Oh man, it just burns me up no end that they sell these and 'goldfish' bowls in my store...I don't even have to click the link to know which kit you're talking about, Joe. Orange or purple? Grrrrr!!!
I hate to say this, but I have gotten an attitude about this, the people that buy these things only want to get 'something for my kid to watch' or 'don't want to spend a lot' or 'always kept goldfish in those and they were JUST FINE' and they will NOT listen to logic or reason. Some are polite and nod in all the right places when I tell them they will kill their fish, then they go pick this piece of crap off the shelf and happily trot their butts over to the checkout, goldfish in tow. Some are downright (think of a word that starts with 'P' and rhymes with hissy) then they go complain to the manager that I'm asking them too many questions or being too pushy. It's just different ways of saying 'I don't care, I'm not listening to you, you don't know what you're talking about.' Once in a great while someone is genuinely surprised to hear goldfish can get so big and live for 15 years or more, and they still buy the kit and then get smaller fish such as a betta that probably won't die in the first 12 hours.
I have learned to shut up and walk away when I'm dealing with the idiots that I meet on an almost daily basis that are abusing their pets and are too dumb or lazy or uncaring to stop. I don't like doing that...not at all, but if I want to keep my job I have to. I have come to really and truly hate these people. I've dubbed it Retail Hatred Syndrome. I could fill a blog and then some with the examples of cruelty I see in there all the time.
Just last week, aside from the many, many fish killers I saw two people that are going to kill their dogs. Both of these were small puppies of my favorite breed, Pit Bull. The first was a man that had this very sweet black and white Pit female in there three weeks previous, she was just weaned and totally wormy. You could tell by her huge belly and dry, staring coat. I asked him if she had been checked for worms and he said he 'wormed her yesterday'. She was thin and I could see her ribs. She loved having her ears rubbed, and I was happy to do that but I could tell she had a fever and she had a runny nose and crusty eyes. He brought her back in last Thursday and she looks a lot worse, her belly is bigger, eyes and nose are crustier and she's even thinner. Almost emaciated. I wanted to stick her under my arm and run out with her. Since I can't do that, she will probably die from this guy's ignorance or indifference. She wasn't spayed, so I'm pretty sure I know what he's got planned for her. It was hard to not cry when I saw him walk out with her.
Another girl had a gorgeous tan and white Pit puppy on Friday. Maybe 10 weeks old, this one was clean and sound looking, hopefully she is sound enough to withstand being dragged around on a choke collar from such a young age. This girl was 17 at the most and obviously had no clue what she's doing to that poor baby. She was roughly pulling her by the choke chain and sliding her across the floor on her belly since she was terrified at her first visit to my store and also hadn't quite got the hang of the walking on a leash thing. I asked the girl why she had such a little puppy on a choke chain and she giggled and said, 'Well, she doesn't pull on the leash much yet so she'll be OK. When she gets bigger, I'll get her a prong collar.' I had to walk away before I gave in to the sudden urge to slap her. She spent $20 on a designer leather 'purse' type bag to carry the puppy in, but not a new, non-choker collar. Of course the girl rolled her eyes at me and said, 'Whatever' when I told her the puppy might fit in that carrier for 3 more weeks or so and she might just want to get her a new collar instead.
Keep my words in mind the next time you see a big box store employee silently handing someone a goldfish for their 1/2 gallon bowl...not all of us are clueless, we just have to bow to the Almighty Golden Rule- The Customer Is Always Right. Thankfully, most of our customers are not like that, but all too many are.
Sorry for the long post, but sometimes I just have to get these things out.
