How You Know a LFS is Full of Crap
- Thread starter NotGumbel
- Start date
I don't even ask questions anymore. If I don't know what it is, or have a really strong idea of what it is I don't buy it. None of the stores near me quarantine.
I do have a store that is mostly knowledgeable to go to, but I still don't ask questions. I research before hand, and try to have an empty tank available.
I worked at one of the chains and finally got a better job doing Web Design. I hated it. I went through 3 managers in 1 1/2 years, one of which was recruited from CVS, and all he knew about animals was the flea collars were a good idea for his two very overweight dogs. I banned him from the fish and reptile departments. Lucky they liked me a lot. They knew very well tha without me doing fish and reptiles they would have been much worse off, and they were right. I hate evne going into the store now. Though I hear they're on their 4 manager.
Fish was always the very last thing opened in the morning, and I could come in at 3 pm and deads still wouldn't have been removed...
--Mia
I do have a store that is mostly knowledgeable to go to, but I still don't ask questions. I research before hand, and try to have an empty tank available.
I worked at one of the chains and finally got a better job doing Web Design. I hated it. I went through 3 managers in 1 1/2 years, one of which was recruited from CVS, and all he knew about animals was the flea collars were a good idea for his two very overweight dogs. I banned him from the fish and reptile departments. Lucky they liked me a lot. They knew very well tha without me doing fish and reptiles they would have been much worse off, and they were right. I hate evne going into the store now. Though I hear they're on their 4 manager.
Fish was always the very last thing opened in the morning, and I could come in at 3 pm and deads still wouldn't have been removed...
--Mia
there are two lfs that i like here in tallahassee:
Carol's Critters
Panhandle Pet Supply (only the one on Capital Cir. the rest dont have much for fish)
Both stores have knowledgable and helpful staff. and is it a coincidence that both stores carry dwarf cichlids and various plecos that you would never find at petsmart or petco?
When I went to Carol's one time and asked to buy some Rams, the clerk who was a college student looked at the rams and said "nope i cant sell you them, they have ich." and I just came back and got the rams when they were healthy. he saved me a headache of having to deal with ich.
At Panhandle pet supply, I asked for a female Kribensis. the clerk looked in the tank and said "honestly it looks like we only have males. We get new stock in every friday. I will check to see if we get in any females for you." the next shipment came in, and we both werent sure if there were any females. i just picked out one that looked like it would be a female and the clerk said i could return the Krib if it turned out to be a male. because when they're in the lfs they're pretty dull colored and are difficult to sex. i brought it home and the Krib colored up within an hour and got a nice deep red belly. and the male let her in the cave with him. definitely a female.
I have bought many fish and plants from both stores.
Carol's Critters
Panhandle Pet Supply (only the one on Capital Cir. the rest dont have much for fish)
Both stores have knowledgable and helpful staff. and is it a coincidence that both stores carry dwarf cichlids and various plecos that you would never find at petsmart or petco?
When I went to Carol's one time and asked to buy some Rams, the clerk who was a college student looked at the rams and said "nope i cant sell you them, they have ich." and I just came back and got the rams when they were healthy. he saved me a headache of having to deal with ich.
At Panhandle pet supply, I asked for a female Kribensis. the clerk looked in the tank and said "honestly it looks like we only have males. We get new stock in every friday. I will check to see if we get in any females for you." the next shipment came in, and we both werent sure if there were any females. i just picked out one that looked like it would be a female and the clerk said i could return the Krib if it turned out to be a male. because when they're in the lfs they're pretty dull colored and are difficult to sex. i brought it home and the Krib colored up within an hour and got a nice deep red belly. and the male let her in the cave with him. definitely a female.
I have bought many fish and plants from both stores.
I guess my response to this is.....there really is no excuse for being a "clueless" customer when you go in looking to buy a fish for your tank. There is plenty of info out here on the net for anyone to look up any information they care to find.....not to mention forums like this one that we all managed to find.
If someone is impatient and can't wait to get home to do the research before purchasing the fish...they can't complain too much about the consequences of a bad choice. If you don't have a computer at home...there is always the public library.
Granted, stores aught to have knowledgeable employees ...at least ONE available to customers...but the reality is...if you are the one shelling out the cash for something....you are the one responsible to know what you are purchasing.
I guess I have little patience for whining....lol....sorry folks... :huh:
If someone is impatient and can't wait to get home to do the research before purchasing the fish...they can't complain too much about the consequences of a bad choice. If you don't have a computer at home...there is always the public library.
Granted, stores aught to have knowledgeable employees ...at least ONE available to customers...but the reality is...if you are the one shelling out the cash for something....you are the one responsible to know what you are purchasing.
I guess I have little patience for whining....lol....sorry folks... :huh:
hey said:i'm assuming we both work for the same company.
well, it depends on the store. i will say that probably 90% of the stores don't have a very knowledgeable staff, and probably 70% have live animal department managers who didnt know a thing about animals when they got to that position. i've had really bad experiences and really good ones, both with different stores. I'm going to have to disagree with a little bit of your post. taking care of the animals is a huge deal at my store; while it is true that the customer comes first, we always make sure our cages and tanks are clean, all have clean food and water available (where applicable.) we do have time to clean and make sure everyone's healthy, a huge reason i believe that we can is because our openers come in at 5 or sometimes 4 in the morning, and we dont open until 9. i know for a fact most stores have their people come in at 7. i actually feel lucky working at my store and me enjoying it this much, everyone gets along great, the entire staff is fairly knowledgeable, our manager is great and doesnt drive away the more knowledegeable ones (i too have seen that happen with one of my other managers) I'm not saying that my store is perfect, far from it, but i think it's one of the better ones, i'll go as far as saying if you worked at my store, i think you would enjoy it 100 times more than your current situation.
i remember working for one of the managers you described, and those type are the kind that make you unmotivated to actually learn about animals. i went a long time without knowing much about fish, birds, and reptiles. when i transfered to this other store, i had a great manager who actually knew a ton about animals, and more important, he cared about them. i learned more from him in 3 months than I did in 1.5 years at the other store. He would actually take the time out of his day to show each employee how every filter worked, why each fish ate what it ate, how to properly care for birds, rodents, etc...
ok, i'm rambling now.
Note: i am not trying to say i support these large corporations.
Also, sorry if i came off a little arrogant and sorry for my incessant bragging, but i felt like sharing
I think I work for this company too. We now come in at 7am, and will probably go to 6am soon, when we have to get all the animal care done before the store opens (that lets us focus on animals without customers to interrupt, and then focus on customers otherwise), but until recently I was the first one in at 8am, and I was there by myself until 1:30pm. THat really didn't work. (we have one person at 7am, and one at 8am or 8:30am) We had high expectations, but it was too much work for one person in such a short time. We are figuring thigns out, and many of us know the animals. THose that don't are encouraged out of the job by the manager. Of course, she's probably leaving soon...
Emily
Emg I totally see where you are coming from. But you have to look at it like this..
It's not whining, so much as concern for the welfare of the animals within a specific store. It's not the same as some moron at the PC store not really knowing enough about PC's and their various components. You're dealing with live animals.
Yes, the information is indeed available out there. But shouldn't there be some sort of law preventing someone from taking care of fish, reptiles, etc whom doesn't have the knowledge to do it properly? I mean it's harder to adopt a cat from the pound then it is to walk in and buy a fish that is ultimately going to die in a couple weeks due to misleading or just poor information given. Maybe some people don't think of these two situations the same, which are probably the same ones who don't mind their friend holding 3 Bala Sharks in a 10 gall tank. Or their other friend who just cycles the tank with fish who ultimately die.
Not so much whining if you look at it this way. The same information is available to someone whos JOB it is to know, just as much as it is to a person off the street looking to enter the hobby.
That's my 2 cents,
Curtis
It's not whining, so much as concern for the welfare of the animals within a specific store. It's not the same as some moron at the PC store not really knowing enough about PC's and their various components. You're dealing with live animals.
Yes, the information is indeed available out there. But shouldn't there be some sort of law preventing someone from taking care of fish, reptiles, etc whom doesn't have the knowledge to do it properly? I mean it's harder to adopt a cat from the pound then it is to walk in and buy a fish that is ultimately going to die in a couple weeks due to misleading or just poor information given. Maybe some people don't think of these two situations the same, which are probably the same ones who don't mind their friend holding 3 Bala Sharks in a 10 gall tank. Or their other friend who just cycles the tank with fish who ultimately die.
Not so much whining if you look at it this way. The same information is available to someone whos JOB it is to know, just as much as it is to a person off the street looking to enter the hobby.
That's my 2 cents,
Curtis
O.k, at our store some newbies make mistakes. Usually, they are not pushy enough about not selling fish to inappropriate homes, and get called on it by the more experienced staff. There are times when a customer insists on a certain number of fihses no matter what we say, and we have to sell them (if it's not too horrible, like a koi in a bowl or a huge oscar in a 10g tank, baby oscars in a 10g is fine, if they say they are upgrading soon, even though most of them aren't but just say they are). HOwever, some newbies dont' ask enough questions and assume the person buying the fish knows what they are doing, which is often not true. I ask lots of questions and sometimes upset people, but mostly have good outcomes.
The WalMart in our town has "psycho fish lady" who claims to know all about fish, and wont' let any other employees near her fish tanks. She is odd. She won't sell you a fish if you don't have the right set-up, but she goes overboard, and doesn't always know what the right set-up is. Angels must go in a 75g or larger tank. Live bearers (according to her) have no stomach and must be fed at least seven times a day!?!?! She won't sell feeders to anyone who might actually feed them to something. Oh, no! And, when my friend who works there and at my store sees people buying fish, she always refers them to our store instead. We've got much better fish, and we know more about them too. She isn't really allowed to give advice on fish though, because she isn't in that department, and probably doesn't know anythign according to psycho fish lady.
I'm not really familiar with our competitor chain, but most people in our store worked for them once, and they basically said that info wasn't a high priority. Often, they would just bag the fish without asking questions or making sure the new owner knew what the fish was like. Sigh. I've also found that nobody really knows much about snails. But, a lot of hobbyists don't really either. I do, and have taught my co-workers some, but usually they refer specific snail questions to me, as I have been dubbed the snail expert. But that is o.k. Our big deal in our store is to find someone (or a book) with the right answer if you don't know. THis way, you aren't giving out misinformation, and if no one knows the answer, at least you honestly said I dont' know rather than making something up. Plus, I refer people with net access to the net a lot too. I give names of trusted sites, because there is also a lot of misinfo on the net.
Oh, and I went into a LPS I'd never been in before the other day. They had a tank of albino cory cats labeled as "Koi catfish". I'm guessing they just misheard the cory part. THey were limited in tanks, and had no aquariums for sale, just a few meager supplies and some fish, lots of birds, dogs and cats. Not a store I plan to go back to.
One LPS in town, that is pretty good about fish (the owner is in our aquatics society) is not that great with other animals. OFten, he gives out really bad info on birds and reptiles, and the living conditions of his non-aquatic livestock are really bad.Lots of people complain about him to the authorities, but he always manages to barely pass inspection. I think he'd be much better off just specializing in fish, but probably can't make a living that way.
I've often thought about opening my own pet store, but have realized that if I want to be ruthless in whom I allow to purchase an animal, I"ll probably go under. Lots of people really don't want to believe the truth about fish or other animals and thier care needs. Most think the animal should be the most expensive part of the set-up, when in reality they are almost always the least....
Emily
The WalMart in our town has "psycho fish lady" who claims to know all about fish, and wont' let any other employees near her fish tanks. She is odd. She won't sell you a fish if you don't have the right set-up, but she goes overboard, and doesn't always know what the right set-up is. Angels must go in a 75g or larger tank. Live bearers (according to her) have no stomach and must be fed at least seven times a day!?!?! She won't sell feeders to anyone who might actually feed them to something. Oh, no! And, when my friend who works there and at my store sees people buying fish, she always refers them to our store instead. We've got much better fish, and we know more about them too. She isn't really allowed to give advice on fish though, because she isn't in that department, and probably doesn't know anythign according to psycho fish lady.
I'm not really familiar with our competitor chain, but most people in our store worked for them once, and they basically said that info wasn't a high priority. Often, they would just bag the fish without asking questions or making sure the new owner knew what the fish was like. Sigh. I've also found that nobody really knows much about snails. But, a lot of hobbyists don't really either. I do, and have taught my co-workers some, but usually they refer specific snail questions to me, as I have been dubbed the snail expert. But that is o.k. Our big deal in our store is to find someone (or a book) with the right answer if you don't know. THis way, you aren't giving out misinformation, and if no one knows the answer, at least you honestly said I dont' know rather than making something up. Plus, I refer people with net access to the net a lot too. I give names of trusted sites, because there is also a lot of misinfo on the net.
Oh, and I went into a LPS I'd never been in before the other day. They had a tank of albino cory cats labeled as "Koi catfish". I'm guessing they just misheard the cory part. THey were limited in tanks, and had no aquariums for sale, just a few meager supplies and some fish, lots of birds, dogs and cats. Not a store I plan to go back to.
One LPS in town, that is pretty good about fish (the owner is in our aquatics society) is not that great with other animals. OFten, he gives out really bad info on birds and reptiles, and the living conditions of his non-aquatic livestock are really bad.Lots of people complain about him to the authorities, but he always manages to barely pass inspection. I think he'd be much better off just specializing in fish, but probably can't make a living that way.
I've often thought about opening my own pet store, but have realized that if I want to be ruthless in whom I allow to purchase an animal, I"ll probably go under. Lots of people really don't want to believe the truth about fish or other animals and thier care needs. Most think the animal should be the most expensive part of the set-up, when in reality they are almost always the least....
Emily
Emg said:
Perhaps we're thinking not of ourselves, but the welfare of the fish, and how the stores are being irresponsible and even inhumane -- rather than "whining" about ourselves. Have you considered that? :dive2:
Bryant
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i am thankful that the internet has so much info available to research.
remember what it was like BEFORE the internet?
we had a public library but they barely had any books. so my dad would take us to the LPS and depend on the staff there for advice. yeah we made some mistakes...like buying a red tailed shark and putting it in a 29 gal community tank.....in about a couple weeks all that was left was one fat red tailed shark. he ate everyone else! and we also bought common plecos that quickly outgrew our tanks....now i can go online and google red tailed sharks or any fish i want and find out tons of info. but not everyone has internet access or good public libraries that carry decent books. so you think that if you walk into a store that sells pets that the staff selling the pets would know something about what they are selling...heck even just labels on the tanks telling you whats in there is quite helpful. sometimes my lfs has some new fish i've never seen before and they put labels on the tank telling you what it is, how big it will get and about what size tank would be ideal for it.
and sometimes some people are just plain stupid....it seems like everytime i go to my lfs, some customer is wanting to buy "Nemo" for their kids aquarium...i love the movie, have to admit it, it's one of my favorites...but it didnt cause me to run to my lfs to buy a "Nemo". yes there are people out there who even though they saw the movie do not realize that Nemo is a CLOWNFISH that lives in the OCEAN that is SALTWATER! and they still think they can buy Nemo and plop them into their 10 gal freshwater aquarium..... :mad2:
the stores should hire staff that is smarter than the "Nemo purchasing" customer...
remember what it was like BEFORE the internet?
we had a public library but they barely had any books. so my dad would take us to the LPS and depend on the staff there for advice. yeah we made some mistakes...like buying a red tailed shark and putting it in a 29 gal community tank.....in about a couple weeks all that was left was one fat red tailed shark. he ate everyone else! and we also bought common plecos that quickly outgrew our tanks....now i can go online and google red tailed sharks or any fish i want and find out tons of info. but not everyone has internet access or good public libraries that carry decent books. so you think that if you walk into a store that sells pets that the staff selling the pets would know something about what they are selling...heck even just labels on the tanks telling you whats in there is quite helpful. sometimes my lfs has some new fish i've never seen before and they put labels on the tank telling you what it is, how big it will get and about what size tank would be ideal for it.
and sometimes some people are just plain stupid....it seems like everytime i go to my lfs, some customer is wanting to buy "Nemo" for their kids aquarium...i love the movie, have to admit it, it's one of my favorites...but it didnt cause me to run to my lfs to buy a "Nemo". yes there are people out there who even though they saw the movie do not realize that Nemo is a CLOWNFISH that lives in the OCEAN that is SALTWATER! and they still think they can buy Nemo and plop them into their 10 gal freshwater aquarium..... :mad2:
the stores should hire staff that is smarter than the "Nemo purchasing" customer...
Aaaaauuuuggghhhh!!! I only hear that about 500 times a week!!! *scrrrreeeeam*
*twitch twitch*
Ok, I'm much better now. I'm feeling very encouraged when I see I'm not the only one out there that feels the way I do about some stores...phew!
