It's CUSTOMERS that suck!

[danedodger]

Ugh see this is what I have to put up with... As we were closing last night a woman came in with a water sample for me to test. Everything was fine except her nitrates were off the chart!!! Way over 200!! So I go to asking her details about her tank, how big is it, how long has it been set up, what's in it, when's the last time she did a water change... Turns out the day before she said she took out ALL the water and she's getting impatient with all my questions. "Can't I just put something in it to fix it?" Patiently and politely I go on trying to tell her about water changes and that I would advise putting a lot of effort into water changes, maybe 30% or so right away and then... Nah, before I could even finish she's getting hacked off at me!! "Look, I don't want to argue about what's been done I just want to know why it happened and how to fix it." That's part of what I was trying to tell her! I go on about how she should never take all the water out, she interrupts with "well we didn't take it ALL out" just what sounded like 90% or so, I start in on it could be overfeeding, that she stirred something up out of the substrate... Nope! Now she's really hacked off at me saying that she can't believe there's not something she can just put in the water (quick fix anyone?) and she's NOT going to look at an empty tank indefinitely while she fixes the problem the right way yadda yadda yadda... Firmly I tell her "Ma'am I'm trying to help you and I'm sorry it's not what you want to hear. This is my best advice but you can always ask around and see what others have to say" She mutters something about that's why she came to ***** in the first place then "oh NEVERMIND" and stomps out.

She'll probably send in a complaint about how I was rude and I don't know jack and what all else. Oh well, I stand by what I said! On thinking about it later I probably should've just handed her whatever most expensive crud we had that claims to be a cure all for high nitrates but that's just not me. Too honest and ethical at heart to instantly think of underhanded stuff like that at the time, only later does it occur to me

Gotta work on that! :hilarious It's these sort that give all of us a bad name...sheesh...
Think I should've done it differently? Anyone know of a product that's reliable for taking down the nitrates without throwing all the other levels out of whack?

 

[farmboy]

You did fine. Don't change a thing.

 

[tizzo]

Print off a copy of what you wrote here and take it to your boss!! People always have the ignorant tendancy to believe whoever they hear...FIRST. If she files a complaint before you file a report then you could lose your job and you sound like one of the few LFS people that are an advantage to the hobby!!

 

[matty0h_52]

Dude i hate that. and the bad thing its just not LFS its any retail store. Expecialy this time of year. Ive heard some people get crazy in my LFS. Im not even a employe just a customer. and people get heated at the fact that they screwed something up and they cant fix it with out some patience.

 

[tizzo]

You gotta be lisenced to own a tiger, you gotta have a rehab facility to house sea turtles and with the way the oceans are going to pot, I wish the gov would emplement some restrictions for who can own sea life altogether!! Fish, corals, inverts, all that stuff!!
When it comes to rarities, hobbiests are credited for keeping certain things from becoming extinct, but when you think about it, the irresponsioble hobbiests are the ones causing all that damage to begin with.
I don't hate stupid people, I hate ignorant people!!

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by Tizzo
Print off a copy of what you wrote here and take it to your boss!! People always have the ignorant tendancy to believe whoever they hear...FIRST. If she files a complaint before you file a report then you could lose your job and you sound like one of the few LFS people that are an advantage to the hobby!!
I second this idea....Cover your butt! Sounds like you were doing the right thing & she didn't want to hear it....you never know what an upset customer will say & make up.

 

[danedodger]

Thanks, gang

I've been working there just a few weeks shy of a year now so all the other employees know me and how I am. They'd never believe that I'd purposely hand out bad info, know that I kinda know my stuff, and wouldn't just be willfully rude to a customer. I think even the slackers that don't like me (mostly because I'm not shy about speaking out against them

) there would grudgingly say that. Plus I talked to the manager on duty after it happened ("Who let that ^%$# in here?????" then on to what happened

) so I can always count on her for backup. I'll warn the head manager too though just to be safe next time I see her or leave a note for her.
I don't hate stupid people, I hate ignorant people!!
I know EXACTLY what you mean, Tizzo!!!! Stupid people can't help being stupid so I just pity them. It's the ignorant ones who CAN fix their ignorance but CHOOSE to stay uneducated that burn me up!

 

[cartman101]

WOW! I feel sorry for her fish and i hope someday that lady gets a brain, how old was she was she old?

 

[oozy]

you should have sold her some of those plastic floating fish...with a scuba diver bubble guy, with a treasure chest and a "NO FISHING SIGN"
that would be an "instant fix" for her stupidity.
what a moron, its people like i wish i never had to deal with!

 

[cartman101]

Originally Posted by Oozy
you should have sold her some of those plastic floating fish...with a scuba diver bubble guy, with a treasure chest and a "NO FISHING SIGN"
that would be an "instant fix" for her stupidity.
what a moron, its people like i wish i never had to deal with!

OMG! Thats funny!

 

[bbb]

Originally Posted by Oozy
you should have sold her some of those plastic floating fish...with a scuba diver bubble guy, with a treasure chest and a "NO FISHING SIGN"
that would be an "instant fix" for her stupidity.
what a moron, its people like i wish i never had to deal with!

Poor fish.

She should have at least acted thankful, exspecialy since it was good advice. To bad we don't have control over morons like her. The scuba diver and plastic fish would have been good for her, maybe then she wouldn't kill any poor fish.

 

[danedodger]

At work my mantra is "I can only do what I can do"!!

Yeah, she was old enough to know better, Cartman! At least in her 40s.

 

[farmboy]

--Roughly paraphrased--
A Grandfather and Granson were walking along the beach. The Grandfather was picking up starfish that had washed up on the beach and throwing them back into the surf. The Grandson asked what he was doing. The Grandfather was throwing them back to prevent them from dieing. The Granson said, "You can't save them all. What difference does it make"? The Gradfather replied, "To the ones I throw back, it makes all the difference".

 

[danedodger]

Exactly!! And thank you so much for reminding me, Farmboy

I ran my own rescue for 13 yrs. I found out very early on that it is expensive, time consuming, stressful, heartaching work!! To keep going I had a scrapbook with my "success stories" in it with the starfish story right in the front of it. Whenever things were hard and I felt like giving up I'd look through that scrapbook to see all the "stars" that I saved to remind myself that I couldn't save every one but the ones I did save I made all the difference to :joy:
I will post up that story at my station at work to remind me that even though I'm not perfect, even when I'm discouraged because I lose a fish or have some other problems in the tanks, there are lots of fish and customers that I've made a difference to! I just gotta keep going, keep learning, and do my best :cheer:

 

[farmboy]

'Ere ya go.

 

[tizzo]

You know it just dawned on me that a LOT of people get all mad when they don't understand something. In this hobby we all want to understand, but take for example your grass and why it's dying. A landscaper would sit there and try to explain all the soil chemistry and what we did wrong to make it that way and I could see a lot of people getting frustrated saying, "Just fix the darn thing!!" and not care about all the details.
Not saying that woman was in the right, but I guess I could see ghow she'd be frustrated.

 

[fish tv]

***** has information sheets on pet care. They are not always kept in stock and I haven't seen a Nitrogen Cycle sheet in my local store in a long time. Pre printed information is something to offer to these people. Make sure you have a backstock of them where customers can't steal them so you always have one available.
Now don't read it directly to the guest, but hand it to them and point to any charts that you believe are helpful to you and possibly them. The whole point to this is to add credabilty to what you are saying as obviously you know what you are talking about.

 

[speg]

Why didnt you just offer her some nitrate sponges and amquel? Maybe then she would be happy + she would leave + you wont get yelled at if she sends a complaint

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by Farmboy
--Roughly paraphrased--
A Grandfather and Granson were walking along the beach. The Grandfather was picking up starfish that had washed up on the beach and throwing them back into the surf. The Grandson asked what he was doing. The Grandfather was throwing them back to prevent them from dieing. The Granson said, "You can't save them all. What difference does it make"? The Gradfather replied, "To the ones I throw back, it makes all the difference".

The grandfather just didn't realize that the last wishes of the starfish he was tossing to the deeps was to see a sunset before they died.
Just another angle on the starfish story.
I read some of Dane's other posts and they seem to be genuinely helpful. If you are fired for this incident alone it may be to open a door geared more to your calling. :notsure:

 

[farmboy]

Actually, the story was set in a state without assisted suicide laws. So he was being a good Samaritan.