Rant!

[blue_betta]

now, i am not saying that ALL pet shop assistants are incompitant, but i have time and time again been apauled (and frankly dissapointed) at the complete lack of basic knowlage and skill in hadeling that many of the assistants seem to have. I must say this is largely found in my experiance to large chain pet stores (namely pets at home, and the now closed focus d-i-y "petworld").

why are these places allowed to employ bubble brained idiots to give out regurgetated (and often wrong or out dated) information on animals they are suposed to be able to advice wisely on the care of. most of them have just left college with a bit of paper saying they know how to clean a hamsters cage out and they know the differance between a chinchilla and a gerbill! many of these people do show a genuine interest and enthusiasm for the animals they work with, but many others are...well, im simply bemused (and, again dissapointed) that they were employed. I can reel off many indavidual accounts, from different members of staff in the same store, of poor advice, extremely poor and frankly dangerous handeling of animals, complete lack of knowlage of the animals they are selling. and as for REPUTATION building, dont talk to me about reputation. ive worked hard to build a reputation in the places ive worked over the years. i had a good reputation in the pet store i worked and in the falconry centre i worked. i had a good relationship and reputation with my old local store, of whome i was the main supplier of bengalese finches at the age of 13. my reputation is of my own work, noone elses.

rant over. your input please!

 

[DanS]

I'm a newbie to fish keeping, so new in fact that I haven't got any fish! Just a planted tank getting ready for them. So as you can imagine, my knowledge base is pretty limited.

Like I would with any subject, and particularly any live animal, I've done plenty of reading of various books, magazines and internet to try and find out what the hell this fishkeeping lark is all about and how to do it properly. Of course once i get the fish its going to be a new learning process, but i feel i'm equipped with enough knowledge to make a start and not mess up big style.

Anyway, there is a point to this response, I've been loitering around fish stores recently just to see what fish i'd like to get, do a bit of research etc. and some of the things i hear the assistants say directly conflicts what i read elsewhere - the most common being told that you can put fish in a aquarium the day after (or on the day) you set it up, or even just a general disinterest in listening what you have to say. But of course, for the amount of people who give bad advice there's just as many enthusiastic people giving good advice.

Its the same in all areas though - I play drums and have a lot more knowledge of that than I do tropical fish and some of the advice or knowledge given out in drum shops is awful. And my favourite is talking to someone at PC World about a PC!! (no offence if anyone here works at PC World, but there seems to be a lot of unknowledgable staff!)

I suppose its just a job, and for many basic staff, not a greatly paid one. Maybe the effort or enthusiasm in some areas reflects that?!

 

[demonmagus]

completely off topic: wooo you play the drums as well?

on topic: good point, some employees are awful, but the shops sometimes don't earn enough to train them, small family stores don't get much business when wal-mart (or whatever) moves in e.t.c.

 

[karmagl]

I agree when I started with a 55 gallon tank I knew nothing. LIke most people who don't know fish I went to pets mart. I ended up with an African claw frog (which was supposed to be a dwarf) and 20 some aggressive some community. I had no idea when I got home that it was going to be crazy. Thank goodness I found a small fish store in another town. He took most of my fish for me and traded me for ones that I could have together (some still don't go together but thats by choice). Now my tank is very happy and this guy that owns the store is wonderful. I must call him at least 3 times a week at the beginning. He even gave us his cell and we called him at 1 in the morning when we upgraded our tank. The point is yeah if you go to places like pets mart you will save money then, but in the long run you will save a lot more money if you find someone who knows what they are doing and actually wants to help you not just sell you whatever they can.

 

[DanS]

completely off topic: wooo you play the drums as well?

on topic: good point, some employees are awful, but the shops sometimes don't earn enough to train them, small family stores don't get much business when wal-mart (or whatever) moves in e.t.c.

Off topic> Yup! Drumming for over 10 yrs. Have an electronic kit for practice at home so I wont be scaring the fishies!!

On topic> Yeah i imagine its quite a difficult business to be in with regard to getting the right staff with the appropriate knowledge. The thing is from a beginners point of view its very difficult to establish what is good advice or not and its only on further research you actually begin to question that advice.

 

[DevUK]

The lack of knowledge is a problem, but when it leads to a lack of general welfare for the fish being kept in either over stocked tanks or with incompatible tank mates it really anoys me. I'm by no means an expert. I'm learning, and I have a heck of a lot to learn but even with my limited knowledge I can see a fish in a bad way, whether disseased or stressed, that needs to be seperated and treated.

Quite often its a case that the employees are generalists, if anything. There doesn't seem to be a resident expert on rodents/fish/birds etc.

 

[tmack]

I think the lack of knowledge by most (not all by any means) lfs personnel, especially at most of the chain store lfs, is that the pay is low. I wish I could work at one, but I couldn't afford it with house payments & all the usual bills. Might be a nice retirement job, but most of these positions are filled by part time workers that get no benefits - high school & college kids in many cases. My son worked at a Petsmart part time for a while while in school, but he worked in reptiles (and fortunately for customers he knew a lot about them) and other non-fish areas. But, it can be a lot of work for little money and no benefits. If they paid well enough to get qualified aquarists the prices on fish & equipment would really skyrocket. It's just a business thing, based on making the most profit you can. Good lfs, with knowledgeable staff have the highest prices. It's a matter of choosing whether you want good service, and the best cared for fish, by paying a premium price, or if if you want the lowest cost fish and can accept what goes (or doesn't) go with it.

 

[chilledtim]

Fish stores really do need trained people, i do alot of reading up about fish befor going to a store but often when im there i see something i like but need to leave it there to reserch it then waste half a day going there next weekend ect to get it if its sutible.
I just dont trust what people who work in the stores tell me alot of the time.

Theres one girl in a lfs that does really no what shes talking about, shes abit stuck up tho (shes about 22 in 20 so i think every time i ask her stuff i thing she takes it as me chatting her up so goes into stuck up 'im to good for you' cow mode) but to be honest i dont even really mind that coz at least she nos what shes talking about.

People who work in fish shops but no nothing about fish annoy me abit, if your gonna work there atleast learn about the fish you have in stock, but the ones that really get me mad are ones who blatently lie/make things up, "Angelfish and tiger barbs, yeah the'll be fine" "goldfish love living in bowls, they dont like to much space" "That small tiger Shovelnose catfish, yeah he'll be fine in a 3ft" ect

 

[three-fingers]

I work in an lfs, and whenever I go to pets@home I have a real laugh.
The advice they give people there makes you cringe, when I'm there I always have to barge into people conversations and explain why they cant have that fish, and why pets@home have their info wrong.
I get lots of dirty glares from the all staff there....

 

[chilledtim]

ive been mistaken for an employee at a fish place, big store like pets@home selling all pet stuff. i was in the tropical fish room and a couple were talking about buying some fish between themselfs, i cant remember what they were (one was tiger barbs) so i just said "excuse me they wouldnt go well togeather but such and such fish would go and they got nice behaviour aswell" ect, anyway discussed fish with then for afew mins then they asked me to net some out, which is when i had to say...um...i dont actually work here! it was funny tho. They thanked me for helping them and went off to find an employee lol

 

[fishlette]

as mentioned in the earlier post containing peoples rants, i work at a family owned lfs. i applied to these kind because i do agree with what people are saying to a point. we have a large pet shop in my city called pet city and they have this wonderful reputation as having an absolutely massive store, every products you could need for any animal you can think of blah blah blah but when it comes to the animals and their living conditions along with the attitude and lack of knowledge with SOME of the staff its very average. they even have to have someone go around every 10 mins to remove dead fish. consequently i dont shop there even though they do stock many fish we dont. not only that they charge through the roof prices for telling people their tank water is fine when clearly by the colour of the water in the test tubes, its not.

there is also a huge chain here called pets paradise. i tested a theory the other day and ended up giving the store owner a mouthful. i went in and had a look at the fish and when i could finally get someone to serve me i said i needed everything from a tank to plants and i wanted to keep goldfish, neon tetras, guppies and tiger barbs (hehehe nice combo hey but this was the test) anyway, the assistant after thinking and stumbling for a moment took me over to a 25L tank she then led me to a filter that would require a tank with at least 150L capacity to avoid anyone in the tank being swirled constantly. next, a heater OMG!!!! a) we live in the tropics and it is extremely rare our water temp drops below 24C and even then as long as your have a heated room the temp stays fine. then after she'd shown me a range of ornaments that would take up most of the tank we went and had a look at the fish. first i said i wanted 4 goldfish (already basically too many for the tank.) i pointed out the bigest ones i could find. then i said i wanted 2 neons, 2 guppies and 4 tiger barbs. she smiled and said 'excellent, theyre all nice choices'. ? barbs fin nip, goldfish need cold water, guppies, neons and barbs need warmer water and worst of all my uncycled new tank would be unbelievably overstocked. she didnt even show me water conditioners or aqua cycle. this is when i pulled the plug and asked to speak to the store owner. i explained what the girl had tried to sell me and even the owner looked confused as to why i had an issue with this. i explained myself in detail and said loud enough for everyone to hear that they should have their licence to sell animals revoked and walked out.

therefore i do understand peoples rants ergarding many chain stores. but this is usually where it ends. most of the time they employ young people so its cheaper to pay them and dont give them the training in the animals they just teach them how to use the cash register...after all isnt the cash register the most important part of a pet shop??? (just being sarcastic for those who didnt click on there)

i have found that the smaller, family owned shops are much better. usually they are people who keep and love fish and their knowledge is much more up to date and actual than a lot of other places. when i applied for the job i had to go through a very rigorous question and answer process before they would even give me a trial.so after half an hour of scenarios and grilling on the phone they finally decided i could come in for a few hours trial. during this trial i had to give what knowledge i had of the fish in the store, test water and give accurate action scenarios for certain water issues and a number of other things. only when i proved that i did know what i was on about with the fish and the other animals was i given the job. and this was after 13 other people tried for the job. that is why i love my shop. they dont get angry with me if i wont sell someone a fish because i dont think they have the room or knowledge/experience tokeep it. thats what makes a good pet shop i feel and i am very proud to be an lfs emplyee there.

just remember people to distinguish between those chain stores that know nothing and then give credit to the places that do do an amazing job. as an lfs employe it is easy to be offended when such rants are going on and im an emloyee myself

 

[JRM]

I'd just like to say, I work at a chain store, and we are somewhat forced into selling the wrong things sometimes otherwise our shifts will get cut the next month. I have researched every animal that we sell so I feel I am able to sell someone the right products they need and tell them what they do not need. Fish in particular is hard though, it is very hard to tell some customers that they have to cycle their tank first. I think out of the 100's of customers I have served concerning fish, only a handful have been willing to listen to me give them a brief overview of the cycling process and then go home and do more research. We have been told we are not allowed to refuse a sale even if we believe the animals will die so if someone wants a fish then and there, I explain everything they need and hope the best for the fish It is very difficult to make some people understand the proper requirements of a fish as they dont want to listen. Moral of the story; There are stupid employees and stupid customers who just wont listen to anyone else.

 

[Amunet]

Totally agree with the stupid employees and stupid customers comment.

A while back, we went to the local Superpets. Can't remember for what, but we were looking at the tank ornaments when I overhear a conversation between the fish guy and a customer. I didn't hear how large the customers tank was, but I did hear him exclaim/laugh out that he had over 70 fish in the tank.
You could tell that the employee got a bit peeved and told the guy about the 1inch per gallon thing but the customer just laughed in his face and said he didn't care.

And although the Petsmart that's closest to us isn't the best, their employees do know some basic info and I do hear them give customers some decent advice.
I overheard one employee helping a customer... she was trying to find a sucker fish of some kind and she pointed out a pleco. The employee actually pointed out to her that the fish needed a larger tank b/c it gets big.
That was a good experience, but then you go around to all the tanks and see the dead or dieing fish so.. *shrugs* they must not care that much.

There is one place called Fishy Business here that SEEMS good when you go in, but when you take a closer look, they're just as bad as a larger chain petstore.
In most of their tanks are dead or dieing fish. And the last time we went in there.. I was about to cry from what I saw in one tank.
There was a single angel... no fins at all just hovering in a corner in a tank with 4 puffers. I'm a shy person irl so I just couldn't bring myself to tell someone. I feel terrible about it now b/c that poor angel was suffering so much being in that tank getting it's fins nipped off.
The only plus that store has is their plants section.. and only b/c they keep snail eating fish in with the plants so the plants you get are snail free. However they do sell some nonaquatic plants.

 

[fishlette]

i agree with that also. in the thread that started this whole rant thing i mentioned about a customer that wanted a ridiculous combo and i refused to sell.

the other one that comes to mind is this lady who came in to buy snail away to deal with the pond snails in her rather medium sized pond. she decided while she was there that she wanted a couple of fish for the pond. she also went on to say that she had no filter etc and in the same breath pointed to our best looking electric blue and said she wanted that and some angel fish. i fought with the woman for 45 minutes about all the obvious issues with that and nothing would sway her. it did work out ok in the end when she begrudgingly bought a filter and a heater and some aqua cycle along with some hardy fish to help cycle her pond that could come back when she was done. THEN she could have the electric blue if he hadnt sold. fortunately my boss took him home until she came back and bought something else thinking he had been sold.

people make our lives hard to and as i said once before its becuase most people dont understand the biological components of a tank.

for those offended by comments regarding chains, obviously any present company is excepted. however, i personally could not work for a place that would put more emphasis on a sale than an animals welfare no matter how much i wanted a job at a fish shop.

 

[vinylman]

One thing always puzzles me about LFS employees who know next to nothing about fish. Presumably they had a job interview. Why didn't the employer ask some relevant questions about fish health/stocking/water conditions before giving them the job?. Unless the owners themselves don't give a toss, either.