I don't think any sensible person thinks pet store employees are a problem. In most cases, it's their training, in the box stores. They're well meaning, but often totally unconnected to the hobby, and may never have kept fish. We had a good store that hired young offenders, and a dope dealer and sometimes burglar I knew from my class ended up catching fish for me one day. He was too stoned all through High School to recognize his old teacher, which may have been a good thing for me. I asked him a question and on the spot, he made up an answer, which showed his scammer skills were still sharp.
Almost every great aquarist I've known has worked in a pet shop or a wholesaler. They took it seriously and got really good at it.
There are four not very good aquarium fish selling pet stores in my small city, and two people total working in them who know their stuff. The others are nice people . The good ones will answer a question outside of their knowledge base by saying they don't know the answer. The bad ones will spout some kind of convincing sounding nonsense to appear like they're experts. And the one box store has people trained in bad advice - clearly the manager doesn't know fish and educates them in his image.
I don't let the kids in clothing stores pick my clothes for me, and I make my own orders in restaurants. Why would I ask someone else to pick my fish for me? Excuse me, I have to go to a used car dealership now and ask them which car I should buy.
Almost every great aquarist I've known has worked in a pet shop or a wholesaler. They took it seriously and got really good at it.
There are four not very good aquarium fish selling pet stores in my small city, and two people total working in them who know their stuff. The others are nice people . The good ones will answer a question outside of their knowledge base by saying they don't know the answer. The bad ones will spout some kind of convincing sounding nonsense to appear like they're experts. And the one box store has people trained in bad advice - clearly the manager doesn't know fish and educates them in his image.
I don't let the kids in clothing stores pick my clothes for me, and I make my own orders in restaurants. Why would I ask someone else to pick my fish for me? Excuse me, I have to go to a used car dealership now and ask them which car I should buy.