Small Crickets

So at work we have this thing where we prebag crickets for customers so that if we're busy helping another customer, then the customer needing crickets can just grab a bag and go.

And usually we do them in different amounts. Because there are customers who need only 6 crickets, others need 24, while yet others need 76. So like I usually bag up a variety of numbers to try and help as many customers as possible.

But today when I went to look in our small cricket bin.
I could see barely like...200 crickets in there.

Aka. We're really low. 

And when I have so few crickets...
I don't usually bag them up because I don't want to bag up the wrong amount as some days everyone needs like 24 crickets, while others people only need like 6. 

Sooo.
I didn't bag up any.

And it confused multiple customers.

Because they're like "Are you out of small crickets? You don't have any bagged up." 

So...note to self.
If I do have some I should probably bag up a couple of smaller amounts.
That way it will show people that we do have crickets. As they'll just assume the other larger amounts were taken earlier. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Fight

I tried to bring out a couple of guinea pigs from our sick room (as they were now healthy) back onto the floor today.

Try being the key word.

As most of the time, our guinea pigs get along with each other.

But if you get one that's slightly larger than the rest, or one that's more aggressive than the others.

They don't take too nicely to newcomers when they're introduced back into the cage.

For the most part I don't usually have to worry about combing guinea pigs together.

But today I had a larger guinea pig in the cage with a bunch of smaller ones.

And when I brought out two more, one of those ones was of large size.

So of course the two bigs ones decided to take a disliking to each other.

And the one in the cage ended up drawing blood from the newcomer. 

*exhales*

It wasn't a bad wound.

A scratch by the eye.

But geez it bled a lot.

Big bright red droplets spattering all to the ground as I quickly pulled the guinea pig out of the cage, trying to keep him from bleeding all over while I was grabbing a paper towel to help staunch the blood and keep it from getting everywhere.

Which was interesting.

Because I was taking the whole situation rather calmly.

Just trying to get the guinea pig taken care of and make sure the bleeding had stopped before I moved him further away from the cage.

And my coworker nearby....had to turn and walk away. Because they can't stand the sight of blood.

I hadn't known that about them. 

It was just interesting because I was the one dealing with the wounds up close....

Of course I've seen a lot of things here at work....so not much fazes me anymore.

But yah.

Glad I managed to get the guinea pig cleaned up a bit.

Though I had to take him back into the sick room so we can make sure the small wound on his head heals properly.

And definitely need to make sure he's not housed with another big guinea pig when he's able to go back out again. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Loose Puppy

A dog without a collar wandered into the store today.
The cashier immediately grabbed a temporary leash and caught the puppy.

But after a couple of minutes of waiting for the owner to come in... and no one showing up....
The cashier called for help.

Because what random dog just runs into the store?

Turns out it wasn't so random. 

No, apparently one of the groomers had been grooming the dog,
But needed to take a break.
And so had locked the dog up in a kennel.

Only.
Apparently the lock to that cage in the back was broken.
So the dog somehow managed to get out of the cage.
and then somehow managed to pass by at least three other groomers, and maybe customers, and out the grooming door and into the store and then outside....and then back inside....

Without anyone noticing...until the point where the cashier saw the dog.*shake head*

It's crazy.

And our head manager was freaking out because what if the dog had run out into the street and been killed? What if it had been injured?! What IF?!

Thankfully though, the dog hadn't wandered far because it's cold and rainy outside today.

But still.
It's crazy.

How in the crazy of the store...
One dog managed to slip by so many people without being noticed. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Hamster Problem

I don't have the full story for this.

But earlier today, a customer came into the store with a bunch of hamster products.
Cages, food, houses, etc. 
Basically a whole start up on getting a hamster.
But I think...maybe it was two kits?

In any case.
They were returning everything. 

-I kinda figured it was a) a joke gone wrong b) their hamster died and they didn't want to try again or c) some other situation where they ended up not wanting the hamster.

Apparently everything was in 'unsellable' condition aka -dirty/not cleaned.
So we returned a bunch of product we couldn't resell. *exhales*

And I think the customer took their refund and....left?
Maybe bought things?
But like. I don't know it wasn't that big of a deal. 

However.

Some time later. (not sure if it was minutes or hours) 
The customer came back in. (if they'd even left at all)

To complain...

I'm not sure fully.
But apparently they hadn't gotten the 'correct' refund? 
I guess they got back less than what they'd paid for?

*shakes head*

Not sure.

But this customer kept up a running series of complaints as the Manager took over the return process to help get the right amount of money back.

(I think)

But the process was taking a while.
I feel like a good twenty minutes went by.

Not helped at all by the fact that I saw the customer walk away to point at something or grab something and then come back....

At one point they even wanted the manager to return a gift card? 
Like...we don't do that.
We don't return gift cards. 
*shakes head*

But apparently....

From what my coworker tells me.

The customer had bought a ton of hamster stuff with the intention to breed the hamsters.

-Which I do wonder if they bought two hamsters from our store because like....breeding would be impossible then because we only sell males. *shakes head*

But in any case.

The customer wanted to breed the hamsters.

And then sell them back to us for a profit.

Which is a cool idea in concept.

Only it doesn't work because we don't accept animals unless it's from specific breeders that we go through.

So we wouldn't be able to take any hamsters from this customer. 


In any case.
The customer kept up like a running commentary the entire time.
I couldn't hear what they were saying.
But like I could hear their voice constantly talking for forever really.

*shakes head*

And it was just...such a weird situation.

So weird. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Off Go The Lights

*shakes head*

Sometimes I forget that my coworkers don't know things. 

So for the past little while.
The lights on our fishwall have been going out.
Usually it's one or two like...every other week it feels like.

Which is odd because I barely remember bulbs going out on the wall before this year. *shakes head* lol. They last a while. 

But today another light had burned out.
So I went and grabbed the last of the bulbs we had. (hopefully we get more in soon because I'm sure at least six more lights will go out at some point) 

And like I usually do, I opened the door that leads to the area behind the fish wall, to flip off the lights to the section of tanks holding the dead lightbulb.
That way I wouldn't shock myself trying to get the lightbulb out while the lights were on.

And my manager was like O.O Why are the lights off?!?!

O.o Well...because I turned them off?

Apparently he and my coworker with me this morning didn't know....that you could turn off the lights at the fish wall up at the front of the store.

As there's a control panel in the back of the store that allows you to turn on certain lights earlier than they're automatically scheduled if necessary.

But apparently the two of them didn't know that we had switches up front too.

*shakes head*

Which is funny because my coworker at least...knows to flip the switches on in the morning and flip the switches off at night.

But apparently they never knew that the switches were connected to the fish lights. 

Now the do. ^^;;

And I got the bulb replaced too! ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Trying To Leave

It's funny.

They scheduled me to be off earlier today at work.

But I ended up staying half an hour later then planned because we got hit with a rush of people just as I was prepping to clock out.

There was a line of customers and only one cashier.

The manager was stuck with the cats as another set of customers decided if they wanted to adopt one or not.

My replacement ended up getting snagged by customers to help them in the Dog section of the store.

Leaving me to quickly back up cashier, grab fish, and help a customer grab a dog cone, as well as let customers hold guinea pigs...

And it's crazy.

How rushes happen like that.

Like the store had literally been dead for almost the entire day.

But right then was when everyone needed help. 

*shakes head*

So it goes I suppose lol. 

Time Away

I'm so grateful to my work for their willingness to let me leave at the drop of a pin when...well, when tragedy struck my family. 

I'm grateful for work that is willing to cover my shifts, willing to let me have all the time off I need so I can be with family. 

So grateful that I have this job and this understanding.


I meant to return to posting in this blog on the 14th...but tragedy struck and I lost my Mother Dearest that day.
Found out while I was at work.

It's...it's been hard.

Posts will continue on this blog when I return to work.

For now though I'm focusing on being with family and supporting them however I can. 

-Sarnic Dirchi