Fun with Pet Stores

[Becca]

So, I have a new tank. What do I need to go with my new tank? If you said a stand, you are correct, sir! While out doing running around last night we stopped in at PetSmart. Much to my delight, the fish dweeb that I hate (with a passion) was working. Now, mind you - I have no problems with PetSmart or the employees that work there - regardless of their knowledge level. My opinion is: Everyone needs a job, and sometimes - especially when we're looking at an after school job - we're not lucky enough to do something we love. Just because they work in the Fish Department at Petsmart doesn't mean they have a fascination with fish. My real problem with this one guy is that he completed the training at PetSmart and has a tank at home, so he believes himself to be the end all, be all of Fish Experts. He takes this title so far that he will literally instigate arguments with customers. It's sad...and most times I wonder how he stays employed there.

I've only dealt with him once....and that was several months ago. In fact, I never buy from PetSmart anymore, so I was sure he didn't remember me. I began looking at the different tanks (even when I'm not buying, I love browsing Pet stores, I have such a fascination with anything under water that I can literally spend hours in a small fish store...I do it all the time.) While browsing their selections, I overheard a heated discussion between him and a customer. The impact of this conversation is best if you can read it in dialog, rather than paragraph format. Obviously the wording isn't perfect, but it's pretty close. The conversation takes place as Fish Dweeb was bagging up the last of the customer's fish. She had probably 5-6 bags of fish in her cart, and from what I could gather had just finished cycling her new 50 gallon tank.

Fish Dweeb: "Here's the last of your fish. Just remember that you won't get a warranty on these fish because you're breaking all the rules of fish." (Yes, he said "All the rules of fish")
Customer: "Whatever you want to do, but I don't appreciate you telling me what I can and cannot add to my tank without knowing the specifics of my setup. It's rude...."
Fish Dweeb: (He cuts her off at this point, his voice gets loud and he starts speaking faster...on the verge of yelling) "Ma'am, listen...if I wanted to I could be really mean and call my manager over here and we won't sell you a single fish, but I'm doing you a favor. I'm just telling you that you can't add more than 2-3 fish at a time, and there was a law passed in 1975 that says we're not supposed to sell more than 2-3 fish at a time, but PetSmart's policy will let us sell you 4. Anything more than that puts them in danger. If my manager knows I'm selling fish that are going to be harmed, then I can get in trouble."
Customer: "All I'm saying is that you don't even know how big my tank is or how many fish I already have, so you shouldn't tell me how much or what I can add."
Fish Dweeb: "Look, I'm letting you buy the fish, but I'm just telling you that if you bring in a dead one, we're not going to honor it because they cashier will see all the other fish purchased at the same time. They're going to die when you put them in your tank, and I just want to let you know that we won't replace them becuase you're breaking all the rules of fish and you're breaking the law."
Customer: "Whatever, have a good day..."

...The customer leaves, and after she pays and walks out, she waves at him (trying to be nice, knowing it's goign to piss him off). Fish Dweeb glances up, sees it and starts telling everyone that she just flipped him off! Fish Dweeb is off to find somebody who can right this injustice!!

While Fish Dweeb is gone, his associate comes over and asks if I need anything. I've not seen this new guy before, so I figure I'll test him out to see what he knows / doesn't know. I've found the best way to tell if an employee knows their stuff or not is to just play dumb and let their words speak for themselves. (Contrary to popular belief, you do run into a few Chain Stores with employees who know something. )

PetSmart Dude: "Can I help you with anything?"
Me: (Looking at a tank containing African Brown Knifes) "Not sure yet, I'm just looking to see what you have, trying to decide what to add to my tank..."
PetSmart Dude: "Oh. Ok..."
Me: (Kicking in "Newbie-Mode") "Hmm, what's that fish back there (pointing to an African Brown Knife, which is housed with a whole CRAP load of Zebra Danios.)
PetSmart Dude: "Oh, that. That's uh, an African Brown Knife."
Me: "Wow, he's really cool! Look, he swims backwards! Neat!!"
PetSmart Dude: "Yeah, they're pretty nice."
Me: "How big of a tank do I need for him?"
PetSmart Dude: "10-Gallons would be fine. They get to 7 or 8 inches."

There were other points of interest in our conversation, and while he was nice enough, he didn't seem overly experienced in the fish world. I thought the snipet about the African Brown Knife was the best. While Brown Knifes are a smaller version of their cousins the Ghost Knife and the Clown Knife, believe me - they get bigger than 7 or 8 inches. Most get upwards of 10-12...my 30-high wasn't big enough for him, why would I believe a 10 gallon would be adequate?

Still, I have to give Petsmart a bit of credit. All throughout their fish store, they had small fliers and pamphlets attempting to educate their customers about "New Tank Syndrome" and mixing incompatible species of fish. The employees I encountered last night weren't the best, but the store as a whole seems to be trying. Of course, at the same time, they had several notes stating that it's not safe to add fish until 72 hours after you've put your water in. (I'd love to see a tank fully cycle in 72 hours!!!)

 

[Wisperian]

LOL Becca! Tat was halarious! heres mine:

I went to Petcetera to check out some fish right? Then I saw these really cute zebra danios and I asked taht dude Um...excuse me, what kinda fish are they? he was like they are black and white tetras and I'm like ohhh! are they hard to keep? are they rare? then he's like nah they're so easy to keep! you can put them in a small tank! and they are qutie rare! but this point my mom knew I was playing with him so she started to stare at me but it was fun and I didnt stop So I asked Ya have any girl bettas? then he was like Yes come this way! he took me to a tank with a tank of female bettas and I was like don't they fight? and he's like yes they do but ours dont because we train them and put this medicine in to stop the fighting Sooooooo, I went to the guppies and I was like can I get one male and two females? then he asked: Do you want males or females? then i stared at him for a sec and i was like I want both.... then he's like They'res gonna be babies you know! n im like yes I know.... then he's like okay and he picked out 3 males for me and I told him those were males and he was like oh they're like that they're still young the REAL males will turn much more colourful and they'll get huge! so by this time i just shuddup and bougth the fish.... BTW i told him to pour 2 of the males in and i picked out 2 females but he was funny! okay you know that petcetera has the tags at the bottom of the tank where they tell you what kinda fish they are right? black and white tetras when it obviously says zebra danios

 

[Puffer_freak]

Ha ha! Nice story! Both of you!

 

[David]

God some people really are dumb. Actually, the workers at my local PetsMart are pretty knowledgeable about fish. I asked them some stuff about bala sharks and puffers and they accurately predicted what sizes they would grow and how big a tank to keep them in, as well as their compatibility.

 

[SirMinion]

My favourite is:

me: What species of puffer is that?
fish store guy: It's a brackish puffer.


...After some research I found out what species it really was (t. cochincinensis) and it's a freshwater puffer...

 

[Becca]

There are two people who work at my PetSmart who are obsessed with fish. They eat up as much knowledge about aquariums and fish keeping as they can. With these two, I have no problem taking their advice. But - after hearing tons of horror stories, and witnessing first hand, the quality of employees some chains and even local fish stores enlist, I rather "test" people out to find out what their knowledge levels are. And besides, once in a while, you get those few who either know what they're talking about or give you some funny responses.

 

[chatterbox]

dummys 4 life

 

[kaley822]

it doesnt mean they are dumb. if anything its the stores fault. they should test people before they put them into the fish department and train them adequately if they lack th necesary knowlege.

i agree with Becca that just because they work there doesnt mean they came in with any knowledge of, or even care at all, about fishkeeping.

i used to work at a garden center and nursery. I was just the cashier and they didnt train me one bit about flowers, not even the basics. I am not particularly interested in gardening, but i had to work somewhere. I used to get the rudest responses from people when i couldnt answer their questions. i would offer to get them some one who could help them, but often times they would just say something mean and then walk away from me. i tried to learn as much as i could about the flowers, but when you cant leave your cash register theres not much you can do. god that was a horrible job. There were all these ridiculous rules and managers would say some pretty inappropriate things to us. (and i was one of the older ones, 17, but they would say this stuff to 15 year old girls too.)

So, while i too would like to recieve reliable advice from people at LPS, remember that they already have a crappy job and have to deal with all kinds of jerks. Plus their ignorance is probably not their fault.

 

[squeeker]

I'm sort of glad that a topic like this has come up.

I'm a pet store employee, and a NEW one at that. I applied to work with the reptiles, but they needed someone in fish. While I didn't know a WHOLE lot about fish then, I figured it couldn't be THAT difficult.

Cut to me trying to learn the specifics of ALL the fish we carry: goldfish, tetras, barbs, loaches, angels, cichlids... At first I gave bad advice. I once told someone that they could keep a betta, 3 neons, and a zebra danio in a goldfish bowl. I didn't know any better. Trust me, I learned.

I was lucky and I had a great manager who would quiz me on fish facts every day. My co-workers would answer all of my questions, and would tour me around the store occasionally, telling me about fish trivia. We have fun. I have also taken it upon myself to do a LOT of reading. I am a member of 3 fish forums, and have read a number of books as well.

After 3 months, I feel that I can safely advise someone on how to keep a betta, how to set up a community tank, how to cycle, how often to change the water, that goldfish CANNOT be kept in anything less than 10 gallons, etc, etc, etc. However, I didn't know that Brown Ghost Knives can grow to 12 inches, but I kind of figured that it shouldn't be kept in a 10-gallon...

The point I am trying to make is this: good management is one thing, a WILLING employee is another. I stress the word "willing" because it doesn't matter how great a person is at anything else, if they aren't interested in their job, they aren't going to take the initiative to learn. This doesn't make them dumb. It's just unfortunate that they are in a job where people expect them to give advice. Remember, too, that some people only want to hear what they WANT to hear...

Even Ann Landers isn't perfect!

"don't believe everything you hear, believe half of what you read, belive nothing you see on TV, but believe everything I'm telling you" -Tragically Hip

 

[Wisperian]

dummys 4 life

Like TOTALLY!

 

[evaDsIcixelsiD]

Yeah i agree. I have been lucky tho, I have 5 PEt stores right near me and all carry fish. I have found that pet world has the most knowledgable people mainly because it is family owned. Also there are alot of good looking girls who work at petco...so i tend to go there alot.

 

[jacblades]

a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but...
its obvious that "fish dweeb" is concerned about the lives of the fish.
id rather have someone concerned with the well being of the fish at least than someone who will sell you a goldfish bowl with an arowana in it.
of course he should have asked about all of the stats of her tank and tried to help her the best he could but im sure he was thinking she is the average petsmart customer that dumps 50 fish in an uncycled tank and brings them back dead the next day.
im not saying what he did was rgiht. i just think he should be given credit for being concerned (although he was very pompous about it)

 

[bluefire]

well i have had a totally different experience with my lfs, they helped me out when i knew nothing. I trust them enought that I would buy a fish from them even if i knew nothing abut it.

 

[Puffer_freak]

Yes, but you wouldn't actuallu would you?

 

[Link]

I wanna meet him

*Stares into space and rubs chin* could have some real fun