How many supervisors.

[petshopboy]

Just wondering how many members have to put up with the public constantly telling them what needs to be done in your shop or area. I work in a pet shop and I constantly have SC going out of their way to tell me if out of the thousands of fish their look at they just have to tell me "did you know you had a dead fish".
I have people who are not even looking at the thousands of beautiful fish we have but go from tank to tank just looking for dead fish.
In the past I have told them “yes thank you we do work here all day and will get to that and we do have out of all the thousands of fish the odd death.
I have gotten to the point were I say to them “did you want it” they have such a funny look on their faces with that reply .
One a customer complained when I said in reply to her saying “you have a dead fish in that tank”, I replied with “if you would like to leave a resume at the front counter”.
I just get sick of when you have a whole store or section to look after and customers are pointing out what you need to do during your shift.
In a shop that requires service, cleaning animals and feeding them I just wish they would just back off and leave us to do our job without the constant interruptions.
If they want service I will gladly give it but please butt out of anything else, too many supervisors spoil the broth.

[Giggle Goose]

Brings to mind "Office Space" when Peter is complaining that when he makes a mistake, he has 8 different bosses telling him about it

[Retail Associate]

When I worked in the Pet Dept I'd have SC's pointing out the dead fish, too. Another favorite was being told 100 times a day that there was a loose parakeet flying around the store.

Most of the time the birds would come back and we'd be able to catch them. But occasionally they would go over to produce and poop all over the fruits and veggies. When that happened the guys on 3rd shift would shoot them with pellet guns. I used to find blood on the dog beds that were on the top shelves (risers) quite often.

Just for the record, I believe stores such as the hell-hole I work for have no business selling birds. It just ain't right.

[BusBus]

Brings to mind "Office Space" when Peter is complaining that when he makes a mistake, he has 8 different bosses telling him about it

I heard that you were having some trouble with dead fish. Did you get that memo?

[Maevis]

Well...um...*cough* I bought my husband a fishtank for christmas...we've spent the past month researching tanks and fish and have spent quite a bit of time at Petsmart and Petco touching all of the products, watching the fish and basically annoying the crap out of the employees whenever we can actually find an employee...

On the first few visits we did point out a few dead fish, simply because...well, it's dead and a bit disturbing. Though on our last visit we only pointed out the dead fish to each other, as we've learned that pointing it out to an employee only gets a shrug and the rapid disappearance of said employee.

[Anakah]

I loved this:
SC: There's dead fish.
Your reply: Do you want it?

I think if anybody ever said that to me I'd laugh my butt off. Or I'd freak them out and keep a straight face and say sure, it's a gift.

But I wouldn't go around and tell anybody if something is dead. It'd be like someone going up to my window every five mins to let me know someone left their damn drink in my window. I can't do a damn thing about it. I have nowhere to throw it away and I'm not allowed to bring anything in though the cage front.

Though I would LOVE to answer: You want it?

[Banrion]

When I am in a pet store, I expect to see dead fish. Anyone who has had a fishtank knows that more often than not fish just die for no apparant reason. There is the occasional disease, but they are very sensitive to stress.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I had that at the garden centre, even tho I worked in "Pets" and there was a specific "Fish" section. And they'd always, without fail, come and bug me when I was doing something important... and then get surprised when I told them to go tell the guys in the fish section.

[Rubyred]

Yeah I can definately see how hearing that 5,000 times a day is annoying but they probably think that they are doing you a favor by pointing it out.

Well...um...*cough* I bought my husband a fishtank for christmas...we've spent the past month researching tanks and fish and have spent quite a bit of time at Petsmart and Petco touching all of the products, watching the fish and basically annoying the crap out of the employees

Are you going to be doing saltwater or fresh? Either way, don'y buy your fish from Petco or Petsmart. Find a LFS (Local Fish Store) that specializes in just aquariums. As a person who has been maitaining my own tanks and is seriuosly into the aquarium fish hobby, trust me when I say that half of the fish that come from most chain pet stores are very stressed, malnourished and infected with ich and they will wipe out your entire tank. Petco is especially notorious for this.

And please please please make sure that you research every fish you buy really carefully....impulse buys are not your friend!

When that happened the guys on 3rd shift would shoot them with pellet guns. .

Thats just really wrong!

Sorry a little off topic.

[Barefootgirl]

Actually, i must put my hand up and confess to being one of these people. With me its not dead fish, its rotten veg. When I find rotting or mouldy produce I either plonk it on the produce manager's truck or give it to the nearest assistant. I know they hate it, i hated it myself when I worked in produce and people did that, but it doesn't half make you check the sections quickly. There is no reason, in a large supermarket with constant produce-stocking and re-stocking, that there should be any mouldy produce on the floor.

[ArenaBoy]

Just wondering how many members have to put up with the public constantly telling them what needs to be done in your shop or area.

Ah yes, the general public thinking they are being helpful when they point this out, when in realiy they are being a PITA.
Memorable Moments include:

"You need to do something about this traffic!" Well sir if you think you can, take my vest and flashlight.

"You know you should put a sign up there." Obviously those barrels lined up representing a barricade is beyond your intelligence.

[Becks]

While I try to avoid any and all fish tanks, I do sometimes go near. If I see a dead fish, I WILL mention it. Why? Because I have a deep aversion to dead animals*. I don't like seeing them.

*Long story involving me, an asshat of an ex-boyfriend and a dead iguana.

[AFpheonix]

I get the occasional people coming to me to complain about the bathroom. Yes, I may be close to the bathroom and I'm a captive audience, but seeing as I have a phone up to each ear and running a till while scanning in a handful of prescriptions should tell you that maybe I won't get around to even telling anyone about it for a little while. Maybe go find someone with a blue or gray smock, m'kay?

[tintaglia]

sorry, back to dead fish

I do hate it when you know theres been a fatality in a tank, but I prefer not to remove it when theres kids around, but of course the parents loudly yell and point it out to their children.
Sometimes it's just too busy to get it out' so you have 10 people telling you about the same fish, (and I'm at the till, with a queue right up the shop, S is on lunch I am on my own, I don't really think any one will thank me if I take the fish out now, which means another 10 people are going to tell me about a dead fish) I usually thank them for telling me and I'll get it when I can, And a lot of people will wait to make sure I will take it out (and often keep reminding me grrr)

For a long time our fish have not been for sale, so we had signs on all the tanks, and people would still ask to buy them, and we'd tell them as they were sick, we couldn't sell them, and they would say 'so I can buy one and get one free instead then?' or 'I know about fish, I'll take it anyway, and I bet I can cure it'
err no, they are not for sale at all.

grr people

We watch them at the tanks, see them reading the sign, and wait, cos we know they are going to try to buy anyway

ps while they have been sick, we have had people trying to buy, and when told no, they point out a dead one. Any one wanting to buy fish KNOWS not to buy one if they see a dead or sick fish in the tank.

[petshopboy]

Well...um...*cough* I bought my husband a fishtank for christmas...we've spent the past month researching tanks and fish and have spent quite a bit of time at Petsmart and Petco touching all of the products, watching the fish and basically annoying the crap out of the employees whenever we can actually find an employee...

On the first few visits we did point out a few dead fish, simply because...well, it's dead and a bit disturbing. Though on our last visit we only pointed out the dead fish to each other, as we've learned that pointing it out to an employee only gets a shrug and the rapid disappearance of said employee.

Not sure about these companies, but could it be that their staff levels are kept at a mimimum and selling live animals is quite a handfull to keep on top of.
What with feeding, cleaning, health and medical problems and trying to serve customers while doing all this, not helped with animals coming and going each week doing all this during retail hours is very hard.
I wish most large chain petshops would just sell dry goods and leave the animals to specialists. The worst is the sales of the poor dogs and cats kept in pens most of their time in the shop.