Too Early To Call

You gotta 'love' it when customers call waaaay before the store opens.
I mean, sure our Grooming department opens a couple hours before the rest of the store.
But that doesn't mean that the rest of the store is open.
Or that there are people available to help those who can't read the store hours and end up calling way early.

*exhales*
Honestly, I wish they would be able to shut off the lines to the store when we're closed. That way customers can't call.

But in any case.

I happened to be at work earlier this week.
Monday morning to be exact.
As in order to make sure all the animals are fed and such we have someone in my department come in in the mornings before we open to clean cages and make sure everyone is fed and healthy.

That's what I was in the middle of doing.
When I got a call for my department.
>.<

Did I mention I don't like people who call before we're open?
Because I don't.
It's extremely irritating.

In any case.
On the phone was a woman, frantic about the status of her pet Chameleon.

O.o
Pet Chameleon?

Apparently, on Saturday
-as said by my coworker-
Two minutes after we closed.
She'd come into the store to return the Chameleon because he was sick.

She was frantic wanting to know what the vet said
-Which told me she obviously wanted to buy him back when he's better-
As they said that they'd take the Chameleon to the Vet on Sunday.

Which I was like.

O.o Well....that's impossible to do. The vets are closed on Sundays....
With which the day she called being Monday...
Meant I possibly had a Chameleon who needed to go to the Vet.

She was desperate to get help.
As the customer had called a couple different vets to which they said they couldn't see her Chameleon until later in the week.
So she was calling with ideas of places we could take the Chameleon.

To which I stopped her.
It's different when a customer calls the Vet.
But when the Petstore calls....
We have an agreement that we can take our animals in immediately if there is a need.
And that they can be seen.

So we move up in priority.
In any case.
I reassured her that the Chameleon was still alive
-after going to check in on him to make sure that was true-

And told her that we'd get him to the vet as soon as possible.
She insisted that I call her back.
*shakes head*

Which I did.
I think I talked with her two or three more times on Monday.
To let her know that we'd contacted our vet and were going to take him in.
And to tell her what the Vet said about her diagnosis and treatment plans and such.

*exhales*
I've spoken to her everyday since then.
as she keeps calling to check in.
Or else I call her to update her.

Tuesday it was just to say that the Chameleon was still at the vet.
Today, it was to say that he was back and we had meds and another Vet visit planned for later in the week.

Hopefully, I won't need to talk to her until after the Vet visit.
Since he's going to the vet on my day off, and I let her know that I wouldn't be there to inform her on what happens.

In any case....
I really hope the Chameleon gets healthy quickly.
As I really can't deal with having to constantly update the customer on the status of her pet.

I'm willing to be helpful, but there's only so far I can go before it starts interfering with my work and other customers in the store....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where's the Food?

Occasionally I wander away from my department.
Most of the time it's to go grab a drink in the back of the store.
Othertimes, it's just to get a break from my department for a bit.

Today, I wandered away.
and encountered a gentleman in the cat section looking lost.
So I asked him if he needed help.
He said he was looking for the Royal Canin Brand.
But he was looking in the wrong aisle.
So I directed him to the correct one.
And went to help him find the particular type of Royal Canin food he wanted.
Only....it wasn't there.

And the guy kept insisting that the bag should be Green and White. Though he wasn't sure for sure because he doesn't pay attention to that sort of thing. His wife does all the shopping usually.
But the one I was finding that was closest to what I'd seen on the paper....was Purple and White.


So I asked to see the paper again,
To see if I'd missed something.

I had.

I looked over to the customer and asked him.
"Are you buying food for a dog?"

"Yes." He responded.
"Well....we're in the cat section."
"See!! I told you I don't pay attention to that sort of thing!"
lol. Obviously. *shakes head*

So we went over to the dog section of Royal Canin and finally found the food he was looking for. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Discount the Discount

O.o
Some customers are just crazy.
I had a woman come into the store and she was looking at our tanks.
To which she zeroed in on our 125 gallon tank that we sell.

-It's my favorite I'd buy it if I could.

Which lucky for her, it happened to be on sale for a pretty good price.
Only....
It wasn't good enough for her.
Because you see she had to buy another filter as well (one of those expensive canister ones) so that she could have two going to ensure the tank was well filtered.
So she wanted to be able to buy that filter...without spending any more money.

So she had me page a manager up to the front of the store.
Without telling me why.
Which I did.

And when the manager showed up.
You know what she wanted from him?

To discount the tank further.
O.O

Really?
Honestly. Really?
The tank is already on sale, saving you $200 already and you want to discount it further?

Sorry.
We don't do that.
We don't discount perfectly good tanks with no cracks, broken pieces, or damage just because you ask.
It's great that you want to save money.
But we can't help you save money in that way.

Crazy lady.
To top it off,
She wanted us to also deliver the tank to her house for her.
-As her husband had a bad back, so couldn't help with lifting.

That is something we also don't do.
It's a great thought that I'm sure customers would love and take advantage of if it was ever implemented in the company, but currently it's not.
We could actually lose our jobs if we did that sort of service.

So...strike and strike again for the customer.
No discount, no delivery.
She left without buying the tank. (though she did buy fish for a preexisting tank)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fast Traveling

So there I was,
Doing the reptile bedding change yesterday.
And I took out the decorations in our Chinese Water Dragon cage.
Being careful to ensure that our two Chinese Water Dragons didn't escape in the process.
As they can be rather quick to take advantage of an open door, and hard to catch if they get far enough away.

I had to do a bit of back and forth while prepping to clean the cages.
As I passed one time,
I happened to look in as I saw one of the Chinese Water Dragons take off.
Running from one side of the cage, to the other.
Only to run smack dab into the area below the glass of the door.

lol. It was rather amusing to hear the audible *Thunk* that the Dragon made when he hit the wall.
But I didn't think anything of it.

Only....
When I went to clean out the cage.
....I could only find one water dragon.
O.o

That couldn't be right.
I was positive there were two.
But there was only one in the cage.

And I made sure of it.
I checked for holes.
Dug through the bedding.
Felt along all the edges.

And guess what.
No water dragon.

O.o
Had he somehow managed to go fast enough to hit the wall and go right through into another dimension?
Is it a dimension traveling Dragon? Did he find a wormhole and travel through that?

No idea.
I searched.
Had a coworker look as well.
And we were down to one.

With no visible means of escape. *shakes head*

I finished cleaning the cage and putting everything back.
With still just one water dragon in there.

I let a manager know and everything.
Left a note that we were missing a water dragon.

And left.

But today.
When I came into work.
And I happened to look in the cage....

()_() There were TWO!!

I asked if anyone had found a water dragon.
Checked to see if there was a note.

But nothing.

Somehow.
The Chinese water dragon had reappeared!
We had two once more!

Somehow the Chinese water dragon either a) managed to hide in the cage without me seeing it.
or b) managed to escape from the cage and find his way back in in the same way without us seeing it.

It's a magic dragon.
*shakes head*

We'll have to see if he disappears again....

-Sarnic Dirchi

I Need Larger

You gotta love particular customers.
The ones where every little thing needs to meet their expectations.

For example.
I had a woman come into the store today wanting 'six large crickets'

To which I happily obliged.
I can easily catch 6 crickets.

And when it's a small number like that.
I usually show them to the customer before I tie off the bag to make sure that the size I caught was the size that they wanted.

Which I did this time.

And the woman literally took the bag out of my hand and counted those six crickets twice.
O.o Like she was expecting me to short her? It's six crickets....

But then she also added "These are really small!"
To which I was like "O.o"
Because....they're not as small as our smalls....

But our crickets do come in in slightly different sizes.
The average length of our 'large crickets' are 3/4 of an inch.
While the 'small crickets' are usually 3/8 of an inch.

But the small crickets can be as tiny as pin heads.

While our large crickets can be up to an inch.

It just depends on our shipment that we get in.
This time around, the 'large' crickets were on the slightly smaller size.
But they were all pretty much the same size.

The woman wasn't happy at all though with the ones I had caught.
They were 'too small'
She wanted me to catch the largest ones in there.

Which in all reality.
They were all pretty much the same size!

Still.
I dumped out the bag.
And spent a good minute or so longer than I needed to to choose out six larger looking crickets to give to her.
To which she then again counted, before saying that she was satisfied. *shakes head*

Honestly.
I was tempted to pretend to dump out the bag.
Pretend to catch 'larger' ones.

And then give her the bag of the same crickets.
Just to see if she'd notice that they were the same or not.

I didn't do it.
I was tempted to though. As I honestly am curious now if she would have noticed or not....

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Kind of Fish

So, there was a couple looking at the fish.
Well, mostly it was the woman as the husband had been off wandering around the store as I was helping her to figure out what kind of algae eater she wanted to get.
But then, as I was finishing grabbing the algae eaters she'd chosen.
Her husband showed up, so she asked him. "Are there any fish that you want."
lol he said "I want some with lemon and vinegar."
-Aka -he wanted something to eat and not to watch. lol.
-Also I've heard this joke a million times before with customers. So it didn't surprise me at all for him to respond that way.
But the wife was like "I'm being serious here!"
"So am I." He responded.
"Honestly, I'm never taking you anywhere again."
lol. to which the husband didn't verbally respond, but the wife turned around to face me instead of him at that moment, and behind her back he winked at me and gave me a thumbs up. lol.
Apparently he would be quite happy to not have to go shopping. So if she does leave him home next time, I doubt he'll mind. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Walking Back Into Chaos

>.<

I don't like unreliable cowokers.

I mean, if you have a job, and you have a scheduled time to be at work.

You should show up for work.

But for some reason my evening people don't understand that concept of 'being on time.'

As I hear that basically everyone shows up late.

Which is not fun at all for the people who want to go home.

Today though, my first day back from vacation....just seemed to go overboard with the absentee coworkers.

We had one cashier not show up, another delayed due to being involved in a car accident. Another coworker called in sick, and the last coworker....got stuck at his other job....so couldn't arrive right away.

Which....sucked for me because the guy who got stuck at another job....was my replacement for the department. The coworker who called in sick? The other person who was supposed to be closing the department.

>.<

It was also a day where NOBODY wanted to come into work.

We called basically everyone on the list that hadn't already worked today, and they all said no or didn't answer. >.<

So, I ended up staying two hours later than scheduled to make sure we had coverage.

And was only able to leave because the cashier that came in then was also trained in my department and we had one of the groomers willing to jump in and be the cashier.

....I never did see that coworker who said he'd show up late....the managers weren't confident at all that he'd show up in any case.

Thankfully, I was able to finally go home.

Because I was tired.

10 hours on my feet is tiring any day, but especially when it's your first day back from a vacation.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Young at Heart

This morning I had an older gentleman in the store.

I'd assumed that he'd been in to see our groomers.
As it wasn't yet time for our main store to open.

Turns out. He'd been to the Vet, who is also open before the main store.

And was now buying the prescription dog food that the vet had prescribed to him.

But we ran into a problem of you had to have the prescription card in order to buy the food.
Which he didn't have.
So we had to go over to the vets to find it.

Turns out he'd thought I was talking about something else.
and actually had the card in his shirt pocket. lol. As he hadn't realized that was what I needed.

In any case.
Somewhere in that conversation, as I was talking.

He thought I'd referred to him as 'young.'

Which I hadn't....

As he was old.
He told me himself he was 75.

But it really made his day to be referred to as young as he kept bringing it up lol.
That it made his day.
That it was the best moment today.
etc. etc.

So unwilling to burst his bubble.
I played along.
Telling him he looked more like he was 60 instead of 75.
To which it made him even more happy.


haha.
It's good to make a customer's day. :)
Even when I did it unintentionally. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Needy 10

I'd just gone on my 15 minute break.

Which....I believe whenever I go on break, that's when things get crazy in the store.

And this time was no exception.

Because in the space of that 15 minute break.
The cashier called for customer service to Aisle 10.

Which is basically our "Grooming" aisle. Where you have the shampoos, shavers, combs. But also other products like "flea and tick' solutions. Ear care, eye care, calming things and vitamins.

Usually if there is a call to that aisle it's so that the manager can open up a locked case there where we keep the more expensive grooming tools.
Occasionally it's a customer with questions about certain products, or who isn't able to find the product.

I have no idea if it was the same person, or multiple other people.
But in that 15 minute break.
The cashier called someone over to Aisle 10.... FOUR TIMES.

That's like every 4 minutes really.
O.o

So either that customer is Really REALLY Impatient.

Or we got a run of customers who all needed help in the same aisle.

Personally I believe it's the former rather than the latter.
Because that's a lot of times to call in a short time frame. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Language Barrier

Wow.
Technology is amazing!

I had a woman come into the store today.
Where English isn't her first language.

So our communication wasn't....well going well.

She had questions about fish, but what I was saying in English she wasn't understanding.
(There are days when I wish I had the gift of tongues....)

But instead of leaving frustrated.

She pulled out her phone, and went to an app.
and spoke into that app in her language.

And that app showed what she was saying, BUT also it gave the English translation!

So She could talk into it, and I could read what she was asking.

AND then I could TALK BACK into it as well! And my English would be translated into her language so she would understand it!!

IT WAS AMAZING!!
Because we could actually understand and get our messages across to each other with less misunderstanding.

Ah. Man, I really need to find that app and put it on my phone so I can use it with other customers the next time the situation arises. ^^

-Sarnic Dirchi

On the Box

There are many times when I'm talking to a customer and showing them a product that they need....

That they then ask me a question about the said product that they're holding in their hands.
Like: "How often do I need to add in this chemical?" Or "What gallon range is this for?"

Which is.....rather silly to ask me....when they're holding the box.
And the instructions for it are either on the box or in the box.

So I end up having to take the item away from the customer to read the instruction label for them and tell them. "It's 5ml per 10 gallons" or point to the box and say "It's for a 15 gallon tank." or whatever other answer they're seeking.

-I mean, I can understand that there are people who can't read tiny writing. So they need others to do so for them, especially if they forget their glasses.

But all to often I think to myself "Well if you just read the box...." they'd get the answer a lot sooner.
I mean, that's what we are going to do anyway if they ask us the question. We're going to read the box to find the answer for them.....

Seems like we could skip a step or two in there somewhere....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Not Its Name

It's interesting the names people come up with for fish when they're trying to tell you what fish they want to buy.

I mean, the fish already has a name.....
But the customers don't always look at the tags to see what they're actually called....

In any case.
There was a mother and her young son who came into the store to buy a fish.

And he wanted the "Snow Leopard Mollies"
-I'm guessing they went to the aquarium or zoo recently and saw them..... for that name to stick in his mind.

So the mother used that name also in referring to the Mollies.

....Which were Dalmatian Mollies.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Companion Pet?

O.o

It's never a good idea to let a hamster or a guinea pig roam free in your house.

Why?
Because they can disappear. That's why.

But I had a customer come into the store today.

Looking for a hamster/guinea pig.

To have as a companion pet for their dog.

O.o

Uhh...
Not a great idea....
Predator and Prey aren't the best to put together.

And I told them so.

And they were like "Well, our dog is depressed because our other dog died and he hasn't eaten so we were thinking of getting him a buddy to help him cope."

.....It's a good idea in theory.

But in all reality.
Getting a guinea pig wouldn't replace the other dog.
As the guinea pig should stay in its cage when it's not being played with.

And if it's only becoming a pet in order to make another dog happy.....
What are you going to do with it when it doesn't make the dog happy?

I basically told the customers to give the dog some time to mourn.
As they mourn just like people mourn when they lose their friends.

It's not something where they can go out and buy a new friend and replace it.....

Hopefully the dog is alright and perking back up again....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Two Look Ups are Better...Than One?

So, this customer called on the phone today.
Who...automatically set me on edge because her voice was really....breathy.
Like she wasn't using her whole voice to speak. It was just like this breathy whisper sort of thing.
Which isn't the best sort of voice to use on a phone.
Especially when I'm surrounded by noisy fish systems and barking dogs and the like.
Because it makes it difficult to hear.

But she was calling because she was trying to find a certain product.
A new ramp/shelf to go inside her cage.
Which we don't sell in the store.

-As we usually don't sell parts to things. So if something breaks....you're out of luck if you expect us to be able to provide the part to fix it.

In any case.
She was calling to see if we had the product....which we don't.
I double checked to be sure as we are always getting in new things.
But we didn't.

So I suggested that she look at our website and see if we had it there.

To which she was like "Can't you do it?"

O.o Uhhh....I don't really have access to a computer here lady.
I have my phone, and I have the work ipad and a slow internet connection.

To which I explained to her.
But she was like "Could you do so? I'll wait."

So I did....and an eternity later, I was like "No, I can't find it on our site, but we have the cage you bought on the site and there is one here in the store"
-As she wanted to see if we had the cage as well just in case she needed to buy a completely new set.

And she was like "Okay...I'm looking too and I can't find the shelves either."

*eye twitch*
Why in the world are you having me look up the website if you're already ON THE WEBSITE?

I mean, maybe we know a key word that she doesn't to help us find the product.....but it's the same basic website.

So I suggested that she look up the company that made the cage to see if they sold parts.
To which she was like "I've tried, can you help me find the website?"

....Turns out that company doesn't have a website.
She was out of luck on that end too.

So finally, I suggested that she just go to the local hardware store and buy a shelf/ramp for her cage. As that would be what I would do if I couldn't find a replacement part.
That or just get a new cage, or jimmy-rig something else to work....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Pronounciation

There was a customer today.
Who came into the store looking for an Allergy Eater.

lol.

So far I'm not aware of any creatures, let alone fish, that can eat allergies.
But...

We do have a fair share of Algae eaters for them to pick from. lol.

Greenie Leading Greenie

You know the saying of the 'blind leading the blind?'

I had to leave my coworkers in that sort of scenario today.

We have a new manager over me,
One who hasn't been in my department before. He was over in the stocking department, and has had very little time or training in my own department.

Basically he's still pretty green, I don't even know if he's had a proper shift in our department yet.
-As he's still been doing stocking shifts because we're short on stockers as well. And I can manage the department well enough without a manager over me.

In any case.
He was scheduled to finally have a shift in the department.
Only....

We had just hired a new greenie.
Like literally it was her first day on the floor.
And she only came in an hour before I was scheduled to leave for the day.
Which meant....
I only had an hour to train her in basically everything.

Before my manager showed up......
Who also still needs to be trained in basically everything.

*shakes head*

I had to leave them in the department, two greenies, by themselves for a few hours before our next coworker came into the department. :S

Not the best feeling in the world to leave work on.
Hopefully they don't burn down the store....or get customers angry at them....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Strolling Around

It's the weirdest thing.
The random people who come into the store in the early morning.

Today I was in the middle of my usual cleaning tasks.

And happened to look up....

And see a Parade of Mothers with children in their strollers, walk into the store.
Like five or six of them.

Together.

My guess is that they were a walking group.
Who happened to pass by the store and decided to enter and have their little ones look around.

It was just weird that they decided to do it right as the store was opening....

At least they were just looking. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi