I'm currently still in 'basic training' and so the bottom of the dung heap as far as staff respect goes. It really shows.
Just some snippets from the last few weeks:
1) Customer comes in with water sample for test, but doesn't have enough water. So I do a 50/50 mix of tank and tap water (which is free of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates) and then double the test reading. Co-worker is 'sent' by my manager to tell me off (in front of the customer) and then the manager comes and explains that I'm not allowed to do this (in front of the customer). I leave my manager to handle the customer and when I return to the shop floor, he explains that I can't do what I did because the chlorine in the tap water will kill bacteria. I agree, and explain that we were not testing for bacteria and bacteria levels in the sample won't affect the results. He tells me that ammonia is a kind of bacteria.
2) Completing my workbook today (which has questions and answers at the back of the book). Hand the completed book in and go to deal with a customer. Just as I am explaining to the customer that it's a really bad idea to put 14 new fish into a tank that has just had an epic number of deaths (apparently not cleaning the tank for two weeks is a big fish killer - what did he have in his tank? I'm thinking ammonia/nitrite spike/over feeding but he isn't interested in getting his water tested - anyway!) . . . so just as I am suggesting he diagnose the problem properly and only add maybe 5 small fish back to the tank, one of the assistant managers (who marked my book) came over and loudly said (in front of the customer) "here you go, you've got loads wrong in the fish section" and then walks off.
3) Going through my workbook and checking the answers and the notes the assistant manager put, I find that -
a) several of the answers that I double checked in the back of the book are apparently wrong
b) that neon tetras have never in the history of fishkeeping been responsible for nipped fins (we even had an argument about this - I was supposed to know, via some kind of telepathy, that the answer they wanted was "tiger barbs")
c) that even with the incredibly uninformative resources I was supposed to be using I was somehow supposed to know a load of stock answers and that any level of initiate taking is not OK
d) that answers my manager gave me when I asked him are all wrong.
Of the few questions I got legitimately wrong, in each case the question had been vague or I had mis-read the question.
4) Apparently putting a single female molly/guppy/platy in with a group of males is fine - I was marked down for noting that the males might pester the female and even stress her to death.
5) P@H 'policy' is 1 goldfish per 10 litres. I am 'too bold' when I advise on tropical fish and it has been suggested that I don't inform customers of eventual size and lifespan of the fish.
6) The isolation facilities are on a centralised system. The fish actually pick up new diseases, let alone get cured for the one they originally had. Survival rate is rock bottom. I'm thinking of re-homing another betta who went in there with mild finrot and now has no caudal and has developed bodyrot. I've already taken one home with me and he was cured within a couple of days of decent water and meds.
7) One of my colleagues did a water change and left the water exchange system on all shift. By 4 pm the tank was full of freezing cold, un-dechlorinated tap water. Several fish died of thermal shock. It's not nice to have to lift an 8 inch syno out of freezing water when the poor beast is too cold to even move his fins. I think he survived. The bala shark was not so lucky.
8) The fish are not Q/Ted at all between coming in on a delivery and going on sale. They don't even have time to recover from the travel.
I left work in tears today. My manager even had the nerve to say he wished more dedicated hobbyists would come to P@H! I wonder why they don't . . .
Just some snippets from the last few weeks:
1) Customer comes in with water sample for test, but doesn't have enough water. So I do a 50/50 mix of tank and tap water (which is free of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates) and then double the test reading. Co-worker is 'sent' by my manager to tell me off (in front of the customer) and then the manager comes and explains that I'm not allowed to do this (in front of the customer). I leave my manager to handle the customer and when I return to the shop floor, he explains that I can't do what I did because the chlorine in the tap water will kill bacteria. I agree, and explain that we were not testing for bacteria and bacteria levels in the sample won't affect the results. He tells me that ammonia is a kind of bacteria.
2) Completing my workbook today (which has questions and answers at the back of the book). Hand the completed book in and go to deal with a customer. Just as I am explaining to the customer that it's a really bad idea to put 14 new fish into a tank that has just had an epic number of deaths (apparently not cleaning the tank for two weeks is a big fish killer - what did he have in his tank? I'm thinking ammonia/nitrite spike/over feeding but he isn't interested in getting his water tested - anyway!) . . . so just as I am suggesting he diagnose the problem properly and only add maybe 5 small fish back to the tank, one of the assistant managers (who marked my book) came over and loudly said (in front of the customer) "here you go, you've got loads wrong in the fish section" and then walks off.
3) Going through my workbook and checking the answers and the notes the assistant manager put, I find that -
a) several of the answers that I double checked in the back of the book are apparently wrong
b) that neon tetras have never in the history of fishkeeping been responsible for nipped fins (we even had an argument about this - I was supposed to know, via some kind of telepathy, that the answer they wanted was "tiger barbs")
c) that even with the incredibly uninformative resources I was supposed to be using I was somehow supposed to know a load of stock answers and that any level of initiate taking is not OK
d) that answers my manager gave me when I asked him are all wrong.
Of the few questions I got legitimately wrong, in each case the question had been vague or I had mis-read the question.
4) Apparently putting a single female molly/guppy/platy in with a group of males is fine - I was marked down for noting that the males might pester the female and even stress her to death.
5) P@H 'policy' is 1 goldfish per 10 litres. I am 'too bold' when I advise on tropical fish and it has been suggested that I don't inform customers of eventual size and lifespan of the fish.
6) The isolation facilities are on a centralised system. The fish actually pick up new diseases, let alone get cured for the one they originally had. Survival rate is rock bottom. I'm thinking of re-homing another betta who went in there with mild finrot and now has no caudal and has developed bodyrot. I've already taken one home with me and he was cured within a couple of days of decent water and meds.
7) One of my colleagues did a water change and left the water exchange system on all shift. By 4 pm the tank was full of freezing cold, un-dechlorinated tap water. Several fish died of thermal shock. It's not nice to have to lift an 8 inch syno out of freezing water when the poor beast is too cold to even move his fins. I think he survived. The bala shark was not so lucky.
8) The fish are not Q/Ted at all between coming in on a delivery and going on sale. They don't even have time to recover from the travel.
I left work in tears today. My manager even had the nerve to say he wished more dedicated hobbyists would come to P@H! I wonder why they don't . . .
/www.ornamentalfish.org/education/ho...certificate.php
