Couldn't believe my ears

Wal-Mart exists to make money and they will, and their salespeople have little motivation to do much other than peddle their wares.
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once i was at walmart and watched the guy sell a pleco to some lady who was telling him how her other one had died. i asked her what size tank she had (5gal) and told her that they can get to 20 inches. she just looked at me. i was like, ''well, it's going to get too big for that pretty soon''. she just replied, ''yeah, well, if it lives that long''. i went back and talked to the guy, and told him how she had a 5 gal tank, and we had a little discussion. he actually knew quite a bit about fish, but "management" had made it clear that he wasn't allowed to express his opinions. the lady wanted it for algae control, and i told him that if she could cut down on her lights and feed less, it would go away. he was like, "yeah, exactly! that's just what i used to tell people, but i got yelled at for it".

after that, knowing how employees aren't allowed to say anything, i have no problem starting up conversations with people about the fish they're buying. if the workers know anything about fish, it probably drives them crazy to know that they can't give out any advice that isn't in their little handbook. if someone changes their mind and doesn't buy the fish, that's no money out of the employee's pocket, you know? and unless they're under orders to immediately silence any customers who try to interfere, they won't get in trouble for it.
 
I certainly do agree with the points that Harlock has made. I have also seen time and time again employees from a different department having to deal with the fish. I'm sure they do not cross train all employees for all departments. One evening I was in the fish section talking to the clerk, who usually works in the grocery department. A customer wanted a goldfish and some neons for her little girl. The clerk had no idea if they could be housed together or not. Certainly not her fault.
 
Aside from the conditions the fish are in at most Walmarts, the biggest problem with buying fish there is that most of the time, it sounds like the people getting fish out for customers don't work in that department and have no idea what they're doing. Any place that sells pets needs to have employees there who know what they're doing. When I was a kid, I remember my family buying some guppies from Walmart and we had to pull someone from the toiletries area and he ended up dropping a couple of fish on the floor trying to get them out.
 
lol. the wal-mart close to were i live doesnt even sell 20 gallon tanks. they have 5 gallon 10 gallon 29 gallon and close to xmas they get some 55 gallon tanks in to sell.

That guy must of thought it was ok to do that. you look at the tanks they have in wal-mart they have more fish in each tank then what they are to have.. well any pet store has more fish in each tank then they are to have
 
And of course, the boxes for tanks always show way more than the proper stocking level ... take a look at the 2.5g Minibow box, for example :)

Bryant
 
the first tank I had was a 20gal.
before I got a 55gal. to put all the fish in there were about 30 fish in there. 2 of them were plecos, one was 6in the other 4in, and none of the other fish were under 1in.... and I also had one or two snails in there. talk about a huge load! now I have about that many fish in 20gal,15gal, and 55gal all put together! :o
 
When I worked at one of the big pet chains I wouldn't let our store manager help people unless there was no one else in the store. Yes, the manager. He was completely clueless about almost all the animals in the store. Way to go recruiting from CVS. :thud:

I had a few other choice employees I didn't let in the fish or reptile departments when I was in. The best one was a guy returning a baby corn snake. I asked why, he said it wasn't eating the fish the guy had told him to feed it, and it wouldn't stop hiding from the red tail boa he bought at the same time. :thud:

And my family wonders why I don't like humans much...

--Mia
 
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