SO FED UP!!! - advice please?

danedodger

Member
I'm just sick and tired of the crud at work right now (and me + hacked off = verbose
). I try to be honest that there are problems there but be loyal at the same time by not getting too detailed and being supportive but I'm at the point that I need to tell SOMEONE and figure out what to do, if anything!
Most folks know I work as the Aquatics Specialist at ***** and that although I won't say there's not problems in my store I know there are problems in other stores. Still I do a DARN good job and I'm proud of my particular department! I skip breaks, work my tail off, and don't ask a single other person there to do a thing to help out except to do the job they get paid for (like my garbage that's supposed to be taken out at night and never is, picking up after themselves, not feeding the fish because they always overfeed and think it's fascinating to give goldfish to the saltwater fish and cichlids, etc.) I've shown that if you work hard, do your job, and care about your area one person CAN make it work so the only reason the rest of the store looks like CRAP is lazy %$# people there. They take extra breaks, spend a lot of time on personal phone calls, chat with each other...
And part of the reason they feel so comfortable slacking off like this is because our head manager does it too and even participates with them!! Not only that but despite the company policy against hiring family members she's hired her husband (who very quickly got promoted to a very nice salaried postion in another store!), nephew, and now her husband's uncle! It's all very cliquish and if you don't belong to the group she really pushes you to your limits!
A lot of people here know that I've been having tons of problems trying to get my saltwater section healthy and well stocked because everytime I'm off for a day or two I come back to find that they all have horrible cases of ich. I'm not allowed to medicate anything unless I talk to our corp boss about it but so far she refuses to let me medicate. She keeps telling me to give them freshwater dips which obviously isn't doing a thing!
I talk to my manager about it telling her that I'd much rather try a course of hyposalinity than copper. She doesn't know a darn thing about it so I have to convince her that hyposalinity will NOT kill the fish if done correctly! Her words to me were "do it and don't tell me about it". So I start slowly lowering the salt but the funny thing is everytime I go back in the salt is "magically" back up at least some and more than evaporation would explain! Still I was managing to keep them alive, even though the ich was still there, by sneaking tetracycline into their food and keeping the temp low.
I email the corp boss again because she's getting upset that week after week I'm not ordering new saltwater fish. She tells me to call our saltwater vendor to see what he says. He agrees with me!! I outlined a plan of setting the temperatures a bit lower and lowering the salt content and he agreed 100%! So I start trying to slowly lower the salinity again.
Then our corp boss calls up to say that the reason for the ich is because the temp is low! In total frustration I tell myself "FINE! I'll raise the temp and she'll see that if it makes any difference at all it'll be for the worse!" Sure enough I start losing fish! Thinking that maybe it would help if I put more oxygen into the water to compensate for the higher temp I tried putting a pump with bubble stones into the sump and found out that the outlet that the heater uses isn't working at all anyway! So they're getting cold at night then soaring back up during the day along with their salinity going up and down...it's no wonder they're all sick and dying!!! :mad:
We had a visit from the corp boss Thurs. I go to get my paycheck today and find a note based on the boss' visit saying I must keep the salinity exactly at 1.018, change out the betta water especially the crowntails (I changed every one of them out just Wed, the day before her visit, plus why "especially crown's"??? Do they poop more than veiltails??? NO! I think it's strictly because the crowntails cost more!!!), clean out behind my desk (well I'd have more time for that sort of thing rather than spending ALL my time just trying to keep my fish ALIVE if others would do their darn jobs!!!), keep the temp at 78 (with a note that it was 67 that morning!), put in more thermometers (which they won't order for me so how???), and refill the cups in the fresh tanks with rock salt (if I put new salt in every time what's in there dissolves into the water those poor freshwater fish are going to quickly be living (what a joke, dying!) in a higher salinity than my salt fish!!!) And to top it off she ordered new saltwater fish even though the few surviving in the tanks already are sick!!!
cont...
 

danedodger

Member
This is just the bare minimum of things going on there too! There's the time I found a 4-5" cichlid in with my 1-2" danios several tanks away (so it couldn't have jumped in) which ate a lot of my danios. When I asked a manager about it she said that she saw it and thought it strange but figured maybe I "had too many danios or something"! Dead fish left lying in the sink, on the floor, in the drawer... There's the other time that I felt I needed to put down a puffer that was just suffering horribly, hadn't been getting better in weeks, and was being blown all over the tank all puffed up. When I went to the manager, told her I needed to get into the cabinet to put him down, and showed him to her she just stared at me. Well jeez!! She was on another smoke break just then and I couldn't possibly expect her to drop that in order to put this poor thing out of it's misery, could I???
Now my conscience, morals, and ethics are torturing me. On the one hand they're all telling me that I will NOT be a party to this kind of thing, walk out, and send all the info I've been collecting straight to corporate office, SPCA, and any other darn person or org that will listen. On the other hand I NEED this job!!! Working with animals is what I DO! It's what I'm GOOD at! It's my one, real marketable gift! I couldn't find another job working with animals in this area for almost $10 an hour!! But if I report it, even anonymously, I feel like they'll know who "tattled" on them and even if they can't prove anything they'll find a way to get rid of me.
What to do????
 

tangman99

Active Member
***** is running a company to maximize profits and move inventory. Not much you can do to convince them otherwise at the level you are dealing with. Is there a "real" LFS you can get a job at? I don't think you will ever have the leeway there to do what you would like and actually improve the situation. It's a noble effort and I'm sure that you do a lot of good, but in the end I don't think you will ever be happy there.
Good Luck.
 

farmboy

Active Member
Did you say you are a supervisor, as well? If so, then crack the whip. Dead fishes lying around=heads rolling.
In any event. Whether you are the super or not, take ownership of the place. I know that sounds wierd and I'm sure you already feel very strongly about the place and critters. SO...fix the problems. Don't ask any more of your boss. She doesn't sound like she would mind if you just made it all better. Get your own thermometers/heaters and lower the salinity and just fix it.
I don't want to sound harsh, but Tangman's suggestion also sounds pretty good. You should not worry about things that are not in your control. If things are in your control--FIX them and don't worry about it.
HTH
 

danedodger

Member
Is there a "real" LFS you can get a job at?
I'm afraid not. In my area there's Petsmarts (which, from an outside POV anyway, looks to be at least as bad if not worse, buncha ignorant teen punks), Pet Menagerie (just a dinky mall shop that sells puppies and kittens which I am firmly against), Fish Bowl (has it's own knowledgable fish guy and is a very small business really with no room for hiring), and Aqua Pets (about on par with Fish Bowl). The next closest places would be about an hour away in Austin. I'm at the point of seriously considering opening my own place! There are NO really good, reliable, knowledgable LFS around here! I haven't the first clue about how I'd do it though much less raise the money for it.
Did you say you are a supervisor, as well?
I was but when I saw the direction things were going I stepped down. No way I wanted all the responsibilities, blame, and no real power to change things for the better!
In any event. Whether you are the super or not, take ownership of the place. I know that sounds wierd and I'm sure you already feel very strongly about the place and critters. SO...fix the problems. Don't ask any more of your boss. She doesn't sound like she would mind if you just made it all better. Get your own thermometers/heaters and lower the salinity and just fix it.
That's what I have been doing, taking the risk of getting in trouble by doing what I felt was best for the fish and not necessarily by the rules, but I can tell that that's at an end now. Now she'll be cracking down on going more by the book which means if I do what's right for the fish I'll be breaking the rules and eventually lose the job or going by the book knowing that it's hurting the fish. I just can't see either option really being acceptable to me! I've never been the kind of person who was happy with just going along with the status quo when I felt it was harmful in some way. Most times I WISH I didn't have such strong ethics and morals. It'd make my life a lot easier.
 

darth tang

Active Member
You basically have three options I see.
Stay and be miserable by following policy.
Stay and violate policy and risk being fired and adding extra stress and grief to your lifestyle.
Leave and have peace of mind knowing you had the best interests at heart but be short a pay check.
In the end it is all up to what makes you happy.
You will not change corporate policy at the level you are at. You could check around at the other *****'s for jobs. During the interview process explain your views and why. Their is ONE ***** here that will go against Corporate policy with regards to their fish and care, and they have higher sales than the other even though their location sucks. The store manager understands this and why. It also helps that the two in aquatics, the store manager and assistant manager have SW tanks of their own. So due to their greater knowledge they agree to violate policy. They have even asked my opinion on a couple occasions when I have been in the past. I still don't shop there much however...I prefer my LFS, which incidetally they all frequent themselves....lol
 

mitzel

Active Member
Dane Let me first say "you rock" for sticking it out as long as you have.
I hate to say it but I think they are trying to get to you. dead fish lying around, your tanks being screwed with when your gone . and then blaming you for sick and dead fish . I think they are just trying to push you to the point that you do crack .
Your work ethic is above par (way above par for this store) and you make the rest look bad . They can't have that . So they are pushing your buttons. They won't stop. Not untill your gone and they can hire some body with their morals and work ethic so they can be lazy .
Going to the corperate offices with this issue will only make the problems worse. AS soon as the word makes it down the pipe that the rest of them are slackers and your not they will eliminate you so they don't look so bad. Check around and see what you can find but keep in mind that you will find the same situation almost every place you look.
 

danedodger

Member
You basically have three options I see.
I agree which has me in a quandry. The third option is the best one I see except I absolutely can't be without a paycheck. We're barely making it as is.
So due to their greater knowledge they agree to violate policy.
Which one is this? Do you think they'd be willing to talk to me and see if there's ANYTHING I can do?
I hate to say it but I think they are trying to get to you. dead fish lying around, your tanks being screwed with when your gone . and then blaming you for sick and dead fish . I think they are just trying to push you to the point that you do crack .
I've been afraid of this very thing but I tend to be a bit paranoid in that way anyway so I've been trying hard to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. So right now I think that they're not maliciously trying to get to me, they're just lazy and don't give a care not to mention completely ignorant about fish.
Your work ethic is above par (way above par for this store) and you make the rest look bad .
Going to the corperate offices with this issue will only make the problems worse.
Yeah, I've been afraid of this too. There's only MAYBE 2-4 others at work that work hard and feel the same way I do. They say the same thing, that things at work are completely unacceptable but are at a loss of what to do about it too.
Check around and see what you can find but keep in mind that you will find the same situation almost every place you look.
Yes, that's exactly why I had so many jobs back before I became a stay-at-home mom. I'd start with a great feeling, begin to see a few problems, naievely and opptimistically think that SURELY everyone would like to pitch in to make things better or at least be happy with me for trying to make things better, the "do-nothings" would start to get resentful towards me, and eventually reach this same point. Dang, aren't there ANY places left for someone who really cares and wants to do their dead level best???
 

darth tang

Active Member
The ***** I am refering to is in New Mexico....albuquerque. If relocation is an option for you it might be worth talking with them.
Their fish are NEVER sick to my knowledge. They other store here however, when I have been in there are always in quarantine and unavailable for purchase.
I do not think corporate really knows of there practices as thjey don't make a big thing about it. The store manager just choses to ignore policy and keep corporate in the blind. I doubt they would be able to help unless you are wanting to move.
 

farmboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by DaneDodger
I'm at the point of seriously considering opening my own place! There are NO really good, reliable, knowledgable LFS around here! I haven't the first clue about how I'd do it though much less raise the money for it.

You don't need money. You just need a REAL business plan. There is a boat-load of money out there (loans from the Gov) for people(especially women and minorities) to start a business. Don't forget that some folks will pay handsomely for in-home aquatic specialist to install/service their tanks. THere is a market for this in my area, let alone a metro.
ONe other option is : If ya can't beat them, join them-then beat them.

Go back to being a super, then take the manager job. It would be good experience for your own business.
Good luck and keep it cool.
 

bbb

Member
Why don't you get alot of people you know to call in complaints about the other departments if they're so bad and make the slackers start to work so you don't make them look bad?
 
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