Funny Lfs Stories!?!?

[billy0510]

What the funniest or most stupid thing you have heard from a fish store employee.

My most recent: I was at one of my fish stops (i have many) and was talking to an uneducated employee, I was looking at a Sturisoma panamense (Royal Farlowella) and he informed me that it would out grow my 125 Gal.??? He then tried to sell me this beautiful 3" Black Ghost Knife saying it would be better suited in my present set up. Well i just simply smiled said no thank you and asked if someone else could help me. A few minutes later i watch as the same employee was trying to catch or should i say scare A fish with the net into the plastic bag. :stupid:
It was the funniest thing i have ever seen, he had dumped out at least 2 gallons (ten gal tank)all over himself and the floor before his boss came over and helped. Still laughing just thinking about it. I left with no fish that day.

 

[OscarWilde]

My LFS has the worst saleswoman IN THE WORLD! Maybe you have to be there but it is pretty funny.

Everytime I go I have pretty much the same conversation.

Me: Hello, Ive chosen some fish could I buy please
[Ignores me]
Me: Excuse me?
[Ignored]
Me: Hello?
Her: What do you want! [Scowling]
Me: Ive chosen some fish could I buy please
Her: Which ones?
Me: I've chose XXXXXX (doesnt matter what they are)
Her: Mmmmm Tut tut.
Me: I have researched the XXXXX and it should be fine in my XX Gallon tank.
Her: No it will die.
Me: But
Her: No it will die.
Me: I'm willing to take the chance.
Her: It will die.
Me: Please!
Her: OK if you want a dead fish.

Needless to say I have stopped asking for any advice but the quality and range of fish is excellent and none of the fish have died! Not the best business sense!

 

[hollyp0p]

i was in one of those fish dpt's the other week in a pet store...where they are obviously thick as two short planks and untrained......


girl was buying some goldfish I think and she asked 'can they just go in tap water?'

guy said 'I don't know, probably'


I mean ####!!!!! Do they teach them nothing??? They didn't even know about ALL water needing conditioning for fish, arghh makes me angry!

 

[littlest]

I think my favourite was when I was trying to buy medication for external crustacean parasites (my goldie had fish lice/argulus).

I couldn't see anything so I asked the guy if they had anything for fish lice. He just went err... so I said, do you have anything for external parasites.
He looked at the shelf for ages, then picked up a medication, read it for ages, then passed it to me saying that "this will work"..

It was for internal bacteria. The name was Anti-Internal Bacteria. I asked how a medication for internal bacteria would treat external parasites and he said "don't know, probably wouldn't but we don't have anything for external parasites" I asked why he recommended it then and he admitted that "we're told to recommend something if we don't have the right stuff to make a sale, most people don't notice".

 

[Snooks1!]

Female employee to a customer: You should only keep female bettas with a male if they ( the females ) are in groups of 4.
Customer: Oh...Well, what about keeping males together.
Employee: You should only keep males together if you have enough females together in with them.


Thus meaning, to keep two males, you would need 10 fish total....In what I figured, was a tank much too small even for one fish.

 

[hollyp0p]

Female employee to a customer: You should only keep female bettas with a male if they ( the females ) are in groups of 4.
Customer: Oh...Well, what about keeping males together.
Employee: You should only keep males together if you have enough females together in with them.


Thus meaning, to keep two males, you would need 10 fish total....In what I figured, was a tank much too small even for one fish.

oh dear *airheads*

 

[funkycat]

I used to work at a pet store haha we got in some pretty funny customers

Woman obviously in a rush: Can u get me that clown fish in that tank, that one swimming in the corner. I'll be waiting in the front (At big als we have a livestock room and a dry goods room with two seperate staff)
Me: Sure, how.... oh she left
I bag the fish
Woman: thanks
- two hours later-
Same woman on the phone: I think there is something wrong with the fish you sold me, its not really moving.
Me: Well is it gasping at its gills? How did u acclimatize it?
Woman: Well i dunno, all the other fish are doing fine
Me: What other fish do you have?
Woman: oh just some neon tetras
Me: errr -.-"
Needless to say she brought the fish back and we managed to save it

Man: Can i get XX fish?
Me: What other fish do u have in the tank?
Man: Some damsels, a yellow tang, a cave goby
Me: It probably wont work, your other fish are too aggressive
Man: But if i get rid of the yellow tang it will work
Me: Most likely, you should ideally add the yellow tang last etc.
Man: Ok i'll get rid of it then, can you grab me that fish
Me: Do you have a friend with a tank or something that you can put your yellow tang into?
Man: Oh i was just gonna flush it down the toilet

Then there are the countless customers who want to stick bala sharks into their 10 or 20 gallon tanks, or wonder if they can put goldfish with neon tetras.
Dont get me wrong, there are customers that i love conversing with and hearing about their tanks, but the majority dont know anything.

 

[FeroX]

I too work in Big Al's and right before closing we had this idiot woman come to me:

*me standing infront of Black neon tetras/farlowella cats tank*

Woman - "excuse me what is that?"

Me (realizing she seems pretty stupid) - "What that stick lookin guy? He's a farlowella cat *points to sticker*"

Woman - "is he a fish?"

Me - "yes..."

Woman - "So he can like.....be in water and swim with other fishes and stuff?"

Me - "Yes, he's not just a random stick we put in there"

Woman - "WOW!" clearly in awe

Jesus.

 

[billy0510]

I would love to have some good educated lfs employee around here i drive about 30-40 minutes away to get a good lfs with good employees.

I guess customers can be just as bad.

 

[jourdy288]

Too funny. I once watched an LFS employee chasing around a yellow tang with a net, and her hand was in the tank, along with a lionfish. It's a good thing they're not aggressive, as they have venom. It went well, until the kid who bought the tang returned, as the bag sprang a leak.

 

[FeroX]

Like I know some LFS are bad, but if they're so uneducated and retarded employees, don't go there. It pains me (a LFS employee) to see all these stories of people complaining about their LFS. If you want sound advice and good employees, go out of your way to find a reputable one somewhat nearby. I admit not EVERYONE at my LFS is top-of-the-line knowledgeable, but I mean....they're all pretty much getting there.

ALL have fresh/salt experience and knowledge
We have 4-5 purely saltwater experts who just blow me away with all the things they know. 2 of them are 22 also

The worst we have is a kid who's 15 and immature, but he knows his fish stuff, mostly anyway.

It's not THAT hard to find a reputable LFS within an hours drive, I can't imagine, unless you live in a country where they could be hard to come by or you live out in the middle of nowhere.

And believe me, customers, even the knowledgeable ones can be a pain in the ass and annoying. They read one thing on the internet and believe it straight and true, and no matter what you tell them, even if you actually had experience, you're wrong, and they're right. 2 weeks later they phone back and say "hey, that XX fish (usually african cichlids) IS A FEMALE NOT A MALE!" Then I have to explain to them they were barely an inch long when we had them, and way too difficult to sex. I can't remember which specific African it was, but you can't sex them at that age. But hey, this customer read on the internet that the males have XX fin more elongated and males are generally bigger and more colourful. Turns out he just got a well-fed and healthy female, not a big dominant male. =\

 

[hollyp0p]

Like I know some LFS are bad, but if they're so uneducated and retarded employees, don't go there. It pains me (a LFS employee) to see all these stories of people complaining about their LFS. If you want sound advice and good employees, go out of your way to find a reputable one somewhat nearby. I admit not EVERYONE at my LFS is top-of-the-line knowledgable, but I mean....they're all pretty much getting there.

ALL have fresh/salt experience and knowledge
We have 4-5 purely saltwater experts who just blow me away with all the things they know. 2 of them are 22 also

The worst we have is a kid who's 15 and immature, but he knows his fish stuff, mostly anyway.

It's not THAT hard to find a reputable LFS within an hours drive, I can't imagine, unless you live in a country where they could be hard to come by or you live out in the middle of nowhere.

think people were just listing the funny stories not having a moan per say.....I agree with what you say, and I know at least 2 shops who do know what they are talking about!

 

[CFC]

The funniest thing i have ever heard in a fish store is still the employee who told me that the reason in had high nitrates in my tank was because i do TOO MANY water changes and that i should only be doing them every 6 months to allow the tank to settle and mature.
At the time i was asking if a nitrate reducing media worked in freshwater as well as saltwater and he wanted to know why i wanted it for a freshwater tank.

 

[joecoral]

And believe me, customers, even the knowledgeable ones can be a pain in the ass and annoying. They read one thing on the internet and believe it straight and true, and no matter what you tell them, even if you actually had experience, you're wrong, and they're right.

I can identify with that! We have several customers like that
The most annoying one always has his wife with him who backs up everything he says with "he should know, he keeps them at home"

 

[billy0510]

I do have some really good fish stores with some really educated employees its just those moments when u get the new employee or hear the uneducated customer that blow me away.