Sometimes....I wonder if I'm too helpful.
The need to please....getting in the way of things.
Today...I think it was so.
We've been looking for people to hire....
And I had a friend from my hometown apply to get a job here.
For when they move down here to go to school.
I'd put my managers on notice that they might be applying.
And they told me today that my friend had.
Yay!!
And then I think I stuck my foot in my mouth.
Why?
Because they were going to call my friend today to set up an interview...for today if possible.
And I mentioned that it might be difficult for my friend to come down as they're still up in HomeTown.
They were like. O.o Then why did your friend apply?!
And I told them.
That my friend was looking for a job for when they came down for school next month.
But they wouldn't be moving down for like three more weeks.
Because they can't get into their apartment before that point.
And they were like "Oh...well we can't call them in for an interview yet, that's too far out."
O.o
Honestly...I think my friend would have been willing to come down for the interview and if they liked them, the hiring process and training. Make the commute if it meant they got the job.
But now....my friend has been relegated to the 'waiting pile'
To see if they still may need them in three weeks.
*bangs head on desk.*
Ugh!
UUUGGGHHH!
I just had to go and open my mouth!
my friend could have had an interview today!
They could be hired today if it went well!!
and I had to open my mouth and tell them that they weren't available for another month!
How was I supposed to know that that would be a problem?
I honestly didn't see it as a problem. I mean. Drive down a couple of times for the interview(s) and Training and such and then don't schedule them until they move down.
It seems so simple.
But the managers apparently disagreed.
Uggggh!!
I really hope that I didn't just ruin this opportunity for my friend.
I really hope so.
Guess we'll have to wait and see.
And I'll be sitting here feeling guilty in the meantime.....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 31, 2015
Thursday, July 30, 2015
MLAARE -Short Staffed
Oh.
Next week is NOT going to be fun.
Or the Week after.
Maybe even the week after.
Because,
We had a coworker quit.
Unexpectedly.
In that its sudden.
We knew they would possibly be leaving.
But with them quitting like this.
So quickly, and unexpectedly.
Its left us thin staffed.
Thin enough.
That in order to be able to cover the hours we're open.
We can't come in as early before the store opens to do our morning tasks.
There are some days where we're scheduled to come in only an hour before the store opens.
An hour.
With all we have to do before work opens.
That is not enough.
Really its not enough.
Cleaning out the specific cages each day takes at minimum two hours. At Minimum. More often it takes 3 hours sometimes more depending on the circumstances.
And here we are....left with an hour to try and do cage cleanings and other tasks before we open.
It's not going to happen.
We're going to be left trying to do tasks that would have been done before the store opens while we're open.
Its going to be crazy.
Usually not many customers come in in the mornings.
So the stress won't be too bad.
Of course, knowing that we're going to be short staffed and on a deadline we can't make...
The customers are going to be streaming in.
Its bound to happen.
I won't be surprised if I do.
Yah....this is going to be 'fun'
Until we can hire and train our new people.
This is going to be 'fun.'
-Sarnic Dirchi
Next week is NOT going to be fun.
Or the Week after.
Maybe even the week after.
Because,
We had a coworker quit.
Unexpectedly.
In that its sudden.
We knew they would possibly be leaving.
But with them quitting like this.
So quickly, and unexpectedly.
Its left us thin staffed.
Thin enough.
That in order to be able to cover the hours we're open.
We can't come in as early before the store opens to do our morning tasks.
There are some days where we're scheduled to come in only an hour before the store opens.
An hour.
With all we have to do before work opens.
That is not enough.
Really its not enough.
Cleaning out the specific cages each day takes at minimum two hours. At Minimum. More often it takes 3 hours sometimes more depending on the circumstances.
And here we are....left with an hour to try and do cage cleanings and other tasks before we open.
It's not going to happen.
We're going to be left trying to do tasks that would have been done before the store opens while we're open.
Its going to be crazy.
Usually not many customers come in in the mornings.
So the stress won't be too bad.
Of course, knowing that we're going to be short staffed and on a deadline we can't make...
The customers are going to be streaming in.
Its bound to happen.
I won't be surprised if I do.
Yah....this is going to be 'fun'
Until we can hire and train our new people.
This is going to be 'fun.'
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
MLAARE --Tortoise Problems
*bangs head against wall*
Ugh.
UGH!!
Coworkers.
Co. Work. Ers.
>.<
Some days, they make things much more of a hassle then they should.
So.
Yesterday.
I had a customer bring back in a Tortoise after having it for nearly two weeks.
Why?
Apparently the Tortoise wasn't eating.
Hadn't eaten after the first couple of days.
And apparently the customers had tried to feed him everything to make him eat. Done everything right, from what I could understand.
Yet. The Tortoise wasn't eating.
Which meant something was wrong, obviously.
So they returned the Tortoise.
I looked at him,
He was alert.
Active.
Trying to get out of my hands.
It didn't look like there was anything wrong with him.
I wouldn't know how he was eating until after a few days. Stress can get a tortoise off his food. So he may not eat for a few days, not a major issue with Tortoises, they can go a bit without food.
But since there was nothing visibly wrong with him.
I put him back out on the floor.
I didn't get a chance to see if he ate any of the food I offered him.
As this happened at the end of my shift.
This morning.
I came in.
To find the Tortoise not on the floor.
No.
He'd been isolated.
Why?
Because.
>.<
Ugh.
One of my coworkers, who instead of doing their job, decided to come stare at the animals.
They tend to do that. Just wander over from their duties. And look at the animals, before coming to find me. Crying wolf more often than not. That something was wrong. When in fact. There is nothing wrong.
>.<
Last week, they came to me claiming that our Milksnake had mites. Because there were dark spots on the white bands of the belly of the snake.
But.
When I went over there. Checked out the snake.
And it was just coloring on the bottom.
Coworker was certain it was mites, until I showed them the snake. And they realized. All the white bands had those dark spots, and they were flush with the skin.
Coloring.
No problem.
So. Frustrating.
Because this coworker isn't even in my department! I would be more understanding if they were around the snakes all the time instead of just looking at them through the glass. But they work in other areas. They just come to look. And think they're being helpful when in fact they're just pulling me away from my work to go look at something that isn't wrong at all.
Today.
I came in to find that my coworker had again, been looking at the animals.
And they apparently claimed that they saw Parasites on the Tortoise.
That in the feces there were little worms wiggling around.
So obviously, the Tortoise had to be sick, had to be isolated.
The cage fully cleaned out.
*sighs*
Well, I looked at the Tortoise AGAIN.
And he was fine.
No parasites on him.
Active as ever.
There is no feces in this cage to examine for parasites.
So.
I couldn't just put him back on the floor.
Because who knows.
The tortoise could have something wrong.
Yet I'm irritated.
Because from what a manager said, basically all the coworkers now believe that this tortoise is sick when he for all appearances is fine!
Ugh!
So my coworker isn't only causing a ruckus with the animals, but a ruckus in the store. And took time out of our day to clean out the cage.
Possibly for nothing.
Ugh
*bangs head against wall.*
So. Tired. Of. This. Coworker crying wolf!
Now I have to wait and see if the Tortoise actually does have a parasite/worm problem in the feces.
So.
Annoying.
If it proves to be true. Then great. This coworker actually found a problem.
If it doesn't.
All the more reason why I'm going to be more irritated with taking the Tortoise off the floor.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Ugh.
UGH!!
Coworkers.
Co. Work. Ers.
>.<
Some days, they make things much more of a hassle then they should.
So.
Yesterday.
I had a customer bring back in a Tortoise after having it for nearly two weeks.
Why?
Apparently the Tortoise wasn't eating.
Hadn't eaten after the first couple of days.
And apparently the customers had tried to feed him everything to make him eat. Done everything right, from what I could understand.
Yet. The Tortoise wasn't eating.
Which meant something was wrong, obviously.
So they returned the Tortoise.
I looked at him,
He was alert.
Active.
Trying to get out of my hands.
It didn't look like there was anything wrong with him.
I wouldn't know how he was eating until after a few days. Stress can get a tortoise off his food. So he may not eat for a few days, not a major issue with Tortoises, they can go a bit without food.
But since there was nothing visibly wrong with him.
I put him back out on the floor.
I didn't get a chance to see if he ate any of the food I offered him.
As this happened at the end of my shift.
This morning.
I came in.
To find the Tortoise not on the floor.
No.
He'd been isolated.
Why?
Because.
>.<
Ugh.
One of my coworkers, who instead of doing their job, decided to come stare at the animals.
They tend to do that. Just wander over from their duties. And look at the animals, before coming to find me. Crying wolf more often than not. That something was wrong. When in fact. There is nothing wrong.
>.<
Last week, they came to me claiming that our Milksnake had mites. Because there were dark spots on the white bands of the belly of the snake.
But.
When I went over there. Checked out the snake.
And it was just coloring on the bottom.
Coworker was certain it was mites, until I showed them the snake. And they realized. All the white bands had those dark spots, and they were flush with the skin.
Coloring.
No problem.
So. Frustrating.
Because this coworker isn't even in my department! I would be more understanding if they were around the snakes all the time instead of just looking at them through the glass. But they work in other areas. They just come to look. And think they're being helpful when in fact they're just pulling me away from my work to go look at something that isn't wrong at all.
Today.
I came in to find that my coworker had again, been looking at the animals.
And they apparently claimed that they saw Parasites on the Tortoise.
That in the feces there were little worms wiggling around.
So obviously, the Tortoise had to be sick, had to be isolated.
The cage fully cleaned out.
*sighs*
Well, I looked at the Tortoise AGAIN.
And he was fine.
No parasites on him.
Active as ever.
There is no feces in this cage to examine for parasites.
So.
I couldn't just put him back on the floor.
Because who knows.
The tortoise could have something wrong.
Yet I'm irritated.
Because from what a manager said, basically all the coworkers now believe that this tortoise is sick when he for all appearances is fine!
Ugh!
So my coworker isn't only causing a ruckus with the animals, but a ruckus in the store. And took time out of our day to clean out the cage.
Possibly for nothing.
Ugh
*bangs head against wall.*
So. Tired. Of. This. Coworker crying wolf!
Now I have to wait and see if the Tortoise actually does have a parasite/worm problem in the feces.
So.
Annoying.
If it proves to be true. Then great. This coworker actually found a problem.
If it doesn't.
All the more reason why I'm going to be more irritated with taking the Tortoise off the floor.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
MLAARE -Loose Cat
There was another first for me at work today;
We had a cat get loose in the store.
A customer's cat.
Not one that was waiting for adoption.
But a cat that actually belonged to someone.
O.o
I mean people bring in their cats all the time, but none of them have gotten 'loose'
Because most of the time they're contained in a carrier, on a leash, or held in arms because they're small.
And this cat had been contained, in a carrier.
But for some reason, while the owner was waiting to go into grooming -I think they'd shown up early and were just wandering the store.
The customer had opened the carrier....Not sure why. But opened it they had.
And the cat had slipped out.
Escaped.
Disappearing underneath our steel shelves holding a ton of Dog Beds.
:S
That's a problem.
One. Because if the cat chose to climb up out of reach....it would be super difficult to get her.
Two. We have steel racks all around the store. There were a gazillion places for her to hide!
Basically, it was a nightmare in the making.
How to find a cat.
That was Black mind you. (so she could blend into the shadows really well.)
That disappeared out of sight. Wasn't making a sound.
While there were dogs in the store (on leashes) roaming about with their owners?
Honestly, I thought we'd have to wait until the store closed hours later, and lure the kitty out when all fell silent with some food and somehow trap it while everyone was gone.
Thankfully, that didn't happen.
I don't know what the owner would have done if that had to be the case, or what we would have done if the owner had left and we'd found the cat.
Who knows.
Basically any coworker that was free to help in the store went looking for the kitty.
But they weren't doing more than glancing about. Looking under things. As the owner wandered around the area calling out her name, and searching herself.
After all.
She could be anywhere.
But I wondered...if she would have gone so far away from where she slipped under the dog beds.
There were beds that had fallen between the steel shelves and the wall.
Maybe she'd stayed there.
I had no idea how terrified this cat had been when she'd escaped.
Had she been panicked by a dog?
Had she just wanted out of the carrier?
No idea.
But. I glanced at the space between wall and shelves.
And I was thin enough to slip in the crack there.
To look behind the shelves.
I mean the cat wouldn't just be sitting pretty in front of everything.
She'd be behind something.
I moved towards the first dog bed.
Nothing.
Moved to the next, moving it aside so I could search further.
And there she was.
The little black kitty.
Having made a little nest for herself between that bed and the wall.
I gently picked her up.
And thankfully she was calm, she wasn't scared out of her mind.
So I was able to easily maneuver the two of us out from the shelves, clambering over the dog beds on the bottom shelf to do so.
And returned her to her owner.
Yay for happy endings!
-Sarnic Dirchi
We had a cat get loose in the store.
A customer's cat.
Not one that was waiting for adoption.
But a cat that actually belonged to someone.
O.o
I mean people bring in their cats all the time, but none of them have gotten 'loose'
Because most of the time they're contained in a carrier, on a leash, or held in arms because they're small.
And this cat had been contained, in a carrier.
But for some reason, while the owner was waiting to go into grooming -I think they'd shown up early and were just wandering the store.
The customer had opened the carrier....Not sure why. But opened it they had.
And the cat had slipped out.
Escaped.
Disappearing underneath our steel shelves holding a ton of Dog Beds.
:S
That's a problem.
One. Because if the cat chose to climb up out of reach....it would be super difficult to get her.
Two. We have steel racks all around the store. There were a gazillion places for her to hide!
Basically, it was a nightmare in the making.
How to find a cat.
That was Black mind you. (so she could blend into the shadows really well.)
That disappeared out of sight. Wasn't making a sound.
While there were dogs in the store (on leashes) roaming about with their owners?
Honestly, I thought we'd have to wait until the store closed hours later, and lure the kitty out when all fell silent with some food and somehow trap it while everyone was gone.
Thankfully, that didn't happen.
I don't know what the owner would have done if that had to be the case, or what we would have done if the owner had left and we'd found the cat.
Who knows.
Basically any coworker that was free to help in the store went looking for the kitty.
But they weren't doing more than glancing about. Looking under things. As the owner wandered around the area calling out her name, and searching herself.
After all.
She could be anywhere.
But I wondered...if she would have gone so far away from where she slipped under the dog beds.
There were beds that had fallen between the steel shelves and the wall.
Maybe she'd stayed there.
I had no idea how terrified this cat had been when she'd escaped.
Had she been panicked by a dog?
Had she just wanted out of the carrier?
No idea.
But. I glanced at the space between wall and shelves.
And I was thin enough to slip in the crack there.
To look behind the shelves.
I mean the cat wouldn't just be sitting pretty in front of everything.
She'd be behind something.
I moved towards the first dog bed.
Nothing.
Moved to the next, moving it aside so I could search further.
And there she was.
The little black kitty.
Having made a little nest for herself between that bed and the wall.
I gently picked her up.
And thankfully she was calm, she wasn't scared out of her mind.
So I was able to easily maneuver the two of us out from the shelves, clambering over the dog beds on the bottom shelf to do so.
And returned her to her owner.
Yay for happy endings!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, July 27, 2015
MLAARE -Over Dramatic
I came into work this morning.
To find that one of my coworkers had left a note.
One that's a bit over dramatic really.
*shakes head*
It reads:
"Fancy Beardie has toe rot on left back foot. Toe will fall off on its own scaring small children and/or rot may spread if not amputated."
Really.
Really?
Scaring small children?
Highly doubtful.
I mean, if the whole limb was shriveled.
Yah.
It could be scary.
Possibly.
Though most children automatically think that most things that are 'disgusting/scary' are cool.
But this.
This note?
Totally over dramatic.
Yes, the toe will fall off on its own.
But I doubt it will spread.
I don't think its a serious thing to be amputated.
Its a Toe.
That will fall off on its own.
And rot...doesn't usually spread.
*shakes head*
Being over paranoid.
I looked at that Beardie's foot.
And if anything.
It looks like the foot got stuck underneath something. Pinned.
So yes.
It will fall off. Because toes do that if they're pinned and no blood flow is given to them.
Will the rot spread?
Most likely not.
That doesn't mean we're going to just ignore the problem.
We're going to monitor the Beardie.
Make sure that it actually isn't a major problem.
Better safe than sorry.
-Sarnic Dirchi
To find that one of my coworkers had left a note.
One that's a bit over dramatic really.
*shakes head*
It reads:
"Fancy Beardie has toe rot on left back foot. Toe will fall off on its own scaring small children and/or rot may spread if not amputated."
Really.
Really?
Scaring small children?
Highly doubtful.
I mean, if the whole limb was shriveled.
Yah.
It could be scary.
Possibly.
Though most children automatically think that most things that are 'disgusting/scary' are cool.
But this.
This note?
Totally over dramatic.
Yes, the toe will fall off on its own.
But I doubt it will spread.
I don't think its a serious thing to be amputated.
Its a Toe.
That will fall off on its own.
And rot...doesn't usually spread.
*shakes head*
Being over paranoid.
I looked at that Beardie's foot.
And if anything.
It looks like the foot got stuck underneath something. Pinned.
So yes.
It will fall off. Because toes do that if they're pinned and no blood flow is given to them.
Will the rot spread?
Most likely not.
That doesn't mean we're going to just ignore the problem.
We're going to monitor the Beardie.
Make sure that it actually isn't a major problem.
Better safe than sorry.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, July 25, 2015
MLAARE -Shifts
So, I sent a text to a manager at work;
To save me the trouble of having to talk to people on the phone.
Asking what my work schedule was for next week.
And I got the response back.
"You work these days starting at this same time."
Great.
I kinda figured that would be the case.
Doesn't hurt to double check, as the one time I don't is probably going to be the time when something changes.
But...they didn't answer my full question.
You see, I like to know the beginning AND the ending times of my shifts.
So I can have a better idea of when I'll be getting off and plan other events accordingly.
*sighs*
You don't know how stressful it is to not know when you're getting off.
How long am I going to be at work this day?
Five hours?
Eight?
I don't know.
I didn't press to know as I figured they'd be busy at work.
So now I have to wait for when I do go into work...
And then see when I get off work for my work week.
....I hate waiting.
-Sarnic Dirchi
To save me the trouble of having to talk to people on the phone.
Asking what my work schedule was for next week.
And I got the response back.
"You work these days starting at this same time."
Great.
I kinda figured that would be the case.
Doesn't hurt to double check, as the one time I don't is probably going to be the time when something changes.
But...they didn't answer my full question.
You see, I like to know the beginning AND the ending times of my shifts.
So I can have a better idea of when I'll be getting off and plan other events accordingly.
*sighs*
You don't know how stressful it is to not know when you're getting off.
How long am I going to be at work this day?
Five hours?
Eight?
I don't know.
I didn't press to know as I figured they'd be busy at work.
So now I have to wait for when I do go into work...
And then see when I get off work for my work week.
....I hate waiting.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 24, 2015
MLAARE -Pin Pads
I was met with a different sight when I came into my store this morning.
There was a woman I'd never seen before.
Messing around with our Pin Pads on the registers.
What was she doing?
Replacing them.
O.o
We were getting NEW Pin Pads.
NEW!!
O.O
...Honestly I feel like we got new ones soon after I was hired...or else they just changed the procedure on it....there was a change with it at some point.
But no.
These ones.
Are New.
They're so sleek and shiny.
And different from our old Pin Pad devices.
Our old ones were fully touch screen.
These ones, return to the key pad, but the touch screen is just as big.
Its brighter. Easier to read.
So cool!!
And it seems so much faster.
The information that is trying to be conveyed, much more understandable for customers.
Really.
I'm impressed. ^^
I wasn't expecting to get these new Pin Pads, but I'm happy we did. :D
-Sarnic Dirchi
There was a woman I'd never seen before.
Messing around with our Pin Pads on the registers.
What was she doing?
Replacing them.
O.o
We were getting NEW Pin Pads.
NEW!!
O.O
...Honestly I feel like we got new ones soon after I was hired...or else they just changed the procedure on it....there was a change with it at some point.
But no.
These ones.
Are New.
They're so sleek and shiny.
And different from our old Pin Pad devices.
Our old ones were fully touch screen.
These ones, return to the key pad, but the touch screen is just as big.
Its brighter. Easier to read.
So cool!!
And it seems so much faster.
The information that is trying to be conveyed, much more understandable for customers.
Really.
I'm impressed. ^^
I wasn't expecting to get these new Pin Pads, but I'm happy we did. :D
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, July 23, 2015
MLAARE -Counting
Damaged boxes can be annoying.
For one, if its a product and its all bent and contorted...customers are less likely to buy it.
Because they probably think there is something wrong/broken with it.
Damaged boxes that hold the products can be annoying because if its bent all weird then it could have broken the product inside, it could be more difficult to open or to carry about without everything falling to pieces. Basically...its a box you don't try to pick up or risk items falling on your toes.
Then there are the creature boxes.
Those really shouldn't be damaged.
At all.
Because if they are....
That usually means that creatures can escape.
Holes can be chewed through and exploited.
Meaning animals loose.
Today.
It wasn't animals.
But bugs.
Yah. More bugs.
We got in another shipment of bugs today.
And the cricket boxes were damaged.
Squished.
Which is bad.
because the contorted shapes...
Left room for crickets to wiggle their way out.
Bye bye Money.
So to try and figure out how many crickets we lost from the damage boxes.
I counted the crickets before I added in new crickets.
Then counted again to see what the difference was.
Ah. It harkens back to the days when Reth was still my manager. As she would have us do that so we'd know if they actually sent what they said they sent us, instead of just assuming that they did.
Talk about a headache though.
Imagine counting 3,000 crickets.
Then adding in another 3,000
And trying to see if the mass horde of moving floor added up to 6,000.
Ow.
My head.
It doesn't help that the crickets didn't smell that great in the first place.
so I spent like 10 minutes breathing in bad smell as I tried to count.
To find....
The numbers were basically accurate.
We hadn't really lost anything in the shipments besides the dead. O.o
So weird.
-Sarnic Dirchi
For one, if its a product and its all bent and contorted...customers are less likely to buy it.
Because they probably think there is something wrong/broken with it.
Damaged boxes that hold the products can be annoying because if its bent all weird then it could have broken the product inside, it could be more difficult to open or to carry about without everything falling to pieces. Basically...its a box you don't try to pick up or risk items falling on your toes.
Then there are the creature boxes.
Those really shouldn't be damaged.
At all.
Because if they are....
That usually means that creatures can escape.
Holes can be chewed through and exploited.
Meaning animals loose.
Today.
It wasn't animals.
But bugs.
Yah. More bugs.
We got in another shipment of bugs today.
And the cricket boxes were damaged.
Squished.
Which is bad.
because the contorted shapes...
Left room for crickets to wiggle their way out.
Bye bye Money.
So to try and figure out how many crickets we lost from the damage boxes.
I counted the crickets before I added in new crickets.
Then counted again to see what the difference was.
Ah. It harkens back to the days when Reth was still my manager. As she would have us do that so we'd know if they actually sent what they said they sent us, instead of just assuming that they did.
Talk about a headache though.
Imagine counting 3,000 crickets.
Then adding in another 3,000
And trying to see if the mass horde of moving floor added up to 6,000.
Ow.
My head.
It doesn't help that the crickets didn't smell that great in the first place.
so I spent like 10 minutes breathing in bad smell as I tried to count.
To find....
The numbers were basically accurate.
We hadn't really lost anything in the shipments besides the dead. O.o
So weird.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
MLAARE -Guesstimation
So, when we get in our Cricket shipments.
There are usually dead.
Which we count, to make sure that our inventory numbers are accurate.
But when you get in anywhere between 1,000-3,500 crickets at a time...
You don't have a lot of time spent to counting crickets.
So I use guesstimation. Count out a certain number of crickets then take about that size range and count more quickly.
Guesstimate. Its my friend.
But this time, my Head manager wanted me to count out individual dead crickets.
So that we could have an accurate count. To make sure we were saying the right amount of dead.
For fun I did a guesstimation before hand.
I thought there were about 450 dead.
Then I counted.
One by One.
And got
453.
HA!
TAKE THAT!
You don't know how happy it made me to know that my guesstimation is pretty accurate. ^^
-Sarnic Dirchi
There are usually dead.
Which we count, to make sure that our inventory numbers are accurate.
But when you get in anywhere between 1,000-3,500 crickets at a time...
You don't have a lot of time spent to counting crickets.
So I use guesstimation. Count out a certain number of crickets then take about that size range and count more quickly.
Guesstimate. Its my friend.
But this time, my Head manager wanted me to count out individual dead crickets.
So that we could have an accurate count. To make sure we were saying the right amount of dead.
For fun I did a guesstimation before hand.
I thought there were about 450 dead.
Then I counted.
One by One.
And got
453.
HA!
TAKE THAT!
You don't know how happy it made me to know that my guesstimation is pretty accurate. ^^
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
MLAARE -Not an Option
There is one thing I don't like about hamsters.
It's how delicate they are.
Like, if anything at all goes wrong with them....
Its very difficult to give them a good life after that point.
Because they are so sensitive to chemicals and medicines...
Surgery and putting them under for that....is never an option.
Because the stress can kill them. :(
I was opening up the department.
Moving animals around to make room for new ones to come out to the floor to be sold.
When I happened to notice that a hamster,
a little Winter White.
Wasn't moving around right.
Or barely at all.
Upon a closer look, I saw that one of his back legs...
Was dragging.
Limp.
Most likely broken.
It was hard to tell for sure.
As hamsters are very wiggley.
But a limb not working...
Bad sign.
It meant we needed to take him to the vet.
Which we did within the hour of discovering him injured.
I'd had hopes, that perhaps he'd be able to be saved.
Amputate the leg, or splint it or something.
But I left work before I found out what happened to him.
Yet...
when I came back into work this morning.
He wasn't there.
Which means.
That more than likely, the decision was to put the hamster to sleep.
Y_Y
So depressing.
But in the long run...the best option.
Because his quality of life wouldn't have been good. He would have been in pain.
And operating would be pointless because again, they don't do well under surgery, more likely to die than not.
Still.
Its rather disappointing.
I always root for the creature to make it.
So when it doesn't. :( I'm heart broken.
Poor hamster...
Wish we could have done more for you. :(
-Sarnic Dirchi
It's how delicate they are.
Like, if anything at all goes wrong with them....
Its very difficult to give them a good life after that point.
Because they are so sensitive to chemicals and medicines...
Surgery and putting them under for that....is never an option.
Because the stress can kill them. :(
I was opening up the department.
Moving animals around to make room for new ones to come out to the floor to be sold.
When I happened to notice that a hamster,
a little Winter White.
Wasn't moving around right.
Or barely at all.
Upon a closer look, I saw that one of his back legs...
Was dragging.
Limp.
Most likely broken.
It was hard to tell for sure.
As hamsters are very wiggley.
But a limb not working...
Bad sign.
It meant we needed to take him to the vet.
Which we did within the hour of discovering him injured.
I'd had hopes, that perhaps he'd be able to be saved.
Amputate the leg, or splint it or something.
But I left work before I found out what happened to him.
Yet...
when I came back into work this morning.
He wasn't there.
Which means.
That more than likely, the decision was to put the hamster to sleep.
Y_Y
So depressing.
But in the long run...the best option.
Because his quality of life wouldn't have been good. He would have been in pain.
And operating would be pointless because again, they don't do well under surgery, more likely to die than not.
Still.
Its rather disappointing.
I always root for the creature to make it.
So when it doesn't. :( I'm heart broken.
Poor hamster...
Wish we could have done more for you. :(
-Sarnic Dirchi
MLAARE -Flooded Again
I had to dash home during my lunch break today.
Which is something I usually don't do...
Because its a stressful thing to try and get home and back to work in like a 30 minute period.
I usually end up being late getting back due to slow traffic. XP bleh.
But this time...it was kinda necessary.
Why?
Well, one of my coworkers had been gravel vacuuming....
And had neglected to take some sponges out of the sink.
So the sponge...had drifted over the drain and plugged it.
Yah...
We ended up flooding the back room.
Again.
Happens every two or three months recently it seems like. lol.
My coworker was like "Umm....the sink somehow got clogged and the department's flooding.'
()_()!
I made sure she'd turned off the water, and headed back to see that we did indeed have a flood on our hands.
Uhoh.
It hadn't yet reached the point of being visible on the floor, but it was going to be soon if it had its way.
So I dashed to the furthest reaches and placed a towel in the way,
but the water was thick enough, that as I swept frantically at the water to get the main flow back towards the drain on the opposite side of the room, the water would flow over my shoes.
Soaking them and the socks within.
Normally, not a big deal. Wet shoes dry.
But I still had 3 hours on my shift.
And it wasn't just plain water.
We had two sinks next to each other, and the other sink had had a strong cleaning chemical in it.
So a rather diluted water flood was happening.
And this cleaning chemical, can cause irritation to the skin, even burns if strong enough.
And my feet were soaked in diluted cleaning solution.
It may have been my paranoia, but I felt like my feet were beginning to burn...
So I quickly swept the water back with the help of my coworker and finished the task I'd been interrupted in, before I took a lunch.
So I could go home.
And rinse out my shoes and socks in the tub, wash off my feet and get a different pair of shoes and socks before grabbing some food and heading back to work.
I was three minutes late.
But at least my feet were dry and I wouldn't have to worry about possible chemical reactions. ^^ Yay!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which is something I usually don't do...
Because its a stressful thing to try and get home and back to work in like a 30 minute period.
I usually end up being late getting back due to slow traffic. XP bleh.
But this time...it was kinda necessary.
Why?
Well, one of my coworkers had been gravel vacuuming....
And had neglected to take some sponges out of the sink.
So the sponge...had drifted over the drain and plugged it.
Yah...
We ended up flooding the back room.
Again.
Happens every two or three months recently it seems like. lol.
My coworker was like "Umm....the sink somehow got clogged and the department's flooding.'
()_()!
I made sure she'd turned off the water, and headed back to see that we did indeed have a flood on our hands.
Uhoh.
It hadn't yet reached the point of being visible on the floor, but it was going to be soon if it had its way.
So I dashed to the furthest reaches and placed a towel in the way,
but the water was thick enough, that as I swept frantically at the water to get the main flow back towards the drain on the opposite side of the room, the water would flow over my shoes.
Soaking them and the socks within.
Normally, not a big deal. Wet shoes dry.
But I still had 3 hours on my shift.
And it wasn't just plain water.
We had two sinks next to each other, and the other sink had had a strong cleaning chemical in it.
So a rather diluted water flood was happening.
And this cleaning chemical, can cause irritation to the skin, even burns if strong enough.
And my feet were soaked in diluted cleaning solution.
It may have been my paranoia, but I felt like my feet were beginning to burn...
So I quickly swept the water back with the help of my coworker and finished the task I'd been interrupted in, before I took a lunch.
So I could go home.
And rinse out my shoes and socks in the tub, wash off my feet and get a different pair of shoes and socks before grabbing some food and heading back to work.
I was three minutes late.
But at least my feet were dry and I wouldn't have to worry about possible chemical reactions. ^^ Yay!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, July 18, 2015
MLAARE -Snail Infestation
Ah.
The joys of truck being late.
Especially on the days when I needed it to be on time.
On the days when I actually managed to get my department open on time.
Because, I was expecting to have to be working on our newly arrived shipment of fish.
But, the truck was late.
The fish were on the truck.
So therefore....we got done early...
And were left twiddling our thumbs, searching for other tasks to do while we waited another couple of hours for the delayed truck to show up.
Me.
I was productive.
And decided to work on our infestation of snails that are colonizing our fish tanks.
>.< Silly parasitic creatures. They spread like crazy.
And often we don't have time to fish them out. As its....well time consuming.
But today, I had a good long period of no customers and no fish to do just that.
Pick out the snails from the tanks.
And my accomplishment?
like 500 snails in a little cup. About halfway full.
So many snails....
And that was just one section of tanks.
*groans*
So. Many. Snails!
Hopefully we can get on top of them again soon.
-Sarnic Dirchi
The joys of truck being late.
Especially on the days when I needed it to be on time.
On the days when I actually managed to get my department open on time.
Because, I was expecting to have to be working on our newly arrived shipment of fish.
But, the truck was late.
The fish were on the truck.
So therefore....we got done early...
And were left twiddling our thumbs, searching for other tasks to do while we waited another couple of hours for the delayed truck to show up.
Me.
I was productive.
And decided to work on our infestation of snails that are colonizing our fish tanks.
>.< Silly parasitic creatures. They spread like crazy.
And often we don't have time to fish them out. As its....well time consuming.
But today, I had a good long period of no customers and no fish to do just that.
Pick out the snails from the tanks.
And my accomplishment?
like 500 snails in a little cup. About halfway full.
So many snails....
And that was just one section of tanks.
*groans*
So. Many. Snails!
Hopefully we can get on top of them again soon.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, July 16, 2015
MLAARE -System Failure
Our system went down for an hour or so the other day.
Our Cashiering System.
Apparently it was nationwide.
Where we couldn't get debit or credit cards to work.
So for a few hours right after we opened.
We could only accept cash.
And we had the 'fun' duty, of stopping every customer that came into the store,
To inform them, that we could only accept cash for the moment because our systems were down.
Surprisingly, it didn't seem to effect many people this news. O.o
Apparently everyone that walked into the store that day was carrying cash. *shakes head*
But it was also good, in that it was a typical slow morning,
So that only a couple handfuls of people came in.
And it didn't start to pick up,
Until after our credit card system got back online.
So thankfully, we didn't end up with angry customers.
Because there isn't much we can do....when the problem isn't on our side....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Our Cashiering System.
Apparently it was nationwide.
Where we couldn't get debit or credit cards to work.
So for a few hours right after we opened.
We could only accept cash.
And we had the 'fun' duty, of stopping every customer that came into the store,
To inform them, that we could only accept cash for the moment because our systems were down.
Surprisingly, it didn't seem to effect many people this news. O.o
Apparently everyone that walked into the store that day was carrying cash. *shakes head*
But it was also good, in that it was a typical slow morning,
So that only a couple handfuls of people came in.
And it didn't start to pick up,
Until after our credit card system got back online.
So thankfully, we didn't end up with angry customers.
Because there isn't much we can do....when the problem isn't on our side....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
MLAARE -NitPicky
I hate nitpicky customers.
Especially when they nitpick little tiny details that most normal customers would not notice.
That really, isn't that major of an issue.
>.<
Today, a customer (possibly the same customer of a while back that did the same thing.) Nitpicked the quality of the water that our Betta Fish resided in. She called it "Disgusting."
Because the water was 'Filthy' and that there was 'food at the bottom' if I remember correctly.
So.
Annoying.
And Irritating!
Why?
Because for one.
I CHANGED THE BETTA WATER YESTERDAY!!
And Betta water does not get "Disgusting" and "Filthy" in less than 24 hours!
If it had been like the day before we changed Betta water, then I would have been more understanding. The water would look worse just before, instead of just after.
BUT IT WAS JUST AFTER!
She was NITPICKING!
The water was still clear!
Really. You'd have to stare really close to notice that there was a piece of food on the bottom here, a slightly fogginess to the a clear cups there.
But nothing.
Nothing whatsoever that would warrant the words "disgusting" and "filthy" to be used!!
The water was clear!
Gah!
>.<
I definitely did not like it.
I do not like being critiqued.
And she wanted us to change the Betta Water right then!!
HA!
LIKE WE HAVE TIME TO DO THAT!
PLUS I JUST DID THAT YESTERDAY! I DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE THE BETTA WATER EVERYDAY AND DON'T HAVE TIME TO DO SO.
Really, if she's SO CONCERNED about the water quality then she should get off her CUSTOMER HIGH HORSE and GET A JOB WORKING HERE and then she would SEE that we're doing the Best we Can. and that we have a lot more WORK to do to keep the store running. We don't just STAND there waiting for Customers to come and take no effort to make sure the animals are in clean healthy environments. WE DON'T DO THAT!
>.<
Ugh.
So.
Very.
Irritated.
I don't like her. This nitpicky customer.
But I did my best to satisfy her nitpickiness and assured her I would go check the Betta water again to make sure it wasn't 'disgustingly filthy' >.<
Yah....did that slightly then figured I didn't have time to be OCD and went back to trying to finish my other opening tasks before the lunch time rush would hit.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Especially when they nitpick little tiny details that most normal customers would not notice.
That really, isn't that major of an issue.
>.<
Today, a customer (possibly the same customer of a while back that did the same thing.) Nitpicked the quality of the water that our Betta Fish resided in. She called it "Disgusting."
Because the water was 'Filthy' and that there was 'food at the bottom' if I remember correctly.
So.
Annoying.
And Irritating!
Why?
Because for one.
I CHANGED THE BETTA WATER YESTERDAY!!
And Betta water does not get "Disgusting" and "Filthy" in less than 24 hours!
If it had been like the day before we changed Betta water, then I would have been more understanding. The water would look worse just before, instead of just after.
BUT IT WAS JUST AFTER!
She was NITPICKING!
The water was still clear!
Really. You'd have to stare really close to notice that there was a piece of food on the bottom here, a slightly fogginess to the a clear cups there.
But nothing.
Nothing whatsoever that would warrant the words "disgusting" and "filthy" to be used!!
The water was clear!
Gah!
>.<
I definitely did not like it.
I do not like being critiqued.
And she wanted us to change the Betta Water right then!!
HA!
LIKE WE HAVE TIME TO DO THAT!
PLUS I JUST DID THAT YESTERDAY! I DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE THE BETTA WATER EVERYDAY AND DON'T HAVE TIME TO DO SO.
Really, if she's SO CONCERNED about the water quality then she should get off her CUSTOMER HIGH HORSE and GET A JOB WORKING HERE and then she would SEE that we're doing the Best we Can. and that we have a lot more WORK to do to keep the store running. We don't just STAND there waiting for Customers to come and take no effort to make sure the animals are in clean healthy environments. WE DON'T DO THAT!
>.<
Ugh.
So.
Very.
Irritated.
I don't like her. This nitpicky customer.
But I did my best to satisfy her nitpickiness and assured her I would go check the Betta water again to make sure it wasn't 'disgustingly filthy' >.<
Yah....did that slightly then figured I didn't have time to be OCD and went back to trying to finish my other opening tasks before the lunch time rush would hit.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
MLAARE -Reward
Awwww
Hard work does pay off!!
My manager came into the store today on his day off.
For two reasons.
One to give us some brand new cat litter scoops
-as each cat cage is to have its own litter scoop and ours have....been disappearing to who knows where.
And he'd found some nice big ones for only $1 at another store. (ours are like $3 for a tiny thing.)
But also, he brought me a box of starbursts! ^^
Why?
As a reward.
For being able to open the department by myself after my coworker didn't show up, and managed to get it all the tasks done before I left yesterday. :)
Starbursts!
The favorite candy of our department. ^^ Yum.
It totally was a highlight of my day. :D
-Sarnic Dirchi
Hard work does pay off!!
My manager came into the store today on his day off.
For two reasons.
One to give us some brand new cat litter scoops
-as each cat cage is to have its own litter scoop and ours have....been disappearing to who knows where.
And he'd found some nice big ones for only $1 at another store. (ours are like $3 for a tiny thing.)
But also, he brought me a box of starbursts! ^^
Why?
As a reward.
For being able to open the department by myself after my coworker didn't show up, and managed to get it all the tasks done before I left yesterday. :)
Starbursts!
The favorite candy of our department. ^^ Yum.
It totally was a highlight of my day. :D
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, July 13, 2015
MLAARE -Assumptions
Assumptions get one into trouble.
It gets me into trouble all the time.
Like when I automatically assume that my coworker is going to show up on time.
Or at all.
Like 9 times out of 10. If I assume a coworker is going to show up at a particular time...and plan accordingly to finish particular tasks or take breaks then....that it doesn't happen as planned?
Who knows.
But today.
I was the first person in.
Which gave me the choice of cleaning out the cat cages,
Or cleaning out the bird cages,
As those were the major tasks of the day.
I chose to do Bird Cages
Even after my manager was like "You're going to start on Cats right?"
But I was like "No, I'm doing Birds."
Why? Because my coworker was scheduled to come in one hour before the store opened.
And Bird cages take like two hours at the minimum to do.
So logically, since Cats technically take a shorter amount of time (less than an hour.) It would be better for her to do that task, and I would have more time to do the birds.
Which I did.
I finished in time to take a rest break before the store opened!
Only.
I was left with a problem.
You see...
My coworker didn't show up.
I tried to call them. Telling them that they were now a half hour late to work.
With no response. No call backs.
Which left me in a horrible position.
I had only completed one task. The Bird Cleaning.
And the store was opening right as I got off break.
I still had to clean the cats, I still had to feed/water all the other animals, I had other duties also expected for the Monday work day.
And now...the store was open.
Which meant customers would be interrupting me.
Which meant things wouldn't be getting done.
Which meant we were WWWWWAAAAAAYYYY Behind schedule.
I mean, I'm used to opening by myself.
But I would have done things much differently if I had known I was going to be by myself in the beginning.
While I don't like cleaning bird cages while the store is open, its definitely easier to be more accessible to customers there instead of locked up in the cat room cleaning out those cages.
Somehow.
I managed.
I went straight to cleaning cats, as that would be the most time consuming of the tasks before I opened the rest of the department, and managed to finish most everything by the time I took my lunch a couple hours later. Leaving me to just complete the Monday tasks before my shift ended (which I did.)
I got hit with a customer rush about an hour into the store being opened, but other than that...
It was blessedly quiet in my department.
Hardly anyone needing help until after all my major tasks were completed! YES!
I did it!
All by myself!
Why? Because my coworker, didn't show up....technically.
Back in the morning, when I was nearly done cleaning the cat cages.
I saw my coworker walk in. (2 hours late)
But. Not in a good way.
My coworker walked in.....in their street clothes.
Not in uniform.
Which confirmed one of our suspicions. My coworker hadn't been aware that they worked today.
(And apparently they hadn't got my message....)
So I briefly left my task to find out what was up....
And found out that this coworker too had gotten in trouble for Assuming.
You see, our schedule came out only a couple of days before, for what we'd be working this week.
And my coworker, hadn't worked that day...and so didn't check the schedule then.
And they figured, they ASSUMED that they WOULD NOT be working today.
So they just planned to come in today to get their schedule.
O.o
Seriously?
Never. Ever. Ever. Do that!
Never ASSUME especially with schedules.
Especially because our schedules change, or shifts change every week!
I don't understand this coworker's logic.
Everyone else would have called, or come into the store.
Chatting with other coworkers that's what they did.
They came in to check their schedule. I actually called to get mine.
You don't just assume!
*sighs*
Hopefully this is a lesson learned...
Because they came in their street clothes....they couldn't work the rest of their shift.
So...they just lost out on some of their pay.
Because they didn't come in.
Because they assumed.
*sighs*
Yes.
Assumptions can get you into trouble very quickly if you don't triple extra check beforehand.
It gets me into trouble all the time.
Like when I automatically assume that my coworker is going to show up on time.
Or at all.
Like 9 times out of 10. If I assume a coworker is going to show up at a particular time...and plan accordingly to finish particular tasks or take breaks then....that it doesn't happen as planned?
Who knows.
But today.
I was the first person in.
Which gave me the choice of cleaning out the cat cages,
Or cleaning out the bird cages,
As those were the major tasks of the day.
I chose to do Bird Cages
Even after my manager was like "You're going to start on Cats right?"
But I was like "No, I'm doing Birds."
Why? Because my coworker was scheduled to come in one hour before the store opened.
And Bird cages take like two hours at the minimum to do.
So logically, since Cats technically take a shorter amount of time (less than an hour.) It would be better for her to do that task, and I would have more time to do the birds.
Which I did.
I finished in time to take a rest break before the store opened!
Only.
I was left with a problem.
You see...
My coworker didn't show up.
I tried to call them. Telling them that they were now a half hour late to work.
With no response. No call backs.
Which left me in a horrible position.
I had only completed one task. The Bird Cleaning.
And the store was opening right as I got off break.
I still had to clean the cats, I still had to feed/water all the other animals, I had other duties also expected for the Monday work day.
And now...the store was open.
Which meant customers would be interrupting me.
Which meant things wouldn't be getting done.
Which meant we were WWWWWAAAAAAYYYY Behind schedule.
I mean, I'm used to opening by myself.
But I would have done things much differently if I had known I was going to be by myself in the beginning.
While I don't like cleaning bird cages while the store is open, its definitely easier to be more accessible to customers there instead of locked up in the cat room cleaning out those cages.
Somehow.
I managed.
I went straight to cleaning cats, as that would be the most time consuming of the tasks before I opened the rest of the department, and managed to finish most everything by the time I took my lunch a couple hours later. Leaving me to just complete the Monday tasks before my shift ended (which I did.)
I got hit with a customer rush about an hour into the store being opened, but other than that...
It was blessedly quiet in my department.
Hardly anyone needing help until after all my major tasks were completed! YES!
I did it!
All by myself!
Why? Because my coworker, didn't show up....technically.
Back in the morning, when I was nearly done cleaning the cat cages.
I saw my coworker walk in. (2 hours late)
But. Not in a good way.
My coworker walked in.....in their street clothes.
Not in uniform.
Which confirmed one of our suspicions. My coworker hadn't been aware that they worked today.
(And apparently they hadn't got my message....)
So I briefly left my task to find out what was up....
And found out that this coworker too had gotten in trouble for Assuming.
You see, our schedule came out only a couple of days before, for what we'd be working this week.
And my coworker, hadn't worked that day...and so didn't check the schedule then.
And they figured, they ASSUMED that they WOULD NOT be working today.
So they just planned to come in today to get their schedule.
O.o
Seriously?
Never. Ever. Ever. Do that!
Never ASSUME especially with schedules.
Especially because our schedules change, or shifts change every week!
I don't understand this coworker's logic.
Everyone else would have called, or come into the store.
Chatting with other coworkers that's what they did.
They came in to check their schedule. I actually called to get mine.
You don't just assume!
*sighs*
Hopefully this is a lesson learned...
Because they came in their street clothes....they couldn't work the rest of their shift.
So...they just lost out on some of their pay.
Because they didn't come in.
Because they assumed.
*sighs*
Yes.
Assumptions can get you into trouble very quickly if you don't triple extra check beforehand.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
MLAARE -Bent Fish
I had a customer come into the store, carrying a fish in a bag.
Usually that means dead fish.
But there was water in the bag with the fish.
Turns out it was still alive.
But barely.
Its body had been bent in half.
Something you see in fish on occasion. The muscles contracting to one side forcefully. Bending the body to the side.
Not much you can do about that.
And I had no idea what medications would help, or if they would help at all....
The customers weren't happy, to hear that really....the best solution, sad as it is...would be to flush it.
The customers were rather devastated about that.
Tears welling up, sad that their fish was basically consigned to death.
Y_Y I felt so awful about that. Giving them bad news. It isn't the easy.
So I offered to take care of the fish for them.
Because we have other options available at work for when our fish suffer similarly.
Save them from having to do it themselves.
Its easy enough to do, only....a manager has to do it.
No big deal, I would just as the manager to do it when they had a spare moment.
>.<
But then my manager got stuck with a customer for like two hours.
And then they had to leave....
So, I went for the next option.
Placing the fish in our ISO tank. Where it could hang out until we could get to him.
Except.....
In that sick tank.
There was this cichlid....
Cichlids are aggressive....
They're known to eat other fish...
But this one was smaller.
I thought it would be alright.
But basically as soon as I put the guppy into the tank....
The Cichlid zeroed in on it.
And
SLUUURRRP
Ate him.
Kinda.
You could still see the head sticking out of the mouth.
Horrified, as this wasn't how I wanted the fish to end up.
I managed to get the Cichlid to spit the fish out.
Oh, it wasn't too pretty.
The bent fish had been bent further. :( bleeding.
I separated it.
To keep it from becoming food.
But it died only a little bit later.
Y_Y
I felt horrible about it.
That was not what I meant when I said we had other methods.
that was not a method.
Thankfully.
The customers will never know what really happened.
(Unless...you know they stumble across this blog which would be crazy. Sorry customers!)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Usually that means dead fish.
But there was water in the bag with the fish.
Turns out it was still alive.
But barely.
Its body had been bent in half.
Something you see in fish on occasion. The muscles contracting to one side forcefully. Bending the body to the side.
Not much you can do about that.
And I had no idea what medications would help, or if they would help at all....
The customers weren't happy, to hear that really....the best solution, sad as it is...would be to flush it.
The customers were rather devastated about that.
Tears welling up, sad that their fish was basically consigned to death.
Y_Y I felt so awful about that. Giving them bad news. It isn't the easy.
So I offered to take care of the fish for them.
Because we have other options available at work for when our fish suffer similarly.
Save them from having to do it themselves.
Its easy enough to do, only....a manager has to do it.
No big deal, I would just as the manager to do it when they had a spare moment.
>.<
But then my manager got stuck with a customer for like two hours.
And then they had to leave....
So, I went for the next option.
Placing the fish in our ISO tank. Where it could hang out until we could get to him.
Except.....
In that sick tank.
There was this cichlid....
Cichlids are aggressive....
They're known to eat other fish...
But this one was smaller.
I thought it would be alright.
But basically as soon as I put the guppy into the tank....
The Cichlid zeroed in on it.
And
SLUUURRRP
Ate him.
Kinda.
You could still see the head sticking out of the mouth.
Horrified, as this wasn't how I wanted the fish to end up.
I managed to get the Cichlid to spit the fish out.
Oh, it wasn't too pretty.
The bent fish had been bent further. :( bleeding.
I separated it.
To keep it from becoming food.
But it died only a little bit later.
Y_Y
I felt horrible about it.
That was not what I meant when I said we had other methods.
that was not a method.
Thankfully.
The customers will never know what really happened.
(Unless...you know they stumble across this blog which would be crazy. Sorry customers!)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 10, 2015
MLAARE -Scavenger Hunt
It's rather typical.
While I'm at work.
For there to randomly be a 'lunch time rush'
Rather odd, in the fact that we're a pet store...for people to come during 'lunch time'
But come they do.
At some point between 11-3pm there is a rush of people.
Most of them wanting fish.
Which was the case of today.
An hour before I was to get off my shift.
I got hit with a rush.
It wasn't the worst rush I experienced.
Mostly it was people getting fish, and they were taking forever to decide on what to get, or kept adding on fish they also wanted, or kept asking questions.
Which made it more time consuming, so people had to wait.
But they knew I was helping them as quickly as possible.
It's also difficult because during these rushes...I'm usually scheduled alone.
So there isn't somebody else to help me out.
*sighs*
Thankfully most of the time people are patient.
But today.
Was different.
Because it was a day where there was apparently a Scavenger Hunt. A Team Related Scavenger Hunt. Where each team (there had to be like 5 of them.) Were given a set of tasks and asked to complete them the fastest.
One of those tasks, apparently was to come to our PetStore.
The first I knew of them, was while I was in the middle of my fish rush.
And this crazy group of people came in.
Giving off the frenzied air.
Talking about fish.
I assumed they needed a fish.
But they asked me like three questions about the mollies and then rushed off with the words "Hurry, before the other team arrives!"
Which gave me the heads up...I'd be seeing another team of people soon.
And I assumed that they would be asking me similar questions.
Which are easy to answer while I'm catching and bagging fish.
So I was still in the middle of helping my fish customers.
When I got an overhead call to go to reptiles.
Busy with fish, I tried to get a manager to help these customers, as I was going to be a while longer, at least 10 minutes or so.
But everyone else was busy with customers as well. So these reptile customers had to wait.
As I was in the middle of helping one, and had two more to go after them before I'd be able to go help the customers with the reptiles.
I was in the middle of helping the second customer (with another after them.)
When a woman in pink comes up to me.
"Hi, is there anyone in the store that can help us?"
"You're with the reptiles?" I asked, figuring that was who was getting impatient.
"Yes."
I was right. "I'm sorry, I'm the only one here right now, I have two more customers to help with, and then I'll be right over."
"We're kinda in a hurry." She said, as if she's expecting me to drop everything and come right over. "We're on a scavenger hunt, we need to hold a snake, or a rat real quick and take a picture so we can get ahead of the other teams."
"I'm sorry, its going to be a while before I can get to you."
"Is there anything else we can do?"
"I know another group just asked me about fish."
"That's not what we have..."
"I'll be right over, I just have to help one more customer and I'll be with you."
So I rushed to help the last customer as quickly as I could.
Before going over to this group of scavengers.
To find that my manager had managed to get to them first.
But I still needed to help them quickly hold a snake (as they didn't get a picture of the girl holding a rat because the rat tried to jump away.)
Which I managed.
And there were TWO other scavenger groups along the animals as well.
I pictured a nightmare scene.
But thankfully, my manager told the other two groups: "No more holding the animals." So I didn't have to help them, which allowed me to go back over to the fish wall which had more customers waiting for me.
Ugh. Rushes.
In any case...
I find myself slightly irritated at the people who thought up this Scavenger hunt on a FRIDAY.
Seriously.
Fridays and Saturdays are the worst days to do such things.
Because we are busier on those days.
We don't always have time to humor people in their 'quests to hold animals.'
Unless they intend to buy, people who just want to 'look/hold/touch' are low on our priority list. If we're busy, we're less likely to allow people to just randomly hold the animals.
Especially when I'm by myself and in the middle of the rush.
I don't know why they decided to have one of the stops be a pet store.
I mean, its happened before.
And its quite easy. Answer a couple quick questions, let them hold an animal for thirty seconds. Walla, off they go and I'm free of them.
But the way the woman today, basically expected me to drop everything to go help her in her group's task....Bugged me a lot.
Yes. It's a game.
Yes its a competition.
But No. I'm not going to skip out on helping actual paying customers, in order to help people who may not ever come into the store again, for a possible chance to win a game that won't matter in the long run.... yah. Not high on my priority list.
I'm busy.
I'm by myself.
You can't expect me to not help customers.
You can't expect quick service when I have customers IN the store.
If they'd come earlier in the day.
I would have been fine with helping them.
I wouldn't have been busy with customers.
So I could have taken the time to cater to them.
But lunch time.
Bad time.
At least they were helped, and they seemed content to go onto their next task.
In the end.
I was just glad to get off work and away from the crazy.
Because the rush....was a rush, and they wear me out.
-Sarnic Dirchi
While I'm at work.
For there to randomly be a 'lunch time rush'
Rather odd, in the fact that we're a pet store...for people to come during 'lunch time'
But come they do.
At some point between 11-3pm there is a rush of people.
Most of them wanting fish.
Which was the case of today.
An hour before I was to get off my shift.
I got hit with a rush.
It wasn't the worst rush I experienced.
Mostly it was people getting fish, and they were taking forever to decide on what to get, or kept adding on fish they also wanted, or kept asking questions.
Which made it more time consuming, so people had to wait.
But they knew I was helping them as quickly as possible.
It's also difficult because during these rushes...I'm usually scheduled alone.
So there isn't somebody else to help me out.
*sighs*
Thankfully most of the time people are patient.
But today.
Was different.
Because it was a day where there was apparently a Scavenger Hunt. A Team Related Scavenger Hunt. Where each team (there had to be like 5 of them.) Were given a set of tasks and asked to complete them the fastest.
One of those tasks, apparently was to come to our PetStore.
The first I knew of them, was while I was in the middle of my fish rush.
And this crazy group of people came in.
Giving off the frenzied air.
Talking about fish.
I assumed they needed a fish.
But they asked me like three questions about the mollies and then rushed off with the words "Hurry, before the other team arrives!"
Which gave me the heads up...I'd be seeing another team of people soon.
And I assumed that they would be asking me similar questions.
Which are easy to answer while I'm catching and bagging fish.
So I was still in the middle of helping my fish customers.
When I got an overhead call to go to reptiles.
Busy with fish, I tried to get a manager to help these customers, as I was going to be a while longer, at least 10 minutes or so.
But everyone else was busy with customers as well. So these reptile customers had to wait.
As I was in the middle of helping one, and had two more to go after them before I'd be able to go help the customers with the reptiles.
I was in the middle of helping the second customer (with another after them.)
When a woman in pink comes up to me.
"Hi, is there anyone in the store that can help us?"
"You're with the reptiles?" I asked, figuring that was who was getting impatient.
"Yes."
I was right. "I'm sorry, I'm the only one here right now, I have two more customers to help with, and then I'll be right over."
"We're kinda in a hurry." She said, as if she's expecting me to drop everything and come right over. "We're on a scavenger hunt, we need to hold a snake, or a rat real quick and take a picture so we can get ahead of the other teams."
"I'm sorry, its going to be a while before I can get to you."
"Is there anything else we can do?"
"I know another group just asked me about fish."
"That's not what we have..."
"I'll be right over, I just have to help one more customer and I'll be with you."
So I rushed to help the last customer as quickly as I could.
Before going over to this group of scavengers.
To find that my manager had managed to get to them first.
But I still needed to help them quickly hold a snake (as they didn't get a picture of the girl holding a rat because the rat tried to jump away.)
Which I managed.
And there were TWO other scavenger groups along the animals as well.
I pictured a nightmare scene.
But thankfully, my manager told the other two groups: "No more holding the animals." So I didn't have to help them, which allowed me to go back over to the fish wall which had more customers waiting for me.
Ugh. Rushes.
In any case...
I find myself slightly irritated at the people who thought up this Scavenger hunt on a FRIDAY.
Seriously.
Fridays and Saturdays are the worst days to do such things.
Because we are busier on those days.
We don't always have time to humor people in their 'quests to hold animals.'
Unless they intend to buy, people who just want to 'look/hold/touch' are low on our priority list. If we're busy, we're less likely to allow people to just randomly hold the animals.
Especially when I'm by myself and in the middle of the rush.
I don't know why they decided to have one of the stops be a pet store.
I mean, its happened before.
And its quite easy. Answer a couple quick questions, let them hold an animal for thirty seconds. Walla, off they go and I'm free of them.
But the way the woman today, basically expected me to drop everything to go help her in her group's task....Bugged me a lot.
Yes. It's a game.
Yes its a competition.
But No. I'm not going to skip out on helping actual paying customers, in order to help people who may not ever come into the store again, for a possible chance to win a game that won't matter in the long run.... yah. Not high on my priority list.
I'm busy.
I'm by myself.
You can't expect me to not help customers.
You can't expect quick service when I have customers IN the store.
If they'd come earlier in the day.
I would have been fine with helping them.
I wouldn't have been busy with customers.
So I could have taken the time to cater to them.
But lunch time.
Bad time.
At least they were helped, and they seemed content to go onto their next task.
In the end.
I was just glad to get off work and away from the crazy.
Because the rush....was a rush, and they wear me out.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, July 9, 2015
MLAARE -Communication Starving
It happens every now and then.
That we sell out of a particular animal.
And people still want to get that type.
Most of the time its the creatures that we usually only get one of.
And if they're willing to wait for us to get our next shipment of animals in,
We usually write down their name, number, and the animal they're interested in.
and then wait. Wait until it arrives.
And then call the customer to let them know that we now have the animal back in stock.
Last weekend, I had such a note.
A woman was looking to buy a Crested Gecko.
And we were out.
but we Got one in.
Knowing that she wanted it.
I called her, but got a voicemail.
So I left a message.
and then, decided to leave our "This cage is Empty" sign, in the cage the gecko was in.
To make sure no one else sold it before the woman could come in.
I told another coworker, expecting them to pass the word along about the sign.
Before I left for a three day weekend away from work.
But apparently....the word wasn't passed along.
And my other coworkers thought the cage was empty.
And when the person came into the store to get the animal...she was told the cage was empty. And left.
So when I came into work Monday morning, and checked the cage just to be sure...
I was unhappy to see that the gecko was still there.
And most likely hadn't been fed at all during that time. >.< *sighs*
so I called the woman back.
Got word on the situation, and she said she would be in later that day to grab the gecko.
So I left the sign in (and fed the Gecko), making sure to tell two of my coworkers with explicit instructions to tell the next coworker that there was actually a gecko in the cage and a woman was coming to get it.
So the next day, when I came in.
I checked the cage.
And thought it was empty. Yay!
Only...to discover the day after....that the gecko was actually still in the cage!! (who knew where it was hiding as I thought I checked it really well... >.<)
Which meant...it probably hadn't been fed the last couple of days.
And unfortunately, I tossed the number, thinking the woman was going to come in...
(maybe she did and for one reason or another decided to not get it.)
In any case....
I made sure to feed the crested Gecko really well today,
And removed the sign.
Because obviously....it was throwing people off. (since it IS used to indicate that the cage is empty, its not a surprise people would assume its empty.)
So, hopefully, with the sign out of the cage...
this Gecko can quickly find his way to a new home. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
That we sell out of a particular animal.
And people still want to get that type.
Most of the time its the creatures that we usually only get one of.
And if they're willing to wait for us to get our next shipment of animals in,
We usually write down their name, number, and the animal they're interested in.
and then wait. Wait until it arrives.
And then call the customer to let them know that we now have the animal back in stock.
Last weekend, I had such a note.
A woman was looking to buy a Crested Gecko.
And we were out.
but we Got one in.
Knowing that she wanted it.
I called her, but got a voicemail.
So I left a message.
and then, decided to leave our "This cage is Empty" sign, in the cage the gecko was in.
To make sure no one else sold it before the woman could come in.
I told another coworker, expecting them to pass the word along about the sign.
Before I left for a three day weekend away from work.
But apparently....the word wasn't passed along.
And my other coworkers thought the cage was empty.
And when the person came into the store to get the animal...she was told the cage was empty. And left.
So when I came into work Monday morning, and checked the cage just to be sure...
I was unhappy to see that the gecko was still there.
And most likely hadn't been fed at all during that time. >.< *sighs*
so I called the woman back.
Got word on the situation, and she said she would be in later that day to grab the gecko.
So I left the sign in (and fed the Gecko), making sure to tell two of my coworkers with explicit instructions to tell the next coworker that there was actually a gecko in the cage and a woman was coming to get it.
So the next day, when I came in.
I checked the cage.
And thought it was empty. Yay!
Only...to discover the day after....that the gecko was actually still in the cage!! (who knew where it was hiding as I thought I checked it really well... >.<)
Which meant...it probably hadn't been fed the last couple of days.
And unfortunately, I tossed the number, thinking the woman was going to come in...
(maybe she did and for one reason or another decided to not get it.)
In any case....
I made sure to feed the crested Gecko really well today,
And removed the sign.
Because obviously....it was throwing people off. (since it IS used to indicate that the cage is empty, its not a surprise people would assume its empty.)
So, hopefully, with the sign out of the cage...
this Gecko can quickly find his way to a new home. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
MLAARE -Noisy Chaotic
There are some customers, that come into the store like a whirlwind.
Not in a "Make a mess of the store" sort of whirlwind,
But just like a...very noisy/chaotic scenario.
I had that happen today.
I happened to look towards the entrance of the store, when they came in. Parents, three children.
Their presence immediately spoke "trouble"
Not the 'bad' trouble but the "difficult customer" trouble.
Seriously, it felt like a thunderstorm breaking upon me.
What did they want?
Fish.
But it was difficult to help.
Because the father was loudly proclaiming that he wanted "Pregnant Mollies."
And the daughters were exclaiming what fish/frogs they wanted.
while the mother was like "No, no. No!" to everything with the one minded focus of "We have to get plecos because the tank is disgusting!"
Basically...they're the sort of customers where you speak very little, and try and help them as quickly as possible to make a choice, while trying to ensure that they don't try to put fish together that don't go together.
Plus, they were more impulse buyers as well. Starting with a few fish, but adding in more and more fish as they saw others in the store.
*sighs*
At least I got them on their way with their fish.
But after dealing with them, I really felt the need to go take a break.
To decompress.
Because wow.
They were a handful to deal with.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Not in a "Make a mess of the store" sort of whirlwind,
But just like a...very noisy/chaotic scenario.
I had that happen today.
I happened to look towards the entrance of the store, when they came in. Parents, three children.
Their presence immediately spoke "trouble"
Not the 'bad' trouble but the "difficult customer" trouble.
Seriously, it felt like a thunderstorm breaking upon me.
What did they want?
Fish.
But it was difficult to help.
Because the father was loudly proclaiming that he wanted "Pregnant Mollies."
And the daughters were exclaiming what fish/frogs they wanted.
while the mother was like "No, no. No!" to everything with the one minded focus of "We have to get plecos because the tank is disgusting!"
Basically...they're the sort of customers where you speak very little, and try and help them as quickly as possible to make a choice, while trying to ensure that they don't try to put fish together that don't go together.
Plus, they were more impulse buyers as well. Starting with a few fish, but adding in more and more fish as they saw others in the store.
*sighs*
At least I got them on their way with their fish.
But after dealing with them, I really felt the need to go take a break.
To decompress.
Because wow.
They were a handful to deal with.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
MLAARE -Check the Clogs
Our gravel vacuum broke at work yesterday.
In such a way that the usual methods of trying to fix it.
Resulted in nothing whatsoever being changed.
You see...gravel vacuums are supposed to suck up the gunk from the tanks.
The system we have sends the dirty water straight into a sink.
Only...
For some reason, the water flow wasn't sucking...it was sending water back into the tanks.
Which we really didn't need.
And I had no idea what was wrong with it.
My manager though, he asked "Did you check the other side." Meaning the part connecting to the sink. "To see if its clogged?"
I'd glanced at it. Had thought it looked clear.
but after he pulled apart the pieces, we found a build up of stuff trapped,
Making the suction weaken and weaken until it was nonexistent.
So he cleared it out.
And today, when I used it.
IT WORKED!
Yay! :D
It was back to its old fast self again,
Instead of the slow time consuming self it has been for the past couple of weeks.
-Sarnic Dirchi
In such a way that the usual methods of trying to fix it.
Resulted in nothing whatsoever being changed.
You see...gravel vacuums are supposed to suck up the gunk from the tanks.
The system we have sends the dirty water straight into a sink.
Only...
For some reason, the water flow wasn't sucking...it was sending water back into the tanks.
Which we really didn't need.
And I had no idea what was wrong with it.
My manager though, he asked "Did you check the other side." Meaning the part connecting to the sink. "To see if its clogged?"
I'd glanced at it. Had thought it looked clear.
but after he pulled apart the pieces, we found a build up of stuff trapped,
Making the suction weaken and weaken until it was nonexistent.
So he cleared it out.
And today, when I used it.
IT WORKED!
Yay! :D
It was back to its old fast self again,
Instead of the slow time consuming self it has been for the past couple of weeks.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, July 6, 2015
MLAARE -While I'm Helping
Its part of the job.
To help people.
One of the definitions of retail service is that....you help customers get what they want and make them happy right?
Well.
That's what I was doing.
My job.
I had an older customer come up to me,
Asking where the cat collars were.
So I showed him.
He picked them out.
Then said he needed to engrave a couple of tags.
So I told him where and how to get the engraving done.
But he'd forgotten his glasses that let him see the smaller prints.
And so, I told him I could help him.
Which I did.
Making sure that I typed in the right information onto the screen. Placed the tag in the right slot. Waited with him to make sure that the engraving happened as they'd been shown on the screen.
Seriously, nothing out of the ordinary.
But, at the end.
The guy pulled out his wallet.
I thought to put the tags in there.
Yet instead.
He fished out a couple dollar bills. And gave them to me. As a tip.
O.O
I got a tip.
So weird.
I tried to give it back, because I'm not supposed to accept tips. (I think...been a while since I read the rule book.) But in any case, Tips aren't required at the place I work at.
Yet here I was. With money in hand.
The guy refusing to take it back.
Soo
I got a tip. ^^
Awww. Definitely a feel good moment of the day. :D
I like it when people feel like I've done a great job. Usually giving me a compliment is enough, but I did like the variety of this. ^^ I doubt it will happen again any time soon though.
Which is perfectly alright with me. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
To help people.
One of the definitions of retail service is that....you help customers get what they want and make them happy right?
Well.
That's what I was doing.
My job.
I had an older customer come up to me,
Asking where the cat collars were.
So I showed him.
He picked them out.
Then said he needed to engrave a couple of tags.
So I told him where and how to get the engraving done.
But he'd forgotten his glasses that let him see the smaller prints.
And so, I told him I could help him.
Which I did.
Making sure that I typed in the right information onto the screen. Placed the tag in the right slot. Waited with him to make sure that the engraving happened as they'd been shown on the screen.
Seriously, nothing out of the ordinary.
But, at the end.
The guy pulled out his wallet.
I thought to put the tags in there.
Yet instead.
He fished out a couple dollar bills. And gave them to me. As a tip.
O.O
I got a tip.
So weird.
I tried to give it back, because I'm not supposed to accept tips. (I think...been a while since I read the rule book.) But in any case, Tips aren't required at the place I work at.
Yet here I was. With money in hand.
The guy refusing to take it back.
Soo
I got a tip. ^^
Awww. Definitely a feel good moment of the day. :D
I like it when people feel like I've done a great job. Usually giving me a compliment is enough, but I did like the variety of this. ^^ I doubt it will happen again any time soon though.
Which is perfectly alright with me. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 3, 2015
MLAARE -The Escape
It was time, to clean out the Aquatic Turtle cage.
Which is quite the process when it involves taking all the water out of the cage.
But it had to be done.
Because the turtles had taken their food, and spread it all over the place.
Giving the water a rather disgusting look.
So I slowly scooped out the water.
Watching the turtles run about on dry land. (which was rather entertaining.)
And after a quick wipe down,
Left to go get fresh water to put back in the tank.
I wasn't gone long.
So I felt confident in leaving the glass doors to the cage open.
After all there was a ledge.
I doubted the turtles could climb out.
But when I returned
and put decorations back into the tank.
I realized....
That there was one turtle missing.
The smallest one. The African Sideneck.
It confused me.
Because I couldn't see how the Turtle could disappear.
So I looked more, as the turtle can blend in well in the tank.
But just as I was sitting back.
A stocker called out to me.
"One of your turtles escaped."
I looked up to him.
"Where?"
And he said "It crawled under the isle over there."
So across the store I dashed to the isles there.
Wondering, how did he get over there so quickly!
Still, I fished the turtle out from his hiding place and returned him to his cage where he'd be much happier swimming in water than crawling around on a cold floor.
At least we found the turtle before it completely vanished.
Though it would have been more helpful.
If the stocker had picked up the turtle, and brought it to me, instead of standing there watching it attempt to make its escape.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which is quite the process when it involves taking all the water out of the cage.
But it had to be done.
Because the turtles had taken their food, and spread it all over the place.
Giving the water a rather disgusting look.
So I slowly scooped out the water.
Watching the turtles run about on dry land. (which was rather entertaining.)
And after a quick wipe down,
Left to go get fresh water to put back in the tank.
I wasn't gone long.
So I felt confident in leaving the glass doors to the cage open.
After all there was a ledge.
I doubted the turtles could climb out.
But when I returned
and put decorations back into the tank.
I realized....
That there was one turtle missing.
The smallest one. The African Sideneck.
It confused me.
Because I couldn't see how the Turtle could disappear.
So I looked more, as the turtle can blend in well in the tank.
But just as I was sitting back.
A stocker called out to me.
"One of your turtles escaped."
I looked up to him.
"Where?"
And he said "It crawled under the isle over there."
So across the store I dashed to the isles there.
Wondering, how did he get over there so quickly!
Still, I fished the turtle out from his hiding place and returned him to his cage where he'd be much happier swimming in water than crawling around on a cold floor.
At least we found the turtle before it completely vanished.
Though it would have been more helpful.
If the stocker had picked up the turtle, and brought it to me, instead of standing there watching it attempt to make its escape.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, July 2, 2015
MLAARE -Tarantula Cleaning
Spiders are creepy.
The way they move their legs as they wander about.
It's just....disturbing. Weird. Totally creepy.
And now we sell them in our store. Tarantulas.
Personally, I was hoping that we'd sell through the spiders quickly enough, that I would never need to change their cages out, and risk getting bitten, or worse having them escape into the store. :S
If not that, then at least, have me not be scheduled to clean their cages when it came time to clean it out.
Sadly, that's not how it went today. :(
Well....it could have gone that way.
As another coworker had taken the side that housed the tarantula. I technically could have avoided handling it at all.
Instead I had the side with the scorpion. Which also I would rather not have anything to do with, but I managed to clean that cage with no problems.
My other coworker was busy...
So I took on the challenge.
At first,
It was easy.
Using the end of a small hand broom I gently nudged the creature into a separate container, letting me quickly clean the cage.
I thought it would be just as easy to get the little creepy thing back into its smaller container.
Not so.
It crawled right in, right out, onto the edge.
So fast.
So creepy.
Ahh!
I was afraid it was going to escape!
It was basically escaped!
Not contained, in the open air of the store. It was basically escaped!
And there was no way I was going to try and pick it up.
I did not want to end up bitten, did not want it to crawl anywhere on me.
So how was I to get the thing back into its cage when it was clinging to the outside.
I tried the small broom handle.
And managed to get it into the bigger container...
For it to climb right out of that.
For it to climb on the broom.
For it to climb all over.
Oh, it was terrifying how quickly it moved.
Literally it could in a totally different area in two seconds.
Gah!
Literally I wanted to scream and run away.
At any second it could be on me, could be biting me, could be *shudders*
But I persevered.
Getting more worried as well, for the store was just opening, people were coming in to shop. And I had a spider that could escape further than the outside edge of the container I was trying to get it into.
Finally though.
I got it inside its cage.
Back to where it could no longer escape.
Locked away.
Gah. Totally terrifying.
I never want to have to deal with that again.
Its only a matter of time before the spider escapes for real. :S
But, my coworker was surprised.
When I told them that I had changed the cage for them.
They were like "How'd you do that?"
And I was like "I moved the spider to another container, and then spent twice as long trying to get it back inside."
Maybe there is an easier way.....
-Sarnic Dirchi
The way they move their legs as they wander about.
It's just....disturbing. Weird. Totally creepy.
And now we sell them in our store. Tarantulas.
Personally, I was hoping that we'd sell through the spiders quickly enough, that I would never need to change their cages out, and risk getting bitten, or worse having them escape into the store. :S
If not that, then at least, have me not be scheduled to clean their cages when it came time to clean it out.
Sadly, that's not how it went today. :(
Well....it could have gone that way.
As another coworker had taken the side that housed the tarantula. I technically could have avoided handling it at all.
Instead I had the side with the scorpion. Which also I would rather not have anything to do with, but I managed to clean that cage with no problems.
My other coworker was busy...
So I took on the challenge.
At first,
It was easy.
Using the end of a small hand broom I gently nudged the creature into a separate container, letting me quickly clean the cage.
I thought it would be just as easy to get the little creepy thing back into its smaller container.
Not so.
It crawled right in, right out, onto the edge.
So fast.
So creepy.
Ahh!
I was afraid it was going to escape!
It was basically escaped!
Not contained, in the open air of the store. It was basically escaped!
And there was no way I was going to try and pick it up.
I did not want to end up bitten, did not want it to crawl anywhere on me.
So how was I to get the thing back into its cage when it was clinging to the outside.
I tried the small broom handle.
And managed to get it into the bigger container...
For it to climb right out of that.
For it to climb on the broom.
For it to climb all over.
Oh, it was terrifying how quickly it moved.
Literally it could in a totally different area in two seconds.
Gah!
Literally I wanted to scream and run away.
At any second it could be on me, could be biting me, could be *shudders*
But I persevered.
Getting more worried as well, for the store was just opening, people were coming in to shop. And I had a spider that could escape further than the outside edge of the container I was trying to get it into.
Finally though.
I got it inside its cage.
Back to where it could no longer escape.
Locked away.
Gah. Totally terrifying.
I never want to have to deal with that again.
Its only a matter of time before the spider escapes for real. :S
But, my coworker was surprised.
When I told them that I had changed the cage for them.
They were like "How'd you do that?"
And I was like "I moved the spider to another container, and then spent twice as long trying to get it back inside."
Maybe there is an easier way.....
-Sarnic Dirchi
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