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You could tell him that you are working on repeat business and not just fly-by-night fishkeepers.

The fly by nighters might by a lot of fish, but considering the hobbyists buy entire setups, live food, special diets, wild caught fish, filtration units galore, ec etc, I think it makes good sense to help people out.

failing that, do what was suggested, find another job and poach customers

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Good luck, I'm crossed

*bump*

Thanks for all the encouragement guys, it really helps.

I'm stuck with it for now, but I know he's mad at me b/c I dont work a lot of hours, but I'm up to the legal limit right now. At his shop, that doesn't really matter though. So he's playing with my schedule this week, we'll see what happens.

I'm trying very hard to get hours at the new shop, my age makes things so difficult.

Fingers crossed please...I'll have updates everyonce in awhile.


-Ferret

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I lost my right leg to an otto

Shini: "actually, I lie"

^ is that you're new thing or something, because you're saying that alot now

But he was right in the aspect that you have to be tactfull when you say certain things to. I hate when people give me "advice" in a point-black tone. If that is what you're doing, them try to be more customer-friendly. Perhaps, "you might want to be carefull, because they can get nippy some times and might even go at people" is better than "if you buy that, you might want to look into an artificial hand"

Or Corys

You could always tell the customer that anything with a mouth can bite.

Otos can't.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Ferret, if you were working for me, you'd be getting a pay rise.

Sadly, the world is all too full these days of red-braces MBA types who see the world throught the refracting lens of an Excel spreadsheet. The sort of people that pepper their conversation with yuppie business school linguistic excresences, think they're Superman because of it, and don't realise that the intelligent life forms can see that they're wearing their soiled underpants outside their trousers.

Chances are he's also one of these guys who [1] can't stand being upstaged by a "mere girl", [2] can't stand being upstaged by someone younger, [3] can't stand being made to look like the prat that he is by someone with functioning brain cells.

Let me make a few guesses here: [1] he either drives a large German saloon, or aspires to one; [2] he follows all the business school fashion trends; [3] he's still single because would-be partners find out in pretty short order that beneath the sparkly trinkets and the glitter of affluence, he's shallow and self-absorbed. Oh yes, welcome to Stereotype Central, everyone, but I've worked for this kind myself in the past, and can smell them and their Paco Rabanne from 200 paces. Sadly, the UK is now full of them.

Stick the job out for the time being. You're doing something you love. The idiot in the suit is the only bad part of it. Maybe if you stick around long enough, he'll realise you're a valued asset, instead of just another throwaway unit from the workforce diaper pile. If he doesn't, it's HIS loss.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Sorry just saw this thread

To be honest i think your boss should have a look at him self in the mirror and think about what he is saying before he says it.

i'v seen your posts on the marine forum and you give alot of good advise . I also think if your boss thinks your an exiclopedia then you should tell him to listen to you and he might learn somthing. As for the new shop if its going to be a good one and the owner knows his stuff them go as him if he'll take you on and if he does then your boss is going to loose alot of buisness

Hope all goes well:88)

You could always tell the customer that anything with a mouth can bite.

About the trigger, one time at my lfs the worker was feeding him and it bit him. There was blood spewing all over the floor.

If your boss tells someone that triggers dont bite, tell him to stick his hand in the tank and prove it.

Saying triggers dont bite is like saying anemones dont sting IMO.

Last edited by fishguy at 08-May-2005 18:49

A new place opened up by me that specializes in marine and reef, and only carries a few of the most common freshwater fish and some cichlids.

Once the place is a little more developed and "safer" I might consider working there. But until business picks up a bit I'm stuck with where I am.

I'm already friendly with the owner of the new place, so I think I could have a job lined up if I wanted. I'm taking a couple of corals off his hands, so he likes me.




[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]
My hopes are so high,
that your kiss might kill me.
So won't you kill me,
so I die happy…
[/font]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

it's not your fault... you're just being a good associate and you're doing your job the way it should be done. a good and reputable Pet shop takes care of it's pets and informs it's customers...no matter how much a customer spends.

i used to work for a pet store myself, and i believe that the pet's health and well being should be placed higher in terms of importance than a sale.

so if i got that clown fish thing, and put it in my tank, it WILL bite my finger?

What if i have an electric feeder, and NEVER open the tank lid ?

It is not true that it will bite me... it MAY bite me though if i need to take a fish out, it might not.

Your boss is right, and wrong at the same time, but fish stores dont make money on fish, so they need to sell everything they can.

[venting]

Today I got yelled at for something I didn't think possible.

]

Okay, well not YELLED at, but lectured. By my boss. At work.

GRRR

For those of you who dont know, I work at my lfs.

Within the past couple of months, I've really felt that I've settled in there. I'm going on 9 months there now, and I'm comfortable with everyone, and I know the place like the back of my hand.

Lately, I've been getting more and more marine responsibilites. I know a good deal of information about the things we carry, and I do all the marine special feedings and stuff like that. I've gotten my own group of regular customers who come in to talk to me and ask questions and whatnot. Many of my customers have praised me for my knowledge.

Well...

Today, my boss tells me that I'm like an encylodpedia...and he doesn't like it. He says I give out too much information. ] He heard me tell a customer that a full grown clown trigger will bite your finger. AND THAT IS 100% TRUE! He was like, "Well I know that, but you dont need to tell the customer that, now they're never going to buy the fish!"

Well I'm sorry...I know that he's got the store because he wants to make money, but I dont think it should be allowed to get to the point where we're selling these creatures to people who wont treat them correctly! I mean, say that family has little kids, dont you think they should KNOW that a clown trigger or a snowflake eel, WILL bite, or that lionfish are venomous?! I would like to know...I dont think it's worth that persons bad experience for a small sale.

I could soooooo embarass him if I want too, I know so much more than him it's not even funny. He lets people stock 30 gallon tanks w/ hippo tangs and yellow tangs that near the 8" mark, and deserve tanks upwards of 75 gallons. It seems like he doesn't know anything about marine tanks...yet he's got a good business going. He'll sell anything to anyone, heck I think he'll bag up AIR and sell it. Compatibility? That doesn't matter to him. If the fish eats the customers other fish, he'll just say something like "Oh man, you must have gotten the one nasty one out of a hundred thousand." Or something like that. ]:| Meanwhile, it's just an aggressive fish. ACCEPT THE FACT. And deal with it.

He also told me, that if I have a customer come in, who's asking a lot of questions, but not buying anything, to basically just stop talking to them. Well, you know what, maybe they cant buy RIGHT THIS MOMENT because of whatever reason, but after I teach them a little about what they want to know, they're going to keep coming back and they will buy things eventually. Sometimes you have to TEACH people how to take care of saltwater tanks before they get one...imagine that? So basically, if you're not hear to buy stuff, get out. Sorry.

I'm sorry...but I can't work for a person who doesn't let me give out TRUE advice, and makes me do things HIS way. I've gotten so many compliments on the improvement in the marine section since I started working there...he's going to screw things up again. I'm in this hobby to help educate people and teach them the correct way(s) to do things. I'm not going to sell people something that wont work out for them. I just wont, I'm sorry.

He's turning me into a BAD PERSON. ]:|

Did I do something wrong? Guys, please help me here. I'm *this* close to embarassing him and walking out. I would if I didn't care about the animals there so much.

*cries*



-Ferret

[/venting]




[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]
My hopes are so high,
that your kiss might kill me.
So won't you kill me,
so I die happy…
[/font]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

As a small business owner, I must admit that making a profit is very important, and in a lot of cases profit margins are very small in the overall scheme of things.

That being said, however, I'm also highly aware of the importance of good, quality information and repeat customers.

It's not always what you say, but how you say it. Choose your words carefully, always smile when dealing with a customer and not to harp on it, but in a retail business (not what I do by the way) sales are what is keeping all employed there.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Thanks guys

I'm going to try to deal w/ it for a little while longer...we'll see how things go.

Shini...that's true...when I told the customer, I said "A full grown clown trigger can bite your finger..." and then when my boss retold it to me he said, "Dont go telling people that clowns will rip your fingers off." He hears what he WANTS to hear, but still I probably can word some things nicer.

Ugg. I'm off to work again in a couple of hours.

What fun.




[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]
My hopes are so high,
that your kiss might kill me.
So won't you kill me,
so I die happy…
[/font]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

has already volunteered to make a trip up there to help release my stress and ticked off mind...after yelling, i'll be doing him a personal butte wuppin' southern style

of course sis you could tell him to go and feed his dang fish hisself, and advise him to hold the food in the tank with any of the above

again big sis

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

[suggestion]

Just ignore him, do what you've always been doing don't give up , if he does fire you THEN you embarass him & even if you don't get paid (if you get fired ) go there & tell poeple not to put clownfish in fw bowls etc, he'll be furious ]] MWUAHAHAHA!!!

[/suggestion]

Well I think I would do that anyway...
but I don't know
i'm a little shy sometimes
:88)

or you could ask for the peoples phone number & explain to them about your boss, tell them to call you or 4 u to call them or something

or you could hire someone (or a friend, even cheaper )to shout at him for giving wrong advice (maybe having his daughter/sister's finger being betten off?) & then he'll (hopefully) stop telling you to lie etc...

I hope

Last edited by dude_dude at 06-May-2005 23:38

Pick up the lionfish and stick it in the seat of his pants. I personally am not one to stand for crap, and would applaud you if you left. But then again, that probably isn't in your best interest to walk out on him, especially if you truly enjoy your job.


...Another one of the advantages to working in a primarily harp based business is that you can do whatever you want. I made sure with my boss that me correcting misconceptions and potentially damaging sales was okay, and he just chuckled. At this point, I could probably tell a customer that my boss ran Malaysian sweatshops as a scource of second income and he wouldn't care.



Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 07-May-2005 01:13

I mean, say that family has little kids, dont you think they should KNOW that a clown trigger or a snowflake eel, WILL bite, or that lionfish are venomous?!

What do you mean you don't want some little kid putting their fingers in a tank and having them bitten off? A lionfish venomous? Please:%) so a little venom, what it will only kill you

No, Sissy you are doing the right thing...I've quit frequenting 1 lfs because the sales people there are rude and idiotic since it has changed hands...and they used to be one of my favorites...while I'll go to petsmart to just look around and all since they have a new guy who works there ya'll get that idea out of your minds, he's too young for me ok? He's just a knowledgeale kid, who also knows other lfs's in the area

Keep giving out the good advice, and trust me there are other lfs's around i'm sure, if he gets too hot headed give him to your dad to deal with

And I read this afternoon that most tangs can't be kept in a tank with other tangs...is that right? The article was also telling how to attempt to have more tangs in one tank, but for the most part advices to avoid itand he wants people to go adding themno sis your boss is insane, just like some of the people I work with...

hold your chin up, things will get better

love ya sissy, heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle