Why Do people hate pet shop employees.

[dougefresh]

I don't think people on here "hate" any employees......some just dislike the way some employees act towards buyers or the way they try to sell .....because a lot of employees (more so with big chain fish stores) don't know what they are talking about or are just not knowledgeable in what they are selling................

 

[moxxommox]

Being a full time employee at an aquarium store, there are days when you get pestered all day, you get soooooooooooooooo many tire kickers you get a lot of people who can’t speak the language which is spoken (English) you get people who NEVER ever listen (eg my water is dirty, what chemicals do you have to fix it, there is all green stuff on the glass, what chemicals do you have”, you suggest that goldfish do not go well in tropical water and vice versa, you get the same old talk about WHY YOU NEED A HEATER for tropical fish, you get into many arguments over the importance of filtration, about aging water, over stocking tanks, about how much fish dislike chorine and why it’s vital to de-chlorinate your tap water, PH testing and water changes.

Just because a LFS employee seems un-educated about topics, give them a break, they may know more than you on other subjects, They are only trying to help as much as they can, sometimes they have no interest in fish keeping at all, but give them a break, maybe they just had one of those “super” customers prior to you, the ones that say,

“I have just put tap water with a kilo of salt in my 10g fish tank, it has no heater, nor filter, and I’ve put charcoal at the bottom of the tank, can I have that Saratoga and 2 kuhli loachs. Its under a window so it will get a lot of light, do I have to feed it more than 2 times a week? Oh and don’t even bother asking if I’m going to water change. Oh yeah, don’t worry about a bag, I’ll put it in my pocket, do you take personal checks?”

/rant

 

[Lil_Stinker]

Arrogance and Ignorance.

Most people feel they know more than anyone else, and in reality they do not.

A customer may feel the employee is being arrogant, and in return needs to prove themselves right. Their ignorance causes them to make poor selections based on this belief.

The goal of any teacher (yes, you are a teacher) is to guide the student (customers are students) to the correct decision, without causing this defense mechanism to kick in. They need to feel like they were helped with, not forced to make the correct choices.

 

[beex215]

I work for my local pet store, and iwas wondering why everyone hates pet shop employees. I mean when setting up a new tank they just dont listin. im doing my best to help not just sell you stuff ,,.

its bcuz "the customer is always rite"
f no

as long as you are trying to do the rite thing and not just sell them stuff

 

[koliveira]

Hey Donnie!! AKA Doughnut. Im glad to see you on here bro!!

 

[Ophiuchus]

Yeah, there's definitely two sides to this issue.

Every customer that comes in and has a problem, I ask the same series of questions: How big is the tank? How many fish and what kind? Is it a new tank? How long has it been set up? Whats the temps? etc etc etc.

Yeah, some "veterans" of the hobby that genuinely know what they're doing get annoyed at this "interregation" and I explain to them, look, the more I know about your tank, the better we can determine the problem. Its how I distinguish the dummies from the experts. If I ask someone when the last time they did a water change, and they ask what a WC is, then I have a hunch that they are new to fishkeeping.

I agree that some FSE do not know a lot, and this is usually at bigger stores. In their defense, there is a lot to learn. I always encourage new employees to hang around me and listen to me helping customers so they learn stuff. If they have a question, or don't know something, please ASK! I'd rather them ask my 50 times what fish are ok to put in a bowl than to assume otherwise.

 

[Miles]

It becomes a problem when people who know a "little bit" think they know "everything"..

I have had 3 or 4 people explain to me that Silver Arowanas get much larger than 4 feet in the last week.. I just smile and nod, no reason to argue with the ignorant. It's funny too, because it's the same lady who is telling me about the Arowana is the same one who can't seem to understand the nitrogen cycle. But of course, she knows more than me because she once owned an Oscar fish.

Little did these people know I have a few thousand gallons of fish tanks at home, imported Arowanas directly from the wild, and work with people who live in Peru, and aquarium fish is their livelyhood.

I consistantly have to bite my tongue and select my words carefully when trying to educate other people. Most fish store employees have a hard time not trying to 'express their intense knowledge' of fish, and can overwhelm and outright piss off customers. I also see un-educated FSE's throw out big words in the completely incorrect context just to come off as sounding smart, when in actuality they are complete idiots.

If the "Teachers" learned to not be fish snobs, it would help alot.

If the "Students" could comprehend basic reasoning, it would help alot.

Unfortunately the Aquaria hobby has been tainted for YEARS by ignorance, mis-information, and stupidity. These myths will continue to trickle down for years, and it could be a long time before the hobby evolves into a truley educated customer base.

All we can do is educate ourselves best as we can, admit that we don't know everything, and don't be a freakin fish snob.

If someone ever tells you they know everything their is to know about fish, that statement right there proves they know nothing.

 

[ShadowVengance]

I work at a pet store, and I learnt a good chunk of stuff from this forum and my own personal experience, the rest from books and internet.

When i don't know something, I let people know, I don't make up some crap. Its only happened about twice that I had no idea to a question, but i look it up the day of. I'd rather not sell someone a fish that will die then have them come back the next day complaining.

 

[gomezladdams]

Ive been lucky with pet shop employees,the few places Ive found around here all have fishkeepers working at them i mean people that are really into fish.ant the petsmarts and petcos employees may not be too bright but theyre really nice and friendly

 

[CHOMPERS]

Because everybody is an "internet fish expert" they read and regurgitate information. They think all the fish shop people's knowledge is inferior to their intense internet knowledge.

Many times some of the things you read on these boards is from guys that have never even kept the fish in question.

AMEN, BROTHER!!!