epic.exposures
New member
I really like your approach its out-of-the-box it forces one to think.
ATTN: LFS employees
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
I really like your approach its out-of-the-box it forces one to think.
ludnix
New member
Working in a LFS, I can definitely relate to customers not wanting to hear that what fish they shouldn't put together. In all honesty I spend more time trying to convince people not to buy fish than I do selling them on one. It's like being the opposite of a salesman.
As for the ethics of selling fish to people you know are probably going to end up killing them, that seems to be a majority of the business. The best you can do is educate them on why it's an issue and let them choose to follow your advice or not at their own discretion. If you flat out tell the customers they cannot have that animal it's very infrequent that actually listen to why you're saying it. They will usually just become very angry and tell everyone that they employees there are jerks and won't help you.
Voiding the warranty seems to be the best way to resolve the issue since it allows you to bow to their judgement and let them try the fish they think will be fine, but shows your disapproval in the situation.
As for the ethics of selling fish to people you know are probably going to end up killing them, that seems to be a majority of the business. The best you can do is educate them on why it's an issue and let them choose to follow your advice or not at their own discretion. If you flat out tell the customers they cannot have that animal it's very infrequent that actually listen to why you're saying it. They will usually just become very angry and tell everyone that they employees there are jerks and won't help you.
Voiding the warranty seems to be the best way to resolve the issue since it allows you to bow to their judgement and let them try the fish they think will be fine, but shows your disapproval in the situation.
acropora1981
New member
Well said! :hammer:
Everyones Hero
New member
I agree with you there.
I was reprimanded for not selling a seaclone skimmer & telling the customer to look into some other brands of skimmers. I told them I wasn't going to sell equipment to a customer that I wouldn't use on my own tank. I guess "integrity" just looks good on letterhead- not in practice.
I refer a lot of people that show a genuine interest in SW to come here, MarcoRocks, ReefGeek, & the local club. This forum is a great, free resource. I've been able to keep a successful tank for 2 or 3 years now just by what I've learned here.
Lady got mad at me today because her tank is cloudy. After asking some questions I found out it's a 6.6g bookshelf aquarium. And her "5 or 6 small fish" are actually African Cichlids. All I can really think of at that point is recommending a bigger tank... I'm sorry you bought semi-aggressive fish & stuffed them into a small tank but I'm not in the store open to close 7 days a week.
I'm really starting to hate this job. So many people want to start a fish tank but very few are willing to do their own research or even listen to what someone that at least has some basic knowledge has to say. There's no personal responsibility anymore. They want to do things cheap & fast, something that mother nature just won't let you do.
acropora1981
New member
This is one of the reasons I left the retail environment. I couldnt stand all the casual aquarists coming in every 3 months to 'replace the dead ones'.
Now I run my own aquarium service company(Liquidart Aquarium Solutions); that way I get to be in charge, and my clients lose almost no animals, because all of my clients have 100% automation outside of my water changes and whatnot, and zero input into maintaining the tank themselves! If you want to start a service company, its not that hard... I can guide you through it if you are ever interested. Actually, working at a fish store + running your own small service company = a lot more money. I pull in about an extra $1500 per month with my services, and I have a part time job as a phone CSR to fill in the rest of my financial needs.
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funkehouse
New member
this is an old thread, but its still active i think, but i had to say something.
Its sad that you would get Reamed for turning down sale that could end up hurting an animal. I know its a business but some places will say No if they know the person is not prepared to take care of the animal properly. That sucks that there are LFS like this. Hopefully not too many though....
ludnix
New member
I know you're in Canada, so it might not apply for here in California, but do you have any sort of liability insurance or agreements that keep you from being liable for damage from a leaking tank or other equipment failure?
Poorcollegereef
Future Doc
bttt
Matthew91
C₈H₁₀N₄O₂
I find that very offensive. What makes them idiots? Am I an idiot too for being colorblind as well? I think not
Matthew91
C₈H₁₀N₄O₂
poor geckos
Poorcollegereef
Future Doc
This is some of the stuff I overheard while managing a SPS tank at a local shop
Story 1: After committing $16,000 of fraud, investigated by the Feds, being escorted off the property of the LFS, a guy and his wife kept calling asking when they would "arrange" a delivery to get the two systems they "ordered" since they would not allowed on store property. You would think that after you were arrested and let out on bail (and when the Feds were investigating you), that you would not be getting the item you "purchased" with that stolen credit card.
2: After being quoted about 10K for a installation of a 300g custom "starfire tank and equipment, a guy proceeded to haggle... just not reasonably.
He argued, "wal-mart had like 150 gallon tanks for $150 bucks with all the equipment and that a 300 tank should not cost more than $300"
He was thinking he was being generous paying $75 gallons for the install until they told him that it was the hourly rate (and it would take several hour). They told the guy they could get a cheaper tank but he refused saying it must be the best blah, blah, blah. The guy knew his stuff... just was unreasonable.
3: One guy could not understand the price difference between a yellow tang and a black long nose tang. He wanted to get them both but would not pay $900 price difference. He thought it was some type of scam.
4: Guy comes in asking the price of a few clams and leaves (does not purchase anything). He comes back in a few days claiming for us to replace the clams he purchased... from Liveaquaria. Even brought in the printed receipt.
Despite it all, our clams were cheaper (after shipping), better quality, and sourced from Quality Marine.
Story 1: After committing $16,000 of fraud, investigated by the Feds, being escorted off the property of the LFS, a guy and his wife kept calling asking when they would "arrange" a delivery to get the two systems they "ordered" since they would not allowed on store property. You would think that after you were arrested and let out on bail (and when the Feds were investigating you), that you would not be getting the item you "purchased" with that stolen credit card.
2: After being quoted about 10K for a installation of a 300g custom "starfire tank and equipment, a guy proceeded to haggle... just not reasonably.
He argued, "wal-mart had like 150 gallon tanks for $150 bucks with all the equipment and that a 300 tank should not cost more than $300"
He was thinking he was being generous paying $75 gallons for the install until they told him that it was the hourly rate (and it would take several hour). They told the guy they could get a cheaper tank but he refused saying it must be the best blah, blah, blah. The guy knew his stuff... just was unreasonable.
3: One guy could not understand the price difference between a yellow tang and a black long nose tang. He wanted to get them both but would not pay $900 price difference. He thought it was some type of scam.
4: Guy comes in asking the price of a few clams and leaves (does not purchase anything). He comes back in a few days claiming for us to replace the clams he purchased... from Liveaquaria. Even brought in the printed receipt.
Despite it all, our clams were cheaper (after shipping), better quality, and sourced from Quality Marine.
Everyones Hero
New member
I haven't been on here for a while because someone had ratted me out to Petco's corporate ethics department. On the plus side them calling the ethics department did give me a chance to talk to HR & get some pretty nasty stuff taken care of.
I can't say too much because I'm still technically employed by them, but I have a new job that started me at a better hourly rate & is giving me 60hrs/week.
Getting away from doing things "their" way (half ***ed) & not having to help people with their problems all day is slowly letting me appreciate my own tank again.
I had a guy come into the shop a while back looking through the saltwater department. He proceeds to Gripe and groan over our prices and asking for deals if he bought this that and the other thing. I said no but he kept at it making a total *** of himself. He ended up buying, begrudgingly, a Koran Angel and Cleaner Shrimp. A half hour later i get a phone call he's mad as hell that the cleaner shrimp died immediately after adding it to the tank. I asked him for his parameters his response is their perfect, not having any problems. so I had him bring in a sample and the shrimp to check out. His water test came back with about a 7.0 PH. I asked him with out telling him what i found, when he tested his tank last he said last week or something like that. I looked him in the eye and said this isn't our fault you need to test your tank more often and watch your levels. His response was well the Angel is doing fine, I looked at him and said well you better get home and check on it because it probably won't last long in this. He pitched the shrimp at me cussed and swore up a storm and stamped out of the store to sit in his car for a half an Hour after saying he'd never come back. I figured he was loading a shotgun when he finally left. Customers like that drive me up the wall. grrrr! glad he hasn't been in since.
Everyones Hero
New member
Prior to leaving Petco I did have to deal with some drunken crackhead. She always came in & was one of those people that tries to pick a fight. Her boyfriend always came in & he was always cracked out, but he was always nice; although goofy.
This day she comes up to me & says "You need to open the spider cage. Or give me your code & I'll just ****ing do it myself." This is from over 6 feet away & I could smell the alcohol on her breath. So I open the cage & she's looking at it, poking at it & stuff. I tell her "Don't do that."
She asks "Is it male or female?"
I told her I didn't know.
Then she starts flipping out "You don't know? How the f*** do you work here & don't f****** know if it's male or female? Are you all f****** stupid?"
I said "f*** it" and walked away.
She tried chasing me down & I told her she needed to get out of my face & talk to the manager. The cashier (who is close to 30) told her she needed to settle down & stop cursing because we're a family store & people bring their children in. that set her off even more & she sat & ended up spending the next 45 minutes screaming at the general manager.
After she left the GM gets all nasty with me & tells me I have to write a report about what happened. Don't jump up my *** because you weren't willing to throw some drunken crackhead out.
This day she comes up to me & says "You need to open the spider cage. Or give me your code & I'll just ****ing do it myself." This is from over 6 feet away & I could smell the alcohol on her breath. So I open the cage & she's looking at it, poking at it & stuff. I tell her "Don't do that."
She asks "Is it male or female?"
I told her I didn't know.
Then she starts flipping out "You don't know? How the f*** do you work here & don't f****** know if it's male or female? Are you all f****** stupid?"
I said "f*** it" and walked away.
She tried chasing me down & I told her she needed to get out of my face & talk to the manager. The cashier (who is close to 30) told her she needed to settle down & stop cursing because we're a family store & people bring their children in. that set her off even more & she sat & ended up spending the next 45 minutes screaming at the general manager.
After she left the GM gets all nasty with me & tells me I have to write a report about what happened. Don't jump up my *** because you weren't willing to throw some drunken crackhead out.
Everyones Hero
New member
I thought I was the only one who did this ROFL
I did that once. Little kid kept pushing in front of me when I was catching the fish. It was accidental but it made me smile inside.
I too worked for Petco for a couple months, big mistake. I was hired as the aquatics specialist, but that's where the job title ended. I was supposed to maintain all the tanks FW & SW in only 3 or 4 hours a week. The GM of the store told me that they had problems with their SW systems, well when they do water changes they didnt have anything to pre mix the SW, you poured some salt in the sump, added FW that was straight out of the faucet and when the sump was full, turn on pump, turn it off when sump was low then do it all over again until the tanks and sumpo was full. I saw the GM and other managers sell fish to people when it clearly shouldnt have been sold. One time I refused to sell some oscars to a girl who had a 10 gallon tank in her cart and told me she was gonna set it up for the oscars that day and add the fish. Another time a guy came in and bought an Aqueon 10 gallon kit and a small box of IO salt then wanted to buy a yellow tang and clownfish we had. I told him 1. he needed a bigger tnak then 10 gallon for those fish 2. need to get it set up and stable before adding the fish I left him alone for a few minutes and an assistant manager was bagging the fish for him! Later when I came back from my lunch I was pulled into the office and told that I am to sell any fish to someone who wants it, and if they found out I was reufsing to sell fish I would be fired. Yet somehow it was my fault when our sales dollars were down because people were bringing dead fish back.
D to the P
New member
Co-worker just got an email the other day. A lady was complaining that her bi-color angel had been laying on the bottom of the tank for 2 days.
She had a 10 gallon tank that hadn't been set up very long so he started to respond to her about how the tank was too small and likely not established yet.
Then we saw the attached picture. :uhoh2:
It was set up as a freshwater tank: black and pink gravel, plastic plants, ancient ruins, zero pounds of live rock, and the tetra whisper 10 filter. There were also 2 clownfish and a peppermint shrimp in the tank.
The email took a quick turn towards telling this lady to take all her stuff back to where she got it and get her money back. Where did she get it?
Petco, naturally.
Poor lady (even though she should have done some of her own research), and poor, poor fish.
She had a 10 gallon tank that hadn't been set up very long so he started to respond to her about how the tank was too small and likely not established yet.
Then we saw the attached picture. :uhoh2:
It was set up as a freshwater tank: black and pink gravel, plastic plants, ancient ruins, zero pounds of live rock, and the tetra whisper 10 filter. There were also 2 clownfish and a peppermint shrimp in the tank.
The email took a quick turn towards telling this lady to take all her stuff back to where she got it and get her money back. Where did she get it?
Petco, naturally.
Poor lady (even though she should have done some of her own research), and poor, poor fish.
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