41 fish in a 20 gallon isn't that bad. I remember some moron on this forum once who had a stocking list that included a great white shark in a 55 gallon. Some heads of Iceberg lettuce too... what a freak!!!
I'm not sure who to blame for this anymore myself. I mean, If I am an employee somewhere, I would probably ask, "Hey, are all 41 of these fish going into this brand new aquarium you are buying? Or, do you have a 125 gallon at home already set up?" Then again, if I was having a bad day and was feeling rather apathetic or the customer was a real pain in the butt or if in passing they mentioned havnig another tank or two at home and I justa ssumed some of the fish were destined for these tank not knowing they were 1 gallon goldfish deathtraps... whose fault is it?
Answer: It is always the responsibility of the person buying the product, in my opinion. Only you know if you have room for the cute albino oscar, and, if you don't know, you need to control your impulses for a an hour or so, get on the internet, do some research and make sure you can handle a pet. Any pet. Frankly, just about any product. Retailers are there to sell, I don't blame them for doing it. Do they have a duty to educate? Maybe, but Suzy Q. Salesperson getting paid $5.35 an hour isn't there to educate, she's there to earn her lousy paycheck and go home. It's just a fact of life in retail, you pay someone minimum wage, you usually get, minimum effort. There was a stat I heard in an old sales job I heard that sort of sums it up, 90% of the profits in sales come from 10% of the people working. That means 90% of your workers generate only 10% of your bottom line, sliding buy on the efforts of others.
Anyway, there ya go. Wal-Mart exists to make money and they will, and their salespeople have little motivation to do much other than peddle their wares. Pet owners exist (hopefully) to love and enjoy their pets and so should want to educate themselves first before making a purchase of a living creature to share their lives with. How much do you want to bet only 10% of pet owners do 90% of the research on their pets before buying them? Anyone?
