Something Truly Foul at Petsmart
- Thread starter Kiarra
- Start date
Haiku
Fishaholic
Fat cat, thanks for giving additional points to keep in mind and contemplate when looking at these issues. I truly do appreciate the points you have brought up, and I also agree that being calm and polite gets you a lot further in communication than open anger/rudeness (though it can be hard when one sees something upsetting). I think I would be able to stay calm and polite as long as the person I talked to was polite and seemed interested in what I had to say. I'd definitely appreciate that a lot.
Having worked in the customer service industry (never again!), I truly can appreciate how assaulted one can feel by customers at times, about anything and everything. I think sometimes their "I don't care" attitude is brought on by having to deal with customers day in and day out who like to yell and complain, lots of times about things they can do nothing about such as prices, not having an item, having run out of an item, and so on.
Having worked in the customer service industry (never again!), I truly can appreciate how assaulted one can feel by customers at times, about anything and everything. I think sometimes their "I don't care" attitude is brought on by having to deal with customers day in and day out who like to yell and complain, lots of times about things they can do nothing about such as prices, not having an item, having run out of an item, and so on.
mm_simb
Fish Addict
I'm pretty sure the Petsmart by me doesn't clean them out everyday actually. One of the employees told me when I asked. I can tell too. I'm sure their waste doesnt turn the water green within one day and this being the cups not by any windows to cause algea. As with the walmart that's a bit farther from me. Green cups to the point where you can't see the poor fish.
BettaMomma
Fish Aficionado
Wow, I skip one day on the forum and my name's EVERYWHERE. lol
My reputation's beginning to preceed me. heh heh
Okay...
I read the entire thread and there are SO very many things I want to say here I just don't know where to start.
FatCat - while I do agree with you and completely understand what you are saying, there are some things I'd like to say back.
In one line of one of your posts, you say that "Betta cups aren't the only responsibility those employees have." While this is true, unfortunately the fact that IF a betta's water change gets skipped versus leaving something else undone, Bettas will probably survive much better than other fish- so therefore they become the least important ones to take care of.
That's where I agree with wuv also - it's hard for someone to pay first attention to a fish that's so hardy and will "live anyway if we don't do....... for it today". So, the reason I have really rallied around bettas is because of the "Hmm... I don't have time to do some of the things on my 'to do today' list here at work - what can I cut out first... yeah, bettas" or "Hell, we can ship them in a teeny little bag with just enough water to almost keep their fins wet, and make a buttload of money off of them still... so let's do it!" attitudes toward them AND the fact that they sit in such teeny tiny little cups that it's hard to tell if something's wrong with them unless you know what signs to look for and have seen and dealt with sick ones before. So, they can sit there in their little cups staring out at people going by and they could be dying, and no one knows the difference.
And - when you say that sometimes a fish gets dirty water overnight.... well my opinion is that if a fish is messing their water so fast that you can't even keep his water clean (which I find REALLY REALLY hard to believe, but.....) they REALLY need to shell out a few more pennies and do what at least WalMart did - get bigger cups. I've found bettas in cups before that hold 4 oz. of water, and the cup wasn't even full. 4 oz. is 1/3 of a can of soda. It's a sad world.
Hmm... I haven't done many wellness checks lately - that might be a good thing for me to go out and cruise around to do today.
Contrary to what some people believe, I don't start off my conversations with managers, store employees, etc. by yelling or ranting or raving (although it might seem that way - heh heh heh!). When that does happen, it's usually because it's escalated to that. I have found that you always get better results by speaking to a store employee or manager if you have a normal, calm conversation.
NOW.... on to the topic of the fish being sick or DEAD in cups. There is NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER that a betta should be found floating dead in a cup by a customer. NONE - and NO ONE will be able to give me a reason, EVER. In a case like PetSmart, for instance, employees should at the VERY LEAST be taking a 10 second peel over the bettas when they cruise past them while they're taking care of customers - bagging fish, etc... and just peek at them. If you've ever just gone into a PetSmart, most of them have a fishy cart that they park right out in the middle of the fish section and there is always at least one employee buzzing around there. Dead bettas turn very grey and are (obviously) very lifeless. They're not that hard to spot.
In the case where the 2 of them wound up in the same cup, that makes me REALLY REALLY mad. I'm not exactly sure what managers or employees (short of locking them away behind glass) could do about someone putting them into a cup like that. BUT.... something like that should have been discovered VERY quickly by a simple walkby. From what Kiarra said, they must have been that way for quite a while.
I still really, really REALLY strongly believe that if a store is going to take on the responsibility of selling live animals, they need to be MUCH more responsible in making sure that the fish are (or at least an attempt is made to make them) kept fed, happy, warm, and most importantly..... HEALTHY. It's just part of the responsibility that goes along with selling live things. I know what you're going to say - it's not cost effective to have enough employees to make sure that EVERY fish is happy and healthy. Well maybe these big chain stores should start worrying less about soaking us all, making big big money for the person sitting atop the coporate ladder and worrying about the LIVES they are responsible for in their stores.
Hypothetically, wouldn't it be fun to see a store that sells humans - just for the sake of seeing how well someone could do with them, given the fact that the humans for sale coudln't talk?
One last point - I'm going to try to call the store again and firstly, commend them on putting the gravel in the cups (I had fully intended to do this - just haven't done it yet) but I'm also going to complain about the fact that the cups got that dirty. I know I'm going to get back "Well we change out the water every day".... to which I'm going to suggest that they get bigger cups. And I WILL be polite about it. At first. lol
I think this is a great discussion, I do like hearing from both sides, but I think I hvae thought about this thing from every angle, and the root of this problem is the same as the root of almost every problem in this world....
MONEY.
My reputation's beginning to preceed me. heh heh
Okay...
I read the entire thread and there are SO very many things I want to say here I just don't know where to start.
FatCat - while I do agree with you and completely understand what you are saying, there are some things I'd like to say back.
In one line of one of your posts, you say that "Betta cups aren't the only responsibility those employees have." While this is true, unfortunately the fact that IF a betta's water change gets skipped versus leaving something else undone, Bettas will probably survive much better than other fish- so therefore they become the least important ones to take care of.
That's where I agree with wuv also - it's hard for someone to pay first attention to a fish that's so hardy and will "live anyway if we don't do....... for it today". So, the reason I have really rallied around bettas is because of the "Hmm... I don't have time to do some of the things on my 'to do today' list here at work - what can I cut out first... yeah, bettas" or "Hell, we can ship them in a teeny little bag with just enough water to almost keep their fins wet, and make a buttload of money off of them still... so let's do it!" attitudes toward them AND the fact that they sit in such teeny tiny little cups that it's hard to tell if something's wrong with them unless you know what signs to look for and have seen and dealt with sick ones before. So, they can sit there in their little cups staring out at people going by and they could be dying, and no one knows the difference.
And - when you say that sometimes a fish gets dirty water overnight.... well my opinion is that if a fish is messing their water so fast that you can't even keep his water clean (which I find REALLY REALLY hard to believe, but.....) they REALLY need to shell out a few more pennies and do what at least WalMart did - get bigger cups. I've found bettas in cups before that hold 4 oz. of water, and the cup wasn't even full. 4 oz. is 1/3 of a can of soda. It's a sad world.
Hmm... I haven't done many wellness checks lately - that might be a good thing for me to go out and cruise around to do today.
Contrary to what some people believe, I don't start off my conversations with managers, store employees, etc. by yelling or ranting or raving (although it might seem that way - heh heh heh!). When that does happen, it's usually because it's escalated to that. I have found that you always get better results by speaking to a store employee or manager if you have a normal, calm conversation.
NOW.... on to the topic of the fish being sick or DEAD in cups. There is NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER that a betta should be found floating dead in a cup by a customer. NONE - and NO ONE will be able to give me a reason, EVER. In a case like PetSmart, for instance, employees should at the VERY LEAST be taking a 10 second peel over the bettas when they cruise past them while they're taking care of customers - bagging fish, etc... and just peek at them. If you've ever just gone into a PetSmart, most of them have a fishy cart that they park right out in the middle of the fish section and there is always at least one employee buzzing around there. Dead bettas turn very grey and are (obviously) very lifeless. They're not that hard to spot.
In the case where the 2 of them wound up in the same cup, that makes me REALLY REALLY mad. I'm not exactly sure what managers or employees (short of locking them away behind glass) could do about someone putting them into a cup like that. BUT.... something like that should have been discovered VERY quickly by a simple walkby. From what Kiarra said, they must have been that way for quite a while.
I still really, really REALLY strongly believe that if a store is going to take on the responsibility of selling live animals, they need to be MUCH more responsible in making sure that the fish are (or at least an attempt is made to make them) kept fed, happy, warm, and most importantly..... HEALTHY. It's just part of the responsibility that goes along with selling live things. I know what you're going to say - it's not cost effective to have enough employees to make sure that EVERY fish is happy and healthy. Well maybe these big chain stores should start worrying less about soaking us all, making big big money for the person sitting atop the coporate ladder and worrying about the LIVES they are responsible for in their stores.
Hypothetically, wouldn't it be fun to see a store that sells humans - just for the sake of seeing how well someone could do with them, given the fact that the humans for sale coudln't talk?
One last point - I'm going to try to call the store again and firstly, commend them on putting the gravel in the cups (I had fully intended to do this - just haven't done it yet) but I'm also going to complain about the fact that the cups got that dirty. I know I'm going to get back "Well we change out the water every day".... to which I'm going to suggest that they get bigger cups. And I WILL be polite about it. At first. lol
I think this is a great discussion, I do like hearing from both sides, but I think I hvae thought about this thing from every angle, and the root of this problem is the same as the root of almost every problem in this world....
MONEY.
paddymac
New Member
Well said BettaMomma 
While i myself dont keep Bettas on a visit to our local Peter Barrats garden center, i noticed how immaculate the tanks were with their blue backgrounds and pristine white gravel. They keep their bettas in those tanks in those clear plastic bags that you take fish home in. There is about four bags in each tank each containing one fish. And i must say some of the most beautiful fish i have ever seen with NO signs of any disease whatsoever.
When it comes to being served you have to take a ticket and wait in line as they have a barrier in front of the tanks to stop children etc tapping the tanks. When it comes to your turn, you get to go behind the barrier with the salesperson who talks you through everything you need to know and if he dosent know he will get someone who does. IMO this is the way forward and hats off to establishments like that.
While i myself dont keep Bettas on a visit to our local Peter Barrats garden center, i noticed how immaculate the tanks were with their blue backgrounds and pristine white gravel. They keep their bettas in those tanks in those clear plastic bags that you take fish home in. There is about four bags in each tank each containing one fish. And i must say some of the most beautiful fish i have ever seen with NO signs of any disease whatsoever.When it comes to being served you have to take a ticket and wait in line as they have a barrier in front of the tanks to stop children etc tapping the tanks. When it comes to your turn, you get to go behind the barrier with the salesperson who talks you through everything you need to know and if he dosent know he will get someone who does. IMO this is the way forward and hats off to establishments like that.
That sounds awesome ,paddymac.
Allix
Fish Crazy
Why cant people just look after them in the first place, its not exactly rocket science, or even majorly time consuming
BettaMomma
Fish Aficionado
paddymac - that DOES sound wonderful.
I would LOVE to have stores like that around here.
Wow, it's all of our betta dreams come true!
I would LOVE to have stores like that around here.
Wow, it's all of our betta dreams come true!
Gill
Store Manager Coalville Aquatics
Hey Guys,paddymac said:Well said BettaMomma
When it comes to being served you have to take a ticket and wait in line as they have a barrier in front of the tanks to stop children etc tapping the tanks. When it comes to your turn, you get to go behind the barrier with the salesperson who talks you through everything you need to know and if he dosent know he will get someone who does. IMO this is the way forward and hats off to establishments like that.
I tend to stay out of these Threads as I have never experienced bettas Kept in any of the Conditons the States Stores Do.
I don't think A Store would keep its Licence here if kept in some of the Conditions described Over the Water.
I am Finding it Hard to explain that I do not Need to Keep each fish in its own Filtered Tank. And Show as many Examples to the Council when Showing How the Fish Would Be displayed and Housed, Once they see the Comparison to how Some Countries keep the Bettas. They are Shocked at the Size of the Cups.
I think the Minumum I Can Keep them in is the Beanie Baby Boxes Or Pyrex Bowls, Normally Used as Cookie Jars. I am Also Looking at Those Cereal Storage Bins, as they are very tough and give lots of Swimming room, while being able to display lots of fish on the Shelves.
We have a Store Exactly the Same as PaddyMac Describes. All Fish are kept at a Safe Distance away from the Public by Heavy Duty Bars and Gates. No-one Apart from Staff Can get near the Fish. The Only Fish you can Get close to is the Bettas as they are Sometimes In Very Large bags Floating in the Plant Tanks. Or in Beeni Box Size Cubes, and you can ask to view them. Only Dif is you dont have to get a ticket and wait, You just have to Ask a Few times as they can get very Busy.
Examples to Illustrate.
I suppose this would be a typical Cup.
This is the Beanie Baby Box
This is the Smallest Size Betta bag I have Seen Used Here to Float them
These are the smallest Size Cubes I could Use
These are Cereal Boxes, and Come in Varying Sizes that would allow a nice swimming Area, and are reasonably Wide and Shallow enough not to stress the Bettas out in Height
Heres A Pic Of Shirley Aquatics and How they seperate the Public from the Tanks, You can lean on the bars but not touch the Tanks
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