# best/worst stories from pet shop working experience...



## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

hey guys!

i'm bored and thinking about all the crazy stories i heard about aquariums while i worked at petc0. i think the winners are as follows:

this one woman, about 27, had a 29 gallon tank, in which she kept FIVE comet goldfish and 2 common plecos. she used to brag that she was going to use one of them as a show fish. when i asked what she was going to do when they got big, she replied that she "didn't feed them too much," so they wouldn't for a long time. and when the plecos got aggressive, she would reach in the tank and "flick" them on the nose. apparently this would make them stop. she was also hell-bent on adding a black ghost knife fish, and i'm sure she did. here's the clincher: she was the official fish specialist of the store, and i had to go with the advice that she gave, as her underling...:chair: 

good story!:
one of our regular customers was this guy who lives in manhattan. he'd come up from the city cos he liked to talk to me about his tank. it used to be a BEAUTIFUL 400 gallon reef tank built into the wall, he showed me pictures. gorgeous, with a chiller and everything. and then, well, during the brownouts last summer...the power went out in his office, the chiller/filter/etc failed, and everything died. he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. so he cleaned out the tank and replaced it with a single red-tailed catfish! those things are so cool. well, i suppose that story comes out neutral, considering all the money he lost, 

stories? aquarium tales are always entertaining.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

This past Saturday, right after we opened (9am), a customer comes in, points to the largest blood parrot in the tank, and says I want that fish.

He assures me that his tank is big enough, etc etc, and since its 9am and my coffee hadn't kicked in yet, I didn't really ask too many questions. If somebody wants a $30 fish first thing in the morning, they're likely to walk out with a $30 fish. 

So a few hours later, the store is crazy busy and I see the same guy back in the store, looking at the shelf with the medications, clarifiers, etc. I'm busy with a customer (or 3) but it looks like he's shopping for a "problem solving" bottle. I see one of my coworkers (Taz) on the same aisle, so I figure he'll get some good help.

When things quieted down, I asked Taz about the customer in question. His answer:


> "That guy ? He came in Friday wanting a blood parrot for a fish bowl. His girlfriend went away, her's died, and he needs to replace it. I refused to sell one to him, explaining that it won't survive in a bowl. He asked for another salesperson to help him and I told him that nobody here would sell him that fish for a bowl, if he wants to kill a fish he needs to shop someplace else."


 
So the bleepity-bleep came in the next day and lied to me so that I'd sell him a fish ! Taz wasn't here when he came in, or else I would have know. I hate when people lie.
Of course, after he put a 5" blood parrot in a bowl, it probably got super cloudy (right up until the fish died) - thus his return for clear-up drops (and the fact that he didn't dare ask Taz for help).

Of course, it gets better.
Sunday morning the same guy comes in, acts like he's never seen before, walks up to the parrot tank, and once again says "I want THAT fish".
Which leads to a very long conversation - I couldn't flat out accuse him of lying - but I did refuse to sell him a fish. I pointed out that what he told me and what he told Taz didn't match - he said he bought a big tank. I asked if he Cycled it - he looked at me like I asked if he ate dirt. I explained that the tank would need to be cycled before he could put a blood parrot in, let alone two. 
Then of course he started asking about other fishes - goldfish etc etc etc (I really think the original dead fish was a goldy - about 90% of the customers who point to the parrots ask if they are goldfish ). I explained that they could not live in a bowl either, and would not be able to survive in the same tank as the parrot he bought on Saturday (which he had not admitted to killing, so I was going right along with the lie of it being alive and in a big tank).
Then he started looking at bettas - and part of me wanted to jump up and down saying "lier lier, you have a bowl not a tank, you lied, lier lier).
But of course that wasn't what he wanted... he was still looking when I went to lunch, and I know Taz didn't sell him anything...

unfortunately, certain ethnic populations in the area near my store a) want to seriously overcrowd their tanks b) don't accept that the guy at the fish store knows anything about fish c) think fish live a few weeks, then die, then get replaced and d) want to argue the price on every fish.

However, its very nice to work in a store where we can say "no". In fact, we've also been known to say "please leave the store and don't come back".
:mrgreen:


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

i've found it's not ethnic populations in my area, people of all persuasions want to do that. but ok!

man am i jealous, i wish i could work in a pet shop where i could say that. good ol' petc0...

i had SO many people lie when they realized that i wouldn't sell them a fish to put in a tiny tank. the reason i decided to quit was because a woman came in and told me a story of how she kept a firemouth cichlid in her 10 gallon tank for 8 years. it had died, and she demanded i sell her a pair of jack dempseys. to keep until they died, in a 10 gallon tank. i refused, and she insisted i call the manager. so i did! and what happens? the manager takes me to the office for a "talk." she basically asserts that i must sell it to the customer, a sale is a sale, profit is profit. unless she specifically states she will abuse the fish. i sure as hell feel that keeping 2 jacks in a 10 gallon is abuse, but i guess it isn't. by the time i got back to the fish room, the fish "specialist" had sold them to her.


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## fishbone (Jan 15, 2007)

"Ethnic populations". Oh just say it already. We've all noticed the ginormous koi and goldfish at the local "Chinese" buffet overcrowded in a so-and-so sized tank 

I don't have a story, rather a frustrating trend that I see at ALL LFSs. Crabs kept in freshwater tanks. And if that's not enough, salespeople will even insist they are freshwater. A year ago when I bought my second red claw crab which is still with me [knock on wood], I was paying for it and another customer, some guy in his early teens goes to me "I bet you ten bucks that thing will crawl out of your tank in a day and you'll never see it". I laughed it off, well knowing that crabs do have a reputation of being Houdinis of sorts.
But the thing is, once you actually provide them with a nice area to dry off, they stop trying to get out of your aquarium or climbing on cables. My RCC tank is only half covered and that's so my cat doesn't do anything funny. My crab couldn't care less about climbing on anything. Nor do my other 7 in my crab colony. They just roam the "beachead".


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## Clerk (Nov 22, 2006)

oh jeez, every day I work is a story...


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

share some, Clerk! i'm sure i can commiserate...


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

It wouldn't do for me to work in a fish store. Within 24 hours I would either
1) B---- slap someone
2) Run screaming from the store
3) Get fired (and probably blackballed)
4) All of the above

I admit I'm not the worlds most experienced fish keeper and I've made some dumb mistakes but geesh, stupidity should have a limit! And then to combine blatant stupidity with pure old bullheadedness. *shakes head*


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Well... I only "work" part time at my lfs on and off, to help pay off stuff she orders me.

The only problem I have is, the lfs is very very very small, my room (basement) is literally twice the size of it. When a customer walks in, the owner gets to them first. She knows more than an average person does, but in reality, I can't help but to speak in between a conversation or two while i'm there. Last friday she was having a coversation with some people i've known for a while, about goldfish in a bowl. I basically said "comet goldfish can reach over a foot, they need an actual source of oxygen in the water, a bowl isn't suited for any fish, and in some areas their even illegal due to causing blindness in fish." Yet, everyone of them disagreed. Alright, whatever. I suggested a betta, seeing as that would be the ONLY fish in the entire store, or really anywhere, that I would suggest even surviving in a bowl. They didn't care, so I walked away.
Then a girl came walking in asking about the saltwater tank, asking what fish it was. After about 10 minutes, she finally realized it was a saltwater fish she had been wanting. *argh*
There's nothing huge that goes on in that store, seeing as it's small, and in a small town to begin with. It's just the little things, like oscars or balas in a ten gallon, or constantly messing with the pH, that bothers me. The little things I guess you could say .

Probably the "best" experience... was when two people who were obsessed with fish stopped by months ago. Idk, it was just funny to see 30+ year old people get all googly-eyed over kribensis xD. 
My favorite part though, really, is when she gets in new stock, and you get first pick from everything


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

oh god, the constant bowl argument. we had these HORRIBLE little "bowls" that were about the size of a drinking glass. i had to discourage so many people from buying them for little goldie. 

then there were people who just wouldn't believe me when i said the goldfish would get huge, and the bowl just couldn't hold them, they'd die first. "well, my sister had a goldfish in a bowl that lived for 3 years! you must not know what you're talking about." jeez, people.


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## fishbone (Jan 15, 2007)

PetCo actually sells "bowls" that are literally shaped like a flower vase. There should seriously be laws against that, along the lines of cruelty to animals, even though "it's just fish"


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

fishbone said:


> PetCo actually sells "bowls" that are literally shaped like a flower vase. There should seriously be laws against that, along the lines of cruelty to animals, even though "it's just fish"


yeah, that's the "bowl" i'm referring to. it looks like a large drinking glass, but you nailed it with the description of it as a flower vase.

gotta admit, i lost my temper one day with this one woman who insisted that she needed more angelfish (4 of them) for her 20 gallon tank (she had never had a fish last over 6 months.) i said, very sarcastically, after explaining that they would suffer in that tank, "well, they're just animals after all." 

...and the sad thing was that she agreed with me for a second, before she realized what i was saying.


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2008)

I was cleaning a tank on the top row of tanks. The 8 inch silver arowana jumped out, into my hair, and onto the floor. I hurried to get off the step ladder (without stepping on the arowana) scoop him up into a large net and put him back into the tank. Literally half a second after I put him back in the tank, he makes a clear jump for the floor. 

A couple weeks later, I accidentally left the top row of tanks open (DOH!) and this same arowana jumped 3 tanks over into a tank of swordtails. They didn't stand a chance.

At least the aro had a good supper. :|


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

At petco I always get written up for helping customers too long and not spending my time "wisely" but my PROUDEST lfs momment came about a month after christmas when low and behold someone wrote management a letter. They wanted me to be recognized for excellent customer service when I helped them a few times before christmas. I had helped them pick out a ****************atiel, and a new tank for their kids christmas present, and said that I gave them some great advise, which you usually do not get during the holidays. Hopefully that will be the last time I get written up for using my time "ineffectively"


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

Fishbone - its actually two very different ethnic groups, from two different sides of the world, that I tend to find are about 99% of the "I don't care what you say" crowd.

I've got nothing against either group - but if I had, for example, redheads (like me) walking into the shop every week looking for koi for their 20g tank (or returning a $400 eheim canister because it didn't keep a 100g koi tank "clean enough" after I told them repeatedly that koi shouldn't be in such a small tank) - after a 10+ years I'd probably notice the trend.

And yes, that really happened recently. Brand new, 100g tank. Brand new Eheim canister - the biggest one they make. At least 10 one-foot-long koi (not from us) . So of course he comes back a few days later because the filter "doesn't work".
I ask him what he wants a filter to do, that that filter doesn't do - he doesn't know, just that it "should be better" than the one he bought. I had spent over 30 minutes with him the first time explaining that the tank was too small and too crowded, and that he could spend $5000 on filters and it wouldn't matter - he wouldn't beleive me. I spent another 30 minutes with him when he returned the filter - and he still didn't beleive that you can't pack koi like sardines.

Oh, did I mention that our vendor doesn't take back Eheim filter returns ? But of course we don't have an exception for Eheim filters listed on our return policy - so the owner took it back and ate the difference (and sold it to an employee for cost afterwards just to get rid of it).

uggghhh


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

ugh... I hate customers like that. I get tons of them who won't let me finish a word I say.


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## bass man (Jun 1, 2007)

I don't work at a fish store but I have had to correct people all the time at petsmart and walmart. people who want to keep comets in a fish bowl, koi in a 55 gallon, and one lady who wanted to keep 2 balla sharks, 2 pacu, 3 oscars, and a pleco in a 10 gallon.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

I steer people from bad choices all the time. I work at a small LFS, and I am one of the only people in the fish department. Everyone else knows how knowlegeable I am and are always asking for advice. In fact the usually refer anybody who wants advice to me. It works for me, and I have saved quite a few fish from bowls/10 gallons.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Gourami Swami said:


> I steer people from bad choices all the time. I work at a small LFS, and I am one of the only people in the fish department. Everyone else knows how knowlegeable I am and are always asking for advice. In fact the usually refer anybody who wants advice to me. It works for me, and I have saved quite a few fish from bowls/10 gallons.



Nelson, you know nothing, and you know it xD


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Whats the equivalent of a dance off, but with fish knowledge? Because thats what we need to have XD

Its on!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

WELL NOW.... that would be interesting...
Unfortunately, this is the internet, where the answer to almost any question can be had in only a few clicks. That pretty much invalidates any online contest.


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## lochness (Jan 10, 2006)

redpaulhus said:


> I asked if he Cycled it - he looked at me like I asked if he ate dirt.


BUhahhaha :lol: this is a great thread btw - used to be a fish specialst for PetCo (back in 1994-1995) so I can def relate to these stories LOL

and I always said no to people that were obviously ignorant of the hobby and careless with the care of a living thing. I guess PetCo has cracked down on moral and ethical employees in the last decade... I shoulda figured it was going downhill when they kept promising me an assistant and a raise and after 6 mos I saw neither so I left. I almost stayed for the welfare of the fish but I couldnt live on that paycheck, unfortunately.

My fav story:

I got a phone call 10 min to closing time. A mother with concern in her voice said that her son's oscar didn't look too good and had a whitish/grey film on his fins and entire body area and wasn't eating and was just in the corner of their 55 gal tank - nothing else was ever in the tank - her son has had the oscar for 8 yrs. I explain to her that we were closing and by the time she got to the store, the registers would be shut down the for the evening on the insistance of the manager, but she paused and said, "Please, my son is in tears." 

I thought of my own 10 and 8 yr old plecos at the time - so I asked her what filter was in the tank and told her to come down to the parking lot and I'd have some stuff waiting for her. They arrived 20 min later and the store had already been closed by the manager. Her son was 13 - sheeesh he had this Oscar since he was in Kindergarten. He had clearly been crying. I explained how to use the medication (it was Maracyn - the choice of products was limited in 1994) and how to use the carbon as an addition to the filter after the dose of the meds was over and to do the appropriate water changes, etc. The items had cost me under $20 and I told her not to worry about it but she insisted and paid me $30. 

I had been wondering how the Oscar fared but several weeks passed and I feared the worst and eventually forgot about it. A few weeks later both the mother & son paid me a visit with smiles that the oscar recovered and was eating soon after the water changes and carbon and were there to thank me personally and to buy some food for the Oscar. As the kid was grabbing some frozen krill, the mom took me aside and handed me some money folded up thanking me for *saving* the Oscar - I told her that it wasn't nec since _they_ saved the Oscar by simply following the instructions and caring about nursing it back to health. After much insistance back and forth, she won out by playing the "you will hurt my feelings" card if I didn't accept her token of appreciation. After they left, I opened the folded money and counted $50. 

That was a good day


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

they started me out on a good wage, $8.25/hr as a part-time general associate with "specialization in aquatics." i made a good paycheck, but i couldn't take their crap any more. 

yeah i almost stayed for the welfare too, but i get frustrated pretty quickly.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Okay I will pass on a story told to me by my friend who works at my LFS. She used to own her own pet store back east. She is one of those people who will attempt to discourage but will not ultimately say no. So keep that in mind for the story. 

A woman comes into her store and sees a rather large Yellow Tang. She states she wants this fish. Owner discovers the tank is a freshwater tank and tells the lady she can't have that fish in a freshwater tank, it needs salt. The lady argues with her about this and insists she has to have this fish. Owner ultimately sells the fish to the lady BUT she takes the receipt and writes on the back of it "This fish will be dead by 10:00 tonight" and signs and dates it (Fish was quite expensive). The lady comes back the next day upset over the loss of her fish. Owner asks her for her receipt. Lady says "oh yes I have it right here" and takes it out and gives it to her. Owner turns the receipt over and asks the customer to read it out loud to her. Lady gets livid and storms out of the store. 

While I don't agree that a sale has to be made at any cost, I have to say I liked her writing that on the receipt. 

And I have to say that she gave me a fair store credit for some interestingly shaped zebra danios LOL. On my store credit form it says "For deformed danios." I like her humor.


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## karazy (Nov 2, 2007)

my dad wanted to make a cichlid tank in a 10 with convicts


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