What ticks you off about customers?

[OrkyBetta]

I admit to pointing out "dead" fish (when I was new to fish and didn't know what a pleco was) but I have never seen a dead fish at the lfs's I go to, (one HOTRID excuse for a fish store has more deads than alives, but I refuse to shop there) and I usually try to listen to the workers.

 

[Paul_MTS]

ok, here's a question: what about asking to net your own? if i'm feeling picky, i generally ask to do that instead of making someone spend 20 minutes chasing fish for me.

never seen it round here. unless the customer was well known it wouldn't happen.

 

[Dr Holmes]

here is some good ones:

-costomers that mock you wilst your trying to catch 6 coolie loach in a largish tank full of decor and on top of that your superviser is encouraging them!!!!!!

-or how about someone who comes in, buys a buetiful looking 12 inch silver arowana and comes back a couple of days later with it, gets a refund and it dies the next day!!!



i guess its just all part of working in clacton!

 

[fishman 1]

Paul_MTS
yes when your spending say £70 or over on fish it's fair enough to ask for a bit of discount and if the customer is a nice customer then they probable will get some knocked off. customers asking for discount when they'ved spent litle money is stupid though. I enjoyed haggling with someone for discount on £150 worth of koi the other week and i knocked off quite a bit in the end cus he was a nice bloke.

I totally agree. If they are genuine fine.

i'm not saying i know better than all customers but stupid customers that think they know better really tick me off as they end up just asking why? over and over.

Dont worry Paul we all get this even from so called experienced aquarists.

i didn't say all goldfish do stay white fair enough picking a slightly large one or one with a nice long tail or summit but over colour is pointless. all goldfish start off brown/black then as they mature they go orange and white. Also any good member of staff won't net out deformed or ill looking fish, if you use a staore that just net any old thing then maybe you ought to find another one, some customers pick out a fish which has something wrong and I tell them, see they want to try there luck or go for another.

As regards the goldfish- I like the common english goldfish that are not so common any more that you buy a nice orange/red colour and stay that way or go even redder. As for picking out fish you sometimes get oddball tetras and rasboras coming in with the more common varieties, or a nice dominant fish, these are the fish I want sometimes. Staff in some of the shops dont even understand they might be a different fish all together. eg hemigrammus levis coming in with rummy nose tetras, I was told it was a rummy that was missing its red nose. Yeh right just bag it up.

some old ways in the hobby are out dated for good reasons. some older books recomend you clear the tank out twice a month and start from scratch...yes what a great idea that is!!

I did use the term "sometimes" This did not neccessarily mean all methods have been out dated. As the saying goes.... you can lead a horse to water but..... and that does not have to apply to the seniour end of the market either.

QUOTE
Keeping fish is one great big learning curve, no matter how long you have kept them and whatever books you have read there is always something new to learn. I am continually learning more and more



Very true and at no point i have said i know everything, even to customer i say I'm still learning and go off and ask someone or find a book(yep we have several good books under the counter)

Paul- At no point am i questioning your integretey as a aquarist or saying that you sell off the deformed runts but i have merely whitnessed and heard of this happening at some LFS. It does not happen to me as if i cannot have the fish I want I dont buy them. This would not apply if the fish i were buying were for example were 5 neons out of a tank of 50 then i too would leave it to the catcher. I expect all decent shops to have at least one reference book under the counter. Tee Hee.

With reference to a later post on catching your own fish in a LFS- No chance, I admit sometimes I have felt like saying to the odd saturday worker "give me the nets you havent got a clue" but have resisted and gave them a little time.
You have got to be very carefull about contaminating the tank and damaging the livestock, one of my local fish shops will let me catch and bag my own fish as he knows I have years of experience and would not do anything detrimental but i have refused on occasions like the time I had had a bag of chips 20 minutes earlier and not washed my hands before going in the shop. How many people would you get who would not be as responsible. Leave it to the LFS, even the saturday worker will get the hang of catching the fish if you dont hassle them.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

oh i know. i just ask when i'm ( a ) wanting specific species from a mixed tank of, say, cories and ( b ) its a big chain LPS where the worker is some pimply-nosed kid who was obviously doing something else (and didn't really seem to be interested in the actual fish anyways). if that's the situation, just give me the net and 20 minutes, thanks.

actually, thinking about it, i've never asked to do that in an LFS i guess LFS workers just seem so much more bonded to the fish i'd hate to deprive someone of a fun part of their job!

 

[Paul_MTS]

i'd hate to deprive someone of a fun part of their job!

Oh no, you catch away, i hate catching the some old boring fish all the time, tetras, platties, gouramai, plecs. I like catching koi.

-costomers that mock you wilst your trying to catch 6 coolie loach in a largish tank full of decor and on top of that your superviser is encouraging them!!!!!!

khulis are easy to catch dan, you have no technique

As regards the goldfish- I like the common english goldfish that are not so common any more that you buy a nice orange/red colour and stay that way or go even redder

I think your on about Sarasa comet, which I do like to a certain extent and have some of my own, there a very vibrant red and have a pure white and stay these colours. These and shubunkin I will 'hand' pick them to certain extent with out getting ticked off, some customers just really try there luck though.

 

[fishman 1]

QUOTE
As regards the goldfish- I like the common english goldfish that are not so common any more that you buy a nice orange/red colour and stay that way or go even redder



I think your on about Sarasa comet, which I do like to a certain extent and have some of my own, there a very vibrant red and have a pure white and stay these colours. These and shubunkin I will 'hand' pick them to certain extent with out getting ticked off, some customers just really try there luck though.

I am not on about the sarasa comet. The fish I have are common english goldfish. They have short fins and are solid in colour. The trouble is not many shops sell them. The majority of the golfish i have seen lately are halfbreeds. They normally seem to be halfway inbetween common and comet. It amazes me what actual rubbish is shipped in with regards to cold water fish. If you see quality coldwater fish you would know what i mean. I will put a picture of a good goldfish on the picture forum under "goldfish" I will also put a picture of a good "shubunkin" too. You can see what I am on about then.

kind regards
Fishman 1

 

[Jules H-T]

there is no need for that

Joking aside I had a fair point. But yes, I can see that the way I said it might of offended.

I apologise Dwarf-dude, I honestly didn't mean to have a go at you.