[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by reefman90

Rasta. Thankyou for speaking your mind.

Yer welcome

Originally Posted by reefman90

I have been reading the past boards the last couple days and have come to realize that you have perhaps made it difficult for one to perhaps comment from a store as there have been many personal attacks on stores and it has even got into namecalling. I think that there are many good people at many of the stores...most have at least one, and what I was trying to say is that I feel you cannot complain about the service they have provided withouit first testing their knowlege...


At every store I have ever worked at, there has been training programs to a greater or lesser extent. At most, employees are encouraged to take books home and learn from reading. Training is expensive for a hobby that has/requires so much knowlege. All the stores have a pretty much "If you dont know ASK" policy with their fish employees.

The name calling is unfortunate and personally I dont agree with it on a public board ... however having said that the store must be held accountable for bad or misleading information ... most of this is from frustration at not having a LFS that is trustworthy. I have also found that the so-called expert is always too busy doing other things and nowhere to be found when needed.

It would be refreshing to believe that < training > to be true ... however the examples here indicate that although it is encouraged it may not be priority ... have any of the stores you worked for done " product knowledge " contests ? ... a sure fire way to encourage employee participation is reward and recognition ... a placque on the wall would also let the customers know who really knows their stuff ... Saturday afternoon animal husbandry techniques or fish/coral/invert identification would be a great way to bring young and old alike into this hobby as a mentoring program ... and on and on ... point is that stores need to do more to promote the hobby they support

Originally Posted by reefman90

I think that it has been made hard for a store to come on this board as to some of the things that have been said. Yes We still sell Seahorses, and Sea apples...but people ask for them, and despite warnings, they still want them. If we dont bring 'em in someone down the street will and they will get the customers business. One thing I have learned is that it is very very difficult to be a customers best friend and to still have them be a customer. Do you guys try to get to know anyone at the petstores? The way you guys seem to talk is that they are not worth knowing
When I worked at a shop, I had many people that would want your schedule so they could come in to see you, and only you...as you develop a personal relationship with them.

Now a entrepreneur type like yourself might see this as a opportunity to build a relationship with a board like this would be a goldmine dont you think ? ... the fact that ALL the stores in this town have been guilty of some/all that has been said so far does not preclude them from making a effort to change

Originally Posted by reefman90

A very difficult thing to balance (customer friend).
Thankyou

Not that difficult if you think about it ... if a fish store tells you no with a valid explanation as to why a particular animal would not be a good choice ( based on their knowledge of what you have / how much experience etc ) then you have to respect their ethics for the hobby and certainly go back to them in the future

Originally Posted by reefman90

PS Rasta = detective rasta