I really like most of the stories in this thread. Only have a suggestion or two.
For the people that work at an LFS, Chill out when it comes to people that don't know much or the proper way of doing things.
We are all newbies at one time or another. I have only been in the hobby/lifestyle/family since February of 2008. My wife and I walked inot an LFS looking for a freshwater tank. We talked to a few of the workers and settled in on a saltwater tank instead.
They helped with all my questions and got me set up with the equipment they had. I never felt rushed, stupid or like I was aking too many questions.
We ended up spending close to 1200.00 to get started. A few months later, our interests grew and discovered that for what we wanted, the tank we had and lighting we had were inadequate.
We upgraded to a larger tank and better lighting. Spent another 800.00 or so for all of this. Used what we could from our original setup and traded in our 1st tank for store credit. Again came a lot of questions with the new livestock we were going to purchase when the correct time came. Some of the same questions as there was too much to take in at one time.
Eventually, we became known as the 200.00 dollar couple as we dropped about that much the next 4-5 times we came in. Livestock, Oive rock and so on.
Guess what, we just finished another upgrade because we outgrew the 75g. tank for nore of what we wanted. This is the lasyt one by the way.
I talked to the manager of the store and asked him what type of tank he had, he said none. The tanks at the store were his and he didn't want to go home and feel like he was working. Instead, he loved talking to and helping out other people in theis hobby.
His sense of giving back was to help others get into it. This made me feel good as I feel the same way with some of the other interests I have. My joy comes from helping others.
After saying this, I want to let you know that if I had come into the shop and heard someone complaining that a kid was saying the "Nemo" fish was swimming next to the "Dori" fish instead of the clownfish was swimming next to the tang, I probably would have left. Not that I wouldn't want to start this amazing hobby, but I would have gone to another store that might appreciate their customers enough to correct them and so on.
I've said it before and will say it again for a lot of other aspects; If you don't like your job and what it entails, find another.
I love my job and work with the public on a daily basis all day long. I ahve had my share of customers that cannot understnd the simplest of things and I need to explain it over and over and over and then again in a different way until they do understand it. it is tedious and aggravating, but in the end, I learn a new way to get the point across to them.
This isn't mean't for the people that have to answer the same questions to the same people all the time, or the person who has to deal with the customer asking all the questions and purchasing products elsewhere, and so on, but the people that are complaining about the person who comes in the shop, makes a statement or asks questions that you have know the answer to for the last six years, and belittles them behind their back because they didn't know that a live rock doesn't really breathe and so on.
Not everyone is as smart as you are now when it comes to this stuff. And who knows, you may lose a 200 dollar couple to someone else because of your rantings.
Enoguh from me. I'm tired and rambling and not sure if I make a lot of sense or not. Will probably get flamed or ridiculed about this but I don't care, I got it off my chest.
Take care,
For the people that work at an LFS, Chill out when it comes to people that don't know much or the proper way of doing things.
We are all newbies at one time or another. I have only been in the hobby/lifestyle/family since February of 2008. My wife and I walked inot an LFS looking for a freshwater tank. We talked to a few of the workers and settled in on a saltwater tank instead.
They helped with all my questions and got me set up with the equipment they had. I never felt rushed, stupid or like I was aking too many questions.
We ended up spending close to 1200.00 to get started. A few months later, our interests grew and discovered that for what we wanted, the tank we had and lighting we had were inadequate.
We upgraded to a larger tank and better lighting. Spent another 800.00 or so for all of this. Used what we could from our original setup and traded in our 1st tank for store credit. Again came a lot of questions with the new livestock we were going to purchase when the correct time came. Some of the same questions as there was too much to take in at one time.
Eventually, we became known as the 200.00 dollar couple as we dropped about that much the next 4-5 times we came in. Livestock, Oive rock and so on.
Guess what, we just finished another upgrade because we outgrew the 75g. tank for nore of what we wanted. This is the lasyt one by the way.
I talked to the manager of the store and asked him what type of tank he had, he said none. The tanks at the store were his and he didn't want to go home and feel like he was working. Instead, he loved talking to and helping out other people in theis hobby.
His sense of giving back was to help others get into it. This made me feel good as I feel the same way with some of the other interests I have. My joy comes from helping others.
After saying this, I want to let you know that if I had come into the shop and heard someone complaining that a kid was saying the "Nemo" fish was swimming next to the "Dori" fish instead of the clownfish was swimming next to the tang, I probably would have left. Not that I wouldn't want to start this amazing hobby, but I would have gone to another store that might appreciate their customers enough to correct them and so on.
I've said it before and will say it again for a lot of other aspects; If you don't like your job and what it entails, find another.
I love my job and work with the public on a daily basis all day long. I ahve had my share of customers that cannot understnd the simplest of things and I need to explain it over and over and over and then again in a different way until they do understand it. it is tedious and aggravating, but in the end, I learn a new way to get the point across to them.
This isn't mean't for the people that have to answer the same questions to the same people all the time, or the person who has to deal with the customer asking all the questions and purchasing products elsewhere, and so on, but the people that are complaining about the person who comes in the shop, makes a statement or asks questions that you have know the answer to for the last six years, and belittles them behind their back because they didn't know that a live rock doesn't really breathe and so on.
Not everyone is as smart as you are now when it comes to this stuff. And who knows, you may lose a 200 dollar couple to someone else because of your rantings.
Enoguh from me. I'm tired and rambling and not sure if I make a lot of sense or not. Will probably get flamed or ridiculed about this but I don't care, I got it off my chest.
Take care,
[/B]
