'Is all of this really necessary?': Customer thinks he knows better than pool store employee, tries to save money on pool before his plan backfires

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 29, 2023 11:00 AM EST

This pool salesman has been on the job long enough to know that some customers can't be convinced to buy the products they need. Customers often like to think they know everything about a product just because they own it. 

In this case, the owner of a pool was pretty sure he knew everything he needed to know about his swimming pool. How hard could it be to maintain one little pool? All you have to do is fill it and empty it seasonally, and put in some chlorine or salt. Right? Surely there's nothing further to learn about the pool in your backyard?

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  • Unfortunately for this dude, he was wrong, and the pool store employees were right about what he needed. It turns out there's a bit of chemistry involved in owning a pool that isn't immediately obvious to the average person. You may already know about it if you've ever gone swimming while being blonde, either bottle blonde or natural, but some water can turn your hair green! It's usually temporary, but if you own a pool and want to swim every day, you'll have to take some precautions to avoid having permanently green locks. 

    Check out the whole story below. Then, check out this person who manages the 'grumpiest, most difficult employee' at the DMV. 

  • 01
    'I'm giving you useless information? Okay, enjoy your green hair'
    via Soroush Karimi on Unsplash
  • 02
    I'm giving you useless information? Okay, enjoy your green hair.
    via u/Fangore
  • 03
    I used to sell pool and hot tub chemicals. A part of the job is testing customers pool/hot tub water to see what chemicals they needed.
    via u/Fangore
  • 04
    If you don't take care of your pool or check it often, you need a lot of chemicals to fix the mess you've made. Particularly if you use chlorine pucks. They generally have such a low pH level that it burns away at your heater coil and causes you to have copper in your water.
    via u/Fangore
  • 05
    Well a couple years ago a customer came up to me to test their pool water. It was a complete mess and it had a bunch of copper it in. This isnt the exact conversation because it was a while ago, but this was the main points.
    via u/Fangore
  • 06
    Me: Yeah the main issue is your pH is so low its making your chlorine less effective, and you have copper in your water. Customer: Yeah just get me the stuff I need to fix it.
    via u/Fangore
  • 07
    I go and grab all the chemicals he needs and put it on the counter. Customer: How much is all of this going to cost? Me: Around $250
    via u/Fangore
  • 08
    Customer: I'm not paying that much. Is all of this really necessary. Me: Yes. You won't be able to hold chlorine. And you need to get the copper out. If you oxidize copper with a shock, it's going to stain parts of your pool and can even tint you hair green. (If you have recently dyed blonde hair)
    via u/Fangore
  • 09
    Customer: my daughter is having a pool party next weekend and I just want the pool to have chlorine for then. Me: Yes, and you need all of this to make sure you're good to go.
    via u/Fangore
  • 10
    Customer: Can you just put everything away and only give me the chlorine? Me: Fine. (I'm not going to argue. I don't work on commission.)
    via u/Fangore
  • 11
    Fast forward a couple days and the customers wife came in. It was subtle, but you could tell her hair had a funny tint to it. She asked for all the chemicals that I recommended to her husband and she paid with zero hesitation. The husband never came in ever again
    via u/Fangore
  • 12
    and his wife took care of the pool from that moment forward. The next time the wife came in, it looked like her hair had been dyed the original blonde colour she used to have.
    via u/Fangore
  • 13
    Tl; Dr: A customer ignored my advice and his wife came back with her hair tinted green
    via u/Fangore
  • 14
    fairiestoldmeto This is fascinating! Always wondered about the chemistry that cause green swimmers hair. I expect your lady customer explained that her highlights cost a lot more than $250 to her ridiculous husband.
    via u/fairiestoldmeto
  • 15
    Themiffins Yeah to have it color corrected, treated, and re-dyed. Probably spent a pretty penny.
    via u/Themiffins
  • 16
    (Split) snoozer39 I'll never understand this, people go and ask experts and then ignore the advice. , even I know that this can happen and I know nothing about pools
    via u/ snoozer39
  • 17
    Fangore OP Oh I know. I could probably list 10 different ways pool owners would ignore my advice to get screwed over in the end. A common one that would happen once a week is when dealing with a salt water pool customer. The short version is salt is made of NaCl and so salt pools just split those two chemicals apart to give you a more "natural"
    via u/Fangore
  • 18
    chlorine. Well if your pool is green with alge, you need to shock it with a burst of chlorine. There were so many customers that would get mad at me for telling them to add chlorine into the pool to kill any bacterial that's in there. "No you don't understand. I have a SALT pool. Salt pools don't use chlorine."
    via u/Fangore
  • 19
    "Yes they do. They just use a more natural chlorine. Salt is Sodium Chloride. A salt pool just uses chlorine from the salt itself. So salt pools so use chlorine. You need to add chlorine to help fix your pool." "No, you're wrong. My pool will be WORSE if I add chlorine to it. You don't add chlorine to a salt pool." "Yes, you do." "Let me speak to your manager."
    via u/Fangore
  • 20
    My manager would come out and always agree with me. Sometimes they would walk away and go to a different pool store. Sometimes they would swallow their pride and admit they were wrong. But something about pool owners is they think they are king because they own a pool. So they will almost never admit to being wrong.
    via u/Fangore
  • 21
    midflinx I'd like to imagine he went home and told his wife about the salesperson who tried to charge him for all this "unnecessary stuff". Then when her hair changed color she remembered and they had a conversation about what was really "unnecessary".
    via u/midflinx

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