Know It Alls

[guppymonkey]

I have only been working at my pet store for about a month but I have kept fish for about 10 years now. I have done a lot of research and I think that I am pretty knowledgeable about my hobby. I try not to be pushy and know it all but some customers just tick me off!

I had this guy come in and ask a few questions about parrot cichlids. He said that his wife had a couple community tanks and he was thinking about setting up a tank of his own but wanted "more interesting fish" (his words not mine). So I started telling him a little about cichlids in general and the few extra tidbits I know about parrot hybrids. He insisted that he could keep 6 full grown parrots in a 30 gallon tank because "fish only grow to the size of their tank". Argh! I hate when people say that but always try to tell them that it is just an urban legend and they are really hurting their fish.This guy got all mad at me because I wouldn't sell him a group of parrot cichlids because his tank was too small. I even suggested a different fish that would work, Convicts- easy to maintain and interesting to watch, but he still got mad and tried to get me in trouble with my manager. And the entire time I was looking out for his (and the fish's) best interests! ARGH!!! Some people just frustrate me!

 

[superballs5337]

dude, just save yoru self the trouble and sell him the fish and let him deal with his mistake. let people be stupid thats what u have to learn. so next time give you imput, tell them about some websites, then sell them what ever they want. cause if u dont they will go somewhere else and spend their money and u are there to make your store make money. hope that helped.

 

[WILDER]

I think you did the right thing in not selling him the fish, let him go somewhere else, as in a couple of months he will be back saying it turned into a disaster, and he respects your store for giving him the right information.

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

dude, just save yoru self the trouble and sell him the fish and let him deal with his mistake. let people be stupid thats what u have to learn. so next time give you imput, tell them about some websites, then sell them what ever they want. cause if u dont they will go somewhere else and spend their money and u are there to make your store make money. hope that helped.

what are you trying to do here, stop one lfs employee who obviously knows what they are talking about from doing a good job? why should any fish suffer because of a persons stupidity?

you make it sound like you enjoy getting bad advice from your lfs, but i bet you'd be on here moaning about it if it happened.

 

[dirtydogg]

dude, just save yoru self the trouble and sell him the fish and let him deal with his mistake. let people be stupid thats what u have to learn. so next time give you imput, tell them about some websites, then sell them what ever they want. cause if u dont they will go somewhere else and spend their money and u are there to make your store make money. hope that helped.

what are you trying to do here, stop one lfs employee who obviously knows what they are talking about from doing a good job? why should any fish suffer because of a persons stupidity?

you make it sound like you enjoy getting bad advice from your lfs, but i bet you'd be on here moaning about it if it happened.

It was good advice though, and if a month or two down the road the guy realized that the tank was to small he may come back to purchase a larger fish tank. Just a thought.

 

[sylvia]

I think you did the right thing and the person will eventualy respect you for it. As for giving wrong advice - never do that on purpose. It's not ok to let the fish die just because you want your emplyer to prosper and I'm sure people won't appreciate misleading or blatantly incorrect advice.

 

[Discomafia]

Yea, get this straight. You definitely did the right thing. Who knows if he would ever realise that the tank is too small for the fish if he really was to buy it. He may not have the resources or time to maintain a bigger tank, and he'll just go on believing that fish grow to their environment, and then ...

So you did well, you gave tried giving good advice to someone, and many lfs's don't do that, being more interested in sales or just because they don't have much knowledge in the hobby. So don't get intimidated by potential customers in the future, especially when you know your stuff and they don't, it might be hard because you know they'll just go somewhere else, but think of the fish.

 

[superballs5337]

thanks dirty dog..


do none of you understand business at all. he did the right thing by giving the correct advice but in the sake of the manger or store owner he did the wrong thing. no matter what in business the customer is always right. next time tell him/her the right info point them in the right direction but sell him the dayum fish and what ever else. if i was the owner and i had employees turning down business because the employees thought they were dumb and didnt know ne thing the would be gone. business are here to make money not lose money. in all you did the right thing but u should have sold the fish. if it would have been i would have been like give me the dayum fish im a paying customer.


ps. i never said give wrong advice, i said give the correct advice but u must sell the items and in this case the fish. its BUSINESS.

 

[gwlee7]

no matter what in business the customer is always right.

When I had my small business, I told my employees that the customer was NOT always right but that the customer ALWAYS had the money. There is a big difference between the two. My job as a business was to get the money. However, I was not dealing in "living" things and I believe that has to be taken into consideration.

 

[sylvia]

As I said before:

"It's not ok to let the fish die just because you want your emplyer to prosper."

 

[superballs5337]

The phrase the customer is always right and the customer has the money are both true. now wether the customer is actually right is another thing but let them belive they are right, dont want to lose business.

 

[littlefishie]

thanks dirty dog..


do none of you understand business at all. he did the right thing by giving the correct advice but in the sake of the manger or store owner he did the wrong thing. no matter what in business the customer is always right. next time tell him/her the right info point them in the right direction but sell him the dayum fish and what ever else. if i was the owner and i had employees turning down business because the employees thought they were dumb and didnt know ne thing the would be gone. business are here to make money not lose money. in all you did the right thing but u should have sold the fish. if it would have been i would have been like give me the dayum fish im a paying customer.


ps. i never said give wrong advice, i said give the correct advice but u must sell the items and in this case the fish. its BUSINESS.

Wow, was that ever difficult to read.
It's not a manner of not understanding business. Clearly, as an LFS employee, this user knows what they're talking about. I've never even kept cichlids and I know that a 30g is too small for parrot cichlids.
What you need to understand is that, despite the whole 'the customer is always right' philosphy, often it will get businesses into more trouble than not. Say this employee sold the man his fish. If he believes that he can overstock his tank like that, then clearly he doesn't understand the entire concept of ammonia, and how overstocking can kill fish. He would return weeks later, carrying one or two dead fish with him, demanding a refund because he had an employee sell him the fish knowing that he had a 30g tank and that it was too small for all of these fish. This employee would get in trouble, even though they were just trying to do the right thing. Everyone gets mad, and someone loses money.
Wouldn't it just make more sense to try to educate the customer so that they don't have to suffer through losing some fish?
There's no need to be so rude in a post, either. I may be new to this forum, but even I think that people need to be treated with a little respect, regardless of the situation.
Business may be business, but usually this type of philosphy applies to a store not dealing with live animals. Would you willingly sell someone a Great Dane, knowing that they lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Toronto? The dog would have no place to exercise, and the chore of taking it for bathroom breaks alone would be interesting, trying to find it some grass. It is also way too big for a one-bedroom apartment. Same concept with the fish. That is simply too many fish for a 30g tank, and I believe that the right thing was done by refusing to sell the fish. I'd much rather have a knowledgable employee refuse to sell me fish because my tank was too small, than have one who would tell me it's a great idea to put, say, an arrowana in a 10 gallon tank.
Otherwise, you may end up doing something that a friend of mine though of. She wanted to buy a 2.5 gallon tank, add a lot of table salt, and go buy a clownfish and put it in there. If it weren't for the employee at the LFS telling her all of the things wrong with this idea, she would've been out a lot of money for the fish and tank, and the poor clownfish would have died from the salt.

 

[superballs5337]

very true, i guess what it comes down to is either way its a lose lose situation, you either piss the customer off first visit or on his return visit. like i said he did the right thing but from the business end sell the fish.

sorry for insulting just when i get arguing its hard to control. so sorry.

 

[MXPX4318]

well I worked for a corporate pet store (petsmart) and they are out for money, but they are also looking out for the animals, we were allowed (and did on many occasions) refuse to sell fish to people that didn't know what they were doing. The manager was always on the employees side and would explain the situation to the customer (ususally AGAIN) and if they didn't like it they could leave. You say this is about business, well if the fish carry a guarantee (which petsmart and most any fish store I've ever been to does) then you're saving them money by not selling the fish. If the person does not have the right conditions for a fish and it dies within a certain amount of days the business loses, because they have to replace, or refund the money, if they refund the money they're out their money and a fish that could have brought in money if sold to the right person, if they replace the fish, they're once again out of a fish that could have brought in money. So I believe you did the right thing in not selling the fish.

 

[sylvia]

Well actualy it isn't realy a lose lose situation... According to the posters here we, the majority, all agree that this person did the right thing. Well are we not the consumers in this instance anyway? We are the customers who buy fish and just because one person turned up who new nothing about the fish he wanted to buy, it doesn't mean anyone's going to lose out from not selling these fish. If this potential customer realises his mistake, in the long run he will appreciate the advice and it will become a win win situation for both him, and for the LFS who will have gained a new customer. Yes anyway...