Asked to leave a chain store...

[Ratman667]

Today, I was in need of dog food, so I stopped by a chain store. Since I was there, I decided to look at the reptile section.

There was a woman there buying a leo. I don't think I was eavesdropping, but I over heard their conversation. The woman was asking all of the right questions (how big of a tank, what kind of food... etc...), but was getting a lot of wrong answers in return.

I wasn't going to say anything at first, but I heard the employee telling her it needed a basking light (a 125w for a 10g at that) and as long as the temps didn't reach over 120* there would be no problem. At this point, I stepped in.

I told the woman, that I have four leos and while I have had them for less than a year, everything the employee was telling her was wrong. I explained about belly heat and the risk of impaction with sand. I went as far to explain what kinds of hides she would need and why.

I didn't notice at the time, but the employee had walked away and got the manager....

By the time they got back, the woman had put the sand back for repticarpet, got a UTH and a rheostat, a thermometer, hides, tank and lid. I was in the process of telling her the difference of calcium with d3 and without when the manager pulled me aside.

Long of the short is, he accused me of "undermining" his employees and interfering with his profits, then he "asked" me to leave the store.

I wrote a letter to their corporate office explaining the situation, recommending better training of employees and his replacement. I also explained to them, while yes, I caused them to lose about $30 today, they will make more in the future if the woman has a healthy pet compared to a dead one.

We'll see what they say. Either way, they lost my business today and in the future.

 

[T&KBrouse]

Give 'em hell, Rusty!
You know you are my hero now, right?

 

[ajq1540]

Don't know what to say but, I think you did the right thing and the manager did the worst thing possible...lost you for business and basically said "Good bye happy doing business with you" doing being in the PAST tense Oh yeah and he was worried about his profit and then basically kicked you out......:main_rolleyes:

 

[LizMarie]

Ugh. The worst thing as that some stores don't train their employees. There's a chain store near me that I believe its just up and down the east coast that don't train their employees at ALL! One day I walked in looking for frontline and the guy handed me a flea shampoo. I was cool with him because I had seen him a few times and we would talk about the most random things and I almost dated his cousin (lol) and questioned him about his training and he said all they teach you is how to clean and feed the animals and work the register. I was surprised to say the least. The only one there that is half way decent is the manager but he hits on any female that walks through the door.

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

well aint that just stupid. wouldn't they want their employees to know proper care in one way or another that way they can properly advise people in the care of a certain animal and if they do not know then recommend a book or have a caresheet to refer to. I have applied to chain stores and guess what they never hired me, maybe they got scared of my knowledge of animals who knows maybe they thought i was overqualified because i am not their typical little airheads they have working at these places, yes i have met some at these stores that are knowledgable only because they own the animals for themselves at home also but it is few and far between. Im sorry that they asked you to leave for advising the lady of the proper care and maintence of the gecko or geckos but you did the right thing and i wouldn't go back to that store myself either.

 

[Srt14292]

Well done for doing that, we don't really have stores like that over here, most of the places that sell reptiles have employees that have half the sence to call somone over that knows more then them then trying to make up something off the spot.

 

[paulnj]

My local pet this and pet that both listen to me whenever I speak One removed sand and properly setup ALL reptiles :main_thumbsup:

Then again, I help them with their animals if they have one that isn't thriving well and they have my name on file for animal questions and higher end morphs.

 

[ajq1540]

My local pet this and pet that both listen to me whenever I speak One removed sand and properly setup ALL reptiles :main_thumbsup:

Then again, I help them with their animals if they have one that isn't thriving well and they have my name on file for animal questions and higher end morphs.

lol

 

[paulnj]

But it is the blind leading the blind in most cases and business is about profits only in many cases.

 

[Spots]

Well I'm really glad you wrote to corporate. I bought my gecko at a pet chain store and frick! She sold me EVERYTHING left and right. $400 dollars later...I had to call a cab to fit everything into the car and now alot of the items I can't even used. Good thing Spots is still healthy and hopefully none of these useless items affected her I don't think. I ended up having to go back and buy a ton of different items for her instead.

Also, a local pet store of mine drives me nuts. I went in looking at the gecko and every employee I ask there about the poor little guys, knows nothing! Not the gender, not the age, not even how to take care of it. One employee had told me that he was just dropped off because a previous owner didn't want him anymore. So I said well if it was donated then I'm offering to adopt it so it has proper care (I'm still a student - otherwise I'd probably have boughten him/her :] ) All the tank had was sand and one fake plant thing - NO HIDES! AT ALL! I told them about the hides and they have yet to do anything. The poor thing looks dead in the same corner everytime I go in there (every 2 weeks) Then another employee was telling me that the gecko was lost behind a fridge for 3 months and they finally found him when he was starving and looking for crickets! This makes me nuts!

AND (last rant, I promise) another store I visited, had a gecko that couldn't finish shedding and it was all stuck on his head and toes. It was so sad But I don't know how long it takes for geckos to shed. Spots alwasy shed in less than 30 mins and eats it so easily. I've only seen her shed twice or so because she does it so quickly. So for me to see this poor guy shedding and appear to "give up" on getting the shed off, it was just sad.

 

[thestack510]

Good job. You did what was right for the animals. Never mind the tycoons profits. You would think that a business that is built on pets and their care would show more concern for the animals because they are living things not products with sku numbers. :main_thumbsup:

 

[Adinar]

Well I'm really glad you wrote to corporate. I bought my gecko at a pet chain store and frick! She sold me EVERYTHING left and right. $400 dollars later...I had to call a cab to fit everything into the car and now alot of the items I can't even used. Good thing Spots is still healthy and hopefully none of these useless items affected her I don't think. I ended up having to go back and buy a ton of different items for her instead.

Also, a local pet store of mine drives me nuts. I went in looking at the gecko and every employee I ask there about the poor little guys, knows nothing! Not the gender, not the age, not even how to take care of it. One employee had told me that he was just dropped off because a previous owner didn't want him anymore. So I said well if it was donated then I'm offering to adopt it so it has proper care (I'm still a student - otherwise I'd probably have boughten him/her :] ) All the tank had was sand and one fake plant thing - NO HIDES! AT ALL! I told them about the hides and they have yet to do anything. The poor thing looks dead in the same corner everytime I go in there (every 2 weeks) Then another employee was telling me that the gecko was lost behind a fridge for 3 months and they finally found him when he was starving and looking for crickets! This makes me nuts!

AND (last rant, I promise) another store I visited, had a gecko that couldn't finish shedding and it was all stuck on his head and toes. It was so sad But I don't know how long it takes for geckos to shed. Spots alwasy shed in less than 30 mins and eats it so easily. I've only seen her shed twice or so because she does it so quickly. So for me to see this poor guy shedding and appear to "give up" on getting the shed off, it was just sad.

I know how horrible it is to see these poor things not being taken care of properly. Yesterday my husband and I went to a chain pet store... I usually stop in a least once a week for crickets. 3 weeks ago I called their coperate and reported them for a gecko being in horrible condition after multiple bad sheds. I gave them 2 weeks prior to the call and stopped in twice those weeks and metioned it to 4 different employees, and even went as far as explaining what they should do to help the little one out. I got the same answer from all 4 employees. "Thanks, we'll look into it and tell someone." Bull. I should've taken a pic of the poor thing, but it made up both furious. They FINALLY got the shed off it's face (which was caked on that bad it couldn't see). It has a MASSIVE facial deformity now because of it being on for so long. Think of the shape of a water dragon's face, then of a leos. There's a huge difference. Not only was it's face deformed, but because of this it's eyes are, plus I'm sure there's a multitude of problems that aren't apparent. They already know I was the one who reported them the first time, and I'll do it again. But come on, the poor thing should not have ended up like that. I love the little ones and all, but be humane and don't torture it by not taking it to a vet... if you're not going to do what needs to be done, then have it euthanized. If it even gets out of there alive, I highly doubt it'll lead a full, healthy life because of their neglectfulness.


GRRRRR. Even just thinking about it again gets me fired up. :furious3:

 

[GrimmyX15]

Today, I was in need of dog food, so I stopped by a chain store. Since I was there, I decided to look at the reptile section.

There was a woman there buying a leo. I don't think I was eavesdropping, but I over heard their conversation. The woman was asking all of the right questions (how big of a tank, what kind of food... etc...), but was getting a lot of wrong answers in return.

I wasn't going to say anything at first, but I heard the employee telling her it needed a basking light (a 125w for a 10g at that) and as long as the temps didn't reach over 120* there would be no problem. At this point, I stepped in.

I told the woman, that I have four leos and while I have had them for less than a year, everything the employee was telling her was wrong. I explained about belly heat and the risk of impaction with sand. I went as far to explain what kinds of hides she would need and why.

I didn't notice at the time, but the employee had walked away and got the manager....

By the time they got back, the woman had put the sand back for repticarpet, got a UTH and a rheostat, a thermometer, hides, tank and lid. I was in the process of telling her the difference of calcium with d3 and without when the manager pulled me aside.

Long of the short is, he accused me of "undermining" his employees and interfering with his profits, then he "asked" me to leave the store.

I wrote a letter to their corporate office explaining the situation, recommending better training of employees and his replacement. I also explained to them, while yes, I caused them to lose about $30 today, they will make more in the future if the woman has a healthy pet compared to a dead one.

We'll see what they say. Either way, they lost my business today and in the future.

You are saving a life for this lil leo and woman's overwhelming of dead leo.
i bet this leo is saying "thank you!"

 

[Tony C]

Is this the same store that offered you a job recently?

 

[Ratman667]

Is this the same store that offered you a job recently?

LOL. No, I was offered a job at the place, "where pets go". I was asked to leave the other big chain store.

 

[Tony C]

That wasn't very 'smart of them

 

[Ratman667]

That wasn't very 'smart of them

You couldn't help yourself could you?

 

[Tony C]

No, I really couldn't. LOL

 

[Northstar Herp]

Ratman, that is one awesome story.

And the longer I live, the more confident I am in saying that ALL big box store employees are exactly the same, with the same training. I'm in construction, and I swear the same employees could work at the big orange box as the W-mart, and then could slide right into the stores you guys are talking about. It's the same industry, different widget.

We just love our widgets and care that we treat them well.

Long live the Ratman!!

 

[Kitsune]

Kevin,

I have to disagree with you. Not ALL big box store employees are the same.
While most employees really DON'T know what they're talking about, there are some of us, such as myself, (Yes, I work at a chain pet store) that actually care about what we're doing and what we're telling customers. It's rather offensive that everyone bunches us all together..