Buddies

I heard the call come in over the intercom.
That someone in my department was needed over at the cats.
More than likely because a customer just wanted to hold them and then go on their merry way.
And since I was the only one in my department at that time.
I went over there.
And I was right.
In that the customer and her daughter wanted to hold one of the cats.

But, they wanted to hold it to see if the daughter and the cat would get along together. If they did, then more than likely they were going to adopt him. :)

Normally not something to be remarked upon, as that's what every parent wants. To make sure animal and kid are going to play nice together.

But this case was slightly different.
In that the daughter was special needs.

I don't recall seeing the mother daughter duo before.
But apparently they come in all the time to look at all the animals and see the cats.
Which by that point, the daughter just wants to go home. She doesn't care about the cats.
Yet today, today, she took a liking to one of the cats.
Wanting to take it home. Hold it. Have it. You couldn't really take her away from the cage before she was right back at it, wanting to hold the cat.

It was out of the blue. And the mother knew it. So she decided to just see how the daughter would do. How the cat would do.
To see if the daughter actually liked the cat outside of the cage as much as she liked him in the cage.

This particular cat had just come into the store. Probably not even an hour ago. So I didn't know his personality at all. But, he was purring as soon as I took him out. Nice. Calm. Not struggling or scared.

I had him on my lap.
And the daughter moved forward to pick him up.
Both ands coming around the neck and lifting him. :S
AH! Uh. No. No child! Not by the neck!

The mom and I were quick to tell her not to do that. And the mom was great and showed her how to hold the cat, what to do, what not to do, etc.

The cat was a champ through it all.
He just purred, even as she was squeezing him much tighter than necessary.
He would just tense up, try to pull away, but once the squeezing became less strangling, he would relax right back down. Purring content.

It's not often that you see a pairing like this come together.
Where it seems like it's made to be.

I wonder if there was some sort of connection felt, where the daughter recognized that this cat would do well with her, and the cat knew that she needed him.

I had my reservations. About her having the cat. Because of the squeezing and such.
I suggested that the daughter needs to have more time around cats and learn how to handle them, but that this cat seemed mellow enough.
And the mom assuaged my concerns by stating that the daughter wouldn't hold the cat without her around etc.

It was just...one of those things, where you felt bad about splitting them up.
lol.
So the mom decided to get the cat. :)

Which meant grabbing paper work.
Which meant putting the cat back in the cage.

Which the daughter didn't like at all.
As I opened the cage to slip the cat inside.
She slammed it shut, nearly catching me and the cat in the crosshairs if I hadn't pulled back. :S Yikes!
It was hard enough where I was like "You could have broken something kid!" Because those are metal doors and they HURT when you get hit by them. Trust me, I got enough bumps on the head to prove that. lol.
Thankfully we were both okay, she just didn't want us to take the cat away from her. :)

So in the end.
Cat got a new home, daughter got a new friend. I hope they have a great friendship together. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

How to Lift 150 gallons

We had a customer who wanted to buy a 150 gallon tank.
Like the heaviest tank in the store to move.
It takes 4 guys to move it.

And unfortunately....we only had one guy at work and he'd just gone on lunch and wouldn't be back for an hour. :S
Thankfully, the customers had to go grab their truck and ended up shopping for a bit so they were ready to purchase just as the one guy manager showed back up from his lunch break.

And lucky us, we managed to find two other guys -besides husband and my one coworker -in the store. -We borrowed two of the guys in the vet clinic - to help us move the tank.

It was kinda annoying though.
As we had another manager on duty.....who possibly could have helped out.
-As I write this, I remember she has trouble with her back sometimes....I think.

And I thought she was going to help out.
Until I got told that she'd already gone home.
As she was due to head home at the same time as the other manager got back from lunch.

I just found it.....annoying.
I mean, she knew that we needed help with this 150 gallon tank.
She's probably the strongest out of all us girls in the store.
And yet....she left.
She didn't even stick around to see if we figured out how to move that tank.

Granted, she may have had other errands and such where she couldn't stick around.
But seriously?
 You couldn't have just hung out to make sure we could find enough people to move the tank??

So.
annoying.

-Sarnic Dirchi

So, You Meant Yes?

I had a customer come into the store, up to our cricket area.
Where I was standing.
So I, since it's my job, asked him. "Hello, can I help you?"
He frowned down at the crickets. and said "Technically no."
Before I could respond. He added.
"I just need 80 of these." Pointing down to the large crickets we carry.

O.o
.....You see, in order to get those crickets...I would need to be the one to catch them, and bag them.

As we don't let customers bag their own crickets.

So....How could I 'technically' not help him?

That's what I don't understand.
He said No.
But....
He couldn't not get help.

So....shouldn't he just have said "Yes, I need 80 crickets?" Would have made it less confusing on my head to be told no, and then been required to help anyways....

-Sarnic Dirchi

In Charge?

I'm getting so tired of the word 'we' around my store.
Especially when it's used by my manager BB.

Why?
Because for BB 'we' doesn't mean, you and I.
No I've decided that whenever BB says 'we should do something' that she actually means. 'I' should do something.
That I should take responsibility.
That I should be in charge.
That I should ensure whatever needs to get done, gets done.

And it's frankly getting annoying.

Because I feel like BB doesn't understand what all I already do to make sure that the department keeps running as well as it has been.
All the paperwork, all the ordering, all the cleaning tasks, all the managing of my coworkers.

And then BB goes ahead and tries to add to the workload. Wanting 'us' to do this and that. When in reality. It's just me.
*shakes head*

I can halfway understand it.
because while BB is the manager over me, she's never scheduled to work in the department.
And since I'm the lead under her. I'm there 99% more often than she is....
But honestly....if they want to treat me like a manager....they should pay me like a manager. Not expect me to do their jobs for them for less pay. >.<
Or at least be more willing to be a 'team' player in the term 'we' instead of a 'leader to underling' use of 'we'

-Sarnic Dirchi

Squeak Squeakers

I've seen the mouse before.
In the store.
A wild grey one.
That runs and skitters out of sight whenever we suddenly startle it in the back janitor area.

It's been here and there for months now.
I didn't think much of it.
I figured it would eventually leave (why would it? food gets spilled all the time, it would have an endless supply)

But...I don't think anyone ever counted on the single mouse bringing friends.

I mean, we have traps set...which should trap the mice.
Only....apparently mice don't go 'exploring' they run along the walls. So if the trap is turned the wrong way. The mouse won't turn and go into it.

So the traps...useless.

And so what did my Head Manager find a few days ago?
Well...
He picked up a box that was in the janitor area.
And what was in it?
Two litters of baby mice. O.O Like 12 in total! Of two different sizes meaning that there was actually two litters of them.
O.o

But there's more.

For...well forever really but more like maybe two months?
Our floor scrubbing machine has been broken.
So our cleaning guy has been taking a mop and bucket to the floor for the past little while.
While we waited a day and a night and another month to finally have a guy come in and fix the machine.
-Honestly I thought we would just get a whole new scrubbing machine.
But instead we had a guy come fix it.

And what did he find inside of the machine?
Yah.
:S
Mice.
Lots and lots of mice.

I have no idea how many. It could have been 2 or 20 or any number inbetween.
But it was a lot of mice.

Our one little mouse had brought friends.

I'm not sure if we got rid of them all.
Or if we need to have someone come in to get them all.
Or since we destroyed their homes they decided to leave.

but it's rather crazy to think we had a whole colony of mice living in the back area of our store and we never realized it. O.o

Thankfully we discovered them.
So if they haven't been taken care of already, they will be soon.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sure, Blame the Fish

Some days I wonder if a customer is exaggerating when they tell me that they're 'never going to come back' to my store.

I mean...I can understand that it is possible. To never go back. Because there are a few places that I only enter with great reluctance....because of bad experiences there.

But...still I wonder.

I had a customer come in today.
With a bag of five dead fish.
Telling me that he was going to get his money back and probably never come back to the store.

Why?
Because we sold him a fish.
That ended up getting sick with Ick.
Got the rest of his fish sick with ick.
Killing off some of the fish.

So he came into the store for a treatment.
And has been treating his tank.
But still more fish are dying.

All because of one fish he'd bought from us.

Like....I could believe that possible. That one fish can get an entire tank sick.
But....it really is hard to know for sure...I mean, perhaps he overstocked his tank. Or stressed it out with too many water changes or whatever.

Honestly...
I can understand his frustration.
I find it hard to believe he's spent $100-$200 on fish with us....that ended up dying, but you know...people exaggerate when they're upset.

I would be upset too.
To buy all these fish.
Have it perfect.
And then the fish dies off.
The treatments don't seem to be working.
And since everything was fine before the fish.
Safe to assume it would be the new addition to the tank....

*shakes head*
In any case.
I helped him as best I could.
I think I managed to calm him down.
Got his fish all returned.
Talked to him about other possible solutions.

Corrected him on a couple of things he'd read wrong.
-He's one of those to look up everything on the internet...which is helpful....to a point, but not everything you read on the internet is correct.

But hopefully. He left feeling a little bit better about his situation.
Maybe he will come back....and shop with us again due to my attempts to rectify the situation.
It's hard to know for sure.
*shrugs* At least he was a lot calmer and happier when he left though....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Dog Food Quandry

I had a customer come up to me today, asking if I could help her, as she couldn't find the particular bag of dog food that she usually buys.
As she was looking for just the 'original' bag.

....It's an unfortunate thing with dog food bags....
The companies always feel like they need to, every now and then, switch up the design package.
Tinker with the ingredients, the look, the style, the shape...etc.

Which when there is no notice given to these changes.
Can really throw a customer for a loop.

Especially this customer.
Who was looking for the original 'chicken flavor'
Not this 'chicken and rice and barley junk'

So, to double check, I checked in with the manager, who said that it should be the same food, just a different packaging.

Which I told her. That it should be the same, that it most likely would be fine.
She didn't like those 'should and most likelies' that I tossed her way.
but I told her that I normally work over by the fish, so my knowledge of the dog food is very basic, so I'm not sure that it's the same food, that it won't harm your dog.

All I know is that you asked for a certain brand of food.
I found the brand.
Realized that what you were describing wasn't there under the same label anymore.
So I found one that best fit the description of the dog given to me.
Which was a 6 year old german shepherd.
So I told her to go for the 6+ Large Breed food. As it was chicken flavored.

But she really didn't like that the rice and barley were mentioned. Because she didn't know if they changed the recipe or not.
I told her that all I was aware of is that the brand of food she wanted now contains barley. (it may have contained it before, but whoever looks at the labels on their dog food?) And that some dogs don't like the barley in their food.
-A fact I knew because I had an old coworker come complaining about just that. That the brand of food that he wanted that the lady also wanted, now contained barley and his dogs wouldn't eat it with that in it.
otherwise....I didn't know, but it didn't hurt to try it, especially since she was adamant that her dog would eat 'any kibble placed in front' of them. So just try it out. We have a window where you can return the food if the dog ends up not liking it.
so it's not like you're losing out on money, (unless you miss the deadline.)

So I finally convinced her on the food she wanted,
And not ten minutes later.
I get stopped by another gentleman who is looking for a specific brand of Dogfood that he can't find but he knows we carry. As he's bought it here before. (different brand of food from the lady above.)
So I head to the aisle he pointed at.
listening to him describing the package and the information about his dog.
As he was looking for one that was for 'sensitive stomachs.'
Which....the brand of food he was looking at, has four different types of food within the brand you can pick out.
But I figured, he was looking on the wrong side.
Focused on the 'original' type of food.
Instead of looking behind him.
Where we had a whole section of dog food dedicated to dogs with sensitive stomachs so that they can eat and digest them easier.
So I pointed that out.
And he pointed to a bag and was like "That's it! That's what I get. Only it's in a bigger bag!"
Problem was, he pointed to the small breed packaging.
Which doesn't come in a large size.
Small dogs don't eat as much as large dogs. ;) lol

I still went and found a manager and asked them to come double check and he confirmed that we didn't carry that specific one in a larger bag.
Only for him to then realize that all the bags in that section were designed to help dogs with sensitive stomachs. So he could pick from those, and he found his 'correct' bag.

*shakes head*
I really like it when the customer takes a picture or brings in their bag of dog food, so I can better match what food they're looking for.
Because I really don't know much about the dog food, nor do I look inside the bags and see what the kibble looks like. Sooo
Any little bit of information that they can provide is useful. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Cleaning Ever Cleaning

So today, BB comes up to me and hands me a card, with some information on it, telling me to read it and then sign.

Which I started to do.
Only then I got distracted with a call over the system asking me to go up to the register. And other customers needing help.
So I signed the back....and as I did so.
She was like "Did you read it?"
And I was like "Ya--no.."
As I realized I'd been just staring at it, but not really taking what I was seeing in.

So I had to do a quick glance from it.
To learn that the card was about things we can do in the store to keep it a safe environment for everyone there. "Housekeeping."

Which basically was. "Clean up any garbage you see on the ground, wipe up spills, if you can't get to a spill right away get a 'caution wet floor sign' and place it there so customers don't end up walking into smelly things." etc etc.
All stuff that I know....

Which is funny.
Because earlier....I think it was earlier today, it might have even been yesterday.

One of our DogFood representatives -a person who comes in on behalf of a certain company in order to endorse/sell their dog food to customers over other foods....
Commented, as I was cleaning up a section where dog poop had been smashed and tracked about creating a huge stink in the store....

That I was the only one she ever saw cleaning up messes.
lol.

So it's funny that BB wanted me to read the card,
When I was already doing the stuff that was on the card.
I mean, if I have time/I've finished my duties, I'll take a moment to grab a mop and a bucket and clean up spills I've noticed.

I think our main problem...
Is that we have a bunch of new coworkers, who aren't always aware that we're responsible to clean up messes in the store if a customer who doesn't pay attention or chooses to be rude and not clean up after their pet.
Or if they're aware they think. "Someone else will get that." *shakes head*

Still.
It's good to know that I'm ahead of the curve. lol
Not hard to be since I've been in the store much longer than any of my associates. I've had the same talk the year before that, and the year before that.... ;) lol

-Sarnic Dirchi

3 Fish In a Tank

It's fun to deal with those customers that want to know everything about the pet they're about to get. Set up wise, care wise, etc.

You know...until they go all crazy obsessive monster customer on you...then you just sit there wondering what you've unleashed....

In any case.
I had a couple of customers come into the store today.
To look at the fish.
As they've just set up a nice big tank...a 60 gallon I think they said it was.
Which they've had circulating for a little bit.

And they just wanted to have some answers.
As they'd gone to a different pet store before mine.
And the guy there had told them that they could only have 3 fish in their tank.
O.o
Which for a 60 gallon....unless the guy they talked to was thinking about Goldfish/Koi or Tiger Oscar Cichlids....
Didn't seem right.

And they agreed that that didn't seem right either.
So they came to my store and bumped into me. lol

Honestly.....I'm wondering if the guy meant you shouldn't add more than like 3 fish at a time.
Because that's what I tell my customers all the time.
That you don't want to add in a ton of fish to your tank all at once.
Otherwise your fish will get stressed out, and possibly die.

Sooo depending on what size of tank they have.
Depends on how many fish I tell them to add that week.
As the rule of thumb for most fish (Cichlids and Goldfish excluded) is that one inch of fish is going to need one gallon of water.
So if you have a fish that gets three inches when it's full grown, it's going to need 3 gallons of your tank.
So if you have like a 10 gallon tank, you have 10 inches of fish.
A 60 gallon tank would then be 60 inches of fish.

We usually recommend adding no more than half of your inches into your tank at once.
So the 10 gallon tank usually is 2 or 3 fish.

While the 60...I told the customers that I would recommend only adding 5 or 6 fish this week. Just to see how they do. And then add in others in the next week.

Talking to them, I discovered that they were really interested in getting some angelfish.
But since their tank is brand new, I cautioned (and they listened!) that you should wait to buy the angelfish until the tank is more established. Like they would be the last fish you add into the tank, because they can be more delicate/sensitive to new tanks.
-Which the other guy had failed to tell them.-

So I spent a good twenty or so minutes talking to them about the various fish, weighing their options, telling them what order I would recommend getting their fish in, etc.

And it was really rewarding.
To hear how appreciative they were of the help I offered them.
That I was willing to teach them what I knew.
So that they could start off their tank on the right foot.

lol.
So now I'm just crossing my fingers that they don't end up having a ton of struggles with their tank because of information I told them. :S
After all....each tank is going to be different, will have different issues, I just hope they don't have any major ones.... :S

-Sarnic Dirchi

Stay. Good Customer

You know what bugs me?
Customers that don't listen to me.

Specifically, the customers that want me to go find something for them, or see if I have more of something in our back area for them, or if I need to go ask a manager a question to get the answer that I didn't know myself/wanted to double check on.

So, I tell them. "Just wait here and I'll go check it out, Be right back."

And guess what they don't do?
Yah.
Wait there.

The customer will end up doing one of two things.
The first one is that they'll wander off elsewhere in the store as I go in search of whatever they're looking for.
So when I returned to where I left them....
They've vanished.
Which results in me having to hunt them down....if they're even still in the store.
A more difficult task considering I see so many faces in a day, that I'm not always sure what the customers I'm looking for look like....
Seriously....how hard is it to stay put?
Pretty hard apparently, in a pet store....you just have to wander around and look at our products and the animals and generally disappear from the section they were in....

But the second thing.
Is that I'll say "Wait here, I'll go find/go get etc."
And they Follow. Me.

I'll turn around and they'll be waiting right there.
Which is irksome.
Because it's like they don't trust me to come back. That they have to actually see for themselves that I'm looking for their product or going to go find a manager.
Paranoid these customers.
Nosey these customers.

Honestly. Just stay where you are.
Be a good customer. And. Stay.

I don't need to have to turn around and tell you to get out of the employee only section, or to walk out of the section and have you waiting right there for me like a cat in front of a mouse hole. Or not get a chance to tell the manager the situation out of earshot of you if you're right behind me. Just. Stay unless I tell you to follow me. Okay?

I'm a big girl, I can leave and come back without you having to keep an eye on me. *shakes head*

So.
Annoying.

-Sarnic Dirchi

On the Log

So my manager has been in a 'hounding' mood again.
Where she randomly shows up and tells me all the things that 'we' need to be doing to get the department in tip top shape and running smoothly like a well oiled machine.

.....the problem is....
BB is never in the department.
She's never scheduled to work over here.
Sooo whenever she says "we" I know she means. "You." as in....I have to do it.
And she'll expect me to do it and then think it's 'team work' because she said 'we' instead of 'you', but I'm not fooled.

In any case.
In one of her hounding rampages I had to deal with the other day,
She wanted to know what we could do to better our Aquatic Turtle habitat.
As we just had to take a Turtle to the vet for shell rot.....rot that was soo deep, that the poor turtle ended up having to be put to sleep. :( Because it's chances for survival...was 1% after 6 months of everyday medications, plus time for the shell to heal....
:(

So she wanted to know what could be done to prevent it from happening again....
Which it's really hard to know for sure because we're already doing basically everything possible to ensure the turtles have good care. Their water is cleaned once a week, they're given food, they have their heat.....

Honestly, at that point in time, all I could think of was to start feeding our turtles some feeder goldfish and give them more protein to their diet.

But today, as I did the water change.
I tried to think of something different to do.
Which, I ended up getting a brand new filter cartridge in our filter that's in the tank, as who knows how long it's been since that's been changed out. :S Hopefully that would help the water stay clearer, and healthier for longer with that brand new foamy stuff inside of it.

Then....
As I was pulling the decorations out.
-Which consisted of a wooden log and a long decorative algae leaf plant thing....
I noticed that the log...
had some sort of white fungasy growth on it.

And I had to wonder....
Was it the log that was getting the turtles sick? Was it the log that had somehow caused the shell rot?
It's hard to know for sure.
but fungus covered log is a definite "do not have in tank" sort of alarm.
So I took it out,
And placed some other decorations in the tank that will hopefully help the turtles to get out of the water easier and to not get sick from them....as they're decorative stone thingies....

Hopefully it's the log....we'll see. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Show of Concern

I had a customer come into the store today.
A regular.
One who owns a ton of conures/parrots. Most of which he's rescued from less than good homes.

He's one that's always talking about building a huge aviary to keep all his birds in. One that will be easy to clean and not so much work as his current place.

And he wants me to come and work with him, work with the birds when all is said and done.

Which is....all well and good....
Only the birds are probably my least favorite animal to work with in the store.
And my willingness to go work there wasn't at all increased when he showed me all the wounds he's gotten from his various birds.
:S
Ha....no thanks. I'd rather not get scarred up from those beaks. The parakeets are bad enough, I don't want to even think what a parrot beak can do.

In any case.

He asked how I was doing, as we haven't seen each other in a bit.
Mostly because our bird section of supplies in the store shrunk drastically, and he can find better deals for all the supplies he needs online.

So I told him a bit about some health issues I've been dealing with.

And he was the sweetest guy.
Seeming to show genuine concern over my issues, wanting to know if I had the money to cover medical expenses, how bad was it, was I really sick (don't think I am...it's a bacteria infection from fish tank water we believe.) And such.

And it was really....nice.
To have someone showing so much concern over me.
So much worry.
and like an uncle or grandfather. He gave me a hug, which I really needed. Telling me it would all work out and such, and to let him know if there was anything he could do to help.

Lol.
It was sweet of him. :)
It's a good feeling when you've made a good impression on customers that they worry about you when you're not doing well. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Two Bags Full, Ma'am

It's not uncommon for customers to bring us back dead fish in little plastic baggies.
After all, in order to get a replacement fish within our stated time frame...
They have to bring proof that their fish actually died, along with a receipt saying that they purchased the fish at our location within our time frame.

Now most people usually bring in 1-3 dead fish at a time.
Occasionally, we have people bring in bigger numbers 5-10 dead fish.
But for the most part. It's 1-3.

Today was one of those weird "every one is doing it days."
I feel like I helped six or seven customers in a row who came in with a dead fish.
(Okay, it was more like 3 or 4...)
But it ended with this gentleman...
Who I'd helped like a weekish ago.

He'd come into the store while I was there to return some aggressive mollies.
And ended up buying 20 neon tetras and 10 red wag platys.
Even after stating that he shouldn't add so many fish at once. On multiple occasions.

It's hard to forget this customer.
As when I met him, he wanted me to fish out all the fish in our Tropical Community Display Fish Tank so he could put them all into his own tank in his home.
Ha.
Ha.
Ha.
Our fish are display fish for a reason.
It's because they aren't for sale.

-Technically they can be for sale, most of them, but they aren't in our system and it's a time consuming hassle to fish the fish out. Which, in the process, destroys the tank set up.
So to keep our tank looking nice and pretty and to stop us from wasting time.
We have a rule to not sell the fish from our three display tanks.

Which I had to tell him like three or four times before he understood.
They. Are. Not. For. Sale.
And that we carry the exact same fish in our tanks.
They may be smaller, but they are still the same fish.
That's why it's a display tank. Because we're displaying fish sell here in the store.
(And the occasional random fish that we get in that isn't in our system.)

That didn't stop him from taking up like an hour of my time though.
Asking a ton of questions, with me having to repeat everything I told him more than twice.
So he could try and get a similar set up to ours.

And in the end. He got those 20 neons and 10 red wags.

So.
fast forward to now.
Today.
He comes in while I'm in the middle of a rush of people.
And in typical fashion expects to be helped right away.
Which I couldn't do because I had a line of customers I needed to help first.
Boy, he was halfway annoying, never being more than like two steps away from me the entire time.
Like he feared I would run away and not help him.

When I finally got to him what does he do?
He plops down two big sandwich bags.
Full of dead fish.
There had to have been at least thirty or so in each bag.
Mostly guppies.

O.o
Huh?

It turns out, the fish he bought from us, had some sort of disease (so he says. really with fish its hard to know.) that infected his entire tank, and ended up killing a bunch of his Guppies. -Ones that he's bred and such.
(Pretty sure he just stuck too many fish into his 60 gallon tank at one time.)

And brought all those dead fish over to us.
So we could determine what exactly the disease was that killed them, so we could then show him the treatment that he needed to use to help keep his other fish healthy.

My opinion, was that the fish were suffering from a fin rot.
As their fins were all jaggedy -though if the dead fish was in the tank for a bit, the fins would get jaggedy anyways.-
Problem is....Fin Rot can be caused either by a bacterial infection, or a fungal infection....
And there isn't really an easy way to tell.

So I gave him a chemical that would help with the bacterial version of fin rot, as that was my best guess as to what the fish would be suffering fro based on the information I knew.
Gave him his money back for the fish he'd lost (all the neons and over half of his platys)

And sent him on his way.

But seriously....
It was disgusting to have to deal with like 60 frozen/dead/rotting fish!!
Honestly.
I can figure out the problem just as easily from one or two dead fish as from 100 dead fish.
*shakes head*

Hopefully the treatment works, and that he doesn't come back bringing a ton of dead fish.
....Hopefully I don't see him the next time he comes in....and he can deal with a different coworker. lol. ;)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Not Coming In

It's so weird to me.
To have my coworkers call in sick.
O.o

I mean....I can understand why they do it.
It's no fun to work while sick.
Especially if you can barely stand up or talk or see or whatever....

But it's really weird to me.
Because as of yet *knock on wood*
I haven't called in sick before.....

Maybe I just have an immune system that can fight off the more devastating bugs that go around.
Or I'm just stubborn and I'll go into work anyways when I'm not feeling the best.

I mean, I've had to leave work early a handful of times. Because I really couldn't work like I thought I could.
But I've always shown up and tried to do my job.

I suppose its the responsible side of me,
That doesn't want to let my coworkers down.
Doesn't want to cause trouble.
Make things difficult for my coworkers.

Because I know how it feels to have to suddenly find people to cover the sick coworkers.
It's stressful, and not fun.

And more often than not, if the coworker that calls in sick, is my replacement coworker for the dept when I get off my shift....
I end up having to stay a little later to cover most if not all of the missing shift hours until the person after the sick coworker can show up.

So, this morning.
When my coworker called in sick.
And I checked the schedule and realized that she was supposed to be my replacement.
I figured I would have to cover some of her shift.

Which.....considering I'm scheduled for 40 hours... this week....
Isn't good.
As work doesn't like having to pay you overtime.

So I was half hopeful.
That the fact I was full time would deter them from asking me to stay later.

Still.
I planned for it.
Planned to stay one or two more hours after my shift ended.

And I ended up being right.

Because out of like the five other people we could call.....
Nobody was available to come in.
XP Bleh. I think everyone just wanted their day off too much to answer a work call. *sighs*

Which left me needing to stay two hours past the end of my shift.
As the coworker coming in after my sick coworker could only make it in an hour earlier than she was scheduled.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Because I'd had all shift to mentally prepare to have to stay longer.
So I didn't mind it as much.
Plus thankfully, it wasn't crazy busy at that point of time.
So I could just kinda chill out once all my tasks were done. Which due to customers actually coming into the store....I didn't get done til a bit after I was supposed to get off anyways.
so in the end it all worked out. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Counting We Will Go

So, every now and then, we have to count all the animals in the store.
To ensure that everything is accurate between what is actually in the store, and what the system says we have in the store.
Basically this count is a 'fresh beginning.'

Now, last year, we got a notice that we only needed to do this 'fresh start' count once a year.
Why?
Because Every. Single. Week.
We count the animals.
Literally. We do.
Because if we don't count them every week, then we don't have an accurate inventory of our animals, and therefore wouldn't get anymore animals in because the system would think we would still have some.
So. We count every week.

Which means....it doesn't make a lot of sense as to why we need to do a 'fresh start' count every quarter like we'd been doing before.
It's basically wasted time.
So last year.
They said it would only be once a year.

However....
Things apparently change.
And we're back to doing them every quarter.
Which should mean every four months or so.

But it's stupid the count we did tonight.
Because literally we had to do the same count just TWO months ago. Back in January.
So it makes no sense whatsoever to have to do it again!

But again we did it.

And 7,051 animals later.

We had finished our count.

My eyes hurt....those fish are not easy to count. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Still Frozen?

The box had been sitting there since yesterday.
I know, because I remembered seeing it.

But the box wasn't obviously labeled as anything.
So automatically I assumed it didn't apply to my department at all.

Unfortunately.
It did.

When we opened the box this morning.
What did we discover?

It was a box containing a bunch of frozen fish food. :S
Fish food that had been delivered around 24 hours ago.

My head manager was like "Oh great! That's a huge loss to us! We're going to have to throw it all away because it's all warm now!"

But!
All was not lost.

Because upon opening the Styrofoam box.
That had had a ton of dry ice (now melted) in it.

I discovered that all the frozen food....
Was still frozen!!

Still nice and cold to the touch.
Not thawed at all!

Yes!
We totally dodged a bullet there.

I made sure to get it all into the freezer.....
Just in time for another box of frozen fish food to be delivered.
This time, the managers made sure to take it right over to my department for me to unload. lol.

So into the freezer it all went.

To wait for a customer to come and buy it. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Gone Like That

I looked up from my task of cleaning out the reptile cages.
Just in time to see one of my coworker heading out of the door.
I thought he was going on his lunch break or something.
Though it seemed off....though I couldn't put my finger on why the situation was off until later.

Because he was basically radiating anger.
And....he'd only been at work for like 2 hours....which is a bit early to take a lunch break. Even more so considering that stockers don't usually do lunch breaks...they're not working long enough to get more than like a 15 min break most of the time.

But then, as he was heading out the door.
Sirch walks up.
And asks "Are you leaving?"
"I'm done!" My coworker exclaims. "I quit!"
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sirch asks.
"No. I'm done. I quit!"
And he storms out of the store.

()_()

It was so....
Out of the blue.
He quit?
But why?!
I mean, just yesterday I saw this stocker laughing, joking around with the other stockers.
And now...
He was like super angry, frustrated, upset.
And...done.

O.o

I'm not even sure the full reason as to why He quit.
I've heard different things. Some of it conflicting.

But....
From what I gathered, he was upset that he wasn't getting as many hours this week as he had the last little bit.
....Which is a stupid reason to quit, actually.
Because it's retail.
Our hours fluctuate depending on the week.
So some weeks, there just aren't enough hours to spread around.
And so we get less of them scheduled our way.
It's a fact of life.

It happens for a couple weeks or so, where less hours are given,
And then suddenly you're back up to getting full hours.
It's nothing crazy.

But apparently,
This one week of less hours was too much for him?

Also, apparently, the stockers were sat down at one point, and told that those who work harder will get more hours.
Which...is a general rule everywhere I feel like. The people who show that they can get stuff done, work hard, do the job right, end up being scheduled more often because they're known to be more reliable.

Apparently he overreacted though. Thinking he wasn't getting a lot of hours...when in actuality he was getting the best hours out of the stocking group.

I mean, he must have been really good, because the Head Manager spent a good 20-30 minutes it feels like, trying to convince him to not quit. To stay on.
But my coworker refused. He wasn't having any of it anymore.

Which also leads to the next thing....of where I think he was feeling burned out? Worked too much for too little? Under appreciated?
Who knows.

I mean, I can understand the rage that happens when you're pushed just too far. A rage that can make you want to quit.
As I experienced that just a month ago.
Where I got so upset I wanted to quit then and there and be done with my job for good.
But I have a good head of common sense. And logic. And talked myself out of doing something that drastic.

If he was acting under anger....then it makes sense. To quit. to 'stick it to the man'

But honestly.....what is it with most of the generation below me?
I feel like no one wants to do the 'hard work' anymore. Take responsibility. Have a spine.
Once it gets too tough, or something happens not to their liking....the generation after me ups and quits.

Really, the stockers in my store at the worst of that. Quitting on the spot. Walking out. Stop showing up.
It's surprising if any of them last more than 3 months.
I feel like we go through stocker four times as quickly as any other department.

I mean. It's like out of every 6 people we hire,
Only one ends up staying for longer than 3 month.
And that one ends up disappearing within like 6 months.
It's crazy.

....In the end.
It means that we're suddenly left short handed. Boo.
So people have to take on extra hours, come in on their days off, in order to get all the tasks needed to done.

Not.
Fun.

I wish my coworker had been a bit more professional and given a 2 weeks notice like you're supposed to.
But if he feels like he had to do it....then he had to do it.
Bye bye coworker. Hopefully your next job is 'easier' on you.

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Visit

Update: Bird with the broken leg mentioned in my last post? Not a broken leg. Just deeply bruised.

I had a group of school children come into work today.
As they were on a field trip to the pet store.
For the main purpose of seeing animals that come from eggs.
So like the fish, the reptiles, the birds.

As that's what they were talking about this week in their class.
And today they were more specifically focusing on the Turtles/Tortoises.

So to help them out.
I brought out the Tortoise we had -as we were out of Turtles.
For them to feel, pet, ask questions about.
And then a snake for them to also touch.

lol.
Nothing like being mobbed by small children to either make you feel really loved, or just super overwhelmed.
There was one adorable boy that leaned his head on my arm as he petted the snake. So cute!!

Totally a fun moment in a tiring day. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

What's in the Box?

I had just gotten back from my lunch break.
And saw a random box on our podium.
Which usually means a returned animal.
But it was just sitting there.

My coworker was busy with a customer.
I'd just finished with a customer.
And I remembered my manager mentioning an animal had been returned.
But I didn't know what it was.

However, I'd just dealt with a guinea pig that had been returned.
So I was thinking that the creature within the box would be a mammal of some sorts.
More than likely a hamster.
I totally thought it was a hamster actually.
As I heard scratching from within.
That sounds like what a hamster scratching sounds like.

So I opened the box to see.
And a little Zebra Finch escaped from its confines.
Flying off and disappearing somewhere in the store.

:S Oops.

I felt even more bad that it had gotten loose when my coworker informed me that the bird had been returned because it had a broken leg.

O.o
How did it get a broken leg!!
It had been fine like two days ago when it was sold! (I wasn't there when it was sold, but it had been fine before we sold it!)

And now the poor injured thing was out loose in the store. :S

Thankfully, after I left, one of my coworkers eventually caught it.

But oops....
How was I supposed to know that there was a bird in there? *shakes head*
I mean....we put birds in the same boxes that we put hamsters and guinea pigs in.
(not all together! But we use the same boxes for all the animals.)
It's just that usually birds aren't returned to us in those boxes I guess.
*shakes head.*

-Sarnic Dirchi

To Clean A Cage

A little bit ago,
We had this guinea pig cage returned to the store. -as it ended up being too small for their guinea pig and they wanted to get a bigger cage.
I saw the return happen, but didn't think more of it.
Until I saw we were using it, to temporarily hold a chinchilla in our backroom because he had a bit of hairloss we wanted to monitor just to be on the safe side.
I didn't think much of it besides "Oh, we're using that."

In any case, we eventually returned our Chinchilla to the floor to be sold.
And the cage...
Was just placed in a back room, to be cleaned again for later.

Only...
It sat there.
and sat there.
and sat there.

Finally I asked one of my coworkers to clean the cage out for me.
(As I couldn't ever find time to do it myself.)
So I expected it to be cleaned the next day when I came in.
Because that coworker is usually really good at getting tasks done that I set to them.

Yet, when I came in...it wasn't cleaned.
Apparently, she told another coworker that she'd tried everything to get the cage apart, but she couldn't get it apart at all to clean it.

Which, my mental response was..."So don't take it apart?"
I mean, we have these little dustpan/broom combos specifically so we can clean out smaller cages.
Why couldn't my coworker have just taken that and used it to scoop out the bedding and then spray down the cage?
It seemed rather logical to me.
Especially if you can't get the cage apart....

Perhaps I'm the only one in my store who tries to find other solutions when the first one doesn't work.....

In any case.
I figured I would have to clean it.
Because obviously since their one method didn't work, they don't have to clean it...
*shakes head*
So the cage sat for another few days.
Until today.
When I finally had time to go in the back and actually look at and clean that cage.

And I went with my first plan,
To grab the little broom and dustpan and just scoop everything out that way, then spray it down.
But before I did.
I wondered....maybe I could get it apart?

So I took a look.
Saw a little latch thingy on the side of the cage holding the wire top to the solid bottom.
Pulled it.
Discovered another one on the other side.
Pulled that one out.

And guess what?
Yah.
The cage came apart. Easily.
Super easy.
So easy that I'm left confused as to why my coworker couldn't take the cage apart?

Did they even try to clean it? Or did they forget, get reminded and decided to make an excuse that they couldn't take the cage apart to clean it?

I mean....most of our cages, get taken apart in a different way. So if they were expecting this cage to come apart the same way as our usual temporary cages to hold animals....
I could see why they wouldn't be able to get it apart.
But.....
Still, I'm so confused.
It was so easy to take the cage apart and clean it.
I mean, I was confused when it was first mentioned how difficult it was to get the cage apart, as I would have assumed that customers would have told us (as they are really good at doing so) if something ends up being difficult to do.

Lift the latches. Lift the cage. Tada! Super easy.
*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Scratched

It's been a while since I've done a cat adoption at work.
Or really do much with the cats.
As cats aren't often adopted in the mornings when I usually work.
And I haven't had to clean their cages recently because I'm always busy doing the bedding changes for other animals in the store.

Well, our adoption group we partner with,
Had just brought in some more cats in search of their forever homes.
And customers were interested in all of them.

There was this one kitty.
Where I doubted she had been in the cage more than 15 minutes or so.
Before a customer was ready to adopt her.

She was a calico. Very pretty. Mostly black with orange and white markings to her.
-She reminded me a bit of my own cat Flare.
But this pretty kitty.
Was really chubby. A big nice, fat kitty cat. Totally heavy too lol.
Still adorable.

In any case.
The new owners of this kitty cat.
Were like typical customers, who while they want to get what's necessary for their new family member.
Don't want to spend a lot of money on them.

Part of the requirements for adopting out a cat from us,
Is that they have to have some sort of carrier to place the cat in.
They need to be contained from the cage to their car.
Because we have a lot of dogs come into the store.
And lots of high hiding places within said store.
Where cats can climb and disappear.
So to avoid the cat being more stressed out than necessary.
We make sure they are contained.

Normally, it doesn't matter about the carrier used.

But it's not often that we get in chubby kitty cats.

The owner wanted to go as inexpensive as possible.
Which meant their carrier was a cloth sort of thing.
Which can work for cats. But usually for smaller more narrow cats.

Unfortunately.
Not for chubby cats.
Poor kitty.
She couldn't fit.
I instigated the help of a guy standing nearby.
Still a no go.

And the cat was getting more and more freaked out.
Somewhere in the process of that, her back claws got me.
Scratching my wrist. And drawing blood.
Before going ahead and batting at me with her front paws. (poor thing had been declared)
And at a point tried to bite me a couple of times.
Thankfully my hair ties and watch blocked her teeth from my arm.

So finally I was like 'Okay, you need a different carrier.' to the customer.
Which she wasn't too happy about, but the cat went into that hard sided carrier a lot easier than into the soft sided one.
Hopefully the kitty is nice and calm now, enjoying the new home she's in.
As it was a trial to get her home. lol.

I ended up having to bandage up my wrist after all was said and done.
Because it kept bleeding.
So I spent the rest of my shift with a blue wrist. (the bandaids are blue)
Which I didn't mind. :)
For some reason I always feel super cool when I wear blue bandaids. Don't know why. Just is. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Slime Coat

Water should not get that disgusting.

I walked into our sick room today,
And smelt that something wasn't smelling good.
Which was weird.
because that room was basically empty.

Yet, there was an odor permeating all around.

It didn't take long to discover the source of the smell.

We had isolated a turtle in a cage back there.
And a glance at the water,
Showed that it was the source of the odor.

As it....well...it looked really bad.
Almost like a broth soup with veggies in it, bad looking.
Everything had a nice cover of slime on it. :S

Yeesh!
Poor turtle!!
To have to swim and be in that?
So I went and cleaned out the tank.
Rinsing out everything.
And putting in fresh clean water -I had to do it twice to get it to not be so slimey.

Which, I think definitely made the turtle a lot happier. :)
Because who'd have wanted to continue another minute in that gag inducing nasty water?

Not me.
And not the turtle I'm sure.

-Sarnic Dirchi