not enjoing working in a LFS

[The-Wolf]

Hi all,
sorry but this may turn into a rant.

As some of you are aware I started working in my LFS. At first it was great being on the other side of the counter, but now I'm not happy.

I start my day by checking the tanks for dead fish, the odd one or two I can handle, but recently we have had a lot; for instance the last 500 cardinals we've had in all succumbed to body rot and we lost the lot. I was gutted.
there is always at least one tank (all using ugfs, not an intergrated system) that has some kind of problem. so that gets me down every day.

I fill most of my working day, apart from giving good advice to customers etc, by performing water changes and trying to keep ontop of the algea scrubbing, it's a loosing battle.

I was told when I started that I'd be show how to checkoff deliveries and put them on the computer system and that I'd be "trained" on selling the various products etc. Bah! here I am 3 months or so down the line and nothing, not a jot in the way of training. My boss turns up, normerly, around dinnertime and is then too busy catching up to be of any use in this area.

The last week or so my heart has just not been in it, and I am getting more and more saddened at the though of facing work every day.
I'm so fed up that I've started to look for work elsewhere.

I guess this has turned into a small rant, but my advice to anyone thinking of working in a LFS is to think long and hard about it. It is not all that fun.

Thanks for taking the time to read this (if you did)
and sorry for blabbing on like a loon.

The-Wolf

 

[rixy]

i think as a hobby,fish keeping is great,but,as a job,i can't imagine cleaning tank after tank after tank every day.speak to your boss about what was promised when you started.explain to him that you want to get on in your job.whats the worst he can say or dogood luck anyway

 

[Amber]

Yeah I can understand that, as a hobby you care for your fish watch them grow and enjoy them - I guess working at a fish shop you are in an environment that deals with fish as business.
Im sure the owner viewed the tank of dead cardinals in a different light to what you did

Good luck anyhow - Im not sure I could do it.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry, at least your heart is in the right place, i couldn't cope with dead fish, as i hate to see fish suffer, and most lfs just care about the profit, where you care about the welfare of the fish, maybe it isn't for you, but at least you gave some customers knowledge on fish, rather than just making a sale.

 

[Avinitlarge]

I know exacty how you feel, One of my hobbies is tuning cars, Since working on other peoples cars it is no longer a hobby, Its a chore. I can imagine alot of people wanting to be a car tuner, Belive me, Its not all its cracked up to be.

 

[Opcn]

But paul, you get that employee discount! can you ask to be transfered out of fish for a while perhaps, Furry pets down die as often. Or, if you are any good at plumbing you can try and sell your boss on the idea of you building an automated water change system, drill overflows in th back of the tanks and install a water distribution system over the tanks in the racks, the system would save him money by reducing his need to hire new employees to keep p with the water changes and probably reduce algea.

 

[Paul_MTS]

i can sympathize on this.

although I end up water changing in excess of 100 tanks every week each run by UGF aswell I look forward to seeing my fish, at work i see the usual boring fish but when i came home I have the odd and unusual to set my eyes on.

scrubbing tanks and filling tanks back up after water changing are my least favourite jobs, but by now being botered by algae at home helps.

Since I was made fish house manager it's been a bit better as there hasn't been fish in the place we can't realisticly sell, one of the idiots who thinks he knows everything was ordering things like shark cats, ID sharks, RTC and various other large growing fish and brackish fish we woudn't beable to sell to the right customer. This reqally annoyed me so was glad when i was made manager, now there only 1 pangassius left and a clown knife, quite frankly i wished they died really.

I hope it gets better for you, if your on a descent pay then i think it's a great job especially when u get al your fishy dear at trade price...or what ever discount you have.

for me it's a case of putting up with the customers and 1 idiot worker at the moment.

 

[Ami]

Oh dear, poor wolfie!

I've always thought it would be great to work in an LFS, better than being stuck behind a desk every day anyway, but now I'm not so sure.

Doesn't the fact that you can give people good advice instead of the crap they would otherwise get told help soften it a little?

Hope it gets better soon - or at least that something better comes along!

Good luck,
Ami

 

[cometcattle]

It's hard to care about a job when the owner doesn't seem to care.

Good luck Wolf.

On brighter note, Javon Walker has reported to Packer training camp:
http/sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor..._len&id=2118216

 

[Bloo]

Oh Dear Wolf It must be quite frustrating going in and so looking forward to this job - and then it's not what you envisaged or hoped it would be.
I don't believe in throwing in the towel (at all) but - if something is not right it's not right. And if within three months you are disheartened when waking up, at the idea of going to work, then it's time to have a serious think - and quite possibly move on.

Best of luck and hope whichever decision you make is a good one.

 

[The-Wolf]

Wow, thanks for all the kind support.
I really didn't expect many replys, just goes to show that when push comes to shove this is the friendliest forum around.

On brighter note, Javon Walker has reported to Packer training camp:
http/sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor..._len&id=2118216

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Great news comet, thanks for the link.
I can't wait for this season, hopefully it will be Bretts last

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

hey wolf thats not agood at all! i have to say bloozoo is right and good lcuk with whatever u decided to do

 

[Angry_Platy]

Question for Wolfie : Do you find that when you get home you don't want to clean or water change your own tanks because you have had enough?

Kudos to you for looking for a new job and good luck with your new adventure

 

[The-Wolf]

Question for Wolfie : Do you find that when you get home you don't want to clean or water change your own tanks because you have had enough?

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I get two days off from work, one of them is spent doing my water changes at home, this leaves me only one true day off
I used to enjoy my weekly matainance, now I view it as something that has to be done.

 

[Walt]

A bummer... but totally normal....

MOST hobbies would suck as a job...
I know it doest seem that way, but about 99% of all the hobbies i've gotten into, ive seen an occasional fellow hobbiest attempt to do it for a living.... and the result was not good....

Sometimes, its just better to keep a hobby, just that... a hobby