# Idiotic Fish Customers



## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

Well heres some more lovely stories from Wal-Mart.... 
Some Mexicans came in and bought like 10 comets and a giant danio and they told my fellow associate they kept them in the bathtub and the last one went down the drain when they were going to take a bath (I don't know if this is true but I don't know I can see em doing it!! ) Thank god I didn't sell the fish to them, I'd have to say no! 

I had a young girl, maybe 8-10yrs old asked me something about bala sharks and I told her they needed a heated tank to deter her, well then she looks for a heater and asks if our 2-5G heater would work on a 1 Gallon and I said yes. They she asked if bala sharks can be alone and I told her no and if she was talking on putting him in a 1G that was a BIG NO, and preceded to tell her they grow over a foot and need 125 gallons of water... Boy did that make her mad, so she left. 
:roll: 

Then today we had some irate customer come in complaining that the courtesy desk wouldn't let her return her betta since she left her reciept at home. She told me she had kept him in the same container that it came in for a week and fed him everyday! OMG, needless to say I got her fish returned cause she was such a bitch.

OOOOOO and I had another guy tell me his tank was "HUGE" and fish getting too big wasn't a problem, well I found out that he had a 30G hex, LMAO that makes mine gigantic and all of yours oceans!!!!!!!! I love how people come in and tell me they have a big or huge tank and it turns out to be like a 10G.  :roll:


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## chrisinha (Jan 24, 2005)

jeez!! it's unbelievable how people can be!!


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## kidbetta (Feb 2, 2005)

"Some Mexicans came in and bought like 10 comets and a giant danio and they told my fellow associate they kept them in the bathtub and the last one went down the drain when they were going to take a bath (I don't know if this is true but I don't know I can see em doing it!! ) Thank god I didn't sell the fish to them, I'd have to say no!"
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I heard a similar story from a Walmart Fish Expert..... However........ It was different..... He told me that some RED NECK HILL BILLIES FROM WISCONSIN bought about 10 algae eaters and one cory cat fish to help keep the bath tub clean....  But.... sadly an algae eater went down the drain when the Hill BILLIES decided to join them and came out through the toilet bowl and decided to suck off the toilet  untill another HILL BILLIE accidently flushed him thinking he would go back into the bath tub.....

I don't know if this is true since it's coming from a Walmart Fish Expert but in America anything is possible...  I don't even know why he sold them the fish....  I guess he needed to make the sale so that he can keep his job?   He did describe how they look.... I'll post a picture!  So that you can avoid selling these HILL BILLIES FISH...


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

um... ya I didnt find that funny at all...


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## mrmoby (Jan 18, 2005)

Lexus, maybe you need to find another department to work in, ladies, mens, hardware, automotive, or even the snack bar. I don't mean that in a smartass way either. If you have to deal with people in retail, that's bad enough, I know from experience. But you will probably save yourself from a big ulcer, and lower your blood pressure if you don't have to deal with people that aren't passionate about fish the way you are. You can never change the public, there are always going to be a certain percent of complete ididots, there is no need to make yourself insane dealing with them.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

It might be hard on Lexus to work in the fish dept, since she really cares about fish, but it's so much better that she works there than some idiot who doesn't give a toss. She won't be able to do anything about the real idiots, but there are people who would like to take care of their fish who are simply ignorant, and when given good advice from someone who knows what they are talking about would follow that advice. When I bought my first fish I was like that and I would have appreciated someone telling me that goldfish really aren't very good fish for beginners!

Lexus, just so we don't get completely depressed, do you have any stories of poeple listening to your advice and walking out of the shop with fish that are suitable for the tanks they have, after you talked with them?


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

I was at walmart once where a lady was buying her son a goldfish. She told him to pick out the bowl that he wanted for the fish. He picked up a betta size bowl and handed it to his mom. I quickly went over to her and explained the goldfish history and how they are misunderstood. They do not grow to the size of the tank and they are extreamly dirty fish and need lots of space. I then told her I have some that are over a foot long. She then preceeded to place the bowl down and pick up a 1 gal bowl and ask her son if he wanted that one for the fish instead. :chair: At least I probably gave that goldfish a extra day or two of life.


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

The said part of all of this, and i'm not trying to say anything bad about anyone, But these are stories
just one one or two places, could you emagine how much of this goes on around the rest of the fish places.
It;s really to bad and a very sad thing some old fool of a man thought up the Idea of Walmart, just to sell this stuff to the any idiot that walks in the door......
I buy fish from Walmarts, But I look at it like this, If I don;t buy them and try to make a better life for a fish, they are dead anyway.
I don;t buy allot of fish there because by the time i get around them they are all covered in Ick and who knows what else.......

We have seveal fish now that we have from WalMart and they are all doing fine.


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

The majority of my fish are from my store... 
Needless to say yesterday our whole tropical system has ich. 

Sam Walton actually owned the Five and Dime Stores such as Ben Franklin, he never intended for it to become such a leech of a store, like Wal-Mart. I am sure he is rolling in his grave right now. His children are among the top 5 richest and they do not contribute to anything nor donate, this was unlike Sam. Its sad what money does to people. I did a paper once on Sam Walton and he was a very caring and respectful man, his ways of practice led his store to sucess. Unfortunately we do not hold the values Sam once did, if we had Wal-Mart would be much different. But this is just my two cents...

I do have good stories but they are few and faar between. Most people dont believe I know anything because I am only 19 and work at Walmart. People come to Wal-Mart to buy fish because pet stores wont sell them to them. 
I did have a couple come in a few weeks back and wanted to set up a 55G cichlid tank and they did listen to me and actually visited the store I suggested. They thanked me for all my help and said it was nice to have someone in fish that knew something.


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## kidbetta (Feb 2, 2005)

Lexus........

The Mexican Story sounds like a joke..... Do u really beleive that? 

+ CALLING an 8-10 year old girl an idiotic Fish Customer is kind of cruel......... she's a kid.....

Anyway..... U do seem to care about fish which is good... Just be more patient with your customers and try to help them understand the basics of fish keeping...... Especially the kids.... just don't give up.... In the end they would be thankfullll..

Ick in pet shops occur for various reasons.... Pet shops that use individual filters seem to have less problems with ick....

What kind of filter does your employer use?


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

Its a pre filter, carbon pillow, then a biowheel. Tropicals are on one system, goldfish on another, its a sump type deal by MARS. 

The young girl was with her mother and her sister and they didnt get it either. :roll: 

The mexican story isnt a joke, my associate was helping them and thats what they said, I was there. I wouldnt doubt it, the mom couldnt speak english and the kids were the only english speaker. they didnt know anything about fish whatsoever... and its impossible to tell them when they dont understand


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

I still would have not sold the fish to any of them. even if i did get fired. "oh sorry, that fish won't fit in your tank", is all it should take.

I was in the LFS a while back and the lady that works there asked some guy how many tetras he wanted, he said "oh, I dont care, they just keep dying anyway."

..... :roll: why does he keep getting them then?

I got a striped rapheal from walmart, it was in a tank full of dead angel fish and was trying to hide between a dead one and the filter.


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## kidbetta (Feb 2, 2005)

"why does he keep getting them then? "

Most likely....

The seller doesn't give a crap........ More sales=better standing with the Manager...... It's a Sad Story.....

Most pet shop owners depending where you live don't give a _______ about the fish..... They just care about the $...... And........ To make $ they hire anyone that will be willing to sell anything dead or alive to make more $ .......... 

That's a good example of a bad customer and a bad pet shop worker..... Poor Fish!


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

kidbetta, your so totally right!


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## queenbottomfeeder (Mar 8, 2005)

You have to relize not everyone knows about fish . not even wallmart employees. About 5 years ago we started a tank went to walmart and saw a weird looking fish so we bought it took it home and a week later some of my fish were missing . watching the tank more closely, that weird looking fish turned out to be a snakehead. I lost alot of fish but we kept him until he was 3 feet long and ate a 2 foot channelcat. so we put him down. couldn't sell him they are now not allowed in this state. so whoever orders the fish should know what they are getting. I think it is the job of the employees to inform customers what they are buying no matter where you work . Weither it be a pet store or best buy. Because people need someone to help them out. I'm a fastfood manager and we get customer who do not read coupons or want someting else instead of what the coupons say, they drop there food on the floor and want us to replace it why? they dropped it. I could go on about them like you do . Just start teaching them on what fish can go in what tanks and all the care they need..


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2005)

woa...3 foot long snake head and 2 foot long channel cat....what size tank? it must be huge


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## queenbottomfeeder (Mar 8, 2005)

we built an 800 gallon pond in the garage for them we also had 2 shovelnose, 2 other cats 4 oscar arrowanna, and a red tail cat. but we had to moved and the fish didn't like that too well we lost them all . We also had a 180 with alot ofplacos, synos things like that. My husband loves bottemfeeders . Then our 180 came apart at the seems. we lost most everything. we took what we could to the local fish store and lost the rest. It has been 2 years and we are now geeting back into it. it was hard to lose everything. we had 4 tanks and then pond before the move, had to go to 2 . now its just one . we are geeting another pond going now bought a preformed 250. its cycling now.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

So, everyone was up to petshop affair right? Well, as Queen Bottom Feeder has said, yes, most of the ppl come to this hobby make wrong decisions (well, it's the way it has to be!) They pick up small tanks as they think that they can get along with them easier. Also, they pick up simple items (in general, anything that is small). So the job of an employee in a petshop is to explain them briefly about this hobby and guide them the very first steps. These days, things are more simple with the help of telecomunication. I found many beginners in this fish keeping hobby began by register for member accounts here and ask around for infomation from other ppl, and that's good! And they came up every day asking for advice when setting up the aquarium or after that. I really appreciate that and I love this forum for creating some basic steps for the beginners.
Being a good fish seller is not easy. Telling the truth, business equals something not good. First off, we need good knowledge, also, tacfulness and the most important part, your love for the fish!  
Good knowlege helps make customers trust us.
While tacfulness wil help us convice ppl listen to what is right and what is wrong, this's an important point in business.
Loving fish, you'll love your job. Be able to hesitate any sorta situation and you'll do your best to help ppl love them too!
Peace


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## BettaLover (Feb 17, 2005)

Ahhh Lexus, I believe your story. Being a college student with the weird school hours I have, I'm kind of forced into working retail. Luckily, I work at a clothing retai store, not a fish store. People can be stupid enough when buying clothing, I can imagine how they are when buying fish. 

I have bought a very limited amount of fish from Walmart in the past, and the ones that I bought did turn out to be quiet healthy and lived long happy fish lives. The Walmart in my area has a fairly decent fish set up and seems to keep things rather clean in the tanks. I don't like that they carry the painted Parrot or Glass fish and evidently Walmart as a corp. doesn't care about what the fish have gone through to become "Painted". PETA has a large section on their website, and Walmart is one of the Major offenders that they've been pestering (Not that I'm a huge PETA supporter for everything they do) I've also complained to the Store manager at my Local Walmart for the conditions they keep their Bettas in. Poor bettas, they are some of the sweetest fish, but I think that them and the goldfish are condemed for all enternity as the idiot's first fish. I've also complained again to the store manager because now they feel the need to carry Hermit Crabs at Walmart and they are kept in the same dixie cup with gravel, all alone. If you know anything about Bettas or Hermit crabs, or even the little albiono frogs that they keep in the dixie cups on the shelf, you must shudder at the lives those poor creatures have had thus far. I would buy every single one if I could to try and help. :-(

I'm glad that you work at the Walmart fish section, maybe, just maybe you might save the lives of a couple of very thankful little fish. I wish they would hire more intelligent people like yourself to try to educate people. You never know, they may turn out to be like one of us


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## ritzgirl34 (Jan 20, 2005)

I went to PetSupermarket today. The tanks looked great, not one dead dish, clean water, no sludge, no overcrowding. BUT the people there were stupid. This guy wanted 4 oscars and 4 pacus in his 100 gallon tank. He was asking what else he could put in it with them. The guy suggested "South American Cichlids" then proceded to point to the Malawis (they only had africans).


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

lol


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2005)

wow...he's gonna be in for an unpleasent surprise when his fish are full grown...if they make it that long


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

lol now why won't petsmart hire me??? they always say they are fully staffed! Sounds like they don't have much of a staff hahah.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

just be glad that you know all about fish..around here, you go into a fish store and the people that are working there dont know a darn thing! although they act like they do.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

That's poor! Aren't you required anything?


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