I honestly do feel bad, though, for the pet store clerks who DO know what they're doing. So many of us automatically assume the worst of them, and so they must spring back and forth from refusing to sell the goldfish to the girl who wants to keep it in a cup, to getting lectured by someone who assumes they're ignorant and uncaring. Then again, it is rare enough to find people who really know their stuff working in petstores.

I'd honestly like to know how much of the mismanagement of animal husbandry in chains is fostered/mandated by corporate policy (i.e. HQ says we can't open the UV light for the suchandsuch lizard as it eats away profits.) Now and then, I get the nagging suspicion that a clerk/store manager is doing the best s/he can... within the confines of a bigger, inhibitive system. (Maybe I'm just paranoid or jaded. Am I the only one who thinks this way?)