ATTN: LFS employees

[D to the P]

Bad economy= no one buying stuff= not a lot of stories

But...

Today I had a customer who said they have a "really large tank" with 2 fish in it (freshwater: Oscar and a Dempsey). They were having problems with green water. After some questions I figured out that

A. "No light never hits the tank", be it aquarium light cause that's never on, or natural sunlight cause the blinds don't let any in, or ambient light because they don't turn the lights on in the room.

B. They don't have a nutrient problem some how because they only feed once a week.

C. Some aquarium expert came over to their house, had no idea what was going on, and recommended a diatom filter.

D. They were unable to say nitrates. I got a lot of nitruints, nutri system, nitra-whatevers.

They also didn't understand the concept that algae needs light and nutrients to grow... and they didn't think a UV sterilizer would help.

So apparently what it came down to, for them, is that I was wrong on all accounts and couldn't help them.

 

[Magga Pie]

Customer calls I answer,
Customer: Do you guys offer swimming lessons? I really want to learn how to swim.
Me: This is a fish store
Customer: Ohhhhh

It was pretty funny I was dying laughing I thought it was a joke, but the lady was being so serious

 

[D to the P]

One thing that really baffles me is when people get their call transferred to fish supplies (where I work) to ask what our hours are. Why is that weird?
Because when you call us the first option is "If you want to know store hours and directions press 3".
"If you want to talk to a member of our fish supplies retail associates, press 4"

People...

 

[jkhudson]

I have to tell a stupid lfs employee story. A lady tells him she wants some fish. Among her requests is a foxface. The guy scoops them out with a net one by one. When he gets to the foxface it extends it's dorsal spines. He then starts to push on the spines to free him from the net. I had to step in and warn him they were poisonous. He gets scared, drops the net back on the tank and goes to get the manager. the managerthen asks me to leave and not to come back because I interfered in store business. The lady then steps in and thanks me for stopping the kid before he might have hurt himself.

 

[D to the P]

Obviously the manager believes in punishing the employee that doesn't educate himself :lol:

 

[flyyyguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13386620#post13386620 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by juiceworld
So now when she comes over I move a few peaces of rock and she now thinks the are moving around to get food.

:lol:

 

[jenjen]

I was in a LFS a while ago - not one of the ones I usually frequent. The story is funny/sad on two accounts.

I was there to buy a foxface. The girl serving me was clearly new, and had NO idea how to net a fish. Add to that she was apparently afraid of the foxface (though she didn't seem to realize they are venemous). While trying to net the poor guy, every time he extended his spines she let out a full on scream and dropped the net. At one point he set himself in the corner all still and mottled and she was convinced he was dead.

After maybe 3 screams and several minutes of her chasing the fish around, I asked for her to find someone else to help me (she immediately put the net down & said "oh, good idea!"). While she was off looking for someone else, these two young guys (who had been watching the goings on) started asking about the fish.

First question was "is that a salt water fish?" - yes
Then "I have a fw tank, it couldn't live in there eh?" - umm, no
"Really? The other fish are pretty tame" - right, but the salt...
"Oh, do you think if I put some salt in then?" - umm, no
"but it's such a cool looking fish"

Luckily for me a different employee came by & got my fish out - and I left before I found out if these guys actually tried to buy a sw fish & put it in a fw tank.

I don't shop at that LFS anymore, and the foxface successfully made it through 5 weeks of QT before being released into the DT and is doing great. And I don't envy employees (you know, the ones NOT scared of the fish) who have to deal with customers like those guys!

 

[littlefish72]

So we have a snowflake clown in the store.....most comments about it are "What's wrong with it?", "Why is it so expensive?", or "Meh, not that cool"...........my favorite so far has been "Is he a burn victim?"





Yeah lady













he caught fire












underwater

 

[JJ21]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13548189#post13548189 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by littlefish72
So we have a snowflake clown in the store.....most comments about it are "What's wrong with it?", "Why is it so expensive?", or "Meh, not that cool"...........my favorite so far has been "Is he a burn victim?"





Yeah lady













he caught fire












underwater

we spilled some white out on him it's all good.

 

[thenamshow]

I was in the LFS with my friend, I was looking to get a new skimmer. a guy approaches us.

Him: Do you work here?
Me: We can help you out with pretty much anything, but my friend does work here, hes just not working right now.
Him: What kind of light would you recommend for growing plants?
My Friend: Like freshwater plants?
Him: No, marijuana plants.


I simply had to walk away, and laughed about it a lot later

 

[Everyones Hero]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13794131#post13794131 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thenamshow
I was in the LFS with my friend, I was looking to get a new skimmer. a guy approaches us.

Him: Do you work here?
Me: We can help you out with pretty much anything, but my friend does work here, hes just not working right now.
Him: What kind of light would you recommend for growing plants?
My Friend: Like freshwater plants?
Him: No, marijuana plants.


I simply had to walk away, and laughed about it a lot later

I won't lie.. I was considering doing that in my FW planted tank but decided it wasn't a good idea.

In case you guys come across him again I'd recommend T5 lights w/ the following bulb combo:
Geismann Aqua Flora
GE 6500K Daylight/UVL Aquasun
ATI Aquablue
ATI Aquablue

Along with a CO2 setup. If your friend is commission based he'd get a nice bonus out of the sale.

 

[mat167]

Oh boy do I have a bunch.

1. One day a couple walks up to a small holding tank with a small black seahorse and exclaims " oh look at the platypus"

2. The very next day, same situation, different couple, "oh, look at the pelican"

3. I was asked if we had any starfish, so I showed them some linckia, serpent stars, brittle stars, sand stars, etc. They asked if their african cichlids would attack them. after explaining the difference between saltwater and freshwater tanks, they wanted to know if i had any freshwater starfish. Not wanting to pass up an oportunity, I replied cheerily yes, one second. I came back with a 12 inch, hot pink rubber starfish, and explained that this one, unlike the others will never die or be attacked. they loved it so much they took 3.

4. One woman tried to convince me that her neon tetras were saltwater fish. After asking how she concluded this she told me that because she treated them with salt for a fungal infection (1 tbsp per 10 gallons) that now she wanted SW fish. ouch, my head.

5. One guy bought 8 bala sharks in february. In montreal, february is generally cold. he came back 4 hours later complaining they were dead. I asked how he acclimated them, and he said they died in the bags. you guessed it, he went shopping and left them in the cold, cold, car all the while.

6. my manager was fixing a power head, and on the desk we had a 15 gallon tank with 2 ocellaris clowns. One woman with her son asked if they were real. Jokingly he said no, they were robots and he was controlling them with the remote (disassembled power head). he then had a hard time convincing the customer that they were, in fact, live fish.

7. One customer asked if i could sex the juvenile mono's. I explained that there is no external difference between M or F. Then he asked why some have more color than other. I told him some fish just express better color, some are more dominant, and some are just, well, nicer. He thought for a moment and said " hm...no the males have better color" AUUGHH

8. We are given t-shirts that show quite visibly the logo of the company. I was armpit deep in a system sump about to clean the filters when i was asked "do you work here?". of course, i had to say "nah, this is just really, really, REALLY fun!!!!!"

9. Sometimes, being forgetful as I am, I will leave a hose running for too long and make a big big mess. So i set up a wet floor sign and begin mopping. naturally, "captain-forced-conversations-but-will-never-buy-anything" comes and says "wow, something overflowed, huh?" to which i look around slowly and respond "no, why?". then when he points out that there's water all over the floor, i say "nah, the tiles just grow faster if you water them"

10. I have 75 lbs of coral (liverock) in my aquarium. how much are your plants (corals)? this question, although to newbies seems difficult drives me crazy. It takes a lot of patience to answer this several times a week.

11. this isnt so much a funny customer story as it is a funny me story. A guy wanted to buy fiddler crabs. So i got a net and started catching. he asked why i couldn't catch them with my hands. i said in theory i could. why dont i? ......they look too much like spiders.

12. "can i mix african cichlids with angelifish?"
"no, it's not likely going to work out well"
"well my friend did it"
"ask him for advice then"

I should have a bunch more coming. as annoying as it is, the stories are worth it lol.

 

[mat167]

Oh, by the way. Doesn't it seem like people missed the point of "Finding Nemo"? I got the impression that it was discouraging people from collection but now all kids want to take Nemo home.

 

[D to the P]

What's weird is there was no Dalmatian boom when 101 Dalmations came out. There was no huge demand for bears when The Jungle Book came out, or Lions when The Lion King came out. And there was no significant increase in fish sales when The Little Mermaid came out...

I guess people weren't paying attention to the part of the movie where Nemo WANTED TO GO HOME, and not be in the aquarium. Not like it was the predominant part of the plot or anything...


As far as another story about work. I'd like to complain about the folks that argue with me that a 90 gallon aquarium isn't going to make it into the back of their Ford F#%$&@* Escort.

Look, I'm glad you want to get an aquarium. And I know you planned on buying a big aquarium before you showed up at 8:50pm (when we close at 9). So why the hell don't you bring something bigger than a sedan with your wife on the passenger side, and a kid in the back, and your closet in your trunk? Then you look at me like you're surprised. Come on. You know better. At least I hope you do.

 

[Ephraim]

pfffffft come on, i fit a 90 gallon in a 2 door daytona. It can be done!!

 

[kelso1980]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10225511#post10225511 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jimsta
I also had a guy that came in very intoxicated that bought 2 damsels just so he could see me feed them to the Huge lionfish that is kept as a store pet. Easiest customer I ever had to deal with

LMAO! That's hilarious.

 

[D to the P]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13804533#post13804533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ephraim
pfffffft come on, i fit a 90 gallon in a 2 door daytona. It can be done!!

:lol:

but no, it really can't. Trust me, we had to prove it to them.

 

[kelso1980]

I admit, I was a stupid customer at one time...I brought in my water to be tested and the pH was about 5! The guy at the LFS was like "is there anything LIVING in this tank?!" and things were doing quite well actually. zoos, fish, hammer, shrooms, ect. He didnt believe me till we figured it out. I brought my water sample in in a pepsi bottle. Peeled the label off but never rinsed it or anything. I've learned my lesson.

 

[D to the P]

Mistakes are one thing (albeit that was a pretty funny one that I would have told if you were my customer), but learning from them is the important part.

90% of the people these stories are about aren't the "learnin" type. Most of them either don't care, or are already set in their ways.

 

[digitalis]

i am amazed people are so naive.