Closed Early

 The downside to closing early on a holiday....is that customers don't always get the memo that we've closed early.

Like they're so used to us staying open to a certain point that closing three hours early just...confuses them. 

I don't even know if they remember it's a holiday when they're confronted with closed doors. 

Like....I had a good 7 people calling the store after we closed --we didn't answer--

I had half a dozen people in the parking lot trying to come in. The doors were locked.

One lady tried to do a curbside pick up like half an hour after the store officially closed. 

Another tried to slip into the doors despite being told that we're closed only to be turned back outside because our registers were already shut down for the night.

One dude rang the door bell like three times wanting to be let in.

Like guys....GUYS.....we're closed.. Get it through your thick skulls.

You had alllll day to come to us. Why are you so insistent in coming in AFTER we closed?

*shakes head*

I don't get it. 

I mean...yes it's a pet store. Yes I get that animals need food too.

But it's not like there's anything so important that you need it 'right this minute' after hours.

If you're that desperate for food for your pet drop by the grocery store and grab a bag to tide them over until the morning. 

But like....you gotta pay attention to store hours. Especially on holidays. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Wall of Text

 Customers get upset over the oddest things.

We had this lady buy one of our smallest dog tags. Like one thats more the size of a nickel rather than a quarter.

And she got upset.

Because the tag couldn't fit all the information she wanted to put on it.

The tag says they can fit 'four lines of text' but like...the size of the tag does influence how many characters can fit on each line.

So obviously smaller tags will hold less information than larger tags.

And like....I only caught a glimpse of the screen. But the customer had this entire paragraph of text that she'd been attempting to fit on one side of the tag. 

Obviously it didn't fit. It wouldn't fit. The text would have needed to be microscopic in order to fit it all and what's the point of having words on the tag if you can't see them to read them? *shakes head*

She ended up buying a different tag and I didn't hear more after that so I'm assuming she got all the information on the new tag. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Shifted Hours

 We have this old guy that regularly comes into the store to get his little dog groomed. 

He's notable because the dude always causes trouble when he comes in.

Mostly it's in the 'dude is set in his ways and refuses to change' sort of trouble.

As he always shows up like half an hour early for his appointment.

Which tends to be at like 830 in the morning. Though if grooming opens at 8am then he'd show up at 730. Dude is crazy like that. Has to be half an hour early.

And he never understands it when the grooming salon isn't open when he shows up. 

Like today. 

Due to short staff grooming hours have shifted so they don't open until 9am. 

But the dude showed up at 830 and was confused why no one was in the salon. 

Why? Because the hours on the door said that they're open at 8am.

*exhales*

Like yes. Technically they are open at 8. But again due to short staff we don't have enough groomers/bathers to staff the full hours. So they're only open from like 9-5. 

And the dude...just didn't get it.

"I always come in at this time!"

Like dude. Why can't you understand that things change? That our hours shift because of staffing issues?

Honestly...if he gets scheduled the groomers should schedule him half an hour later than planned at like 930 so he can come in half an hour early at like 9 and be 'on time' 

*shakes head*

I don't get it. 

And I'll probably have to deal with him in another month or so when he inevitably comes in for his next appointment. *shakes head* It's gonna be fun to deal with. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

That's Not A Parking Spot

It's gotten pretty common at this point for me and my coworkers to look at each other and roll our eyes when it comes to dealing with customers.

Because the way they think just isn't....logical in a 'normal' way most of the time.

Like the customers who get upset that we won't give them 'deals' on products and discount the price for them.

Or the customer who came in needing crickets for their spider that they haven't fed in two weeks only to get upset that we had none available to sell.

Like...sorry that our shipment didn't come in. But there's nothing I can do about your negligence in taking care of your pet. *shakes head*

But today....

The main 'odd customer' that took the cake was the lady who came to drop off her dog for grooming.

As when the Pandemic started...we set up a table outside so that customers could do 'curbside grooming' check in for those people who couldn't wear a mask or weren't comfortable coming into the store for various reasons.

But for the past few weeks...we've neglected to put the table outside. Like I feel like it's been a month or so really. And it hasn't been an issue for us because like...no one has been using the curbside recently as everyone has gotten to the point where they don't need to wear a mask anymore or are fine coming into the store to drop off their dogs there.

And the front of our store...it has this nice wide concrete ramp for people to walk up to our doors.

It's probably at least twoish parking spots wide this ramp.

But isn't used for anything besides a 'grand entrance' into the store.

But today.

Today an old lady decided that this concrete area -which is in no way whatsoever marked for parking at all- decided that it would be alright if she pulled her van up onto this concrete rampish area and park her car there while she had a groomer come out and do the curbside pickup for her. 

And I could see why she would pull up on the ramp...because I think the empty parking spots next to the concrete were both full? But like.....it's not that hard to park your car in an actual stall and just...wait outside the store...or wait in your car until the groomer comes out and then get out of your car....

But like...parking on the ramp where you're not supposed to be parking like....where was the logic in that?

"Oh, I can't park next to it therefore I'll park on it!" *shakes head*

I don't get customers. I don't get their logic.

Like I know their logic mostly involves a 'how can I get this cheaper or make it easier for me" mentality. 

But I do wish that they would show a bit of self awareness of other people and think outside of themselves on occasion. *exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Stolen High

 You see people steal some of the oddest things in a pet store.

Tonight I discovered an empty bottle of Hemp on the shelf. Hemp specifically created for cats to help calm them down and such.

And I can only bet the dummy who decided to dump the dusty stuff into their pockets thinks they're going to get a nice 'high' from the stuff.

But like....I honestly doubt it? Sure it may be a hemp product...but I don't think it can be used the way they're thinking it can be used?

So like...I do worry that the person will end up sick if they try to 'use' it in any fashion.

But yah...it's just weird. Like why steal that? Why not take the bottle? What did you put all the leafy stuff into? 

Who knows.

Hope they're okay...but I hope they realize how stupid that was.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Don't Train It That Way

 We had a couple come into the store today wanting to get a remote trainer for their puppy.

Why? Because the 'dog doesn't pay any attention to us."

And I can get why you'd want to train the dog to behave and such.

But the puppy they had was TEN WEEKS OLD.

Like can you seriously expect a puppy to know what to do when a human makes random sounds at it? No! The puppy is probably still getting used to being away from it's mother.

And the owners want to use a remote training collar on this PUPPY to get it to pay attention to them?

*exhales* It's like...you're gonna cause more problems for the poor thing instead of solving them.

We did our best to discourage the owners from buying the remote trainer.

But no dice. They insisted. 

XP Ugh. 

I wish they would have gone for a training class instead or something. The poor puppy. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

An Odd Smile

 I had a lady want to get a mouse today.

Which isn't that odd. 

Like people buy mice all the time -despite their smell, they've been quite a popular pet this past year.

But there was just....something off about the interaction.

Like the customer said they had a cage. Said that they had had mice before.

But the customer wanted the mouse to be put in a clear container instead of our usual box with holes that we put the animals in.

So they ended up spending like an extra $5 on a critter tote so that the mouse would be visible.

Which...was like a red flag in my mind.

Why would you want to spend more money on a temporary traveling container???

Which made me think that the lady might be getting this mouse as a gift for someone.

And it might be a surprise gift. Like a thing to ask out to prom or a prank or something.

Yet...this was a mother aged lady. It wasn't a dumb college student. 

So it made a prank less than likely....and maybe they were getting the mouse for their kid? Who knows.

I just know that there was something off about the situation. Like the way the woman smiled just spoke of her knowing something I didn't.

But like....there were no major red flags given to stop the sale of the mouse...*exhales* Sooooo I sold it....hopefully it does well.

-Sarnic Dirchi