I am the despised.

[escamosa]

When I was sixteen, my first fulltime job was at a pet store! Well it was a pet store, bicycle store, fishing and hunting store, and anything else that the owner decided to throw at me to learn store! It really is a great job - I liked it.

Like a couple of others have said, go and reseach as much as you can, and eventually you'll be able to answer most of the questions that you will be asked from day to day. Start at the basics and then work upwards. What I started with was learning about the products that you need to look after the fishes first. Tank sizes - how much they hold and dimensions. Each product that you need to set up a tank - what size filter and heater is perfect for whatever size tank the customer wants. Dechlorinators, medications, test kits - what do they do, how do they work?

Have a look at each type of fish that you have in your store, then go home and research those, and maybe print out what you think would be good to have at the store with you. How big do they grow, tank mates, tank size, water perameters. Also print yourself up a copy of cycling with and without fish, and see if your manager would be interested in letting you run off a few copies to have sitting on one of the counters. I think if you can master the basics first, then you have happy customers, and happy customers will come back.

Of course you'll get the customers that will come in and will say, "I want a tank a foot long, and one goldfish." And what are you going to do? You're going sell the things to the them, because they're not going to be happy if you just refuse! But if you've learnt the basics, then you can at least warn them that they can have problems later on down the road, explain the problems in the most graphic, horrible details that you can, and you can recommend something better that they might just buy!

Learn the basics and get used to what you have in your store first, because that's what you're selling. Listen to your customers questions, if you don't know the answers, and your manager doesn't really like you researching while the customers are there, then note the question, research the answer in your own time, then at least you can give out the answer to the next person that asks. You can always build up a little library of books too, just to have handy.

Congrats on the promotion!

[ScottishFish]

Welcome to the ac

[Zanethan]

freedom of learning is iffy where i work. they want me to learn but they also dont want me straying from the _____ way of doing things.

Thats kind of how it is where I work but I do what I think is right regardless of what the company says. I'm not going to lie to a costumer just to make some fat greedy cooperate boss rich.

[imma24]

Thats kind of how it is where I work but I do what I think is right regardless of what the company says. I'm not going to lie to a costumer just to make some fat greedy cooperate boss rich.

How is it that all greedy corporate bosses are fat LOL

I agree that "aquatics specialists" aren't despised - just uneducated (some of them) - the bottom line in most larger stores is making a sale, not helping people be confident, successful fish owners.

[KevinVA]

How is it that all greedy corporate bosses are fat LOL

lol, indeed.

[cat_fish_lady]

Don't worry... any time there is a post ranting about people working at chain pet stores, it goes without saying that this is an over-generalization made because SOME employees give bad (or no) advice. The fact that you have enough interest in the animals you sell to get on these forums at all is encouraging... some people see selling fish like selling inanimate objects and wouldn't even think to do some research.

[Lady Hobbs]

If they were "aquatic specialists", they would not be bashed in any forums. Unfortunately, most are not. They're hired as people are in all stores.....to stock shelves, wait on people and put fish in a bag.

That does not make them a specialist. It makes them a worker.

[Cermet]

I partly understand your situation - your main job is to sell fish to people who really want them. Of course, 95% of these people know little to zero and will often meet with disaster and you know it. Worse, it would be rude to assume they know little and spend ten minutes explaining what they should really know/do - then, of course, they'd not be really motivated and blame you when these do go wrong anyway - or say your advice (which was correct) was wrong since they really didn't follow it but believe they did.

I know you want them to get into such a really fun and great hobby - I'd suggest that you just steer them to a site like this (if possible or not a violation of policy or can get you into issues at work.)

If not, I can't really see what you can do if the person isn't interested in asking questions ...and yes, after they have problems, blame you. At least you can warn about incompatible fish and if they insist, then you have honestly done the right thing.

[Zanethan]

They're not all fat I was exaggerating, but the fact remains that the cooperate bosses don't actually care about what the customer NEEDS they only care about making money for themselves. At least thats been my observation where I currently work, maybe your place of employment is different and if so then I commend them.

[KevinVA]

They're not all fat I was exaggerating, but the fact remains that the cooperate bosses don't actually care about what the customer NEEDS they only care about making money for themselves. At least thats been my observation where I currently work, maybe your place of employment is different and if so then I commend them.

Let's be clear that any employer is in business to make money for profit. The fact that they can help you in some way, along the way, is an added bonus. Even the fish-friendly, customer-helping, know-it-all fish store owner is still in it for profit... and those employees working for the fish store owner are also looking for profit. Otherwise, we wouldn't have as many interesting stores to visit on a day-to-day basis.