Pet Store employee rant incoming
Gonna put this behind a cut to spare your scrolling fingers because this is gonna be a long one.
The other day a man came into my store with his young son, maybe six years old, give or take? Anyway, he spent over $130 on a setup for an amphibian. Tank, filter, decor, rocks, water treatments, food, etc. I asked the kid if he was getting a new pet soon.
“I found a frog!”
Uh-oh. I glanced at the father, who shrugged and said “Yeah, he found a bullfrog and he wants to keep it. I dunno, we’ll see.”
Um, my dude, you just spent $130 on supplies, that’s “we’ll see?”
Now, every fiber of my being was SCREAMING to void the transaction, put the items in a cart to go back on the shelf, and lecture this man on how a wild animal is not a pet, and is not meant to survive in captivity in a private home with supplies meant for a domesticated animal. But my hands were tied by company policy. I work for a company that takes “the customer is always right” to irresponsible extremes. A customer could throw hot coffee on me and I would probably be expected to apologize for upsetting them and offer a 25% discount on their purchase. Telling a customer who is intending to keep a wild animal as a pet that this is at best a bad idea and at worst, depending on the species, actually illegal is “bad customer service” in their books.
This is, however, not the first time I have encountered this dilemma, and I have a workaround for it. I smile and nod, and write down the number for the nearest wildlife rescue center, saying that they will have good tips for setting up habitat, feeding, etc. Knowing full well that the staff at the wildlife rescue center are not bound by any outdated, idiotic policy to aid and abet animal cruelty and will, in fact, tell the customer in no uncertain terms that they need to march right back to the exact spot where they found that animal and release it immediately, and if necessary will be able to contact the proper authorities to be sure that their instructions are followed.
Unfortunately, as I watched, the father and son left, and the father crumpled up the piece of paper I had given him with the number, along with his receipt, and tossed it in the nearest trash can. So this jackass just spent $130 for his child to kill a wild animal. At least he tossed his receipt, so he won’t be able to get a refund. Although if he argues enough and makes the right threats, he probably will, because “our only job is to make the customer happy.” So he’ll learn nothing, aside from “being an asshole gets you what you want.” Great.
Parents, I get it. Your kid is excited about animals and nature, and you want to encourage them, and that’s wonderful. I was that kid, who found abandoned baby bunnies and injured birds and had Disney princess fantasies of nursing them back to health and befriending them. I also had responsible parents who wanted to encourage my love of animals, but were not willing to do so at the expense of those animals’ well-being, and were careful to instill in me from a young age that wild animals belong in the wild, and the best way to love and care for them is to leave them where they are, or in the case of injured wild animals, to get them into the hands of people who are qualified to care for them properly.
