What Type Of Person Works In A Fish Shop?

[goldfishgeek]

I don't suppose there is "one type" but basically the problem is this.

My LFS has real trouble keeping staff. The guy who owns is a hard task master but he isn't that unreasonable.He expects people to be on time, be honest, and put in a full day's work. the guy who works there at the moment isn't interested in being promoted which is such a shame cos he knows his stuff.

he is really looking for someone to manage the shop whilst he pursues other interests, so it would be a position of responsibility.

I just wondered what kind of person would want to manage the shop - what qualities should we look for? and what do you think is more important - management skills, or fish knowledge, I mean really you need both but what are the chances!!

so describe your ideal LSF manager/employee please!


GFG

p.s if this is in the wrong place sorry - I don't exactly know my way around yet!

 

[demonmagus]

well, like you said, both

I don't think it would be too hard to find someone like that.

also, maybe fish skills are more important, as he has to know his stuff lol

 

[goldfishgeek]

You see I thought that. but it is proving very hard to find the right level of amibition?!? Do people dream about running a fish shop - I mean I certainly have thought about working one when I was younger and even owning one in my wildest dreams, but who wants to manage one for some one else?

And how hard is it to find some one who knows about fish? and is actually right some of the time at least, the more I read in this hobby the more confused I get!

GFG

 

[flyboy367]

i used to run the local petco fish department. i turned a -$300 a week fishery to a +$2000 a week one. i have been in the hobby about 15 years and had both fresh and salt. it took me a week to explain to my manager that perhaps people in an office looking at $ signs dont know the best methods for fish keeping. i got her to let me take the orders and i got the good stuff. no bs dyed fish. i asked people what they liked then ordered around that. i got the sw so nice we kept lions and even a baby shark that was special ordered. everything was great till a corperate visit. they saw some alge in the tanks and ordered me to bleech them. i refused. then they said i had to order the fish to plan-o-gram. basically what they want me to sell. i told them that those fish on that list were not sellers and died easy. so they brought in a new guy to bleech the tanks on my day off. they killed everything. i quit. the sw tanks took 3 months of cycleing to get anything to live in it. the freshwater came back a bit faster but they lost all sales when i told my customers what happened. so i would do a lfs but not another petco or petsmart. to them its about the $$

 

[keepsfalling]

So long as they're honest.. Have the drive to learn and *can* learn quickly I guess it doesn't matter if they don't know *everything* as long as they can admit that they don't. My LFS is a run by a great guy and his wife. This guys seems to know *everything* about *any* fish but he will admit if he's not sure and he'll damn sure do his best to find out for you.. Even to the point of calling you back when he's found the answer!!

The main thing that makes me go back there is that he doesn't try and rip you off.. He's not one of these one's who'll say "yeah, you should buy this, this and this for that" but he'll actually talk through it with you and give you the options, so if you can't afford to do it one way he'll make sure he can find another way for you. I'll always go back there because I know he doesn't dig for my money, he doesn't make me feel like I have to buy something everytime I go in.. And in the long-run he get's all my fish money because of this!!

I guess what I'm trying to say (in a long-winded fashion) is as long as s/he doesn't rip people off, admits when s/he is unsure and doesn't just blag it I reckon they'd make a good'un... But then how easy is it to spot someone like that?

 

[matchstickgeezer]

I would LOVE to own my own fish store / aquarium, especially if money was not a problem... then I would get all the best fish around as well as the usual styles.

And they would all have big tanks to swim around in.

 

[Egmel]

As far as I can see you only really have one choice. The store already has fish knowledge what it lacks is a manager.

What you need is a manager who's prepared to listen to the advice of your current staff when it comes to fish and maybe one who is interested in fish. He doesn't have to know everything about fish, so long as he is prepared to say that he doesn't know then there is no reason why he should have anything but basic fish knowledge.

He will pick up the fishy information he needs as he goes along, so long as he can manage from the start that would be the best bet.

So I would hire a manager, no fish experience and tell him that his job is not to advise the customers on what to buy but to make the shop run smoothly. If the staff say they can't cut food/heating bills then he can ask why and learn or accept their experience over his and let them get on with it.

Eventually whoever takes over will learn enough about fish keeping to give basic advice, all you need to do is find a manager who cares about animals and doesn't want to see them get hurt, they will soon learn that giving unfounded advice will cause fish suffering and that they should step back and let those who know about fish get on with it!

Wow that was long winded, sorry!

 

[mr.dark-saint]

What kind a person you ask? I think the person has to be an enthusiast who can not keep aquariums at home (for whatever reasons). I say this because the tanks will suffer either at the shop or at home since it will beome work. I know my tanks at home became neglected . But the tanks at the shop looked well. I was in to aquarium thing for 15 years or so before getting a job at Petco back in mid-90's. I went in for the fish department and cared little else for the other junk in th shops. Seen many a managers come and go with my stint there and many more of District Managers.

With the big no face companies all they really care is the bottom line and how good the store looks. Some don't see the reason for having a bit of algae to feed the Plecos. All they see is the algae looking bad. The district manager and I didn't see eye to eye (not because I was a foot taller) and I really didn't like their methods. He'd mention the algae and I'd just move a pleco to the tank in question and that was that for my end. But he didn't see it that way. He thought I was being insubortnate . Now I think about it I suppose it could be seen that way. I had the weekend people trained not to do anything other than top off the system or at worst if they had an Armageddon type of a situation to call me. They had it easy since I ran it like an old school mom and pop outfit.

But like most things in life it had to come to an end. Lower the order budget and had to live and die by their PlanoGram (like flyboy367) and with bad shippers. I hung it up there in the faceless box and went to work for my friend's mom and pop place. That was good and bad at the same time. Good because I didn't have to deal with manager or district manager just the boss. Bad because I got everything at wholesale needless to say I didn't see much spending cash . But it was a treat to stock up.

I didn't want to climb the corporate ladder but I would like to have a shop of my own.

 

[Wendy-Jane]

I know I know I know what kind of a person works in a LFS *jumps up and down with excitement*

It's a kind of person like The-Wolf

 

[CFC]

The real trouble with fish stores is that they dont want to/cant pay the wages that someone would expect for a management position, so they find that often people only stay in a job until they have a bit of experience and then move off to a better paid outlet, or on the other hand they end up with staff who have little ambition and will work for the lower wages but ultimately dont have the drive to be successfull.

No offence to any fish shop workers intended!!

I have been offered a managers job in a lfs, it took the owner 20 minutes in an informal interview to offer me the job. Then we discussed wages, i wrote what i could afford to work for on a piece of paper and handed it to him, he wrote what he wanted to pay on the back and handed it back to me, i wanted £18k a year (which would have meant taking a pay cut), he wanted to offer £14k and a dry goods commision based and target driven monthly bonus. Needless to say i didnt take the job.