Total lack of education

What is up with the PetSmart and Petco employees??? They're as dumb as my suicidal rainbow shark (whole different story)

Case 1.

I ask an employee for a bristle nose catfish or bushy mouth catfish, whichever they may stock. The employee lead me to the saltwater department, scanned the tank windows, and said no.

...doofus


Case 2.

I ask if they have any platys in the fish department of my local petsmart. She says in an uninterested sort of way "I 'unno. Did you see any?"


IM 13 AND I KNOW ALOT MORE THAN ANY OF THEM!!

WHATS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??? THE MAJORITY DONT EVEN HAVE THEIR OWN FISH TANK!

 

So, by the time you get out of school.....you will have spent your time wisely..... Learn everything you can, while you can, and you will be able to earn your living being the boss, making sure your employees are competent....

I wouldn't want to have to settle....working in those places has to be a real drag.....following "store policy"....which may or may not be really sound fish science....for them often it is the "bottom line"...which is, I think, the reason they sell fish for tanks that aren't cycled, or don't fit the tank they just sold....It's much better to get a really good education, and be the boss! Just ask DINO!

 

I actually had the pleasure of running into I think the only educated petsmart employee in the US.... lol She quit my fav fishstore where they get drilled on fish before they are allowed to touch a customer.... and she is working in the fish dept at petsmart... this is the first one I have ever seen... before that OMG! I know exactly what you mean... When we need advice we go to our fishstore, but for certain equip we get it at petsmart for the price... never advice...

its like the idiot in the next town that owns a fish store who told someone they could put guppies in a 10 gallon tank w/ an oscar.... his store won't last long at all!

 

"What is up with the PetSmart and Petco employees They're as dumb as my suicidal rainbow shark"
Now that's not a nice thing to say about your rainbow shark! I am sure he is smarter than them!!

 

Right now, my favorite local store is a place called FishWorld down in Tampa. It's a good hour from here, but well worth the drive exactly for this reason. The people there not only KNOW their fish, they CARE for them. It's very refressing to know you can ask a question there, and be able to TRUST the answer!

And I agree with PeterPiper: Stop insulting your shark! lol

 

"What is up with the PetSmart and Petco employees They're as dumb as my suicidal rainbow shark"
Now that's not a nice thing to say about your rainbow shark! I am sure he is smarter than them!!

He jumped out of his tank and died.....


...how smart can you get?

 

He jumped out of his tank and died.....


...how smart can you get?

Maybe he couldn't handle the LFS employees either Just don't follow his example!
We actually have two fairly good LFS. One is pet Country about an hour away from us and Northside Aquatics about 20 minutes away.
carol

 

When I went to get my dwarf puffers ( I got a special order at a local petco because the closest good lfs is 3 hours away and I don't have a license so its hard to get down there) I asked them what to feed him, I already knew of course but I wanted to know if the employee knew, and they told me regular flake food is fine. It is crazy the number of fish that have died because they don't know a thing.

 

It seems like most fish stores need a sign saying "Don't ask us, we don't know. Go check FishLore." :helpsmilie:

 

I don't mind. They'd have to posses encyclopedic knowledge of everything "fish" for it to be at all useful, it's definitely one of those "all or nothing" situations. And since most of them are kids just trying to earn a buck for gas and movies, not phD's in fisheries biology, I can really see why they don't hunker down with the textbooks.

Additionally, there's no point in gaining that encyclopedic knowledge when they know they'll just be moved to dog products, or the stock room, or cashier in a few weeks anyway.

 

I think I best get a job their and at least help out and fulfill the needs of some people. I already try to answer questions to my best when no employees are around. like I said, I'm only a teen

 

I think I'd not last long at the chain stores, at least. I'd probably get fired the first time I treated a sick fish instead of letting it die.

 

Hi!

It's quite funny for me acctualy... Whenever I walk up the the counter in an LFS and say "Can I have a pair of female Apistorgramma nijsseni, 2 bunches of Rottala wallichii and OH! What is that? Panaque maccus? I'll take him as well then!" And you get this really scary look... A little guy several heads littler than you - and he just blasted a lot of Latin you don't even understand at you - and he expects you to react! You either get a "What was that?" or a smile and an "OK... Lets go bag this lot up!". Sometimes if you get lucky (Name a few of the plants next to the one you wanted etc.) you get given a free thing (Like an extra bunch of whatever plant you asked fo) because you know lots more about what's on the counter than the actual seller - and your not even a teen yet! I think if I ever did that in PetSmart I'd get kicked out without being served 'because he don't even speak English... He talks in gobbledeegook!", but really because they're embarrassed they can't even serve me.

 

I can't begin to tell you guys how many times I find myself giving a aquarium plant class right there in any given LFS. And there's one local store where the owner more than once asked if I could talk to a customer because whatever they needed (plant-wise) was over his head!

 

Hey take it easy on the pet store employees. If they were all highly educated, then our hobby would be a lot more expensive. Its the unfortunate nature of retail these days. To be competitive, most products are sold at a big box store by minimum wage employees. Best Buy, Home Depot...etc all of their employees have only basic knowledge of the products they are selling. You have to know what you need and they will tell you what aisle it is in.

 

I can't begin to tell you guys how many times I find myself giving a aquarium plant class right there in any given LFS. And there's one local store where the owner more than once asked if I could talk to a customer because whatever they needed (plant-wise) was over his head!

Hi!

The other day I was in my best LFS, nattering on to the shopkeeper in latin, and the shop guy was like "We like this little guy, he knows all his plants!" to the other shop guy. I wonder how good deal I'll get on those Dwarf cichlids!

 

Petcos and Petsmarts are bad, but there is a LFS by me that is even worse! When I was looking for a few more yellow labs for a few more yellow labs for my cichlid tank, I called and asked the guy who answered if they had any yellow lab cichids. He had no clue what I was talking about, so I asked if they had any Labidochromis. He still had no idea what I was talking about, so I decided to try to speak his language and asked if they had any yellow cichlids. He said yes, so I decided to go in and see for myself. I found a tank with a larger male yellow lab (with the black bars) and I told the guy that I wanted the yellow lab. He seriously looked at me and said "Miss, I don't know what you're talking about. That's a yellow zebra." Whaaaaaaaaaaat??? I had to work really hard to keep myself from laughing. I must say, Petco and Petsmart employees usually know what yellow labs are lol!

 

Petcos and Petsmarts are bad, but there is a LFS by me that is even worse! When I was looking for a few more yellow labs for a few more yellow labs for my cichlid tank, I called and asked the guy who answered if they had any yellow lab cichids. He had no clue what I was talking about, so I asked if they had any Labidochromis. He still had no idea what I was talking about, so I decided to try to speak his language and asked if they had any yellow cichlids. He said yes, so I decided to go in and see for myself. I found a tank with a larger male yellow lab (with the black bars) and I told the guy that I wanted the yellow lab. He seriously looked at me and said "Miss, I don't know what you're talking about. That's a yellow zebra." Whaaaaaaaaaaat??? I had to work really hard to keep myself from laughing. I must say, Petco and Petsmart employees usually know what yellow labs are lol!

Hi!

What!? I would have seriously laughed my head of probably and old him he had no idea, just net me the fish....;D

 

Is it just me , or would it hurt these stores to have a reference book handy to assist employees/customers in answering questions????

Duh.................they sell them, perhaps they should use them.

Val

 

That's what I was telling my husband the other day! He spends all of his free time producing music (we have a recording studio in our house). Every time he goes to the music store to buy equiptment, he runs into the same problem I do at the fish store. It seems like specialty stores have a hard time finding employees that actually know their stuff. You would think that they would have a book or something with a catalogue of the stock that they sell with stats, etc.

 

well, like I said earlier, some don't even care or just seem to be ... well ... dumb

I walk up to a lady at the fish department at my local petsmart and simply ask whether or not they have Sunset (or sunburst) platys. Her reply...


"...well, I 'unno. did ya see any?"

I found them for her and told them I wanted a male and two females

Lady: "Ummm.... Hey, (other attandant's name)! How do ya tell male from female?

Lady 2: On what?
Lady: Platy

Me: One has a gonopodium... you know, modified analfin? That's the male.

Lady: ...

Lady 3: Here, let me net them. What did you want?
Me: 1 male, 2 females.

8 seconds later....

Lady 3: Here you go

 

Hi!

Let me guess - you have 2 males and 1 female? I sure do hate having to tell the pet store staff how to sex fish like livebearers... It happens every time I ask for Cherry barbs!

 

I am so thankful for my fishstores! My fav 2 have the best people I have ever seen about knowing their fish stuff! We even have a "cichlid" expert at our lfs, there are about 8 employees working at any given time, if they don't know what you are talking about, they will ask another employee.. and if they can't help you they will get a book...
Now our other fish store... the girl we deal with is a african cichlids hobbyist at home.... (just our luck!!!) so when we go in there she can help us w/ our cichlids...

Then our petsmart... well needless to say they have just one employee I trust, she was an old employee of the first store I mentioned.... I try to track her down when I go in there... There tanks are actually really clean too...

 

too bad our petsmart aint that clean. Dead things for as far as the eye can see. Mostly goldfish too.

 

too bad our petsmart aint that clean. Dead things for as far as the eye can see. Mostly goldfish too.

YUCK! I def would not buy fish from them.. I see dead fish in tanks I would only buy supplies and that's it.. I am way to picky about my fish. I am actualy surprised w/ the petsmart and it being a chain. Now the pet plus.. other chains in the area.. lets not go there... I wouldn't buy any pets/fish from them in fact I have completly boycotted them even w/ supplies I will go home and order from Dr foster and smith first...

 

yeah, the health of some fish there. They had a whole tank "closed down" due to ich. Poor wagtails...

 

yeah, the health of some fish there. They had a whole tank "closed down" due to ich. Poor wagtails...

Hi!

Ouch. State of the LFS accross the pond sounds unbearable - I'm so lucky with my LFS's being so good - and only one where they know nothing! ("Water changes only when you need to...") They couldn't even catch a Whiptail for school once... I told them 'Just get some PVC pipe, he'll hide in there and then put the PVC in the bag!" - they didn't know what I was on about!

 

They just hire them to do the work not to be smart.
I was in a rush once...and this lady was asking lfs guy about midas and yellow labs. He said he didn't know if the could go together or not. Of course butted in & said. The don't go together. Labs get 6" at the most and midas a foot plus. The employee walked away and said sounds like she knows more than I do. I had someone waiting outside in the car for me....15 minutes later after I showed the lady what can go with yellow labs.

I say we create a fishlore fish handbook & send to all the Petsmarts, Petcetra and so on...

 

They just hire them to do the work not to be smart.
I was in a rush once...and this lady was asking lfs guy about midas and yellow labs. He said he didn't know if the could go together or not. Of course butted in & said. The don't go together. Labs get 6" at the most and midas a foot plus. The employee walked away and said sounds like she knows more than I do. I had someone waiting outside in the car for me....15 minutes later after I showed the lady what can go with yellow labs.

I say we create a fishlore fish handbook & send to all the Petsmarts, Petcetra and so on...

That's actually a good idea.. have you read the handout they give their customers on african cichlids? complete wrong information! I could imagine on the other fish they sell... so no wonder their employees are not bright....
I have ran into a couple of petsmart employees that I have asked about certain fish and they looked at me and were like what the??? no I don't know what you are talking about....
That's why I go for the one employee that came from my fav lfs that works there now...

 

I say we create a fishlore fish handbook & send to all the Petsmarts, Petcetra and so on...

Actually there is a group already doing that

Carol

 

have you read the handout they give their customers on african cichlids?

Ever heard of Horabagrus Brachysoma? A catfish capable of sizes over a foot long... on the "quick facts" tag, where it gives a little info on the fish, the following had been given:

Max. Size: 6" >> Which is actually 18"

Food: Tablets, live foods, frozen foods (bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc) >>correct ( Gasp )

Tank environment: Lots of cover in the form of driftwood, plants, or rocks.

Min. Tank Size: 5 gallons+


Wow, almost two full pages of us people ratting on pet store employees...

...impressive

 

HAHHAHA cashing a bowl to this!!! ;;xx foreal..

This means ???????
Carol