What are the requirements of working at a Local Fish store?

[eaglewonj]

Originally Posted by watson3
YOu also have to figure in is this a Fish only store or a Pet Store..I really do not expect a pet store to know much about their fish..I do not go there for that reason..
Yep, most of these horror stories are from a pet store. Although I have walked into some horrible fish stores..not nearly as much horror there though. I only use pet stores for dry goods and supplies as they are cheaper usually. Fish come from the people I trust although I always walk out with some food or mag float or book when I get fish.
For the pet store though...its his/her section, so shouldn't he/she have some level of expertise? guess not.

 

[royal gang]

by drawing lines i ment architect :| and it is calculated that 1/5 people in the US get a good job.. don't argue with me, argue with them sceintist calculating guys rotflmfao

 

[chickenlady]

The only thing that I have to say is that the people that work in the pet store where I live are all on drugs or it looks like they are. I you can't ask them anything because they are to busy trying to remember their name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by kmc
I had to laugh the other day when I was in a LFS that I don't frequent that often. It is probably the biggest and most "high end" store in the area. The display tanks are incredible. Anyway I went there because I wanted a different opinion than I was getting at the other place I go. Pretty basic question I thought. "What do you guys feed your yellow clown Gobies? Mine will not eat. I've tried frozen Brine, Frozen Mysis, pellets and even phytoplankton". We then proceed to stand in front of a double wide freezer with at least 50 different kinds of food while I get a 10 minute Masters Degree dissertation on the size, in Microns, of all the different food choices. He never did answer the question and I walked out of there knowing more than I wanted to about the latin genus and species names of the queen and fighting conchs but without any food for my Goby.
Yeah but info isn't free. I'd so much rather be given a ton of info so I can decide on my own than some guy sitting there saying
"yeah you need this."
"Well what is it."
"Fishfood that your fish will eat."
"But what is it"
"All your fish will ever need it has tons of good stuff in it"
"yeah but what it is"
" it is stuff we make"
by then I give up and leave. It drives me nuts.

 

[johnbob]

You need to be able to deal with difficult customers and co-workers that give bad advice. Also you need to check out the stores policies before starting to work there as they might be a little different than yours(I found that out the hard way). The employee discounts are great but sometimes I wonder if its worth all of the crap you have to put up with. At the LFS I work at we have some of the most ignorant customers I have ever met. Recently we had a lady bring in a 20 gallon fish tank she had bought 2 months ago that was completely filthy. You couldn't even see through the outside glass, yet she demanded that we give her a refund because she couldn't keep any fish alive in it.
On another occasion a lady came in and she really wanted an anemone for her 55g tank. I asked her what type of lighting she had and she told me the lights that came with her fish tank when she bought the kit, which were 2 12w all glass aquarium lights. I tried to explain to her that she needed to upgrade her lights before getting an anemone and that she should at least have her tank setup for 6 months. Well thats when my co-worker butted in and told her she would be fine getting an anemone and didn't need any special lights. Once she heard that she ended up buying the anemone which I'm sure is now dead because she couldn't even tell me the type of fish she had in her tank; She had to point them out to me in the store.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by Johnbob
You need to be able to deal with difficult customers and co-workers that give bad advice. Also you need to check out the stores policies before starting to work there as they might be a little different than yours(I found that out the hard way). The employee discounts are great but sometimes I wonder if its worth all of the crap you have to put up with. At the LFS I work at we have some of the most ignorant customers I have ever met. Recently we had a lady bring in a 20 gallon fish tank she had bought 2 months ago that was completely filthy. You couldn't even see through the outside glass, yet she demanded that we give her a refund because she couldn't keep any fish alive in it.
On another occasion a lady came in and she really wanted an anemone for her 55g tank. I asked her what type of lighting she had and she told me the lights that came with her fish tank when she bought the kit, which were 2 12w all glass aquarium lights. I tried to explain to her that she needed to upgrade her lights before getting an anemone and that she should at least have her tank setup for 6 months. Well thats when my co-worker butted in and told her she would be fine getting an anemone and didn't need any special lights. Once she heard that she ended up buying the anemone which I'm sure is now dead because she couldn't even tell me the type of fish she had in her tank; She had to point them out to me in the store.
You have to love stupid customers! Ok well maybe not before lunch

Hey out of curiosity what ever happened with your bad lfs employee?
I was in a lfs once and I heard this kid looked like he was 16 or so talking about all his great and wonderful fishtanks. So i had to listen (you know he just wanted to sound smart) so he proceeded to pick out about 50 pounds of lr. When he went up to pay he dropped with the pride of a big spender a 5 dollar bill. The employee looked at him and said
"that will be 260 dollars and some change."
The kid was stunned
"oh" I thought it was 5 dollars for over 50 pounds."
The poor employee said
"yeah per pound."
Then the kid said
"I just have 5 dollars can you just take it for the rock"
At that point I just couldn't help but roar in laughter. Me and my girlfriend were practially on the floor rolling. That dumb kid left sooo upset that he'd been screwed by there deceptive signs. And at our mocking him. When he left another employee told us that this wasn't the first time this kid had done something like this.
Dude you need to go to school. You don't want to just work at the LSF you are going to want to open your own. Those employees don't make enough to really live off of and support such an expensive hobby. To do that get a job at one now. Learn about the manufacturers and distributers. Ask your boss to teach you the business side of it. Every time your boss goes to make a purchase ask him to explain to you why he is buying this or that. Every time a sales rep comes to your store tag alot listen to their interaction. To teach you. Then get a degree some type of degree in business like economics. Economics will teach you to weigh your options. Minor is marine bio or something. The thing is you can know everything there is to know about fish but if you can't run a business then it won't make it.

 

[johnbob]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
You have to love stupid customers! Ok well maybe not before lunch

Hey out of curiosity what ever happened with your bad lfs employee?
I was in a lfs once and I heard this kid looked like he was 16 or so talking about all his great and wonderful fishtanks. So i had to listen (you know he just wanted to sound smart) so he proceeded to pick out about 50 pounds of lr. When he went up to pay he dropped with the pride of a big spender a 5 dollar bill. The employee looked at him and said
"that will be 260 dollars and some change."
The kid was stunned
"oh" I thought it was 5 dollars for over 50 pounds."
The poor employee said
"yeah per pound."
Then the kid said
"I just have 5 dollars can you just take it for the rock"
At that point I just couldn't help but roar in laughter. Me and my girlfriend were practially on the floor rolling. That dumb kid left sooo upset that he'd been screwed by there deceptive signs. And at our mocking him. When he left another employee told us that this wasn't the first time this kid had done something like this.
Dude you need to go to school. You don't want to just work at the LSF you are going to want to open your own. Those employees don't make enough to really live off of and support such an expensive hobby. To do that get a job at one now. Learn about the manufacturers and distributers. Ask your boss to teach you the business side of it. Every time your boss goes to make a purchase ask him to explain to you why he is buying this or that. Every time a sales rep comes to your store tag alot listen to their interaction. To teach you. Then get a degree some type of degree in business like economics. Economics will teach you to weigh your options. Minor is marine bio or something. The thing is you can know everything there is to know about fish but if you can't run a business then it won't make it.

My bad LFS customer stormed out after my manager said there was no way we were refunding here money for the tank. Her husband did stop by to get some feeders and tell us how meijer aparrently swapped the tank out for them. Well great for meijer. The lady with the anemone still comes in on a regular basis and for some odd reason her anemone died.*GASP* i wonder why? But we always get some people who can do some low-life stuff. We've had instances where a guy I work with had to get out a 72g bowfront tank, stand, filter, heater, tons of gravel, decorations, and other equipment(testing strips, food etc.). An hour later when he's done getting it together and starts to check him out, the guy stops him and says he has to run a quick errand and he'll be right back. He never came back and he had to put all of the stuff back.
Then we have a really annoying guy that none of the employees can stand come in and special order a 14" clown trigger. We get it in and now all of a sudden he doesn't want it. So now we have a clown trigger thats $400, needs a massive tank, and will probably kill anything in the tank with it. I don't know how were going to sell it.
But as stdreb27 said LFS employees get paid next to nothing. I do freelance webdesign and run an online business for my serious cash. The LFS job is for some extra cash here and there and for the discount. You should really get as much of an education as you can get because it will help you in the long run. In terms of high school not all you studied will be used but most of what you use in college will be. You can be great at your career but when a person hiring for a job sees your application versus someone's application with a higher form of education, he's going to chose the person with the higher education almost 99% of the time.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by Johnbob

Then we have a really annoying guy that none of the employees can stand come in and special order a 14" clown trigger. We get it in and now all of a sudden he doesn't want it. So now we have a clown trigger thats $400, needs a massive tank, and will probably kill anything in the tank with it. I don't know how were going to sell it.
That is why you should collect a huge non-refundable deposit. Once I get another tank set up, I want a 14 inch clown! That would rule! My girlfriend really wants one but I don't want to stick it into my tank. Once we get married. I'm going to buy a huge corner tank and put a clown trigger in it.

 

[johnbob]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
That is why you should collect a huge non-refundable deposit. Once I get another tank set up, I want a 14 inch clown! That would rule! My girlfriend really wants one but I don't want to stick it into my tank. Once we get married. I'm going to buy a huge corner tank and put a clown trigger in it.

I wish we would have done that because I don't know how were going to sell the trigger. Its a little soft though. It will eat everything under the sun but we threw a snail in his tank and he just stared at it. 6 days later and the snail is still alive.

 

[ajwiggz]

Originally Posted by ROYAL GANG
by drawing lines i ment architect :| and it is calculated that 1/5 people in the US get a good job.. don't argue with me, argue with them sceintist calculating guys rotflmfao
1/5 really isn't that good of odds when dealing with something that will effect the rest of your life... I mean 1/5 chance of winning $1,000,000 is good yes but a 1/5 chance that if you jump off a bridge you will die (just making something up off the top of my head) would be bad odds. You can make stats tell you anything you want if you know how to use them right and/or know how little alot of people know about how stats need to be gathered ect.
Take into account how many of those 1/5 people have a college education. Next take into account what they consider a "good job", does that mean a job that people make ok money in but are happy, a job that they make alot of money in and aren't happy, and so on.
Anyways no you don't need an education to get a job but the better educated you are the better chance that you will be those 1/5 that get a good job and the more money you make. Look up the wage facts on the differet type of education and wages that you make through out your life it goes up by about $300,000 to $1,000,000 every time you go up to a higher degree.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by Johnbob
I wish we would have done that because I don't know how were going to sell the trigger. Its a little soft though. It will eat everything under the sun but we threw a snail in his tank and he just stared at it. 6 days later and the snail is still alive.
You could always put some damsels in there and see if they make it.
You do have a great excuse now to set up a species tank now.
The lfs near my house has set up a species tank with an MBU puffer. Those are awesome fish. And they get a handful in every couple of months and sell the babies for 200 to 500 dollars. They push it as once you have been deemed qualified as an expert fishkeeper they will sell you their fish. They really just make sure the customer won't be mad but blame themselves if this fish dies. But it works they sell them in bunches. And it does scare some people off who are just fooling around. They aren't that ethical don't there advise to anyone but there fish are awesome! They get the most beautiful tangs.

 

[f14peter]

Agent707 and ajwiggz are right, get an education! And ajwiggz is quoting some good statistics . . . I read some information that stated a person with a college degree would probably earn over $1,000,000 more over their lifetime than someone with a HS/GED level education.
For those thinking said HS/GED is good enough are being shortsighted. Sure, when you're young, all you're worried about is having some money in your pocket and maybe saving up for some new cool thing. However, toss in a family to support and a home to provide, while trying to live comfortably, then that diploma or certificate is hardly worth the paper it's printed on.
Here's an example: My wife's daughter just married a nice fellow. Unfortunately, he's in his mid-30s, has nothing more than a HS diploma, has never really learned a demanded skill (knows just enough about computers to screw one up), now has a wife and three daughters to help support . . . and he's working in a dead-end job making a little above minimum wage and has absolutely no, repeat NO, chance of ever really making much money. He's going to struggling away at his putsy job for the rest of his life.
I have a great job at a California Community college that pays well, and with only an AA degree. But at age 46 I've topped out because I don't have at least a BA/BS so that pretty much eliminates me from advancing to a better paying position on the campus. Frankly, the subject the BA/BS is in wouldn't matter a whit, just the fact of having one is worth enough for me to seriously consider getting one. Then I would be able to contimplate applying for a much better paying position.
Your sentiments aren't new, they've been around since . . . oh, I'd say the first teenager. An education may not seem important now, but I fully agree with the others in saying you'll be sorry when you're 40-something and odds are you don't make much money, have little/no personal capital, and no retirement plan.

 

[joebob7]

Originally Posted by watson3
Agreed..What else do you want.Half the time you will know more than them
yeah i have been on the forums for a few months and already i know more than a lot of the idiots at the LFS
pitiful

 

[tree]

Originally Posted by ROYAL GANG
what kind of education do you need?
how much of what you studied do you use at your jobs?(this goes with ALL jobs)
It is amazing to me how much of what I studied I use in my job. Writing skills alone are essential in almost any professional job. I work with computers so use a lot of math. Even the greek mythology class I had in college was helpful in understanding some of the naming conventions for a number of programs.
Originally Posted by ROYAL GANG
this is to prove to my mom that not all school is necessary...im not saying it's to quit my education but i HAD TO point this out... seriously why do you need to know wtf is inside a frog to draw? act? make models? science? WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Knowing the anatomy of a frog is helpful if you are drawing frogs in action and you are interested in realistic art. It makes no sense if you're doing impressionistic art. If you are acting and perchance play a student or teacher in a biology class of a school that info might be helpful in making the act more realistic.
There is something to having a well rounded education and while you might think that you will never use this information in the future, your career goals may change and then the info you think of as useless now may be very important. Keep your options open.