ATTN: LFS employees

[SteveJakubiec]

Well, I'm 14 years old and when I walk in this one LFS they always think I"m like some stupid kid, who couldn't tell a clownfish from a tang, or even use some simple reasoning and identify a fish. So well, before even calling up this store, I go on their website and see what their new shipment brought in. I saw there were some Bristletooth Tangs (Tomini, Kole, etc.) and I thought "alright I'll give them a call and see if they haven't sold them yet". Well, I called them and luckily they said they haven't sold them. About 30 minutes later, I get to the store, and I ask one of the people working there (Mostly Highschool Students, none of the "Salty Sea Dogs" who I usually talk to and get advice from when I go there), if they could help me locate one of the 5 Tomini Tangs they said they had in stock. The kid looked through 5 of the 15 isles of tanks, and then just leaves me. I thought alright, he might be getting help, well half an hour rolls by, and he still hasn't been found. I just check over the first 5 isles that he looked over to see if he could've misted them. Well Lo' and Behold in the first tank right next to the cash register, was a holding tank w/ Big Black writing on it "Tomini Tangs $39.99 ea". I thought alright, easy mistake, maybe he just missed it. Well he finally comes back, and I said look I found the Tomini Tangs (I know what they look like, Brown, White Tail, Orange Tips on the fins) and he was quite surprised! He then stops for a second, and gets out the net and the container, and tries to catch a: Blue Tang, so I told him that isn't the write tang, and he says" Yes it is, you're only a kid, how would you know, these are Saltywater (Exact Words) Fish, not your little freshwater fish" I tried reasoning with him, but he just wouldn't budge. So I just told him, I'll come back some other time once I get my "Saltywater Tank" (Sarcastically) Set up. While leaving I notice that he is trying to sell a new saltwater aquarist a beautiful already set up 10g Reef Setup, with a bunch of beautiful corals, to a 12 year old kid, who wanted to buy some gold fish.


It was a very bad experience, and I won't even ask to buy a fish if the owner isn't there anymore. I wouldn't even go to that LFS if it was the only LFS nearby that actually stocked some nice fish, not just the Yellow Tangs, Ocellaris Clownfish, and Damsels.



-Steve

 

[iceemn360]

This woman came into the store one day and I sold her a tank set up and a few small starter freshwater fish . While bagging the fish she says "STOP wait! Arent you going to poke holes in the bag so the fish can breath?".. lol Im sure those fish lived a looong time.

 

[RondaGP]

This thread has made me respect employees of LFS's soooooo much.
It has also made me consider upgrading my level of experience from intermediate to expert, lol.

 

[A.T.T.R]

no your not an expert and you never want to be one

experts are usualy the ones who ask the dumbest questions and know the least

youd be suppised how many of these " keeping salt for 20 years" people now next to nothing and are pretty much lucky ( h20 change.. filter change and feed.)
or the ones who say theyve had tanks forever with no water changes (fish only) and are trying to tell the REEF people that they shoudlent do water changes despite knowing next to nothing about reefs except they have a few polyps of some type..

 

[puffer21]

Ok here are just a couple of different things that I have had to deal with, and probably a lot of other people

Ok so I just love it when you go and ask a customer if they need help and there like “ No no I’m good, I have been doing this for 20+ years, longer than you have been alive” (in this know it all tone) there also the ones that don’t know a clownfish from a goby.

Or the people that won’t talk to me because I’m young. I’m 17, but I could easy pass off as a 13year old. And then they blatantly tell me that they want someone a little older to be helping them with something so hard. The very “hard” questions are like what type of clown is this.

Oh and there are the customers that are like you’re the bosses daughter aren’t you. That is so cute that your helping mommy and daddy out. ( In this baby tone) Then I’m like no I am an employee. Then I get the aren’t you a little young to know anything!!! ( and there like all upset and mad)

This is my favorite type of customer. The customers that won’t talk to me because I’m a girl and they don’t mind telling me that to my face!!!

But I think if your going to work in a LFS or even a pet store, then you have to be able to handle stupid questions. Like “do fish breath” “what’s the difference between salt and fresh water”. And I never mind answering them but it’s the people who don’t listen to you that gets annoying. Or the people that asks a question, and while your answering it they are already interrupting you asking a new question and this goes on for about an hour. But I think at one point we were all asking stupid question and I know I did it. When I first got into the hobby when I was 12 I knew nothing and took everything the guy at Petco told me to heart and thought it was 100% right. Since then I have learned a ton, but that was do to the patience I got from people on this board and also in stores. That listened to my stupid questions and answered them.

On a different note, I am now working at a small family owned pet store. And the people who want to buy puppies aren’t any smarter. I just had a lady come in a week ago to look at a puppy. As I was explaining the breed and different things about the dog it was pooping, in its cage. So I quickly get the dog out so I can pick the poop up before the dog walks in it. Well I was like would you like to hold him. And the lady goes “Well due to the poop situation I don’t think that would be a good idea”. And there was no poop on its butt or anywhere. She ends up leaving (the blockbuster is right next store) and comes back in about 5min later with her husband, and asks me if I have cleaned up the poop. I was like yup all clean so then she finally holds the dog. She didn’t get the dog, which I was very happy about since I didn’t think she could take care of it well enough. But a week later she came in and bought a different puppy, and then returned it the next day. Called that night when we were closing and said her husband was allergic, yet when she came into the store the next day she said she was allergic. And yet she had told us she grew up with dogs all her life and so did her husband. So all the employees are guessing it popped and she flipped out. I had told all the employees about that lady, but the one employee that I didn’t tell was the one that sold the dog other wise the dog never would have went to that lady.

 

[mr pink floyd]

*phone rings*

me: Puppy Center, how may i help you?

woman: Hi, are you guys open?

me:... uh, yea

woman: oh really? until when?


me:...5. CLICK




or

*phone*

me: puppy center

woman: uhh escoos me mistah, ah jus bawt a powahead, and Is is tryins to set it up, but does it go in da wata?

me: yea...

woman: ohhh really?? dayummm! aight thanks

 

[Slakker]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13164898#post13164898 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by puffer21
And the lady goes “Well due to the poop situation I don’t think that would be a good idea”.

Wow...just...wow...does this woman not realize that all mammals do this?

Sounds like one of those painfully sheltered folks.

 

[Hormigaquatica]

Sounds like some basic reading was in order.

 

[BadFish.t.o.]

A guy walks into the store and asks for a starfish. One of my colleagues gladly bags it up and sends him on his way. He comes back the next day saying we sold him a "bad starfish". When i ask why, he says the thing totally melted in a day. I start asking him questions, and figure he put the darn thing in a freshwater tank.

I then explain that starfish belong in a saltwater aquarium. His reply: "But i kept my last one for a year in the same tank"
"Did it move at all?"
"No"
"Where'd you buy it?"
"In Cuba."
"Cuba?"
"Yea, i got it from one of those street vendors. How come his lived longer than yours?"
At that point i had to walk away so i wouldn't break out in laughter infront of him...

 

[paper clip]

Everyone poops! great book, or atleast me and my 4 year old think so!

 

[RondaGP]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13165322#post13165322 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BadFish.t.o.
A guy walks into the store and asks for a starfish. One of my colleagues gladly bags it up and sends him on his way. He comes back the next day saying we sold him a "bad starfish". When i ask why, he says the thing totally melted in a day. I start asking him questions, and figure he put the darn thing in a freshwater tank.

I then explain that starfish belong in a saltwater aquarium. His reply: "But i kept my last one for a year in the same tank"
"Did it move at all?"
"No"
"Where'd you buy it?"
"In Cuba."
"Cuba?"
"Yea, i got it from one of those street vendors. How come his lived longer than yours?"
At that point i had to walk away so i wouldn't break out in laughter infront of him...

Alright, I'm an idiot and am going to embarrass myself but I have to ask.
I don't get it. Was the starfish he bought in Cuba the dead ornamental kind because don't those melt away too when wet?

 

[Slakker]

I suppose it wouldn't if coated in a lacquer or epoxy of some kind.

 

[SquidHC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10512489#post10512489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OceanSpray
My wife keeps small children in our home.

Like in a tank or something? (Not really) Sorry its late and this just struck me as really funny...

 

[pocurran]

Any more stories?

 

[nyjets51]

The saltwater guy at the LFS I go to is a Spanish guy who is an expert in Saltwater and freshwater, so when I finally set up my first SW tank, I know that he can help me, but people think he is stupid because he has an accent. Instead they'd rather ask the crazy guy for help.

 

[Nicholas89]

I'm at work right now..

It has slowed down for the night so I've been looking stuff up on the computer.

Anyway, someone earlier today brought in 28 African cichlids inside a 2.5 gallon bucket.

Almost all of them were fully grown, 4-6 inches. It probably had maaaaaybe a gallon of water in it.




Most of them seem to have a slight fungus on them, and we lost one of the largest ones before we could even get it out of the bucket.

 

[abulgin]

Just a question for all you LFS employees. Do your shops have computers connected to the internet or similar reference materials that hobbyists/customers/employees can use to research potential purchases? I think this would be a fantastic idea.

 

[TheCoralNabber]

Ok, I used to work in a LFS that only sold SW. We would have people come in asking if we had a particular type of FW fish, I would tell them no, we only carry SW fish etc. They would say Oh and then ask if we carried this other type of FW fish, at which time I would have to explain again that we don't carry any FW fish etc.

The store I worked at set up the FW and SW systems at a local mega store. They of course were having problems with live stock dying after a very short time, and asked us to start taking care of their system. We came back with a price, and they declined, but I thought that it was funny that this mega store was wanting us to take care of their system b/c they didn't know what the mess they were doing.

Ohh and the Nemo thing was so anoying, we would have grown people coming in asking if we had any "Nemo" fish. So on a side note I named my false perc Omen, which is Nemo backwards kinda as a play on words and as well as out of respect for all of the clownfish that have died.

There are many more that I can't remember, I'll have to think about this for a while and post some more

 

[A.T.T.R]

having net accsess is a terriable idea all it does is let the customer ask your help then look where they can buy cheeper

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Oh man.

Customer comes to me and asks "Will mollies have babies?"

I answer "Yes, if you have a male and female one."

Now, maybe I should have said "a male one and a female one" (maybe you can see where this is going), but...

I bag up TWO mollies, a male, and a female, and the customer asks:

"Are they both male and female?"

I just gave her this look like I smelled a terrible fart.

I wanted to be like... uh.... are you familiar with sexual reproduction?