Just Remembered Something From My Lfs

[hanny93]

Whilst walking round my lfs yesterday looking for some apisto's recommended to me, i watched a family walking round, looking at marines etc.
They didnt have my apisots in so i just bought some black sand, but walking round the shop, i heard the shop assitsant talking to the mother. I'll type out pretty much what happened.
Shop Assitant: Yes these plecs are good for cleaning your tank
Mother: And how big do they get?
SA: Not very, they'll be good in your tank.
M: Okay I'll have one, will he be okay living off the algae or do i need to buy special food?
SA: Algae is the worst diet for a plec, it has no nutrients in it at all, buy this food and he'll be good.

Now, this isn itself was bad enough IMO, but I then looked over, and she had two goldfish in a bag, and the child was playing with the bag, swinging it around and poking it, and the shop assistant just laughed!

Now, I know its not my place to, but should I have said something? I feel really bad and just wondered what everyone else would do

 

[fluttermoth]

It's very difficult. As I don't drive I have only one FS I can get to and, while they're very good, I still see things I'm not happy about; I was queued a couple of weeks ago and had a woman buying one of those starter tanks and three goldies and being told she could go back for more next week

At least the guy serving had the decency to look embarrassed at the tripe he was coming out with when he saw me there; we both know he knows better than that *sighs*

 

[hanny93]

I'm the same, I have three within reasonable 'please can i have a lift' distance, one of them being the best pets at home ive ever seen, but that ones the furthest away.

the one i went to yesterday isnt as good as it used to be, in the marine section, there was a huge long eel type thing, with some chromis. you could see a big fat lump in the eels neck where it had just eaten a chromis, and i was just thinking, how minging. there was still one left in the tank.

i just feel really bad for the woman because no doubt all her fish will die and she wont know any better.

iwish i had the guts to speak out sometimes.

 

[soybean]

I have said something to a woman who was looking at goldfish before and deciding on two fancies to keep the bowl she had in her hand. I just had to stick my noise in. Kept it simple - you need a bigger tank and a filter, else they'll die. Luckily they were quite responsive and listened but I don't make a habit of it incase someone tells me off for interfering!

I haven't said anything in front of a shop assistant before though. They should know what they're doing and it's a shame when they don't. But they need to make a sale at the end of the day, so I leave them to it.

 

[James9114]

i work in a lfs and sometimes no matter how much i tell then not to buy the fish coz they will die or get eaten and they still insist they will be fine even though they don't have a clue. trust me the customers are worse than the shop assistants but that is bad i would have butted right in thete and told them what's what!

 

[B C M]

i work in a lfs and sometimes no matter how much i tell then not to buy the fish coz they will die or get eaten and they still insist they will be fine even though they don't have a clue. trust me the customers are worse than the shop assistants but that is bad i would have butted right in thete and told them what's what!

You have the right and responsibility to refuse to sell them.

 

[Gilli]

You would be wasting your time and no one would thank you for it. I had a similar experience a while back when I heard a shop assistant giving bad and incorrect advice which would result in the fish deaths!. When the customer had left I asked why he had said it and gave him the correct advice which he agreed with!. Lots of people on this forum slated me for doing so! Even so I cant stand by and watch it happen.

 

[James9114]

i work in a lfs and sometimes no matter how much i tell then not to buy the fish coz they will die or get eaten and they still insist they will be fine even though they don't have a clue. trust me the customers are worse than the shop assistants but that is bad i would have butted right in thete and told them what's what!

You have the right and responsibility to refuse to sell them.

and that's exactly what i do

 

[MrJohnnyB]

i work in a lfs and sometimes no matter how much i tell then not to buy the fish coz they will die or get eaten and they still insist they will be fine even though they don't have a clue. trust me the customers are worse than the shop assistants but that is bad i would have butted right in thete and told them what's what!

You have the right and responsibility to refuse to sell them.

I've heard my LFS refuse people fish, but then suggest fish that would work. In my opinion thats what being a good fish shop is all about, furthermore it reduces the likelyhood that the people will blame the deaths upon poor stock or whatever.

 

[MBOU]

I am sooooo FOR refusing sales like some real Moo today who, when i refused to sell her a shoal of goldfish to the wonderful 17L spongebob tank she was going to be buying from P@H on the way home....

Good grief, one way to wind up a member of staff is announce you are buying the tank elsewhere 'because its cheaper and its not like the fish need you to spend THAT much money on them..."

Left cursing me and the shop and announced loudly "I'm not shopping here, i'm going to buy my fish from *insert chain store name* because they arent so fussy about who they sell fish too!"

Cheers customer, she was less happy when the rest of the customers in the line were laughing at her

-----

Had to get that out! lol

I think, its all very well telling staff to be refusing sales and that its ok to do so etc but i think there has to be a line drawn, if its a younger member of staff who now suddenly takes it onthemselves to just outright refuse sales.... they could end up in trouble.

There are better ways of doing it, ask the customer if they would like a second opinion, show alternatives, show older fish in display tanks, have a handy story in your head, associate with the customer.

Im all for refusing customer sales but its a last resort and i wont outright say "NO" unless they really push me like my custmer today.

Generally, most people working in their LFS that are on the forum here arent in charge and if they value their job, will take heed of what is said on here but be very careful about acting out.