Tried helping a petco customer

[Juicebox]

Last week just before christmas i was in petco lookin around the fish section as i usually do.. one of the staff members that i usually talk to when i go there was talking to a middle aged woman who was purchasing a betta and a betta set up.. he had obviously given her some information about what set up she would need i was waiting on them to finish so the guy could get me some shrimp,i overheard them talking..

i saw the lady had a nice male crown tail betta in her hand,she also had a critter keeper,it looked mayb 2 gallons. when they walked over to the pellet section she was lookin at the aqueon pellets and the guy was sayin how they were a good brand and any brand they sell would be ok for a betta. so at this point i decided to intervene..

i swiftly pointed to the omega one pellets sitting on the end of the shelf and said these are the best pellets for yout betta,the others are full of fillers and junk. looking at me kind of shocked the lady said erm ok,the staff member looked to the lady and said this guy is here more then me i think he knws what hes talking about. the lady nodeed her head and picked up the omega pellets and said sure ill give these a try. realising the oppertunity the staff member had given me i promptly asked the lady was she going to be buying a heater, at this point she said no she was not aware she needed one,so i told her she does as they are tropical fish and need to be kept around 78 degrees. she looked att he staff member questioningly and he said yes they are indeed tropical and you can get a heater if you would like, she walked over and looked at the heaters then realised she would not have enough money or was not willing to spend that much money and said she would come back another day to look at heaters..

i did not push the subject of filters with her as i felt i had allready over stepped my mark so i just said she should do a 50 percent water change every 3 days.. there was no point in me tellin her about 50 percents and 100 percents and all this as she looked like she wanted to leave,so i left it at that and she went off to the register to purchase her item and i went on my way knowing that at least if the little crown tail does not have a heater he will have some nice pellets and maybe some regular water changes thanks to a little advice i passed along..

[dramaqueen]

Good for you! It's always a nice feeling knowing you helped someone out.

[Elsewhere]

Well done! I did a similar thing the other day at PetSmart and nearly got kicked out because the person decided a fish was too much work! I can't stand how misinformed people are about these little guys!

[babystarz]

I have given similar advice to people who looked kind of lost, but it's more culturally acceptable to butt in and give strangers advice here in MN than other parts of the country so people don't tend to get upset about it... It's been proven that Minnesotans are statistically more neighborly with strangers haha. In fact everyone I've talked to has been grateful for the tips. I think the key is to not overload the info. A basic conversation about heat, space, and nutritional needs is perfect and usually people will ask me follow-up questions if they want to know about anything else. As long as you're not being pushy or demanding about it people take this sort of advice really well. And pet store employees are usually happy to have someone else to back them up saying that yes, spending some additional $ on products is in the best interests of the fish, and not just the pet store trying to make a buck.