question iherad this in a fish store

[clayspst]

first the sales persons was answering questions from the customer.
customer: what kind of anom. is that and is it easy?
sales: it is a sebae it is very easy.

i am going to say the sales person is wrong.
next

sales: do you have corals?
customer: yes
sales: it eats corals.

***. HMMM NO. sting yes eat no

the anom. was very hun healthy. zero talk about lighting.

 

[TheApprentice]

where were you? I know there are a few employees that don't seem to know their stuff sometimes. One told me to get a 24 inch light for my 30 inch tank. haha. I got the 30 inch.

 

[jkreefer]

Most employees are welcome to advice when you start explaining, and show that you know what you are talking about. Then you knock two birds with one stone and educate the emploee, and the customer. If the store emploee takes offence, hopefully the customer can see through their ignorance, and understand what you told them.

 

[clayspst]

i wont put them on blast. but i will let the right people know

 

[clayspst]

i told both of them.

 

[coralfarmer]

Well hear is my two cents since I deal with issues like this on a daily basis. Most LFS employees are well intentioned not that they are ignorant but maybe at a different level in the learning curve. Plus most are limited by the tools that the store provides them. What i mean by tools is proper training, the do they have the right equipment to sell to a customer and or will they sell them what they have in stock just to make the sale. A perfect example of this is a lot of people will come in to the store and say they have a reef tank. But they do they? They have a fluval canister filter with some live rock and inadequate lighting. And when i tell them that it is a bad idea to keep corals and anemones in their tank they say well store x said it would be fine. So what is a LFS guy supposed to do. Try to convince them to start over and educate them on how to properly set up a reef tank. Usually this doesn't work because that requires more money and they go back to store x to shop because they don't want to hear it from me. That is till their tank crashes and then they come back and say you know you were right. But to be honest guy's this hobby is so huge that you never can know everything and if you think you do, then arrogance is definitely ignorance. Plus i put a premium on personal responsibility. For example, If you buy a lunare wrasse from a LFS because they say it is reef safe and you throw it in your reef tank and it eats all your shrimp and picks at your xenia . That is definitely on you for not doing your homework. But jeff you are right by having a dialog with the LFS employee can benefit both of you and even their customers a little knowledge can go a long way. Maybe they know nothing about corals but can tell you every thing you'll ever want to know about Paratalapia polleni and how it's loss of natural habitat is driving it to extinction and without the hobby it wouldn't be around any more. So give a LFS guy or girl a break sometimes.

 

[TheApprentice]

very true. I work at a nutrition store and when I first started working there I didn't know as much as a I do now. Through working there I learned more and more.

we are all human and were trying to play god with fish, haha.

 

[clayspst]

yes i agree james i was just in shock more then anything. but i help them both out.

 

[coralfarmer]

Good for you

 

[islandcreation]

I love going to our two LFS and just standing there listening to people talk about corals. Or even a boyfriend trying to explain to his girlfriend about corals when she picks everything thats pretty ha,ha,ha. (My girlfriend was on board of going to fish stores when I first started. It was when I got obsessed at staying at each store for 1 hour at a minimum is when she stop coming with me) I only drop in my two cents when their about to shell out cash for something they can't keep alive, or the sales rep doesn't probe enough to figure out the tank setup.