Are You Sure You're Ready?

So there was this customer I was helping today.

Who had bought a glofish tank yesterday and had come into the store today to buy some glofish and decorations.

She must have spent at least half an hour if not a full hour going up and down the aisles deciding on decorations and such.

While I helped other customers and did other tasks.

Until she finally came up to me and said. "I'm ready to get fish."

To which I was thinking. "Finally!"

So I went with her to the fish wall and said. "Okay what am I grabbing."

To which she replied. "I'm not sure."

O.o *eye twitch*

...How? How can you be READY to GET fish, if you don't KNOW what fish you want to get?!

*shakes head*

Maybe she meant she was ready to think about getting fish? That after spending a long time on decorations and gravel and such, she was finally ready to think about which fish out of the glofish she wanted?

I don't know.

I had thought she already had decided which fish she wanted from how she'd been speaking earlier.

But it took another five or so minutes for her to pick out which ones she wanted.

To which she further confused me.

By telling me she really liked how the Pink Glofish looked...

But out of the four glofish she bought today...

She only got one pink glofish.

While getting two green glofish and one orange glofish instead.

O.o

If you like the pink ones....why not get more of the pink ones?

Why go for more green if you liked pink the best?

*shakes head*

I don't understand you customer. I really don't.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Price Check

There always seems to be a trend with customers on a day to day or even weekly basis.
Where for whatever reason, everyone and their mom decides that they need this 'one thing.'

Some days it's parakeets, other days it's bearded dragons, or a certain fish. Or else they all ask similar questions like when adoptions will be, or what size of tank is good for a turtle, or if we carry rabbits.

I think this is the first time though.
That I've had to work a shift that had me price checking multiple times in a row.

You see, we had a bunch of fish ornaments scattered about
As One. we place decorations in our tank/stand combos for sale, and have to take them out when we sell said combo and sometimes they don't get put away.
And Two. we have a bunch of new ornaments coming out onto the shelves right now, and they don't always have a price tag to go with them.
or Three. Due to customers being unable to put things back exactly where they found it, customers want to double check a price before they buy it.

In any case.
With all these ornaments around. I had multiple customers come up to me asking what the price was for a particular decoration.
Only once or twice was I able to go to our shelf and point them to the right price.
The rest of the time I had to wander over to the registers, and use our price check function there to see how much their decoration was.
*shakes head*
I must have wandered over that way at least twenty times, that shift.

Which is a lot.
Considering I usually only price check like...once or twice a week? It's a rare occurrence.
But not this day. *shakes head* Everyone had to know the price of the decorations.

-Sarnic Dirchi

The More You Know

I had a customer come into the store today, looking to buy fish.
Like most customers I help do.

Only this particular exchange was rather....humorous.
As basically everything I told this customer was met with surprise.
The. "Oh! I didn't know that! I thought this!" sort of responses.

It started with me/my coworker telling her why having a goldfish in a bowl was a bad idea.
Why?
Because they can get ten inches long if you take care of them right. Hence why they don't live long in bowls.
She was amazed. "Ten inches?"
Yes. Ten inches.
(Most people are surprised by this. Also they're surprised that goldfish can actually live at least 10 years...again because most people keep them in a bowl...and they're known as fish that 'don't live that long.' )

The length of the goldfish soon transitioned into how big all the other fish get.
"Where are the fish that are full grown?" She asked.
"We don't have any."
"What?"
"All our fish are babies. We don't carry bigger."
"What?!"

Which lead to. "How long are the fish in these tanks?"
lol. Again. I was greeted with surprise when I told her that most of the fish are sold within a week or two of arriving to the store.
-There will be the outlier fish that sit around for months before getting sold, but for the most part...a week or two. Hence why we get weekly shipments of fish in.
Because if we didn't...we'd basically be out of fish by the end of week two. lol.
"That many people buy fish?!" Was her next statement.
Because yah...if you think about it....it's a ton of fish that we sell on a weekly basis.
I mean, if you place at least 30 fish in each tank, and we have like 75 tanks....
It equals to a ton of fish. lol. Especially considering we can sell anywhere from 25% to 75% of the fish in the tank in a week. -depending on customers and sales and such.0

Honestly, once the store opens. 95% of the time, my job with customers is catching fish. (or crickets. they're neck and neck)

My store also has a wide....service range?
I mean we can get people driving hundreds of miles away to come to our store.
Plus we're in the middle of college town, where students are constantly moving in and out of the area....so it makes sense that my store goes through fish pretty quickly. lol.

All in all.
It was a day of surprising information for this customer.
To find out that we don't get in adult fish, that our fish sell within a week or two, to learn that almost all the fish need a filter, that people come from hours away to buy fish, that most of my job is catching fish for customers....
It can be quite heady stuff lol.

But hey, now the customer knows. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

But I think our customer left

Snail Shells

It was the oddest thing.

So occasionally in our tanks full of feeder goldfish.

I go through them, and remove the locklines (the nozzles that bring water into the tank) to clear them out of debris. (gunked up food, and snails and such.)

I decided to do this today because I noticed the water flow in some of the tanks wasn't as strong as it should be.

But it was the weirdest thing.

Because as I was putting the nozzle back after clearing it.

I managed to somehow place my arm.

So that a snail that was on the tank, somehow caught on my arm.

Jabbing me as I scrapped my arm against the side as I pulled my arm out of the tank.

I originally didn't think much of the movement.

I have a lot of those brief. "ow." moments that fade quickly.

But when I looked down a few minutes later....

I saw that I was bleeding.

O.o

Somehow that snail's shell had gotten me at the right angle....to draw blood.

And it wouldn't stop bleeding.

So I had to go get a bandaid for that tiny cut.

*shakes head*

So weird and random.

*shakes head*

Who knew a snail could draw blood. lol.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Road Conditions

It had been raining all day at work.
Which, considering it was spring....
Isn't surprising.
Spring is the season of rain after all.

So you can imagine my confusion when I got a call from a customer who asked me 'how are the roads there?'

Because....that's a phrase that is usually used during winter....when it's snowing....

But with my state....it's not surprising for us to get snow storms all the way into May.
So, maybe somewhere else in the state, possibly in the mountains, it was actually snowing instead of raining on the customer.
After all, I get people who travel three or four hours in order to get to my store.
So it was entirely possible.

I don't know for sure,
but the customer was happy to learn,
Once I looked outside (since I hardly ever look outside because my dept itself doesn't have windows) and confirmed that it was still raining here.
"Oh good, we'll be right up then." Said the customer.

I hung up.
And hoped that it would stay raining for the customer.
Because I don't like being made an unintentional liar. Even if I had spoke truth when I was on the phone, that it was just raining.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Escaped, But How?

We had just gotten in our reptile shipment.
-Well, they had come in a little bit ago.
But I'd finally found a moment to finally put our newest reptiles away into their cages.

And as I was pulling out our new ball python -who was huge. About two times the size of the ones we usually get in.
I had a mother and her two kids come by.
Oooing and awwwing that I had a snake in my hands.
To which I showed it to them closer.
Before placing him in his cage.

-I'd had to play a little bit of ring around the rosie, because our ball pythons usually come in smaller, so they're fine being in our smaller cages.
But this new snake...was huge.
So I had to move one of our other snakes from it's medium sized cage into a smaller cage so I could put the larger snake in the larger cage.

Easy peasy.

Until I tried to move the cage back into it's position so I could lock it up again.
I pushed,
And it felt like I was encountering something squishy.
Which was weird....there shouldn't be anything rubbery/squishy behind that tank.
I mean I had just pulled it out two minutes ago.

Confused,
I pulled the cage out and to my surprise.
Discovered that somehow.
Our other ball python had escaped it's cage!!!
And was currently resting behind the new ball python's cage.
()_()

How?!
HOW!!
How did it get out?!

AHHHH!!!

I mean that snake is also larger, so it hardly makes sense that he'd somehow be able to squeeze through a small space to get out.

Granted...the cage he was in...the lid is easy to take off.
But considering the snake had been in that cage for a week already....without escaping...
Made the fact that it had escaped now all the more surprising.

*shakes head*
I couldn't have him doing that again.
So I had to play ring around the rosie with this snake as well in order to get him into a cage that I hope he won't escape from.

All while the customers were watching. lol.
At least this group didn't freak out when they saw the snake had gotten loose.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Long Conversation

The turtle guy came into the store again today.
The one who will tell you his whole life story with all the different pets he's owned over the years, and will repeat the same information over and over and over again....

Yah. Him.
He's back.

I refer to him as the turtle guy because he had a granddaughter buy a tortoise as a pet, only she ended up not taking care of it, so he took it on.
-Because apparently you take your pets to him if you don't want them anymore.
And he became super obsessive over providing the right care for the tortoise. Asking the same questions repeatedly multiple times in a row. *shakes head*

Once he gets talking....it's really really really really difficult to get him to stop.

And today....was one of those days where he just wanted to talk.

Though it wasn't about tortoises. -as his granddaughter eventually sold the tortoise.

No, he's considering setting up one of his fish tanks again and starting up a fish hobby once more. (which he hasn't done for four years apparently.)
And he'd come into the store originally to check and see if all his food and chemicals for the fish were still good. (aka not super old and out of date)
Also he was looking to see if he could find a part he was missing from his canister filter.

I quickly established that yes some of his chemicals were still good, some weren't, and that he'd have to go looking elsewhere for his missing part.

But....the conversation repeated itself at least a dozen times it felt like.
Before somehow devolving into a conversation about the different types of birds he's owned, and the fish store he used to work at, and their birds that they had......

I only managed to break away because I got called to help a customer elsewhere.
But whew....He sure can talk.
Which is fine when I'm not busy -which at that time I wasn't.
But when I am busy....
It's difficult to break away.

*shakes head*
I wonder how soon I'll see him again.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Turtle Turtle

I had an older gentleman come into the store today.
Wanting to know information about Turtles.

Because he had a friend who had three good sized red-eared sliders (around 6-8 inches long) in a tank. -His gesturing hands indicating the size of about a ten gallon.
And he said that his friend was going to give him one of these turtles, that are in water mind you, and that he wanted to know what he needed to take care of the turtle.

So I showed him.

Like most oblivious new-pet owners.
He thought that he could keep the turtle in a ten gallon tank. Thought that they could stay in the water 24/7. And was experiencing sticker shock when I showed him a complete Turtle Set up that cost $200. -Which was a 20 gallon long tank, heat, food, filter, gravel, water conditioner, floating dock, and some other odds and ends.

He couldn't believe that a turtle would require so much care. Especially when I added in that he'd want to do a water change probably once a week, and that he'd have to feed the turtle daily.

Obviously he would want to get his money's worth.
And so asked me a common question of 'can I put fish in with the turtle?'
To which I answered no.
"Not even these large fish here."
"I wouldn't recommend it. Even if the turtle can't eat it, he will try to, and will injure it."
The gentleman didn't appear to believe me. But I stood firm on that regard. It's possible the turtle would do nothing, but part of their diet is fish, so if they get hungry enough they would try to eat them.

*shakes head*
The gentleman ended up leaving the store without buying anything.
Possibly to go back to the neighbor to get his opinion on what he would need, or to tell the owner he was taking care of his turtles wrong, or possibly to say he no longer wanted the turtle.

In any case....even if he ends up not getting that turtle from his friend...at least he's been given more information on how to care for them if he does decide to keep one as a pet. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Stuck On Register

It had been supposed to be for only a few minutes.
Me covering the register.

Because my coworker was off and needed to leave.
While my manager was busy dealing with a customer who was having some sort of issue with some harness.
And my other manager was on their lunch break.

Leaving me to be the only one who could cover the register at that moment for my coworker.
I had expected it to be on for a little bit.
Because surely there was someone else who was supposed to be coming in to take over for my coworker.
-As I wasn't scheduled to be on register, but in my department.

Turns out...
There was an hour gap between coworkers.
Where the managers were supposed to be the ones on the register.

Yah...
It didn't work out that way.

It took my manager (the one not on break) a good amount of time to help that customer with the harness issue.
And in the meantime I had a line forming both in my department and at the register.

Because I couldn't leave the register,
My department suffered with customers constantly coming up to me asking if anyone was available to help.
And I had to tell them that there were only two of us in the store currently and that I would send my manager over to my department as quickly as possible.

Which he did manage to do, where he got stuck for a bit helping all the customers who were waiting over there.
While the line of customers waiting to check out kept getting longer and longer.

Eventually I had to recourse to calling on one of the groomers in the salon to come back me up. Because I wasn't going to be getting help otherwise.
And this lunch rush line was just getting longer.

Thankfully she was able to help.
And my manager was able to escape from my department to also jump onto the register.
Where the three of us were busy for like another 15 minutes straight helping customers.
While my manager who had been on lunch finally returned and went to help more customers in my department.

And before I knew it.
....I'd been at the register for an hour.
Helping customers the entire time.

*shakes head*
So.
Crazy.
I wasn't even able to get all the things in my department done because I got stuck on the register for an hour.
So you can imagine how grateful I was to see the 'replacement' crew coming in for both register and department because by that point.
I was totally ready to go home.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bright Blue

I helped a customer today who wasn't wearing shoes.
Instead he was wearing bright blue socks.
And I couldn't help but wonder why.
Why wander around in public in just socks?
Why wander around in a Pet Store in just socks?

I mean, we have water all over the place from fish, and hair from the grooming salon wafting about, plus the messes from the dogs that visit....it just doesn't seem like a great idea at all to walk around with just socks on.
*shakes head*

But to each their own I guess.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Blue and Black

Often, our goal at work, is to do what we can to make the customer happy.
Especially if they're struggling to find what they came into the store to purchase.

Usually if it's not on the shelf when I go to help a customer find the product. I will offer to go look for it elsewhere.
Either up above in our overstock, or I'll head to the back of the store to see if extras of that product can be found there.
If I can't find it. I will offer to call our Sister Store nearby to see if they have it, or try and look it up online to see if we could order it there and have it sent to their home.

Sometimes despite my efforts....the customer still ends up leaving empty handed.

Today.
I had a customer who came into our store looking for a specific blue and black background for his fish tank.
He'd already been to our sister store, and they'd been out of the background for a couple of weeks now.
So he decided to try his luck at our store.
To which, he found the background he needed.
But we only had a small section left on the shelf.
And because it had been cut crookedly...
That meant that it wouldn't fit on his tank.
-if it had been a straight cut we wouldn't have had an issue.

Since I knew we'd been stuck with that particular piece for weeks now,
I offered to grab our scan gun and double check what our inventory said.
That way I could actually see if we were supposed to have more or not.
Because if we did have more...that would mean that it would be up in our steel. Which would mean a manager would have to use a forklift to get the pallet down so that we could look and see if it was actually there.

The customer acquiesced to me doing so.
And when I scanned the UPC for the background.
I discovered that somewhere in the store....we should have about 1200 feet of that particular background. ()_()

I didn't tell the customer this.
Instead I said I had to go check out something.
And went to my manager to ask him if he'd seen the background on the overstock pallet.
To which the manager was confident he had.
He just wasn't sure where. Though thankfully, due to our organizational efforts because of our prepping for our yearly inventory count...we could narrow it down to two pallets where the roll of background could be.

So I returned to the customer to tell him that we were pretty confident we had the background up on a pallet and that we just needed to grab the forklift to get the pallet down so we could actually see and that it would take a few minutes to grab it down.

He was super grateful for this. That we would have the background in stock and that we were going to grab it for him as he'd been trying to find this background for weeks.

I was so excited to be able to help him complete his quest.

However, when I got to the back to 'spot the forklift' (aka make sure it doesn't run over customers when it's out on the floor)
The manager had bad news.
We were in the middle of a charging cycle on the Forklift which meant....
Until the batteries for it were fully charged....we couldn't do anything with it.

Not sure how true it is, but apparently disconnecting the forklift from the charging cables in the middle of a charge would kill the battery.
O.o Again, not sure how true it was. But whatever.

Now though,
I had the unpleasant task of telling the customer this.
So I returned to him.

And told him that we couldn't actually use the forklift right now because it was charging. But that it should be ready to use in another hour or so and that we would check the pallet then. And that if he was willing, I could take down his name and number and give him a call when we were able to check the pallet and let him know if we found the background or not.

Thankfully, he was very understanding.
Really I think he was just glad to hear we were trying to get him his background and that it was more than likely in the store.
So I got his number.
And promised I'd call him before I left work,
Though if I hadn't called by a certain time that he should call the store to check in. (it gave me about 5 hours to get that pallet down)

Thankfully.
He never had to call the store.
After a couple of hours, I was able to have the managers get the pallet down, and they checked for me and found the roll.
Apparently we have 18 rolls of that particular background on that pallet. ()_() Crazy!!! lol but that basically means we should NEVER run out of that. *shakes head*

In any case.
I gave the guy a call to let him know we'd found the background.
And he was very happy to hear it!
Only he was planning to come in after I got off my shift to get it.
Y_Y So I never actually saw if he came by or not, though I suppose he did.

What I am super curious about though.
Is that when my manager handed me the roll of background, he told me to 'zero it out' at the register and to just give the background to the customer.

-We can't just give product away in the store as that messes up our inventory, so zeroing it out, meant that we would need to have the customer go to the register to have the background rung up. That way it would show that we 'sold' it and our inventory would remain accurate. But that the price would be adjusted to Zero so that the customer wouldn't have to pay anything for it. :)

Which was super awesome of our manager to do.
I mean we had inconvenienced the guy by making him come to us twice in order to get the background. So we were 'rewarding' him basically for being understanding and willing to come back because it was our fault that the forklift couldn't be used when he was there the first time around to get the pallet down for him.

But because he was coming after my shift ended....
I did what I could to tell Every. Single. Coworker. that the guy buying the blue and black background would be getting it for free and that we needed to adjust the price when he went through register.
I told the managers, I told the cashiers, I told my coworkers in the department.

So hopefully. HOPEFULLY.
The guy actually got his background for free.

But I don't know because I wasn't there to see.
I hope he got rewarded though.
I hope this act of kindness towards the customer made his day.
Because I'm really excited to think that it did make his day. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Holding the Phone

So there I was, in my department by the fish.
When a father in his 30s-40s with a baby boy comes into the department.
Naturally I asked him if he needed help.

To which he responded. "No, but you could help my dad."
"Okay....where is he?" I asked since this 'dad' figure was no where to be seen. Maybe he was by the reptiles or the birds or something.
But no.
"He's searching for a dog crate."
Okay...not usually my department, but I could go wander over there.
"Alright...where is he now?"
"Probably in the back."
Helpful.
"What does he look like?" I asked the customer, that way I would be able to find him.
"He's going to be the one probably holding a phone looking confused."

Heh.
I just kinda had to laugh at that.
I asked what the guy looked like but the customer never gave me a more detailed description than that.
So it was rather lucky for him that they came into the store when we weren't busy with customers.
Because there are often people in the store holding their phones looking confused.

He ended up not being that hard to find.
Though helping him was another matter.
As he had thought he'd ordered a carrier online...but it turns out he'd never finalized the purchase. Silly him. But after a bit of back and forth on establishing that the carrier he was looking at online was in fact the same one he was looking at in the store.
He did eventually buy said carrier.

So yay.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Stressed Cat

I hate early morning phone calls. The ones that take place before we're officially open.
Honestly, why are people even awake at that hour to call the pet store? *shakes head*

In any case.
Today's morning customer.
Was calling in regards to her cat.

Which had me automatically wondering if she needed to be put in contact with the groomers or the vet for an appointment and had ended up calling the wrong department.
Or...I wondered if she was looking to give up her cat.

I was wrong on those accounts.

No, she was calling because she had given the cat to her son for his new apartment a couple of days ago.
And last night the cat had 'gone wild' and ran into a door and scratched her son.

So she wanted to know if there was anything to 'fix' her cat that suddenly went demonic.

It was so frustrating really, this conversation.
Because the woman wasn't listening to me when I tried to say what could possibly be wrong.

But overall I believe the cat acted out because he's stressed.
It doesn't matter if the cat knows the son and knows the roommate.
You took the cat from his home territory with the familiar scents and sounds and people.
And placed him in an apartment that is 'brand new' -the son is the first tenant.

Of course he's going to freak out.
It's all NEW. The only familiar thing would be the son and his friend.
*exhales*

It took like twelve repeats to convince the customer to give the cat a couple of weeks to adjust first before freaking out about this 'new behavior'

Such a frustrating conversation. So. Much. Frustration.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Magnetic Connection

Sometimes I get asked to do some odd things in the store.
Maybe it's because I seem confident...or the fact that I can get things done if given a task...
But today.
My manager had me help them hang a large banner inside the store today.

Which considering the fact that we were both like the shortest people in the store....I found rather amusing.
I mean, why did we not have any of the other managers hang up this banner?
Why leave it for this morning.
For us short people to do?

The easy answer is: Because they're lazy and didn't want to do the work themselves. That and they were taking the instruction of "have it hung on Monday" quite literally. *shakes head*

In any case.
For this month my work is doing this 'food drive' of sorts.
Where whenever a customer buys a bag of food (cat or dog doesn't matter the brands) then a meal is donated to a pet in need.
Pretty cool concept. :) And it's great that it's any bag of food instead of just a specific brand.

But in order to promote this 'event.'
We had to hang up this large banner.
Which is like seven feet by three feet.

...and our ceilings are like....twenty feet above us.

So again....why have the shortest people in the store attempting to do this?
*shakes head*

Luckily we didn't have to do any actual climbing lol.

We have these handy dandy tools similar to the poles that people use to change the lettering on their signs outside.
That allow us to hook up the huge poster without having to leave the ground ourselves. Yay. :)

And to make it even easier?
This huge banner is hung via Magnets!!

YES!!

Big strong magnets. The size of my fist.
Easily able to hold up the thirty or forty pound banner lol.

So we took our wires, hooked one side to the banner, the other to the magnet. Stuck magnet on the pole and....

After a lot of adjustment on the length of the wires so that the banner would be above customer's heads.

And with much shaking on my part because that's an awkward angle no matter what you do trying to lift something up with your arms stretched out all the way....
Geez felt like I was in the middle of an earthquake trying to lift that thing up to the rafters above and stick the magnet to it. lol.

But I did it!
Stuck the magnet to the rafter, lifted up my portion of the banner, and managed to unhook the pole from the magnet without dislodging it back to the ground. lol.

Success!!
My manager had slightly more trouble with their side, their pole got caught on the magnet. But a bit of adjustment by me.

And yes!!
Our banner is hung!!
And hopefully...
Hopefully it won't fall..... :S

I trust you magnets.
Do your job.

-Sarnic Dirchi






Update: A coworker (who's caught like the last six birds we've had get loose) caught our wayward BeeBee so the bird is back in it's cage!

Flying Free

I do have to wonder what goes on in the store when I'm not at work.
Because when I call into work the next morning....
And see that one of our $350 birds is flying around loose in the store....

Obviously something happened and whichever coworker was involved in the bird's release...is probably not having a good day. :S

It's deepens into a further mystery when no one who worked the shift the day before....knows what happened. So you get a timeline of how long the bird was in the cage still as people report it still being there when they get off their shift...

Until finally.
Finally I find a coworker who knows the story.

*shakes head*

What happened?
Our greenie coworker had been left alone to close down my department.
And they had only closed once before, and therefore....had no idea what they were doing.
Cue. Our next newest greenie who was there in a different department, stepping in to show the newest one the ropes.

So both my coworkers walked into a bird enclosure.
And greenie coworker shuts the door.
Inspiring less-than-green coworker to open up the bird cage to work on handling the bird.
Because they want to tame down said bird and get them used to being handled.

Only....
Greenie coworker forgot to latch the door.
So while the bird was out of it's cage, but in the enclosure....
The door fell open.
The bird somehow got loose from less-than-green coworker's grasp.
And due to it being in our store for basically the whole winter...it's clipped wings were no longer clipped.
So off it took.
Up into the air.
Twenty feet above us.
To hang out in the rafters there.

*exhales*

Where it hasn't yet come down.
Sure it flys about the store.
But as of me leaving work today...
Our $350 bird was still loose.

....I really hope we catch it before it gets the 'bright' idea to fly out of the store....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Self Worth

So, I was helping out a customer today.

Who had questions about her tank, in that she had had a fish die, and was trying to decide whether to get the same fish again, or to pick out a different replacement fish for the one that had died.

And I was doing what I usually do, telling her the pros and cons to different fish and giving suggestions. Trying to figure out the best solution for her so that she wouldn't end up with more dead fish and be happy with the replacement fish she got.

And in the middle of our conversation, one of my regulars -my 125 gallon tank buddy- came by to ask one more question -as I had helped him like five minutes earlier. - and after I quickly answered his question, my 125 gallon tank buddy told the other customer. "Sarnic is amazing! You're in good hands!"

lol.

To which once I was done catching this customer's new fish and answered her remaining questions.

She said: "I hope that they're paying you what you're worth here, because you're amazing!"

AWWWWwwwwww ^^

I love being complimented by customers.

Though I had no idea what to say to that response. lol. ;)

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Hole In Information

So I think I read about this happening on a Target Retales Blog.
Where a customer couldn't get their card to work, because they'd punched a hole through the chip in their card because they didn't want the chip.

Well...I thought it was weird. But didn't think anything more of it.

Until I dealt with a customer.
On the register.

She pulled out her card
And to my surprise...she had punched a hole through the chip in her credit card.
Because she didn't want the chip you see.

But when she placed her card into the reader....
Unsurprisingly, since it requested the Chip....
And couldn't read the chip.
Her card wasn't working.

*shakes head*

We just updated our registers to actually have the chip reader, so there's still a bit of a learning curve when it comes to knowing what our registers now can and can't do.

And unfortunately...
If the credit card registers as a chip.
The register is going to demand that you insert the chip into the reader.
It won't let you slide your card.
Nor can I key in the credit card into the machine.

Again and again, she tried to get the card to work.
To no avail.
Because she'd punched a hole in the chip.
*exhales*

After like twelve times.
The machine finally accepted that it would get no information from her card via a chip,
And so finally allowed her to slide her card.

But seriously.
*shakes head*
The whole transaction would have gone much smoother....
If she hadn't put a hole in her chip in the first place...

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Doors

I was just returning from the back of the store when I noticed that there was a customer standing at our doors.

Since it was still early morning, we hadn't yet switched the doors to automatically open when a customer approaches.

Usually we do this when our groomers show up and glancing at my watch, it showed that it was basically the time to open the doors.

It was rather amusing to see the customer standing there, kinda confused, probably wondering why the doors hadn't automatically opened for her.

-Which is why we have a doorbell for customers to ring, so they don't have to stand out in the cold wondering why they can't get in. They can just ring it and we'd know someone was waiting.

I don't know how long she'd been standing there.

but since I'd seen her, and it was basically time to open the doors, and since she had a dog with her, I figured that I might as well let her in.

And that's when it happened.

As I was approaching the doors.

I saw that her attention was on her dog.

Who'd just lifted his leg.

And started to pee on our front doors.

>.< While the customer just stared. And did nothing.

Okay....she may have said a command, but she didn't try and jerk the dog away or anything.

And I found that interesting. Like...why? Why would you allow your dog to mark his territory on our front doors? Those doors where basically every single dog will have to pass through and then feel the need to mark as well? You just caused us all this extra work....

Because you couldn't control your dog.

*shakes head*

I don't understand customers some days.

I really don't.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Do You Know The Number?

It boggles my mind how people can send others into the store to grab something for them...without giving them details on what they're supposed to be getting.

It's like they don't realize that there's more than one item that a person can choose from.
"Go get the Dog food in the green bag."
Surprise, there's like six different brands of dog food that have green bags.

*shakes head*

In any case.
Today I had a customer come in and she needed crickets.
Which I respond with the usual 'what size and how many' question.

Surprisingly the customer knew the size.
She needed small crickets.

But the quantity?

She gave this wide clueless look and asked me "I dunno, how many should I get?"

....Well considering you told me that you needed small crickets....and nothing else....

I have no clue how many you need lady. *exhales*
I'm not omniscient. I don't automatically know how many people will need.
Because it really depends on the animal involved.

A spider? People get anywhere from 1-15.
Frogs and Anoles? under 24.
Leopard Geckos? 24-40
Bearded Dragons? 40-100

Seriously, it could have been any number.
Not all reptiles eat the same amount of crickets nor the same size of crickets.

So, after more questions.
I found out her daughter has two leopard geckos.
Okay. so around 24-40 for them each.

The woman ended up deciding on 60.

-After starting with forty and deciding she needed more.

I'm glad I was able to help her out.
I just wish some people would think before they send others to get their stuff for them.
Because the more details the better.

I mean, I'm fine playing detective. But it makes it easier for all of us all around to just tell me straight out what is needed.

-Sarnic Dirchi

No Eggs

There's this odd woman who comes in.
She's a grandmother age sort of person, with one of those unique personalities and needs.

I see her every now and then, and interact with her at those times because she came to us...what? Two years ago now? Its been a long while. With the request that we save any bird eggs that may appear in our cages.
-As we don't breed in the store, so any eggs we find we get rid of.
But this woman, likes to collect the eggs, dry them, and then donate them to places.

So for the past little while we've been doing just that.
Saving the finch and canary eggs we find in the cages for her.

She came in tonight.
Looking for those eggs.
*shakes head*
Which was a bit weird because I swear she'd just come in like four days ago to get the eggs. Apparently it's been a week or two in reality. (time in the store moves weirdly)
But she was surprised that I didn't have any more eggs for her.
Surprised that the birds had stopped laying the eggs.

*shrugs*
They go through phases.
It just depends on the dynamic of the birds within the cage, and probably their age as well.
Sometimes the birds lay eggs like crazy.
And other times...nothing.

But the woman came in halfway expecting there to be a ton of eggs again.
-As she hadn't come in for a while to get them so we had had a lot of them waiting for her.

Sadly, I was unable to give her any today.

And I continued to disappoint her.
Because she kept wanting things in the store....that we don't sell.
Like our cardboard cut outs of puppy dogs on top of some of our displays. Or the stuffed animals we have in certain areas of the stone to help customers see how product (like clothes/harnesses/collars) go on the dogs/cats.

Dealing with that sort of conversation....
She now kinda strikes me as a hoarder.
Wanting everything in case it can come in handy later on.

Still. At least she's not too difficult to deal with. :)
I'm just sad I didn't have more eggs to give her so her trip to the store would be worth it.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Update: We had an amazing day full of cat adoptions. Enough kitties found a forever home that we were able to once more place just one cat in a cage. ^^ Yay.

Cat Fight

*rubs temples*

What a nightmare.

So.
In our store we have a space set up where our adoption partners can bring in cats so they can find a forever home.

Because we have a limited amount of cages, we tend to switch between our two groups every month.
So Group A gets the cages for a month then they take the cats out and Group B will bring in their cats for a month before the cycle repeats.

However...
It's not an easy process.
For one. Group A and B are like Cats and Dogs to each other.
They don't like each other.
At all.

Especially since Group A often has trouble pulling their cats out of the store on time so Group B can bring in their cats on time.
And Group B's leader...well...the leader can be quite....angry.
Honestly, I don't like dealing with Group B's leader. They've gotten more and more difficult to work with. Mostly because they're not understanding and keep putting down the other group....

All in all its a headache to deal with them everytime we do the switch.

Honestly, it would be easier if they would just share the space and each take half the cages.
But Group B is all against that because they don't want 'their cats getting our cats sick." yadda yadda.

And tonight...
Tonight the headache continued.
*shakes head*

We were supposed to have Group A pull out their cats tonight so that Group B could bring in theirs.
BUT.
Group A in their hurry to drive 3 hours to get to us, and bring dogs for a dog adoption day....
Forgot their cages.

We tried to contact Group B. (and by we I mean the manager)
But they didn't respond...
So Group A was given the okay to stay a bit longer. Until the next time their leader would make it up.

But then.
AFTER that group had left for the day.
Group B finally got back in contact with us.
And they're unsurprisingly Furious that Group A is staying longer.
(as it happens basically every other time.)

As they have cats all ready to come to the store.
And now no where to place them.

....which I find odd. How can you have no place for the cats if you're in charge of the cats?
I mean they have to be fixed and vaccinated before they can come to our store...so where are they staying while that is taking place?
 *shakes head*

In any case.
somehow it ended up being...
That we needed to move All of Group A's cats into Half of the cages.
So that Group B could come in and try and put their cats in the other half left over.

Which would be simple.
If cats got along together.

But they don't.

We tried. And tried. And tried.
But the cats weren't having it.
We only managed to empty out two of the five cages we needed to empty. Y_Y ugh.
Because the other cats wouldn't play nice.

But with the adoption group coming.
We had to do something to provide space.

I'm not quite sure what ended up happening as I had to leave as the plan was coming together.
But I believe we're taking the dog crates that the adoptions use when they bring dogs in, and we're going to stick them on top of the cages we already have, and place some of Group A's cats in there.
Until Group A can come pick them up.

*exhales*
It's a headache.
For sure.

I don't know if we're even allowed to set up cages like that. But because of the circumstances....it's what we had to do.

I really hope we don't get into trouble for it.
*shakes head*

I really hope that we suddenly had six people come and want to adopt cats so we wouldn't have to worry about it.
That would be nice.

-Sarnic Dirchi

You Know My Name.

I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that customers want to remember my name.

I mean, it's obviously both.
Both a good thing and a bad thing for customers to know me.

Good because if they like me and are making an effort to remember me, then I must have been helpful to them in the right manner.

Bad...because if something goes wrong....they know exactly who to come to to complain. lol.

In many ways it's best to be just an anonymous figure that catches your fish or told you about tanks.
That way....if they come back...and don't remember you....then you can easily play dumb if something didn't work well.

*shakes head*

In any case.
Today I had an older gentleman -thin tall, white hair, bright blue eyes. Kinda reminds me of the guy who plays the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins...but older....

Yah this customer.
Needed help.
Finding new puppy pads for his dog.
Because the ones he bought "weren't working!" in his words.

After taking him away from the rush of customers up at the front of the store, to check out other puppy pads, I got more details from him.

Like the fact that his dog is six years old.
Why he now wants to use pads for the dog I have no idea.
But the dog that old isn't going to automatically know that he's supposed to go on a white thing placed on the floor. -Even if it is scented to attract dogs there.
Like...if the dog is used to going outside....he's going to want to go outside.
*shakes head*
But in any case, I recommended that the man try a spray that attracts dogs to areas where they can go.
As the pads themselves are basically all the same, just made by different companies with slight differences.

And he fixed me with his bright blue eyed stare.
Like he was memorizing my face.
Asked my name.

And basically gave off the general impression that if it didn't work he was going to come back and complain to me personally that it didn't work. :S
That...or come back to haunt me. Because seriously. That's how intimdating that stare was.

Thankfully I don't work tomorrow...so if it doesn't work, he won't be able to find me if he drops by....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Need More Heat

It's frustrating at points...when the managers change their mind on something.

You see,
For the past...I don't know, six months now?
We've been under a "don't order things for the store unless you absolutely need them, we're trying to save money" sort of regime.

Understandably it was because the 'end of the year' was coming up, and we were trying to stay 'on top' of whatever thingymajig we have to stay 'on top of' so that we ended the year on a high note instead of a low note.

I even know that my department has a monthly budget.
...That we routinely go over.
Because...well animals have to eat, and we have to keep their cages clean...so we're constantly ordering food and cleaning supplies.
*shakes head*

In any case.
One of the things we were on a 'order only if you need' thing...was our bulbs we use for the reptile cages.
We have three different kinds.
Daytime heat.
Nighttime heat.
and UVB light.

And with the first two....
We need to replace the bulbs every so often.
I honestly don't know how often....I should pay attention to that. But every 3-6 months....
As they burn out or break or whatever.

Usually it's not a problem because when a bulb breaks, I just go grab a replacement one.

Only.
Our extras ran out.
And it took the managers forever to order more...mostly because they kept forgetting....and in the meantime more and more bulbs kept going out.
*exhales*
When I was finally able to get the managers to order more....
I was told to only order exactly what I needed,
and when more lightbulbs would burn out...we'd order more then.

Now, me being used to having extras on hand....
Didn't like it much, but I complied.
Ordering just enough bulbs to cover what we needed to get all the heat lights working again.

Everything was good once that shipment came in.
But within the last week.
We've hit a bulb die off once more.
It started with one bulb which I dutifully noted to the manager to order just one more.

But then within the week...like 10 more went out. :S
But I'd only asked the manager to order one the week before.
So when I noticed how many were out now, I left a note to get more ordered....
But no one ordered them.

Thankfully though. :D
My manager decided to order 10 daytime heat bulbs instead of the one I requested.
(because if we have to pay shipping for the bulbs to get to us anyway might as well order a bunch and make it worth it.)
Which was great news!!
Because I had to use 5 of those 10 right away to replace the day time heat bulbs.
-Unfortunately the red ones are still out.

BUT!
The manager was now like "Okay! We need to order EXTRA bulbs."
Basically he wants us to have a handful of the different colors and wattages with us at all times.

Lol originally he wanted us to have 10 extra of each....
But unfortunately light bulbs cost $$$$$
And even though we now had $$ to spend.
We still have a budget...
So I cut back a bit on the number we ordered.
But still.
It was a lot of money.
:S
Basically....I just blew our quarter budget in one fell swoop. :S so hopefully what I've ordered will last us a bit. lol.
Though with this manager being adamant that we ensure the animals have their heat, I don't think I'll have to worry about us running out of lightbulbs again once this group comes in.

Here's to hoping. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi