Might be working at LFS...

[MegTheFish]

Ok, there's this LFS that I've been going to for years, there are only 2 in my city (not including Walmart) but the other one isn't so local. Its only down the street from me, I walk down their atleast once a week, sometimes even twice. I know the owner, so do my parents, and I know most of the employees. There's Bev, and her daughter thats a few years older then me, and then there's this other woman who just recently started working there. And thats all. I noticed that new people will start working there, then they quit right away. Everybody is very nice (well, I don't know about Bev's daughter, havn't really talked to her) and friendly, and they all know my name and so on. Ok, maybe I should just get to the point
Rhonda (owner) told me that when I turned 14 (which I did on May 2nd) that I could work there. She recently told my dad that she's still short of help. I would LOVE to work there...more money for my pets, a discount on items from the store (YESSS) and plus I want to become a vet, so this would be a good place to start off. But for some reasen I don't know if I even want to Does anybody have a guess to what kinds of things I would be doing? I don't really want to work the till, I don't like dealing with money. I would really like to clean the fish tanks, but I don't know if I'd be aloud to do that. They only have a few small animals (a guini pig and 2 hamsters at the moment) so I could probably take care of those, buts thats not being a lot of help. My mom says I could probably rerange stock and stuff like that...and I was thinking I could help costumers, but I know people will want and "adult" to help them, and not some teenager Even though I know just as much as them, maybe even more.

So I think my main question is, what do you think I'd be doing in the store?

 

[Bloo]

That's a lovely opportunity. It doesn’t' really matter what they'd need help with. To start off, the almost certainly will not put you on the tills. But you never know - you might actually enjoy it. We usually tend to think negatively about things we don't know or haven't tried. It's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all. It's all part of life and growing up. We won't always get all the nice and "cool" tasks to do - take the good with the bad

And remember it's great to share your fountain of knowledge, but no one likes someone who's cocky (not saying you will be, but just saying). You'll no doubt be keen to impress, but just go with the flow and take things easy

I'd say definitely go for it. Try your best and have a positive attitude and I'm sure things will be great

 

[MegTheFish]

Hmmm...the more I think about it the more I want to work there! I'll talk about it with my parents tonight, and maybe I can get my dad to talk to Rhonda or I'll just phone her. School ends 2 Thursdays from now, and I'll ask if I could start the following week or something.
My mom said I could see if I could just work a couple times a week, just for a few hours and then work my way up from there. I'll see what Rhonda says
All my friends are getting jobs, so I will kinda feel left out if I don't, LoL. Plus it will be something for me to do this summer, since I'm not going to any camps and I'm not in any sports (I'm not into that kind of stuff).
MONEY MONEY MONEY!!! LoL...I'll probably only be getting minimum wadge though, oh well, its money atleast! But then I will have to quite my paper route There's this older lady who's going to beat me if she finds out! (the person who delivered her papers before delivered them really late, like 7:00, but I deliver then around 4-5:00, as you can probably guess I get lots of tips from her! )

 

[Jen21]

I would say this would be a great opportunity for you, you work in an environment that you like and will learn more about it, plus you could make money. Do they have snakes or reptiles, or do they sell live rats? When I worked at a pet store one of the things I hated doing was killing the rats to feed to the snakes... that was hard. Also, you may have to carry HEAVY things like large bags of food/bedding or tanks. Overall, I think it would be great for you, besides there really aren't that many jobs like that for your age group. Go for it

 

[MegTheFish]

They only have small animals, they just got them in a few days ago, and so far they only have skinny pig (a hairless guini pig! so cute!), a dwarf hamster and a teddy bear hamster. They won't be selling snakes (to my knowledge). That would be horrible having to kill the rats, you must have some guts to do that, LoL. I know I wouldn't be able to. Oh, and about the heavy food, Rhonda's husband and son deliver the food and carry it in, etc. So I wouldn't have to do any of that. If they let me clean tanks, I would have to carry buckets, I think they use 5 gallon buckets, and I only use 2 gallon buckets so that will be a challenge.
I think it would be fun giving advice to costumers, they do sell those small betta kits (no goldfish bowls though! Atleast I think they don't...) so that will be a challenge. I'll try and educate people, but I don't think I can refuse a sale, say if they want to get a tiny betta kit or something.

 

[vantgE]

Get the job and work it out later it's best to start working early, maybe in two years when everyone else your age is just getting their crappy fast food job you'l take a promotion, you'l have to start low whereever you go

 

[afireinside]

i would love to work at my lfs. i just like animals, plus, u get paid to bascially look at them.

 

[annka5]

It's called "work" rather than "play" because you sometimes have to do things you don't particularly feel like doing...I'm sure there will be things you don't like about it, but so long as they're outweighed by the things you do like (e.g. the money, the atmosphere, the cleaning of tanks or whatever) then surely you're onto a winner?

 

[hello kitty]

i say go for it if you dont like it or its not what u expect you can always leave

 

[DMan99]

It depends on what the store is aimed at, if it has other pets like small animals and exotic reptiles etc you might yourself doing and learning alsorts of things. Where i work, i have to provide advice on the fish, clean the fish, use the till, clean the shop, feed the animals... Basically a bit of everything! I enjoy some bits more than others but i learn loads about many different things..

Good luck with it

Dman99

 

[The-Wolf]

hmm
as somone who has recently started working in a lfs all i can say is
DISCOUNT!

on a more seriouse note, it is hard at times to be unattached to your stock. there will be times when you have to euthinise a fish and there will be times when you find escapees. This, for me, is a very hard thing to accept as "part of the job".
however I do get a good sense of satisfaction at not selling 5 goldfish for a bowl, and when I "educate" people on thier fishes needs.
I like to think that I am making a significant difference in the hobby, at least in my area.

To sum up Meg
go for it, there is nothing worse than looking back on life and thinking "what if..."
at least if you try it and you find you are not suited to that side of the hobby, then you will know.