brick walls

[Spooki]

how do you talk to someone who has a mental block and won't listen to you? no matter what you say or how much sense you make you are always wrong?

i had a customer like this tonight. she called me stupid, mocked what i said and told her husband i was totally wrong about everything. i couldn't help but wonder why they were asking me for advice since she obviously knew everything. :main_angry:

i really hate putting an animal's life into the hands of someone who does not have its best interest in mind... but i know that if i don't sell it to them they'll go to one of the other horrible pet stores in the area. being next door to a walmart i know people just walk right over and get their 8 or so gold fish to stick in their 1/2 gallon bowls.

i know pet stores have a reputation for giving bad advice but try to come with an open mind. not all of us are morons and by far most of us really, really, really do care about the animals and are trying to do what's best.

when i tell people something i always try to explain the reasoning behind it... but what can i do when people replace everything i say with "blah blah blah stupidity blah blah" in their own minds?

ugh. my job is so damn depressing sometimes!

 

[ariana]

i completely agree with you
i always at least listen first
sometimes theyre wrong sometimes theyre right but u never know till u listen
that lady sounds like a dumb idiot
i pity the poor animals that she has..
its not right

 

[Spooki]

at least her husband was listening to me and asking really good questions. however, in the end he just ended up giving in and doing as she said. i have a sinking feeling they'll be returning dead fish.

it's so hard to give service with a smile when you want to punch someone. there's really no reason to call me names because i am telling you common misconceptions are wrong. fish keeping has come along way over the years, just because you kept fish a certain way as a kid doesn't mean it's the best way. a lot of what was considered "right" or "best" in the past isn't so any more. technology has improved and we've learned a ton more about the fish themselves.

we sell books in my store and i urged them to just take a look through them. you can read them with out buying, we really don't mind! but you know what she said? she snapped at me, "we don't need books!" and huffed off to the check out.

at least i have some solace in that the husband wants to do the best he can. i think in the end he will at least take my advice about moving the heater so his fish will stop hanging out on just the one side. what worries me most though was her insistence that clear water= good water quality. is the tank going to get cleaned as often as it should? sheesh people... these are animals that are breathing in their own toilet. yuck!

 

[Haligren]

Preach it, sista!

I know EXACTLY how you feel. D:

 

[breanna-banana13]

when i worked at a pet store i had people come in to buy fancy guppies. after bagging them up i said "they only have about a half hour of air in the bag, so when you get home, float the bag in the tank for about 10min then put the fish in, (bag) water down the drain". he said "well we are going to see a movie, they'll be fine until its over"...uh no- they'll suffocate. "well ill just put them in a cup with some water. Granted it was summer so i wasnt worried about them freezing but honestly....a coffee cup??? i looked right at him and said "if you do that your fish will die and when you come back for a refund, you're not getting one" he looked pissed, but he left. I hate it how people think that they are so disposeable "its just a fish....", yea but its still a LIFE. ugh.

 

[Baoh]

how do you talk to someone who has a mental block and won't listen to you?

The long answer:

The first step is to make sure you express yourself as clearly as possible. If that is not enough, try rephrasing the message in differently structured sentences. If that fails, attempt an analogy to something that approximates the relationship in the situation being discussed. Perhaps something unrelated so it breaks the tunnel vision of the person who is locked into looking at the situation in one (possibly stunted) way. If that fails, then the short answer applies.

The short answer:

You don't.

They were likely seeking out a pseudointellectual avenue of making you feel inferior so that they, by relative measure, would (incorrectly) imagine themselves superior to someone and thusly be able to carry on with one out of a string of unsatisfying days in an unsatisfying life. An answer was never the intended or desired end goal. Abuse was. Why climb up when they can knock another down with less effort?

 

[Spooki]

when i worked at a pet store i had people come in to buy fancy guppies. after bagging them up i said "they only have about a half hour of air in the bag, so when you get home, float the bag in the tank for about 10min then put the fish in, (bag) water down the drain". he said "well we are going to see a movie, they'll be fine until its over"...uh no- they'll suffocate. "well ill just put them in a cup with some water. Granted it was summer so i wasnt worried about them freezing but honestly....a coffee cup??? i looked right at him and said "if you do that your fish will die and when you come back for a refund, you're not getting one" he looked pissed, but he left. I hate it how people think that they are so disposeable "its just a fish....", yea but its still a LIFE. ugh.

at least when people do that we're allowed to refuse the sale. if the animal isn't going to make it home with you alive, it's not going with you because that's animal abuse. for people who aren't going straight home i put the fish in the biggest bag possible... but i still don't understand why you'd want to do that to fish. would you carry your kid around in a bubble with limited oxygen and not go straight home?


selling fish always makes me so uncomfortable because so many people have the notion that they are some how less than living. people are that way about reptiles too sometimes, but it's mostly the fish.

 

[Spooki]

D:
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the couple was back in today, returning dead fish. the woman was still nasty and insisted their water was perfect.

 

[GeckoStud]

D:
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the couple was back in today, returning dead fish. the woman was still nasty and insisted their water was perfect.

Yeah I bet... ignorant people.... grrrrr...