I say goes in one ear and out the other. I love teaching things to people who will listen and have even a little desire to learn more (whether they are new to the hobby or more experienced).

I got my first aquarium 15 years ago and only stopped for a three year period during the college years. So 12 years is a decent amount of experience even though I know there are tons of people out there (especially in here) that have been doing this for much longer. I am pretty young (only 27 with a baby face), so I think a lot of people that I meet think I am just a beginner myself.


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At my LFS the guy selling fish misunderstood me when i said i had a 120 gallon aquarium and thought I said 29 gallon aquarium. I was like why can't i get this fish????? it is a 120 gallon... then eventuly he understood me and was cool with it... he said he was so used to dealing with people with small tanks buying big fish he thought i said 29 gallon. i was cool with it thought it was funney... LOL...
 
That is anoying, the funney thing is that 3 of there larger sized oscars or blood parrots at petsmart is a larger bioload than 20 neons... The problem is that they don't have a deep understanding of fishkeeping. They also just dont really know that tank size has a big role in how many fish and how many fish at once...
 
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