gary faulkner
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Hypo
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ATTN: LFS employees
- Thread starter littlefish72
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TheSaltwaterGuy
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Well, I'm pretty sure if you in were in my position, you would have done the same thing. I mean, come on, we were standing right beside a sign that said "Saltwater Fish".
kathainbowen
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This one customer yesterday was so GLARINGLY stupid..... I had to post it here. Please, bear with the slightly off-topic nature of this, since the episode was so bad it stirred memories of a Lewis Black joke involving how a girl wouldn't have spent that year at college if it weren't for her horse.
I work in inventory control at a local grocer now, so most of my day consists of walking a rather large store and finessing the numbers on our automated ordering system to make things order appropriately. I had paused by baby food and formula to recount the entire formula section and fix some huge issues with the ordering on them. I'd settled into this and had my milk-crate chair, trying to cram the section in before the end of my shift.
Then.... without warning.... she struck.
The World's Most Ultimate Milk Maid
All you Kevin Smith fans know exactly what I'm talking about. However, for those of you who don't know, a "milk maid" is best described by the character Dante Hicks as "the women that go through every gallon of milk, looking for that later date, as if somewhere beyond all the other gallons is a container of milk that won't go bad for at least a decade."
She turned to me and said, "Excuse me, miss, but this one's going to expire soon."
It was one of those bottles of ready to feed formulas, the smaller ones that you'd be lucky to get more than two or three days worth of formula out of it. The company had changed product packaging last month, so I assumed she was right.
But.... out of curiosity.... I had to look at the expiration date myself.
DECEMBER 1, 2007
.... this is the part of the story where I should bring up a valuable point of interest to note. This occured.... YESTERDAY. Yes. Yesterday. As in September 13, 2007. As in close to two months away from expiring.
I shrugged and put it back on the shelf. Think about it. This formula may have older product packaging, but it's a product with another two months on its shelf life and a product that isn't going to last in a home for very long. What's the worry? It's just too bad I forgot to check and see if the aforementioned The World's Most Ultimate Milk Maid had left the aisle. As soon as the Milk Maid saw that I've put the container of offending formula back on the shelf, she made an immediate u-turn and came right back at me.
She practically screamed at me in the middle of the aisle, "What's wrong with you? You can't put that back on the shelf! It's going to expire!"
"But, the expiration date isn't for a little while," I replied.
The Milk Maid shook her head. "You can't just do that! It's a baby product, and it's going to expire! You can't give expired foods to babies! Don't you care about babies?!?"
..... *sigh* I looked at her baby and noted that it looked tiny, maybe just an infant. Somewhere, in my head, I hoped it was her first, and figured it was for the best to quietly pull the formula from the shelf, wait for her to walk FAR away.... and... then.... put it right back!
I work in inventory control at a local grocer now, so most of my day consists of walking a rather large store and finessing the numbers on our automated ordering system to make things order appropriately. I had paused by baby food and formula to recount the entire formula section and fix some huge issues with the ordering on them. I'd settled into this and had my milk-crate chair, trying to cram the section in before the end of my shift.
Then.... without warning.... she struck.
The World's Most Ultimate Milk Maid
All you Kevin Smith fans know exactly what I'm talking about. However, for those of you who don't know, a "milk maid" is best described by the character Dante Hicks as "the women that go through every gallon of milk, looking for that later date, as if somewhere beyond all the other gallons is a container of milk that won't go bad for at least a decade."
She turned to me and said, "Excuse me, miss, but this one's going to expire soon."
It was one of those bottles of ready to feed formulas, the smaller ones that you'd be lucky to get more than two or three days worth of formula out of it. The company had changed product packaging last month, so I assumed she was right.
But.... out of curiosity.... I had to look at the expiration date myself.
DECEMBER 1, 2007
.... this is the part of the story where I should bring up a valuable point of interest to note. This occured.... YESTERDAY. Yes. Yesterday. As in September 13, 2007. As in close to two months away from expiring.
I shrugged and put it back on the shelf. Think about it. This formula may have older product packaging, but it's a product with another two months on its shelf life and a product that isn't going to last in a home for very long. What's the worry? It's just too bad I forgot to check and see if the aforementioned The World's Most Ultimate Milk Maid had left the aisle. As soon as the Milk Maid saw that I've put the container of offending formula back on the shelf, she made an immediate u-turn and came right back at me.
She practically screamed at me in the middle of the aisle, "What's wrong with you? You can't put that back on the shelf! It's going to expire!"
"But, the expiration date isn't for a little while," I replied.
The Milk Maid shook her head. "You can't just do that! It's a baby product, and it's going to expire! You can't give expired foods to babies! Don't you care about babies?!?"
..... *sigh* I looked at her baby and noted that it looked tiny, maybe just an infant. Somewhere, in my head, I hoped it was her first, and figured it was for the best to quietly pull the formula from the shelf, wait for her to walk FAR away.... and... then.... put it right back!
Sarcophyton874
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You guys should start another thread called "Are you smarter than a 2nd grader."
kathainbowen
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Actually.... we weren't allowed to just sell things to people without asking about their tanks or the environment for their pet at the shop I worked at. It was both a corporate policy and a store policy to rigidly employ that part of the five-step sale to ensure that we were looking out for the needs of both the pet and the potential or current owner. There are other stores out there that have policies like that, and, in fact, I knew several customers to get annoyed at it. After a while, once I knew a few clients, and exactly what was in their tank (they only came over maybe every other day!), did I stop asking. Other regulars that I didn't know their tank would start answering the other questions before I even finished asking the first!
kathainbowen
New member
To the defense of customers everywhere, here's a gem from the client side with stupid or just foolish LFS/pet shop customers. I hope this makes you guys feel a bit better about all these stupid customer stories.
We were out of heat bulbs at work, and my ex and I had just adopted a beautiful ball python from a gent who's unit was shipping out the next day. It was also just too cool a day to go without heat, so it was off to the local PetSmart to pick up a bulb. Now, I must give the employees of out local PetSmart credit; they are REALLY dedicated to their adoption programs.
She asked my ex, "Can I help you find something?"
"Nah, I'm just looking," he answered.
Although he was giving her all the body language of go-away, she pressed, "What kind of pet do you have?"
My ex replied, "Oh, we just adopted a ball python."
"A snake? Why would you want a snake?" (THAT statement rubbed my ex completely the wrong way) "Why don't you adopt a nice small dog or cat?" She pointed to the front and to the commotion just outside. "We're even heaving an Adoption Day today! Would you like to see some of them? They've got the cutest little Chihuahua puppies!"
I'm very proud of my ex for this one moment, for, without missing a beat, replied, "Oh, really? About how big are they?"
"Just a few pounds! They're tiny," the all-too-perky employee responded.
My ex nodded, pretending to think. "Do you get in small puppies often?"
"Well, you could adopt them today if you wanted!" She sounded very excited, like she had just sold this individual on throwing out his newly acquired snake and get a dog that our lease wouldn't allow.
My ex shook his head. "No, no. Do you get them in all the time?"
At this point, she looked a bit confused and unsettled. "Well.... it depends on what they have..."
My ex gave another nod. "Well, would you say you get small, 5-10 lb dogs at least once or twice a month?"
The employee is looking mighty confused at this point. All snake owners are probably seeing where this is going. In fact, at this point, I was almost falling all over myself snickering at the end of the aisle listening to this.
"Maybe..." She seemed frightened. "Why?"
My ex had the trump card of a slam for her in store. "So I can feed them to my snake!"
"What, what?"
And off she went, suddenly very horrified. I actually spied her as we were walking out the door talking in hushed voices to the people at the adoption day and pointing at us. The people at the desk from the adoption looked shocked as we passed them. I stopped to look at a puppy, and it was immediately snatched up by the employees who said that the puppy needed a break from being played with.
We get into the car, and I look at my ex, asking, "Do you think we should have told them that a ball python could hardly SCRATCH a puppy, let alone eat it?"
We were out of heat bulbs at work, and my ex and I had just adopted a beautiful ball python from a gent who's unit was shipping out the next day. It was also just too cool a day to go without heat, so it was off to the local PetSmart to pick up a bulb. Now, I must give the employees of out local PetSmart credit; they are REALLY dedicated to their adoption programs.
She asked my ex, "Can I help you find something?"
"Nah, I'm just looking," he answered.
Although he was giving her all the body language of go-away, she pressed, "What kind of pet do you have?"
My ex replied, "Oh, we just adopted a ball python."
"A snake? Why would you want a snake?" (THAT statement rubbed my ex completely the wrong way) "Why don't you adopt a nice small dog or cat?" She pointed to the front and to the commotion just outside. "We're even heaving an Adoption Day today! Would you like to see some of them? They've got the cutest little Chihuahua puppies!"
I'm very proud of my ex for this one moment, for, without missing a beat, replied, "Oh, really? About how big are they?"
"Just a few pounds! They're tiny," the all-too-perky employee responded.
My ex nodded, pretending to think. "Do you get in small puppies often?"
"Well, you could adopt them today if you wanted!" She sounded very excited, like she had just sold this individual on throwing out his newly acquired snake and get a dog that our lease wouldn't allow.
My ex shook his head. "No, no. Do you get them in all the time?"
At this point, she looked a bit confused and unsettled. "Well.... it depends on what they have..."
My ex gave another nod. "Well, would you say you get small, 5-10 lb dogs at least once or twice a month?"
The employee is looking mighty confused at this point. All snake owners are probably seeing where this is going. In fact, at this point, I was almost falling all over myself snickering at the end of the aisle listening to this.
"Maybe..." She seemed frightened. "Why?"
My ex had the trump card of a slam for her in store. "So I can feed them to my snake!"
"What, what?"
And off she went, suddenly very horrified. I actually spied her as we were walking out the door talking in hushed voices to the people at the adoption day and pointing at us. The people at the desk from the adoption looked shocked as we passed them. I stopped to look at a puppy, and it was immediately snatched up by the employees who said that the puppy needed a break from being played with.
We get into the car, and I look at my ex, asking, "Do you think we should have told them that a ball python could hardly SCRATCH a puppy, let alone eat it?"
ScubaDiver93
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any1 ever been to the saltwater part of petco. never in my life have i been so discouraged. they had about 10 saltwater tanks and every fish in those tanks was compltetly unhealthy. So i asked the guy if they had nori for my tang. so i follow the guy around and he just stares at the salt mixes. so i say no i need nori not salt. he says yea i kno wut that is. i follow him to the other side and he says yea i have no idea wut ur talkin about, im just the freshwater specialest. so i ask to talk to the saltwater specilest and he says i am the aquarium specialist. thank god theyh are getting rid of saltwater from petco
I happen to work at Petco and as far as I know there are no plans to get rid of saltwater. If you've heard something otherwise let me know because I'd like to know. It's quotes like these that really discourage me when people lump every single Petco store into one and take one experience with one employee and tell everyone else never to go back there again. At least he took the time to try and help you. Maybe since you knew what it was you could've helped him and and explained it so the next person could be helped.
TitusvileSurfer
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We just got a Petco in my town a couple of months ago and their saltwater displays are shady. There was an employee training a new recruit on how to maintain the salt water tanks. They had live rock for "$10", and I asked if they were priced per pound. The trainer said "no, they are priced per piece". Fair enough, but then the trainer saw the snail tank directly above the LR and noted every single snail was dead (at least 10). After he made a few jokes to the trainee about how it was his job as the new guy to take care of it and the smell would be awful, I asked the trainer if they had any protein skimmers. He led me around the aquarium section until finally confessing he didn't know what a protein skimmer was. (This is the guy training new hires about salt water systems.) I asked if he was also a new hire, then he explained that he had transfered from another store where he was well established to get this one rolling. (down a hill apparently)
*EDIT Big chains are great for dogs, birds, or cats...though I think this particular field is far too specialized for such a broad spectrum store.
*EDIT Big chains are great for dogs, birds, or cats...though I think this particular field is far too specialized for such a broad spectrum store.
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ILoveLlamas
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My PetCo got rid of their SW section.
Again, lumping the entire chain together like all the stores and all the employees are the same. It sounds to me like that manager was just trying to sound cool in front of some new hire and absolutely shouldn't have joked about something like that. How many of you out there have bad stories about a LFS thats not one of the big chain stores where the employee didn't know what they were doing? The big stores just get bashed because they're just about everywhere that the local mom and pop stores are so just about everyone can dig up a story from one.
TitusvileSurfer
New member
I have been to several stores around Florida from Tallahassee to Miami and its the same old story at each one. The problem isn't they don't care, but they have to know a little bit about so many fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals, they can't dedicate enough resources to properly train their staff on a VERY information demanding area such as marine life. Were still considered rookies after eating drinking and sleeping this stuff for five years! Apparently your store is great, and we salute you for it. If I lived in the area I surely would frequent it. However, this is apparently the exception...not the rule. Hence the bad general rep from hardcore hobbyist.
cdentii1
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When I lived in PGH There was a Petco on Rt. 51 N. of Century III mall ( I used to work 2-3 minutes from there so I stopped by all the time). Now the "Fish Dept. Mgr." was very knowledgeable and would even special order anything I asked for, and yes he actually knew his stuff. The tanks was always in good shape and livestock seemed good with one exception and that was when he went on vacation and I just happened to stop by and there was another employee running the fish area whom usually worked in the reptile dept. Well they just got a order in and the temp employee was just throwing anything anywhere the sump was blowing bubbles ect..... When I seen him release some small sunk clowns in with the snowflake eels which also had a Niger Trigger and porcupine puffer I had to ask if he knew what he was doing? Well he was honest and said "No Clue" So I gave him the run down and told him hey these goes with these and those with those ect..... (BTW you should have seen the look on his face when the puffer got ahold of 1 of the clowns). The GM just so happened to be coming by to check on him and over heard what I was telling him (Again I was a regular in there so the GM has seen me before) and he preceded to tell the employee no the clowns go with in this tank (the one with the eel, puffer, and trigger). he was like no they don't, well as we all know the GM is always right period even if he was wrong so he put one of the clowns back and guess what the trigger snatched it up the second it hit the water. The GM was shocked and looked at me and said well the guy normally runs this dept. is on vac. and I know you are not an employee but I will make it worth your time if you can help us out. So what the heck I was in no hurry so I said sure... We Properly acclimated the stock after we got the salinity corrected because he thought you added salt to the system when the sump was low (yes salt not water) when I check the S.G. using their Hydrometer it pegged the top I was like where is your top off water? and with a dumb look I got: What kind of water? My hand went on the forehead and my head started shaking back and forth. 3hrs later I ended up leaving with the Niger Trigger and 1 of the Snowflake eels. Free of charge not to mention I felt better knowing at least they have a chance to survive at this point. Stop by the next day and all survived except a couple of fish. Went back in the next week when they got their stock in The fish guru was back then the reptile guy came buy and pointed me out to the fish guy said he's the one who helped us out. He came over and we started talking and I ended up with another Free Fish a "Clown Trigger" his comment was "Nothing would have survived if it wasn't for you" every time I went in there from then on the always tried to recruit me. From there on we always had a on going joke "Will work for free fish"
TitusvileSurfer
New member
Ahh thats a cool story!
kathainbowen
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10767780#post10767780 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcrist
Now that was the best one so far...
It's actually been TWO YEARS this week since we got the python (Harlequin) and that horrendously foolish employee thought we were just going to up and get rid of him. Thankfully, I've finally got him to eat frozen mice as opposed to the WAY too big rats the previous owner had been feeding him but once every month or two. I felt bad enough feeding him live foods, but I knew it was going to take time to get him onto a proper diet of frozen or prekill foods. It was getting too old to hear people call me a bad person for feeding him mice.
Case in point...
I was walking out the local pet/fish shop one day with a mouse in my critter cage (many people with snakes or other things feeding on live small mammals will use), when a woman stopped me.
Woman: "Is that yours?"
Me: "I would hope so."
Woman: "Are you going to feed that to something?"
Me: *noticing the five or six year old girl with her and trying to find a delicate way to put it* "Well...."
Woman: "YOU'RE A TERRIBLE PERSON!"
Me: *flabbergasted* "But.... but.... it's for my snake, and he's an adopted pet!"
Woman: "It doesn't matter. You're still just an awful person, and I hope you rot for it!"
Me: "I'm trying as best and as fast as I can to get him to take frozen foods!"
Woman: "You're terrible. You should just take your snake outside and either set it free or kill it and spare that poor mouse!"
.... yes.... she suggested I set free a African species of snake in the middle of NEW JERSEY in the middle of the WINTER (which would basically kill it) or kill it myself.... but I'm the terrible person for having to feed him live foods as I tried to wean him to frozen mice.
I understand that many people consider the mice to be helpless in the feeding situation and can find it unethical (I find it to be too risky to feed snakes live as the mice/rats can scratch or harm the snake, and it can encourage more aggressive behavior in snakes)..... but is it really any better for me to intentionally kill the snake either by neglect or my hands? I tried to voice all this to the woman.... but she didn't want to listen to me.
She left me by telling me...
"There's a special place in {the Christian underworld for sinners - since I know RC's going to censor it anyway!} for people like you where you're going to get just want you deserve!"
kathainbowen
New member
I was just more floored that a woman who called me a "terrible person" for basically killing mice and rats wanted me to kill a snake. It's kind of pot-to-kettle-ish if you ask me. :rolleye1:
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