Fenriswolf Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Greetings all. I've become a bit of a lurker for the last few months, but I just have to complain about this! I work at a vet/pet store and the person who runs our aquaria drives me mad. She's very enthusiastic about fish, and knows some really eclectic stuff from the NMIT course she did on aquarium fish. BUT she's never kept tropical fish and pretty much knows jack sh!t about them. Basically she has all the enthusiasm of someone new to fishkeeping with none of the responsibility of spending her own time and money on them. She's constantly looking for new fish and disrupting the communities we already have. She will not listen to me (I suspect she resents that I know more than her); for example I told her bala sharks are schooling fish that grow really big so aren't really for our customers who generally have tanks UP TO 40 litres. So she buys two and puts them in with our swordtails. O... kay. She recently bought two black sharks, which according to the great internets can grow up to 12 or even 24 inches! In our 80 litre tanks... She thinks cories are retiring and delicate, just because we had a bad bunch. Which I blame on the dodgy water conditions in the tank in question. But what drives me INSANE is that she keeps urging to people to keep african cichlids in peaceful communities. WTF?? The fishkeeper before her had a display tank of eletric yellows and gosh-darn-it I can't remember what they're called but basically look the same in blue. :lol: This person has now split them up and put one in each of our tanks (tanks with danios, or barbs, or neons), and keeps talking about how much nicer they look individually! Someone brought one back for killing all her fish and I had to explain that they're actually very aggressive and not for peaceful communities. Ahh! I don't know what to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boffy Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Maybe she needs to come on to this forum and get advice from everyone here, maybe then she might actually listen to you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenriswolf Posted December 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Maybe she needs to come on to this forum and get advice from everyone here, maybe then she might actually listen to you That would be nice... I have told her about it but we aren't exactly bestest buddies unfortunately. She's not stupid, I just wish she'd stop doing stupid things. I'm certainly not preachy or anything - she doesn't listen to anyone. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Complain to her boss,lol. Or just tell her that she knows nothing and should stay away from tropical tanks until she reads some books and websites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boffy Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 certainly doesn't help if she doesn't listen to anyone, not really sure what you could do then :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Her boss might not know anything or care if shes making sales.. Keep on with her, theres people like that everywhere and it takes skill (or a fall) to deal with them.. Electric yellows can be kept in community tanks but only with large robust fish and I don't recommend it due to differing water requirements. Have heard all sorts of stories one that I remember is from a staff member in a shop in Auckland (one of the few who knew his stuff) he had a customer who kept loosing fish in his community tank and couldn't figure out what was doing the damage.. He was going through the list of fish neons and other tetra's a bristlenose etc etc, eventually he mentioned the last fish (the only one he hadn't mentioned because he had assumed for some reason it wouldn't be a problem) which was an auratus a fish known for destroying other africans! Cracked me up don't know how the person got that fish int he first place but someone should have asked questions. I know I always ask when people come out to get fish off me to see if they have the right sized tank or right tank mates and know what they're getting themselves into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenriswolf Posted December 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 The thing is, I'm the newest staff member. I worked at the SPCA for a year, and did a majority of a vet nursing certificate before dropping out :oops: That's actually how I got the job: I was doing my VN work experience there and the head nurse liked me. I've kept fish throughout my childhood and spent an excessive amount of time researching fish over the last few years. So you've got the boss, the head nurse and retail manager who've been there for years, various nurses and vets who work separately from us, and Amber who's been there are year. I come along: I know a lot about dog and cat behaviour, as well as being a competent animal handler, on top of which I have a personal interest in dog and cat nutrition and of course medicine. I am more comfortable working with people than her and get on better with out mutual boss/co-worker than she does. I can see that she might resent that I also know more about fish keeping than she does. Bear in mind, she's 19 years old, hasn't left home yet. She has typical maturity for a 19 year old, and this includes being very self-absorbed and often frustrating to work with. As for fish, she has a cichlid in one tank with an assortment of tetras, a gourami, and a large bristlenose. Another with a horde of barbs and a gourami. Another with some swordtails, a gourami, and a rainbow shark. Another with danios, a black shark, a couple of loaches (can't remember what kind), a bunch of teeny plecos and a few gouramis. Hell, when I told her that the khuli loach we got dumped with was meant to live in sand with lots of hiding places she shrugged it off. Sure, we don't have the facilities but she pretty much seemed to think it'd be fine. I guess I could talk to the fish "expert" who works at another of our branches, and hopefully she'd listen to her. I wish she'd just leave - I'd happily take her place :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Why don't you get a "fish expert" from here to come in as a customer and point out their concerns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog-eating Tetra Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Why don't you get a "fish expert" from here to come in as a customer and point out their concerns? that sounds like a good idea. i've found that points out the problems because the customer is paying and they want to keep the customer happy. i hope something gets sorted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Gee what a disaster to work with, I am not sure I would cope, hubby has the same trouble with his boss/owner of where he works, he's full on with ideas, but doesn't keep fish... :roll: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasmine Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 I resent the typical mentality of a nineteen year old. I hadn't been living at home since I was sixteen, and was renting my own house by nineteen. I was nowhere near like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billaney Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Why don't you get a "fish expert" from here to come in as a customer and point out their concerns? Which place is It i'm happy to go in for a Chat 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 I was the same Jasmine, had taken over my mums house at the age of 17... as she lived at another property... not all teenagers are the same, unfortunately there is a stereotype set in place where teenagers are all from the same mould :lol: :lol: However, it is understandable, due to the fact that many teens do go through the stage of being self absorbed and so on, I am almost 29 and after looking back at when I was 19, even tho I did leave the nest by 17.... I was still immature in some ways, even tho then I would have thought myself very mature :roll: :lol: Maturity is a gradual thing, and we all reach it at different rates, depends on our makeup and character. Maybe the young lady that works in the shop is going to be one of those hatchlings that eventually needs a nudge out of the nest... to grow up :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasmine Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 I was the same Jasmine, had taken over my mums house at the age of 17... as she lived at another property... not all teenagers are the same, unfortunately there is a stereotype set in place where teenagers are all from the same mould :lol: :lol: However, it is understandable, due to the fact that many teens do go through the stage of being self absorbed and so on, I am almost 29 and after looking back at when I was 19, even tho I did leave the nest by 17.... I was still immature in some ways, even tho then I would have thought myself very mature :roll: :lol: Maturity is a gradual thing, and we all reach it at different rates, depends on our makeup and character. Maybe the young lady that works in the shop is going to be one of those hatchlings that eventually needs a nudge out of the nest... to grow up :lol: Hehe. At that age I was working full time as a web developer, with the view of going into full time studying and working part time to support myself. I'm 21 years old now, and still renting, with my dogs and cats and fish. My mum booted me out of home when I was 14. I must admit, last year, when studying canine behaviour and training, it annoyed me people bitching about their parents, because they won't buy them things they wanted or whatever. It's like, girl, why don't you step into my shoes for even a month and see how you can live... Mind, most people thought I was a lot older back then anyways, because of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenriswolf Posted December 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 I resent the typical mentality of a nineteen year old. I hadn't been living at home since I was sixteen, and was renting my own house by nineteen. I was nowhere near like that! That's kind of my point. I'd always felt frustrated at people pigeonholing me for being young but until I worked here I'd never met people who actually acted as narcissistic as young people are supposed to - it's not just her but a nurse too who's lovely but just sooo self-absorbed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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