[Firefish]

For weekend fun and maybe a discount on reef supplies, They didn't want to hire me because I use a DSB in my tank They said they sell the wet/dry filters and all that jazz and dont use or sell sand in their tanks.They feel I would recomend using a DSB to their customers which would result in a conflict of interests. Thought you guy might find this funny...

[icemark]

Pretty typical...

Retail only works if you have what you sell and sell what you have.

[mastaJ]

It is like that sometimes but you just gotta tell the truth to you customers or at least i do....

[Firefish]

I can understand that they want to sell what they have on the shelves. They should get the sand and sell both... then let the customer decide. The best part is...I went there with a photo album of my tanks, told them that I've been successfully keeping Reef and F.O. tanks for many years now and I aced a simple " What kind of fish is this?" test... and they go ahead and hire a 17 year old, high-school student that has a 2 gallon gold fish tank! go figure

[mastaJ]

Then I wouldn't shop there if I were you... At least you are taking this with a grain of salt (pun intended )

[ChrisIsBored]

I'd be mad too. The fact that you proved you have the knowledge and then they hired some idiot kid with more than likely little to absolutely zero knowledge would be enough for me to not only boycott the store, but encourage others to as well.

Just goes to prove they don't want people who know what they're doing, they just want people to get rid of the stuff.

[coralman]

Yeah i know how you feel , but in this case i m the 17 er 16 year old and i do have a little over a year in experience in reefs , they hired someone else and when i went in to get a a anemone they had the guy they just hired he was proly 17 or 18, what did he say when i asked for the anemone ,what's an anemone? this ticked me off because i know i have more experience then this guy and i was in need of a job the time. I don't shop there anymore, so i would say don't shop there either, they obviously don't have thier priorities right.

[FishKid]

Ha! Thats so typical of a LFS! The one I worked at had almost zero knowledge of keeping a reef! Be happy that you werent hired, because I found that LFS owners are complete A$$#OLES when you work for them (unless they are "enlighted" on how to reallly take care of a reef!) Let the laughs begin: The customers would always believe what he told them about reefs, and when they asked me to "catch" that fish or coral, I would give them a whole essay and then a simple site (www.premiumaquatics.com) hehehe! not like my boss lost money, he somehow is a millionaire from just owning a lfs!

mark

[Firefish]

He's a millionaire because He marks everything up 200% from what he paid. This LFS is selling shark eggs...so I asked him how big a tank he thinks this fish needs to be happy in....min 55-75 gal was what he recommended They sell base rock at 10.99 lb.! When I asked if they sell 250 watt Halides (over the phone) They said..."All we carry is 175 watt bulbs, Salt water aquariums typically don't need much more the that." Makes you wonder how they ever got started in the first place!

[FishKid]

hmmm that sounds allot like the guy I worked for! They must have a link together! if every single (except a few) LFS owner believes the same exact stuff!

mark

[FishTechie]

dont feel bad, my work schedule is usually 4 days on and 4 days off so i figured why not do something i love with my time off so i went to my lfs to apply for a part time job. this is where i got my first 75 and later my 180 and about 85% of all equipment and stock for them and after almost two years of reefkeeping, propogating corals, breeding hifin cardinals, and succesfully nursing back to health many corals such as hydnophoras, acroporas, and clams (some which came from the lfs employees), they go and hire some acne covered who im sure kills the skimmers everytime he puts his hands in the tank from all the oil on his face....lol

oh well i guess they wanted someone who wasnt a moderator on one of the largest reefkeeping BB's or beleived in DSB's, or rubbermaid tubs as sumps, or DIY overflow pipes, etc...etc..etc...

[ranaman]

The funny thing is if you sold Caribsea Agramax for a deep sand bed plus live sand etc. the store could make more money. The store could even buy southdown sand and sell it under a store label at a discount from the caribsea.
Just remember Clarke's stages of any new idea:
1- THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!
2- It might be possible, but not worth doing.
3- I SAID IT WAS A GOOD IDEA ALL ALONG!

[Neal359]

i just got a job at a lfs for the extra $$$. thay have a VERY old setup. its been working very well for them for the for a long time and thay still sell things like wet/dry and ugf filters. thay dont sell things like dsb but thay will tell you the truth about them and also tell you that thay never use them and dont know every thing about them. I have tried to talk to them about the dsb but their tanks have been setup for over 20 years and i dont think thay will ever change so i stoped trying to show them the new ways of doing it

[eses]

This kinda fits here, but doesn't warrant it's own new topic ..

Last weekend the LFS had a half off sale for everything, including corals. I found a great looking rhodactis(sp) mushroom rock that had six seperate healthy looking mushrooms on it. It was the only thing left actually. So I hailed the guy working and said I wanted it, impulse buy, but for $8 it was a good deal even if it died.

I point at the rock, tell him I want it, and he says "you want the whole rock, oh well we sell that by the pound plus the coral" ... not understanding what he meant, I told him I wanted the coral, assuming he meant I was pointing at the huge rock the coral-rock was sitting on.

He pulls the whole colony out of the water, and points and asks which "one" I want, and he's prepping to tear one of the mushrooms off the rock. At that point I stopped everything, asked him to find a manager to make sure that was how they did things before going on. He came back with the manager, and the manager was now under the assumption I just wanted one of the mushrooms and starts trying to talk down to me and explain how you can't remove just a single mushroom as they are actually a living part of the rock, and form a calcium connection to the rock. He tells me that the rock itself was probably formed by that very mushroom colony.

To top that off, the manager bags up the whole rock for me, sets it on the counter on it's side. The water rushes up to one side of the bag, completly exposing the rock and mushrooms. Now, this probably wouldn't hurt them in the long run, but what he did next was even more amazing; the bag was leaking, so he grabs another bag, and stuffs the bag/mushroom combo into it. Instead of tying the bag likea normal human, he grabs the rock & bag and *spins* for all he's worth. All I see are the mushrooms being pulled straight out as they are being slung around the inside of the bag.

Amazingly none of them tore, died, or even looked that stressed after I aclimitized them to my tank.

It isn't the kid's fault, as he was obviously not trained by the management ... but the manager was almost as dumb as the employee. It hurts my intelligence just going in there.. and I'm amazed each time I see something like that, or what Firefish mentioned.

[Firefish]

My God, After we fight the war on Terrorists, I think I'll start a war on ignorance and LFS who harbor incompetent employees...

[fishfarmer]

Firefish, That LFS sounds an alot like a particular store on Rt 9 in Framingham/Natick! Am I close? I've heard shovelfuls of misinformation from the employees of that store, glad you didn't get the job. The place is a dive in my opinion. I saw LR rock for $13 a lb there once!!!! That stuff is about as live as the plastic wrapped bleached corals. Although I have to admit I did recently buy a nice regal tang from there. They at least have several specimens to choose from. Up here in the north hills of Vermont, I'm lucky to see ONE regal tang every few months healthy or not.

Luckly for us New Englanders there are two top notch LFS in the area, Inland Reef and Paragon Aquatics.

[Firefish]

YES!!!!! thats way too funny....with the initals of "T.I." You're right, they do have a nice selection of fish but the staff is all about the buck$, and good advice is not on the priority list in that store. They charge double the price on dry goods compared to other stores in the area. Uncle Neds Tropical fish in Medway has a Knowledgeable staff and not so bad prices. They also buy or trade corals with regulars.

[fishfarmer]

Even scarier is the fact that there was(is?) an Oriental food store above it that had a sushi bar. Talk about fresh!!

[esmithiii]

Yes, but did you agree to sleep w/ the owner? Maybe that was the problem...

Working for a small business is not always what it is cracked up to be. Sounds like you are better off.

E

[Lunchbucket]

my LFS has some terrible employess. i only will talk to one of them for salt water stuff. he is pretty good has a 180 himself i believe but needs to keep reading up on stuff. i can always bs w/ him about stuff, what is new, what the new fish room it gonna be, and lower the price of corals down. i never pay thier full price!! i won't it is too high...not rediculusly high but high anyhow.

i thought about asking if i could help w/ thier remodel of thier entire fresh and salt water fish room. they are making a new room 3x the size w/ lots of 15gal tanks for fish, 4 180's for corals, and a 500 something for display. but i figured i would just get in the way and get in trouble for suggesting stuff!! they had 3/4 done and had some tanks in tehre w/ a little water in there w/ the sand still. obviously been there overnight or longer...one tank had soem LR in it and the worms were dead hangin out of the rock. i asked how long a cycle they are expecting once they start the new system...and they said non really. i am afraid they will have a HUGE cycle for a while w/ that dead sand and soem dead LR

is it my LFS or do yours have apitaisia everywhere? mine does and i don't know why they don't get rid of them. they look ugly and i won't buy anything that has it on there or is close to one! that pisses me off! just get rid of all of it and i would buy more! guess i will have to ask for a discount on those pieces since they are bad.

i could tell more
later
Lunchbucket