roseability: thank you, that's a lovely compliment - I'm sorry if you've felt hounded at all by this thread. And I agree with those who say it's done, it wasn't done out of malice, don't lose sleep over it. Hopefully anyone else thinking about doing the same will think twice now.
littlestarschildminding: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but goldfish (looked after properly) can live for 20 or so years - the oldest on record is 43.
If anyone takes anything out of this thread, please ...if you're going to buy a goldfish, research it properly first.
Each goldfish needs a minimum of 10 gallons per goldfish (that's around 45L). Adult fancy goldfish are HUGE... think great big cooking apple with fins and need lots of space. If they're put in smaller tanks, they don't stop growing - they become stunted where the outsides stop growing but their internal organs continue, leading to a painful death.
They need oxygenation. They need treated water so the chlorine and chloramines don't burn their gills. They need varied mixed diet, not just fish flake. They're messy creatures and need their tank cleaned regularly so they aren't poisoned in their own waste.
There is a lot of misinformation out there which some pet shops don't do a very good job of dispelling, unfortunately. There's a lot of unintentional fish cruelty - and I've done it myself - just bought a fish and then only read up on it later when it got sick due to my crappy care.