How You Know a LFS is Full of Crap

my latest experience at walmart:
Woman wanted a large fantail goldfish, but didnt have a tank or anything. I stood there in shock as the girl working there brought a 1.5 liter, (yes, like 6 cups) little plastic tank off the shelf, and recommended it for that goldfish. She also told the woman she wouldnt have to change the water more than once a month, didn't reccomend any water conditioner, and told her goldfish never live over 2 years. :'(
 
Calico Goat said:
An eclipse ate one. Surprised everyone, especially the danio.
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haha, my eclipse cats are about 5" now, and ive yet to see them even nip at any of my other fish. ive read that they get up to 14" and usually dont eat any but the smallest fish. obviously with a pair of half grown tinfoils in my tank, i dont/cant really keep anything too small anyways, but i hope they dont change their mind about the whole fish eating situation, heh. :o
 
I have a suggestion...
Why don't y 'all open up your own LFS and sell fish only to each other. You can put a huge gate around your store and require everyone that walks in the door to take a test that qualifies them to LOOK at the fish. Purchasing fish requires a home visit and family interview...
I seriously wish many of you could own a LFS and see exactly how much work it is, how little you make, and how much flux your business can go through year in and year out. Remember: you are running a business that does not sell anything that is necessary.
Finally, how many of you that are living and working in the real world would give up your job to make less than $7.00/hr. working in a LFS? Unfortunately, you pay what you can afford and you get what you pay for. There aren't that many "trained" associates knocking down your door for less than $15,000.00/yr. Furthermore, it isn't exacly easy running a business when the people that do know what they are talking about are throwing your paying customers out the door. Those people never come back, even after they do the research. The only thing they remember about your establishment is they're the a**holes that asked them to leave.
I know this is a rant, but seriously guys... If you walked a mile in these people's shoes you'd realize that nothing is as simple as sitting behind the counter and collecting money. Keeping 3,000 gallons of water in a commercial environ is a lot different than the 29 gallon at home. Keeping up with several THOUSAND items, both living and not is incredibly difficult. Managing part time employees isn't easy either. Most LFS owners/operators have been in the hobby longer than many of you have been alive. Most LFS operators got into this business because they have a love of the hobby. Most LFS operators love helping out attentive customers that listen to their advice. Have you ever stopped to wonder why most LFS operators don't visit this forum?
 
Fishseller, I agree with you whole heartedly that it is too much to expect for a sales associate to be both well informed about fish and a good salesperson. Such gems undoubtedly exist, but they aren't going to work for $7/hour forever. In defense of a good rant, I think this thread also does a good job of pointing the finger at uninformed, uncaring customers.

If I can take the rant in that direction, I'd like to point my own finger at the folks who hate the conditions at their LFS but keep going to them! The best way to register displeasure with poor quality stores is to stop giving them your money! I seek out high quality independent stores and I have always had very pleasant experiences, especially if the owner is around. The price difference is very small, especially compared to Petco and Petsmart. Please people, don't rant about the awful inappropriate fish your chain store sold you and come back a few days later talking about what else you bought there.
 
FishSeller said:
I have a suggestion...
Why don't y 'all open up your own LFS and sell fish only to each other. You can put a huge gate around your store and require everyone that walks in the door to take a test that qualifies them to LOOK at the fish. Purchasing fish requires a home visit and family interview...
I seriously wish many of you could own a LFS and see exactly how much work it is, how little you make, and how much flux your business can go through year in and year out. Remember: you are running a business that does not sell anything that is necessary.
Finally, how many of you that are living and working in the real world would give up your job to make less than $7.00/hr. working in a LFS? Unfortunately, you pay what you can afford and you get what you pay for. There aren't that many "trained" associates knocking down your door for less than $15,000.00/yr. Furthermore, it isn't exacly easy running a business when the people that do know what they are talking about are throwing your paying customers out the door. Those people never come back, even after they do the research. The only thing they remember about your establishment is they're the a**holes that asked them to leave.
I know this is a rant, but seriously guys... If you walked a mile in these people's shoes you'd realize that nothing is as simple as sitting behind the counter and collecting money. Keeping 3,000 gallons of water in a commercial environ is a lot different than the 29 gallon at home. Keeping up with several THOUSAND items, both living and not is incredibly difficult. Managing part time employees isn't easy either. Most LFS owners/operators have been in the hobby longer than many of you have been alive. Most LFS operators got into this business because they have a love of the hobby. Most LFS operators love helping out attentive customers that listen to their advice. Have you ever stopped to wonder why most LFS operators don't visit this forum?
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I'm sorry, but that is a load of crap. Those people you hire for $7 an hour, they can be trained. Maybe they know nothing when they walk in the door but it doesn't take that long to get a basic knowldge of fish so they can help customers make somewhat knowldgeable decisions.

I'm brand new to this, I don't even own a tank yet. I have a friend with a saltwater setup and I decided about a week ago that I was going to get a freshwater tank. After going that day and buying a book and lurking around in these fourms and a couple of other places for a few days doing research on what I want/need to buy to get started it seems as if I know more than most of the people that are being talked about in here. Again this is after 1 week with zero prior knowldge.

You don't have to be rude and throw customers out the door. How about trying to educate them a bit or at least having the correct information for the ones who WANT to learn.
 
Those new employees aren't just learning about a few kinds of fish. They have to learn everything about all the fish, all the lizards, all the snakes, all the products, all the dog food, hamsters, rats and mice, crickets, ponds, etc., etc.

If they even have the desire to learn, then about the time they learn a bunch they graduate high school and go away to college. After a couple summers coming back and working for you they do a paid internship for $19/hr. and that's the last you'll ever see of them.
 
I am 100% with you MrKlaw. So what if they aren't experts or don't have the experience when they get hired. I just got into this hobby a month or so ago and feel I know more then all but 1 worker in ANY of the stores I've been in. In just a few days of research (Maybe 4 hours a day) I at least had a grasp of cycling and overstocking and what size/type tanks were acceptable for what fish. Something an LFS could easily have a small training class for maybe 2 days when someone is first hired.

Also in rebuttal of FishSeller's statements I say this.
I live in Spokane, WA. We have 1 specialist fish store for Freshwater. 2 others that are JUST saltwater. Then we have PetCo, PetSmart. Also 2 locations of Northwest Seed and Pet. The location close to my area is comperable to PetSmart and co. The 1 specialist store and the good Northwest Seed and Pet are both rather out of the way. So most basic shopping is done at the crappy places. Now I do go to the better places for my fish but that doesn't make the situations any less stupid or frustrating.

In summary, the stupid morons hired for $7 an hour can be trained in a couple days with enough knowledge to stop 90% of the situations complained about in this thread. You don't need experts working there.
 
You can have people that ahve a clue working at a fish store. The petsmart near me screens applicants and hires those who have fish tanks. This is a local store initiative...not a chain wide thing. There are several teenagers that post here who would be wonderful fish store employees. Heck, I've even thought about working there part time. My daughter applied...she didn't get a job, the tanks at home are mine, not hers.

The LFS I get a lot of my fish at...they have teens that have been trained, and the guy that was there the last time is a farmer, and he moonlights doing this. He's in a fish club in the area and I've seen him around at various auctions and shows.
 
mvigor is exactly right. I hired high school kids in the past because they were bright, attentive, easygoing kids that were still willing to learn things, like sell fish, for example. However, your average high school kid is only going to be willing to work three, possibly four part-time days a week (and understandably so). This means another set of part-time people must be hired to fill in morning shifts. Now you're in trouble. This means you are going to hire someone that is a) uneducated b) unskilled c) doesn't really need a job or the money or d) looking for another job but need some income in the meantime. People that are uneducated and/or unskilled do not have the desire or the ability to "research several days for 4 hours or so a day". If they could, they would go into a higher paying profession. People that do not really need the job are a risky proposition as well considering they have the option to come to work or not come to work. People between jobs are temporary. A best case scenario is to find someone who is semi-retired. Unfortunately, these folks are difficult to come by. So, this is what you're left with. What do you do? If I was still running a store and I could hire some of you, I would. I ask again, are y'all willing to work for less than $7/hr.? I know I'm not.
 
I totally see your side of the situation too FishSeller. Heck to suppliment my income if I was guaranteed part time I'd work at a fish store. At least I'd be doing something I like to do. But that's beside the point.

I think we all have valid points from both ends of the spectrum. A lot of this thread are complaints about ignorant customers. A lot is dependant on the area. Although most complaints do come from bigger chains. The issue with big chains is that they hire for multiple dept's when they should have specific employees specialize in only 1 or 2 dept's dependant upon how big or busy each dept is.

I guess the major point is that we are all right. Both workers and customers can be ignorant and that there are legitimate things that could be done on both ends to rectify that situation.

I also think it's good though that we have this thread to either entertain ourselves, or vent frustrations, or whatever. No harm IMO.
 
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