BP story from local pet store

[angllady2]

I would say you handled this just the way you should have.

You could not possibly know, but the comment that they had people asking to speak to them about her behavior is a real red flag. They obviously knew she was hurting business, and finally she crossed the line.

Think about it, large store or not, a bad reputation will hurt business eventually. One unsatisfied customer will tell four friends, if one of them has a bad experience they'll tell four or five more, pretty soon word gets around and people start looks for things elsewhere. Granted, it might not be a huge hit, but one big enough to make them take notice.

With any business that isn't a chain store, a bad reputation is not something they want or need. And a lawsuit from someone who was harmed because of a careless employee would be a major setback. She is obviously not the kind of person anyone would want working around animals. She is either ignorant or just doesn't care, and it really doesn't matter.

By keeping this quiet and private, you helped them more than you know. You gave them the option to deal with this in a way they saw fit, rather than causing a scene or perhaps coming across as someone with a grudge rather than a legitimate concern. Personally, I'm not surprised they terminated her, she brought it on herself by being so ignorant.

And as far as her comments on BP's being for poor people.... Well, if only 15% of Americans are considered wealthy, how many of them do you think own BP's? Which means that probably 95% of BP's are owned by us "poor poeple". If it weren't for us, there wouldn't be as many magnificent morphs out there for everyone to enjoy.

Gale

[joepythons]

Alright so here's an update. I chose to go in and personally speak with the owners as I felt this was serious enough that a phone call just wouldn't demand the type of attention that it deserved. I took a lot of what you guys said with me into that meeting expecting no more than an I'm sorry or something like that. Although I do have a good relationship with the owners, I figured that if the woman denied my claims, they would take her side as an employee. Unfortunately, this store pushes so much volume that one unhappy person won't really bother them, especially when you live in an area that doesn't have many other choices when it comes to reptiles. Anyways, I went in and sat down with both the husband and wife and told them what happened and also brought up a lot of other points that was discussed here. Without saying much the husband left the room and left me thinking this wasn't all that serious to him. During that time the wife was writing things down which I felt was good but weird at the same time. Next thing I know, the husband returns with the woman in question and sat her next to me...oh man was that awkward. He took the wifes pad of paper and went over some of the comments she made and some of the points I made. She denied saying that only rich people by boas but confessed to saying that BP's were a cheap man's snake (as she now put it) and that if I was to pick up a snake that I shouldn't "waste my time" with a normal BP. I sat there now with my eyes wide open thinking..."Are you kidding me? What is this woman thinking". The husband then brought up her putting the snake on me after I said no and she laughed saying "I thought he was joking, look at him he can handle it" (I assume that comment came from the fact that I'm a big and muscular guy with a lot of visible tattoos) I was just speechless at this point and found that all I could do is smile and shake my head while letting out a small chuckle every now and then. That was it. That is when it finally happened. The husband says "You know "I'm going to keep her name private just incase" this isn't the first time someone has come in to talk about ways in which you made them feel uncomfortable. With all that on top of what you did to this young man yesterday, we feel that you are no longer suitable for your position within out store so we are letting you go."

I'll tell you, my stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster. I didn't know what to do at that point so I just sat there in silence until the woman left the room. Afterwards, the owners again said they were very sorry, asked me if there was anything they could do to make things right with me as a customer, which I obviously declined as I felt they had done more than enough, and we walked around discussing other things...WOW what an ordeal. I've never experienced anything like this before at all.

They made the best choice .Its great that they really do care about thier store and do not allow bull crap like she did.

[WesleyTF]

wow, that's quite impressive... the most I've ever done is write a scathing review on yelp, but that wasn't due to an employee, it was the entire business... nonetheless, good on you for going about it in a decent but direct manner. Some people have to learn the hard way about respect...

[justinsane82]

Well said. I do feel bad that this woman is now unemployed during times in which jobs are harder to come by, but I try to think about the good that may have come of this. I can only imagine some of the other things shes done and said to other people.

[joepythons]

Well said. I do feel bad that this woman is now unemployed during times in which jobs are harder to come by, but I try to think about the good that may have come of this. I can only imagine some of the other things shes done and said to other people.

Look at it this way.Now we have one less idiot doing stupid crap that could cause us to lose our reptiles .What if she did the snake around the neck stunt and instead of the person telling the owners,they called the police.Then said stunt gets blown out of proportion by the media idiots.So instead of feeling sorry for the idiot be proud you helped our side

[Jay_Bunny]

People like that do not need to be working closely with animals. I'm sorry but in times like these, we need people who are educated about animals in those types of positions. The more people we have working in pet store that actually KNOW what they are talking about and give the right kind of information, are going to help our hobby. It is sad she had to lose her job over this, but I can't exactly say she didn't deserve it.

[justinsane82]

450 for a redtail? Really?

Is that expensive? I wouldn't know as I've never looked for them myself. Mojave's up here for for $600-750 in reptile shops up here. It's due to a lack of options locally.

[joepythons]

Is that expensive? I wouldn't know as I've never looked for them myself. Mojave's up here for for $600-750 in reptile shops up here. It's due to a lack of options locally.

Yes those prices are nuts .I bet they dont sell to many of them

[PyroPython]

Theres a shop here with an albino for 500. My normal was only 60.

[justinsane82]

As I'm looking for an albino myself, the only local shop that I've been able to find that carries one is $800 plus our 12% tax.