You've Read About Bad Lfs

[Tommo]

I'm 16 years old and have a saturday job in nearby garden centres tropical fish department, unfortunately being so young sometimes results in people not taking my advice seriosly.

The overstocked goldfish tank mentioned earlier comes up all the time, along with similar stocking problems.

But without a doubt the most irritating thing that ever happens is when you inform a customer that he/she may not buy a fish because their tank is unsuitable, only for them to try their luck with another staff member, only this time they dont mention tank size/ water quality etc, and you have to 'politely remind' them of the reason why they cant have the fish.

 

[natural blue nina]

I'm 16 years old and have a saturday job in nearby garden centres tropical fish department, unfortunately being so young sometimes results in people not taking my advice seriosly.

The overstocked goldfish tank mentioned earlier comes up all the time, along with similar stocking problems.

But without a doubt the most irritating thing that ever happens is when you inform a customer that he/she may not buy a fish because their tank is unsuitable, only for them to try their luck with another staff member, only this time they dont mention tank size/ water quality etc, and you have to 'politely remind' them of the reason why they cant have the fish.

Tommo - If youre the kid in Maidenhead Aquatics who has sold fish to me for the last 2 weeks, you rock! If its not you, and you share similar knowlege to this other guy then you should definately have your advice respected!!!

My advice to 16 year olds in fish shops is this....... If people will not accept your advice, then get an older colleague to back you up (if its an appropriate situation, you dont want a fight in your shop!) If they still then will not accept what you have to say, and what you are saying is genuine, then its their problem. Let them go to PaH and get zero advice instead.

Also, refer them to this forum for information, that way they they will feel like you are trying to help even if you do not sell them anything!

 

[my fat fish]

yeah i have had a few younger people serve me when its maiden head aquatics i know its good advise tho i do my reserche before hand now but i still get told all the in's and out's

talking about a uncomfortable stiuations with costomers and employees mine made me laugh happened a few weeks back

woman: hi i want some neons for my kids fish tank
LFS:yes cirtainly what ones would you like and what stock have you already got in your tank
woman:well i just brought the tank today from town ill set it all up later and have my neons in it
LFS:you set it up today, im sorry i cant sell you these fish then you will need to have your tank fully set up (expains cyling the tank i tuned out at this boring part )
woman:but surely i cah have them today they will be okay
LFS: even if i did give you the fish the water would be to cold for them
woman: well you dont heat your water i cant see any heater aint they cold water fish?
LFS: no sorry our tank have pre heater water its all dont out behind all the tanks
woman: (getting angry now) well then i will add hot water tio make the water alright i want these fish for my son he has been wating ages for them are you going to sell to me or what)
LFS:no
woman: fine then (a nice load of shouting and bad language at this point im very intrested and listening intensly lol)
LFS: i will appreciate it if you could keep your language to a minimum as we have children presnt
woman- storms off walks over to me and say "wouldent shop here he aint got a ****** clue what he is on about ther cold water fish i tryed to buy he is an auqward ****** then storms off

well at this point i just looked at the bolke and he looked at me and i fell about laughing he tryed so hard to hold it back funniest thing i have seen in a long time i was suprised the loke kept his calm whilst this woman was shouting i dont think i could have lol

 

[Squid]

I see where people are coming from with regards to education etc. However.. this person obviously knew whitespot was a bad thing and knew a little about it hence their diagnosis and need for a treatment. A little common sense was required here. If something is wrong it would be normal to sort that out first surely. I think that was the main frustration here.

What might sound a little harsh to some when written in a forum may also sound a little different when heard face to face. We as fishkeepers need to take a little responibility on finding out about what we are doing. After all, thats why most of us are here. It's obvious that person didn't care that much, or why else would they still be going to pets at home even though we know that they now certainly know the issue after being told..

Cheers
Squid

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

good for you wolfy

 

[timmystood]

Perhaps asking the questions before you bagged the fish?

That's exactly what we are trained to do where I work. I always ask 3 simple questions before I bag any fish (in a tactful way of course, like i'm really interested in their tank)
1. What else is in the tank that their going into, got any other of these fish in their? - If not suitable then explain why and advise on suitable fish
2. So, how long has your tank been running then? You enjoying it? - Gives me an idea of how mature the tank is
3. Have you got far to travel? - This gives me an idea of how much oxygen the fish needs to make the journey home

Of course their are still the odd people that won't listen.. we can always refuse the sale. To be honest only 1 person in every 100 won't listen though. They understand that you have the knowledge... sometimes they expect us to know everything though!!

 

[Rugby]

THANK U!!! i have to deal with this a lot too. and its even worse because im just sixteen,
they dont believe me. when i first started, i was just 15, and they would aske a qeuestion. they would then say, is there anyone that can answer this for sure, and i would take them to the other workers, but they would say the same thing. then they would glare at me,
now i just say, yes me!
it kinda pisses me off.
anyway, im done ranting! lol
and yes, i really do no about fish. lol

Rugby

edit: thats what i do to, ask the three q's, but i dont blame u, and im glad that there are other good fish stores.

 

[jenny6165]

hmm

 

[Fate2006]

[/quote]
I unbagged the fish in front of him because I didn't want the temperature to drop, it was snowing at the time and the less time in the bag the better!
Had the customer given me a chance I would've educated him about ich and how to treat it, however at that point his defences had clearly gone up and anything I had said would've gone in one ear and out the other.

Anyone on this forum that has the pleasure of being served by me at work, will tell you (I hope) how polite and professional I am.
[/quote]


How does it snowing outside effect the fish in the bags??? were you not inside at the time??? I agree that the temperature dropping is a concern however leaving fish in a bag (even for a 20 minute or 40 minute car ride) doesn't cause the temperature to drop but 1 or 2 degrees F... the fish are in the bag and acclimate to the temperature well it drops so they're fine until it reaches a certain coolness... Why is snow a concern at this Point in time?

 

[Squid]

I think people are missing the point of the thread a little here. The point was to highlight that the LFS suffers morons in the same way that some of us suffer moronic LFS.

Fish that weren't going anywhere might as well be put back.. thats the long and the short of it.

 

[jasonskillz]

ill agreed with you sufferers, there are just some REALLY stupid customers

 

[Fate2006]

Oh I know that I work at petsmart I just want to know what the big deal is about it snowing outside when ur OVIOUSLY inside

 

[YoungFishBreeder]

I want to stick up for my local PaH, They know alot about fish, and do refuse some customers and all there tanks are clean.

 

[timmystood]

I want to stick up for my local PaH, They know alot about fish, and do refuse some customers and all there tanks are clean.

Yeah, it does seem to be that some stores are good and others aren't

 

[invader]

Man, I know how you feel. I used to work at Petsupermarket and we would get all kinds of weird people in. Once, there was this lady who wanted to buy one of those tiny hexagonal betta "tanks" (it's wayyy too small for any betta) and she wanted to put goldfish in it! AHH!

I had to refuse quite a lot of people, actually. People wanted to buy arowanas for 10gls. Oi.