Kathleen and I were in a mall yesterday and they had one of those mall based mini pet stores. Kathleen likes to go into those to look at the budgies so we went in to see what they have. After seeing a bunch of really sleepy budgies Kat spotted a Red Bellied Parrot in the next tank which was a rare sight around here but especially from this kind of store. In the adjacent tank they had a Brown Headed Parrot. I was really surprised because of all the bird stores I've ever been to, I've never seen a Brown Headed Parrot in person.
I lifted off the lid to the tank and stuck my hand in to pick up the Brown Headed. The birds at this store did not seem particularly people friendly and it tried to run away from my approaching hand but I grabbed the parrot and pulled it out of the tank. I held it tightly in my hand because it was trying to bite and cuddled it close up to my shirt. Having handled Kili and other birds at stores, I've learned how to hold them so that they can't bite.
A women working at the store told me from behind a counter a bit of a ways away, "Don't handle the birds, they bite." To which I replied "No, they don't." I guess she say that I knew what I was doing and handling the bird that she stopped bothering me. Kathleen and I petted the parrot. Several times I tried to loosen my grip so that the bird could sit on my finger but every time I'd loosen my grip it would start flapping, biting, and screeching. One time I loosened the grip it got me good on top of my thumb but it's no big deal. The woman behind the counter was getting annoying again saying, "If you're not going to buy the bird you have to put it down!" I don't know why they have such a problem so I responded, "It's not like they get enough attention anyway!" To which I put the bird down, slammed the tank shut and walked out with Kathleen.
Certainly I was not there to buy the bird, however, I could have went over and spotted bird supplies I needed to buy. However, when the employees are so rude and don't care about the animals in their store, I want to do nothing to support their business. I do understand that some kids will try to harass the animals and might get hurt, I am experienced with handling Poicephalus and just wanted to treat the poor bird to some interaction. If the employees knew anything, they should be grateful that I was contributing to the taming of their bird, yet they decided to be nasty to potential customers instead.
The bird store I got Kili from has the exact opposite mentality. All of their tanks are open and all visitors are encouraged to handle the birds. This not only socializes the birds to different people, it also teaches the customers more about birds. I probably wouldn't be looking around for a Grey or Cape right now if it weren't for handling the larger birds at that store. If I didn't demand a flighted bird, I would have probably bought it there but they cannot raise one flighted. Even if I don't buy another bird from them, I'll still go there to buy all my supplies so they win and their birds win and the people who buy those birds win.