Dumb things you've overheard customers say at the LFS

afraid you would bankrupt the LFS's salt water fish sales. Then we would all be out of luck.

The ignorant drive the business I am afraid to say. Just a sad fact that a lot of clowns have died since that movie came out.

Kind of ironic when you take the story line into account
 
well at one time (8 years ago) I was one of those customers with FW. I went into a LFS to look around. I ended up leaving with a 5g tank and a bag with a oscar, pleco, 2 neon tetras, and a tiger barb. The 5g was a kit with a ugf and air pump. Seriously I kept asking the guy if I was getting to much, you know that I wanted to take it slow, to which he replied " no you'll be fine just pic out what you want"....Well You can guess how it turned out. So sometimes a stupid customer needs to be told the truth no matter how rude or ugly the truth may be. It would have saved me some money that day(all but one fish made it thanks to a buddy having an old 29g I could have). After that I read up and realized that you have to be careful in a LFS. And no I didn't get the special anti algae glass coating for an extra 30 bucks...lol
 
You think you got it rough working in a fish store


Have you ever had a person look at you and say:

person : My computer is messed up, it just keeps telling me to hit ANY key. My keyboard doesn't have an ANY key..

Me: Speachless

or my personal favorite

Person: My computer wont turn on. Just a black screen.
Me: Is it plugged in
Person: *hangs up*


Oh how glad I am not to be a tech anymore. Management is the way to go, but the people I deal with now aren't any smarter, they just think they are...lol
 
At the risk of rubbing everyone on this thread the wrong way, the responses I see from many of the LFS employees are:

1) Unprofessional
2) Not actually looking to address the ignorance issue
3) Arrogant
4) A poor way to run a business

There's a post early in this thread about a comment someone made to a guy regarding his wife giving him crabs. Quite frankly, if I had been that customer, I would have come across the counter, assault charge be damned. While it was meant as a joke (albeit a funny one too), some guy working the counter at a LFS lacks a great deal of familiarity with me to make such on-the-edge jokes such as those.

Instead of offerring a rolling of the eyes, a snide remark, a sigh, or any of the other petulant responses I see here to an ignorant customer, try actually educating them. As an advocate for this hobby, and someone in the customer service business, that is something you SHOULD be eager to do. Furthermore, such education is known to be one of THE best techniques to securing extremely loyal customers. If you tell them to go somewhere else, and they do . . . what does that solve? Now they simply go somewhere else to kill fish. Is the breadth of your concern for this hobby limited only to the fish in YOUR shop?
 
I have tried to help out the ignorance of many customers, but some seem to think they "know everything" and are set in there ways. They think that a 17 year old "kid" knows nothing because he is only 17, and that is the problem I come across most often. Some people just wont listen to me because I am only 17, which they think means I know nothing about this hobby... Some people just never learn.
-Kyle Kaz
 
Then, it is your job to be pursuasive. It's an art. It is not, however, your job to be condenscending or arrogant. While it is certainly frustrating to be judged based upon your age, you could very effectively demonstrate your knowledge without coming across as an ***. :)
 
slave-of-rock said:
I have tried to help out the ignorance of many customers, but some seem to think they "know everything" and are set in there ways. They think that a 17 year old "kid" knows nothing because he is only 17, and that is the problem I come across most often. Some people just wont listen to me because I am only 17, which they think means I know nothing about this hobby... Some people just never learn.
-Kyle Kaz
Click to expand...

I can see your delima, if most 17 year-old kids knew half of what they think they do they would be in pretty good shape. Adults tend to blow all teenagers off too eagerly. Sometimes the best lessons come from unexpected sources.

If I had a fish store I think I would have an idiot waiver. Make those people who are too smart listen to the voice of experience sign a waiver saying the employee had concerns about the livestock or equipment they are purchasing. Might PO some people but maybe more would listen.
 
I did my best to explain that if it did, it would probably be the last time she got to pet one.
Click to expand...
We have a hand-fed puffer that comes to the top for petting. Weird, I'm sure. He also rubs around my arm when I'm working in the tank.

Now the Niger in there with him...I keep an eye on when my fingers are near the tank...

Yesterday I was at a LFS and saw a couple fawning over the biggest, brightest-colored clam they'd ever seen. "How much?"

"Four ninety nine," says the LFS employee.

Shocked, the couple asks why a clam would cost $499.

"No, $4.99, it's a fake one."
 
I can fully empathize with a 17 year olds dilemma as well as most LFS staff. In the computer industry we have literally 10 zillion self proclaimed "Experts" With out them however my income would be substantially less. I guess if there was any such thing as an "Electronic Blue Tang" I would be selling the fins off them.

Funny part is, most 17 year olds do in fact know more than the average adult when it comes to the plastic box on the floor with wires coming out of it. I have in fact learned a few tricks from the kids, especially when it comes to circumventing security :D
 
My dad use to work Mac tech support, so I hear you. His favorite call ever:
Him:Thank you for calling etc...
Her: My cup holder just broke off.
Him: Ummm, what cup holder?
Her: The one on the front of the computer.
Him: I've never heard of that option, did you buy it from somewhere else?
Her: Nope, it came with the computer. It's right in the front, it goes in and out of the computer.

I'm sure you can guess how the rest of that conversation went.
 
Old tech support story, but on a Mac...? I don't recall any models with a tray loader. I have some old cartridge loaders, and all my new ones are slot-loading. The slot-loaders are fun when someone doesn't understand that no, you cannot put more than one disc in at the same time.

I had to do an on-site support call for a voice over internet phone yesterday. She was trying to use a headset and couldn't understand why leaving the handset off the hook would...leave the phone off the hook. "But I took off my headset."
 
I had a customer the other day who came in asking for dogs... it was his daughter's birthday. I told him we dont sell dogs, so he he looked at our tanks, pointed to a 4-5in electric blue cichlid and a 4 in yellow Lab cichlid. I asked if he had a tank set up and he pointed to a 5 gallon tank kit on the shelf. I told him that the tanks need to cycle and that he probably shouldn't put $40 worth of fish and 8-9 in of fish in a 5 gallon tank. nothing i said could convince him he shouldn't load up his tank with fish on the first day. He had to have a present and he wouldn't wait despite the fact that we told him they would probably die.

we did talk him out of the ciclids and towards mollys, but i feel bad for the little girl. Had we had a puppy he would have just picked a "cute" one and since we didn't he just got her fish not caring about all of the maintenance involved. He hasn't been back in so i am hoping that means the fish didn't die, but its hard to tell.

Our policy at work it to tell people that its probably not the best idea to do things like putting fish in on day one, or that putting non-compatable fish in the same tank is a bad idea, and we also inform them that we dont guarantee those fish... hoping to stop the people from buying the fish.
 
You know if you go to a petstore to buy a dog or cat you have to fill out paper work, adoption papers if ya will. Why not do that for fish as well... I mean take an extra 5 minutes to have the customer fill out a form and while doing so explain the care of the animal. Patience is a big deal when dealing with the public in any job. As a matter of fact one LFS I go to has a computer beside the register that he puts all kind of info about each customer. Everything from tank size to wishlist of animals. If you went in with a Tang that outgrew your tank he could pull up a customer that wanted one and call them to come get it. Sometimes its useful sometimes its useless but you can never have to much info about anything.
 
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