I had a woman and her five children come into the store today.
Why?
To get some goldfish for their pond.
Thirty of them to be exact.
And the mother was like "Just fish out any thirty that you can."
Which is easy enough.
Only the children were crowded around the fish tanks and around me, gasping, ooing, awing, and pointing towards specific goldfish that they wanted me to catch.
So.
I caught them.
After all, it's no problem for me to catch specific fish.
Sometimes it takes a little longer if the fish decide to be difficult that day, but for the most part, if you point out the fish I can fish it out within three seconds.
So catching specific fish for the children was actually kinda fun.
because they got so excited whenever I would catch "their fish." lol.
They got even more excited when I proceeded to split the fish into different bags so that each child would be able to hold some of the fish on the drive home.
The mom was also extremely grateful that I went the extra mile there so she wouldn't have to deal with children fighting over who got to hold the fish.
:) I like being helpful. ^^
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Pavement
I'd just spent 10-15 minutes with a customer.
Showing them the different types of hamsters we had.
As the customer was thinking about getting one.
So I showed them the different types of hamsters, and once I'd answered all the customer's questions to their satisfaction, I left to return to the task I'd been in the middle of when they'd come up to me asking for help.
A couple minutes later, as I was in the middle of my task.
The work phone began to ring.
I answered it with the usual greeting.
And the customer on the other phone said: Hey...I was just talking to a couple minutes ago about the hamsters.
...Which I was trying to figure out why he was calling if I'd just spoken to him....did he want me to put a hamster on hold?
No.
"And as I was leaving your store, I tripped on the curb and fell down in the parking lot. I'm out front by the handicap parking spot. And I need some help up."
()_() WHAT?!?!?!?
I darted outside.
And sure enough, I saw the customer's legs poking out from between two parked cars.
With cars driving by, and other customers walking out to their cars completely clueless to the customer laying sprawled out on the pavement.
I rushed up to the customer to help them up.
But they suggested that I might need to get someone stronger to help lift them back to their feet.
So I said "I'll be right back." And ran inside, intending to get one of the cashiers, but they were both busy with customers.
-I felt so guilty just leaving the customer there on the hot pavement.
But I ran to the back of the store where I could see a manager and one of the stockers working,
And called for the stocker to come help me out. Right now. To run.
And ran back outside.
The stocker was rather confused
-The manager even more so.
But quickly understood the situation as they came out and saw me standing by the fallen customer.
With our help (mostly my coworker's) we were able to get the customer back onto their feet.
In their words, the customer had been distracted thinking about what hamster to get, and hadn't seen the concrete block that is used to denote parking spaces, and had tripped over it, sending them to the ground.
The poor customer had quite the scrape on the side of their face. Two road burns about the size of a quarter by their eye. :S
I offered to either help the customer inside so we could patch them up, or to go run and get some bandaids and such,
but the customer declined, saying they would just head home and would be fine.
The customer also stated that they'd probably be back tonight to grab that hamster.
All in all.
I'm glad the customer is okay.
Though I feel really bad that no one else noticed their predicament, I'm glad I was able to rush right out to help them and get help to them quickly.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Showing them the different types of hamsters we had.
As the customer was thinking about getting one.
So I showed them the different types of hamsters, and once I'd answered all the customer's questions to their satisfaction, I left to return to the task I'd been in the middle of when they'd come up to me asking for help.
A couple minutes later, as I was in the middle of my task.
The work phone began to ring.
I answered it with the usual greeting.
And the customer on the other phone said: Hey...I was just talking to a couple minutes ago about the hamsters.
...Which I was trying to figure out why he was calling if I'd just spoken to him....did he want me to put a hamster on hold?
No.
"And as I was leaving your store, I tripped on the curb and fell down in the parking lot. I'm out front by the handicap parking spot. And I need some help up."
()_() WHAT?!?!?!?
I darted outside.
And sure enough, I saw the customer's legs poking out from between two parked cars.
With cars driving by, and other customers walking out to their cars completely clueless to the customer laying sprawled out on the pavement.
I rushed up to the customer to help them up.
But they suggested that I might need to get someone stronger to help lift them back to their feet.
So I said "I'll be right back." And ran inside, intending to get one of the cashiers, but they were both busy with customers.
-I felt so guilty just leaving the customer there on the hot pavement.
But I ran to the back of the store where I could see a manager and one of the stockers working,
And called for the stocker to come help me out. Right now. To run.
And ran back outside.
The stocker was rather confused
-The manager even more so.
But quickly understood the situation as they came out and saw me standing by the fallen customer.
With our help (mostly my coworker's) we were able to get the customer back onto their feet.
In their words, the customer had been distracted thinking about what hamster to get, and hadn't seen the concrete block that is used to denote parking spaces, and had tripped over it, sending them to the ground.
The poor customer had quite the scrape on the side of their face. Two road burns about the size of a quarter by their eye. :S
I offered to either help the customer inside so we could patch them up, or to go run and get some bandaids and such,
but the customer declined, saying they would just head home and would be fine.
The customer also stated that they'd probably be back tonight to grab that hamster.
All in all.
I'm glad the customer is okay.
Though I feel really bad that no one else noticed their predicament, I'm glad I was able to rush right out to help them and get help to them quickly.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, May 29, 2017
I Can't Fix It
I wasn't that surprised to come into work this morning to the note that once again, our bird door had broken.
And that's because the lock had broken earlier in the month,
And I'd fixed it as best I could.
But the main thing to keeping that door fixed and able to be locked....
Was keeping an eye on the bolt holding the screw in place at the top of the lock.
Because that thing would wiggle loose since we're constantly opening and shutting that door, locking and unlocking it.
And the bolt would loosen.
And I would tighten it up.
Keeping the lock in place.
But.
With me gone from the dept for a bit.
Unable to check on that door....
People apparently didn't notice that little bolt coming loose.
Nor did they try and fix it when it fell off.
When the screw came out.
When the latch separated from the rest of the lock....
Because all those pieces....
Are gone.
Leaving the door truly broken.
With me having no idea how to fix it now.
because without the pieces you can't piece things together again.
*sighs*
Honestly, I'm not surprised it broke again.
I just wish that my coworkers had been a little bit more on top of things.
And not just let things go until they truly broke.
And instead actively tried to fix something instead of waiting for me to come back to help them out.
*shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
And that's because the lock had broken earlier in the month,
And I'd fixed it as best I could.
But the main thing to keeping that door fixed and able to be locked....
Was keeping an eye on the bolt holding the screw in place at the top of the lock.
Because that thing would wiggle loose since we're constantly opening and shutting that door, locking and unlocking it.
And the bolt would loosen.
And I would tighten it up.
Keeping the lock in place.
But.
With me gone from the dept for a bit.
Unable to check on that door....
People apparently didn't notice that little bolt coming loose.
Nor did they try and fix it when it fell off.
When the screw came out.
When the latch separated from the rest of the lock....
Because all those pieces....
Are gone.
Leaving the door truly broken.
With me having no idea how to fix it now.
because without the pieces you can't piece things together again.
*sighs*
Honestly, I'm not surprised it broke again.
I just wish that my coworkers had been a little bit more on top of things.
And not just let things go until they truly broke.
And instead actively tried to fix something instead of waiting for me to come back to help them out.
*shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, May 26, 2017
I.D. Please
It's always fun to deal with older customers.
Mostly because they sometimes have the most interesting way of identifying things.
Which always makes it fun to solve the mystery of what the customer is actually looking for. Because they don't always describe it or call it by the right name.
Today I had an older gentleman come into the store looking for "an I.D. Bracelet for his dog."
It took me a second to comprehend that he was looking for a dog collar and an I.D. Tag. lol.
Because usually when I hear bracelet I think of the thing that goes around your wrist.
And most of the time you don't put things on dog's legs.
Thankfully I was quick to piece together that he meant dog collar.
And so I showed him to the proper spot, and then showed him where the I.D. tags were that he could buy.
lol. I never could get him to say anything but I.D. Bracelet though.
Even though I asked him. "Do you mean a dog collar and tag?"
He would say "Yes, an I.D. Bracelet." lol.
Gotta love older customers. :D
-Sarnic Dirchi
Mostly because they sometimes have the most interesting way of identifying things.
Which always makes it fun to solve the mystery of what the customer is actually looking for. Because they don't always describe it or call it by the right name.
Today I had an older gentleman come into the store looking for "an I.D. Bracelet for his dog."
It took me a second to comprehend that he was looking for a dog collar and an I.D. Tag. lol.
Because usually when I hear bracelet I think of the thing that goes around your wrist.
And most of the time you don't put things on dog's legs.
Thankfully I was quick to piece together that he meant dog collar.
And so I showed him to the proper spot, and then showed him where the I.D. tags were that he could buy.
lol. I never could get him to say anything but I.D. Bracelet though.
Even though I asked him. "Do you mean a dog collar and tag?"
He would say "Yes, an I.D. Bracelet." lol.
Gotta love older customers. :D
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Money Back
So I had a customer who was wanting to adopt a cat.
Only she didn't have the cash she needed to have on hand.
Which a lot of people don't if they weren't expecting to adopt a cat right then.
But it usually isn't a big deal because if you purchase something in the store
-Which you're going to be doing anyway because you need to buy supplies for the cat-
We do offer cash back at the register if you use a debit card.
The catch though is that we only do $40 at a time. And since most cat adoption fees are more than that...it means the customer needs to do two transactions in order to get the cash back that they need to give to the adoption group.
Only when I explained this concept to this particular customer....
She didn't get it.
For this particular adoption she needed to have $50 in order to get the cat.
And I explained to her the process above. Telling her she would need to do two transactions in order to get the $50 cash back total that she needed.
But she wasn't comprehending it like that.
What she was hearing was that she would buy a $10 item. Get $40 cash back and that would total the $50 and she could adopt the cat.
She thought item plus cash would equal $50.
It wouldn't though.
I had to explain it to her like three more times before I think she comprehended what I was getting at.
But I figured it would be better to play it safe, so I took her up to the register myself, and made sure that she ended up doing two transactions to get the $40 cash back the first time and the $10 cash back the second time.
So in the end.
We got the result we needed for her to adopt the cat.
Thankfully. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Only she didn't have the cash she needed to have on hand.
Which a lot of people don't if they weren't expecting to adopt a cat right then.
But it usually isn't a big deal because if you purchase something in the store
-Which you're going to be doing anyway because you need to buy supplies for the cat-
We do offer cash back at the register if you use a debit card.
The catch though is that we only do $40 at a time. And since most cat adoption fees are more than that...it means the customer needs to do two transactions in order to get the cash back that they need to give to the adoption group.
Only when I explained this concept to this particular customer....
She didn't get it.
For this particular adoption she needed to have $50 in order to get the cat.
And I explained to her the process above. Telling her she would need to do two transactions in order to get the $50 cash back total that she needed.
But she wasn't comprehending it like that.
What she was hearing was that she would buy a $10 item. Get $40 cash back and that would total the $50 and she could adopt the cat.
She thought item plus cash would equal $50.
It wouldn't though.
I had to explain it to her like three more times before I think she comprehended what I was getting at.
But I figured it would be better to play it safe, so I took her up to the register myself, and made sure that she ended up doing two transactions to get the $40 cash back the first time and the $10 cash back the second time.
So in the end.
We got the result we needed for her to adopt the cat.
Thankfully. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
The Stagnant Scent
Sooo for who knows how long....one of our filter pumps has been broken. Or it died. Whatever. It didn't work is the main thing.
I know a few weeks ago, I noticed that there was a burning smell for a day or two back there...which prompted us to put in a work order to check out what was causing the burning scent.
The result? That a couple of different pumps had stopped working. Which meant we needed to order in new parts and replace them.
It took a bit to get them all in.
But finally, we got the guy in replace the broken pieces.
Which one of those was one of our three filter pumps.
Who knows how long it hasn't been working.
But whew.
When the guy took the pump off to fit in our new one.
That part reeked.
Like rotten eggs.
That permeated through the store. *grimaces*
Apparently that's what you get when the filter that's filtering all the filthy water stops working....and that dirty water sits there....for ages...growing stagnant, and getting smellier and smellier...
*shudders*
So glad we got that part replaced.
Now our system is back to it's normal working order! Yaaaaay!!!!!
As with one of our pumps out of commission...the flow of water into the tanks was less strong, which in turn meant that the locklines that put water into each tank were more prone to clogging.
Thankfully. That's one less task I have to deal with now. :)
Yay for new pumps!
-Sarnic Dirchi
I know a few weeks ago, I noticed that there was a burning smell for a day or two back there...which prompted us to put in a work order to check out what was causing the burning scent.
The result? That a couple of different pumps had stopped working. Which meant we needed to order in new parts and replace them.
It took a bit to get them all in.
But finally, we got the guy in replace the broken pieces.
Which one of those was one of our three filter pumps.
Who knows how long it hasn't been working.
But whew.
When the guy took the pump off to fit in our new one.
That part reeked.
Like rotten eggs.
That permeated through the store. *grimaces*
Apparently that's what you get when the filter that's filtering all the filthy water stops working....and that dirty water sits there....for ages...growing stagnant, and getting smellier and smellier...
*shudders*
So glad we got that part replaced.
Now our system is back to it's normal working order! Yaaaaay!!!!!
As with one of our pumps out of commission...the flow of water into the tanks was less strong, which in turn meant that the locklines that put water into each tank were more prone to clogging.
Thankfully. That's one less task I have to deal with now. :)
Yay for new pumps!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
An Avalanche of Kids
There is nothing more terrifying than the sudden avalanche of sound that you hear approaching you.
I was talking with a couple of regular customers when I heard it.
The swell of sound that suddenly burst through the doors of our store.
The chatter of voices.
The excited laughter.
It could only mean one thing.
A group of school kids had descended upon the store for a 'field trip.'
Which surprisingly is pretty common in this area. lol. I'm not always sure what's so fascinating about visiting a pet store for preschools, kindergarten classes, and maybe first or second grade classes around here....but they happen. A lot.
Sometimes it's a small group of like five kids.
Othertimes it's like forty kids running around the store. :S
Today was one of those 'forty kid' sort of days.
Where we had probably five or six groups of adults herding their group of 5ish kids around the store, pointing out the different animals and talking about them a bit.
With so many kids around....I usually try my best to stay out of their way. lol. I answer questions if asked, but usually I do my thing and they do theirs. As I'm not always a fan of getting mobbed by kids.
Today however, I wasn't really up to anything, having basically finished all my opening tasks at this point in time. And since I had time.
I figured....why not make the kids' day?
How did I do that?
lol I brought out one of our curly-haired guinea pigs and proceeded to let the children pet him.
Ah. I was the most popular person in the store then. lol.
The kids were excited to actually touch one of the creatures in the store and see them.
But not hold. :S with so many kids I definitely wasn't going to let the guinea pig out of my grip.
But I think I made their day a bit happier, getting to pet a guinea pig. :D
Plus, it was a great distraction for me. lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
I was talking with a couple of regular customers when I heard it.
The swell of sound that suddenly burst through the doors of our store.
The chatter of voices.
The excited laughter.
It could only mean one thing.
A group of school kids had descended upon the store for a 'field trip.'
Which surprisingly is pretty common in this area. lol. I'm not always sure what's so fascinating about visiting a pet store for preschools, kindergarten classes, and maybe first or second grade classes around here....but they happen. A lot.
Sometimes it's a small group of like five kids.
Othertimes it's like forty kids running around the store. :S
Today was one of those 'forty kid' sort of days.
Where we had probably five or six groups of adults herding their group of 5ish kids around the store, pointing out the different animals and talking about them a bit.
With so many kids around....I usually try my best to stay out of their way. lol. I answer questions if asked, but usually I do my thing and they do theirs. As I'm not always a fan of getting mobbed by kids.
Today however, I wasn't really up to anything, having basically finished all my opening tasks at this point in time. And since I had time.
I figured....why not make the kids' day?
How did I do that?
lol I brought out one of our curly-haired guinea pigs and proceeded to let the children pet him.
Ah. I was the most popular person in the store then. lol.
The kids were excited to actually touch one of the creatures in the store and see them.
But not hold. :S with so many kids I definitely wasn't going to let the guinea pig out of my grip.
But I think I made their day a bit happier, getting to pet a guinea pig. :D
Plus, it was a great distraction for me. lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, May 22, 2017
Filter Help
There was an older couple who came into the store this morning, with a particular mission in mind.
Namely in that their filter which has apparently been working for over 10 years...had decided to start leaking and they needed a new one.
But it wasn't enough that they wanted a new canister filter to keep them happy.
No, they were actually looking into buying a new tank as well. lol.
And so I spent a good thirty or so minutes with them, going over the benefits of particular tanks, ones that come as a complete set up, others that just come with lights. As well as the differences between over the back filters and canister filters, and then giving a bit more details on the different brands of canister filters as the woman was a big Fluval fan and loved it, but was curious about the other brands and if the hoses that come within the canister filters would be long to reach from tank to floor without her having to put the canister on a stool or something.
In the end, they ended up getting a 75 gallon tank, and a Marineland Canister Filter -but only after I opened up the box so the woman could see what types of hoses she would be dealing with.
Which...is when I guess it happened.
That I injured myself.
I can't think of anything else that would have caused it.
But as I was heading to the back of the store I looked down at my hand because my pointer finger was aching...only to see that there was blood on my pinky finger.
At some point I'd gotten myself a papercut and it was bleeding.
O.o I can only guess I was injured when I was messing with the canister filter....but who knows for sure.
It's just kinda crazy that I didn't realize that I was injured until after the fact.
But hey... a tiny papercut isn't much....unless it's on your hand...and you're dealing with water all the time...
But I still managed to survive, and to help the customers with their tank. ^^ lol.
I also got complimented by the woman in that she says that she actively looks for me when she comes into the store because I'm very helpful. ^-^ awwwww!!!
I love it when customers love me. ^^ lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Namely in that their filter which has apparently been working for over 10 years...had decided to start leaking and they needed a new one.
But it wasn't enough that they wanted a new canister filter to keep them happy.
No, they were actually looking into buying a new tank as well. lol.
And so I spent a good thirty or so minutes with them, going over the benefits of particular tanks, ones that come as a complete set up, others that just come with lights. As well as the differences between over the back filters and canister filters, and then giving a bit more details on the different brands of canister filters as the woman was a big Fluval fan and loved it, but was curious about the other brands and if the hoses that come within the canister filters would be long to reach from tank to floor without her having to put the canister on a stool or something.
In the end, they ended up getting a 75 gallon tank, and a Marineland Canister Filter -but only after I opened up the box so the woman could see what types of hoses she would be dealing with.
Which...is when I guess it happened.
That I injured myself.
I can't think of anything else that would have caused it.
But as I was heading to the back of the store I looked down at my hand because my pointer finger was aching...only to see that there was blood on my pinky finger.
At some point I'd gotten myself a papercut and it was bleeding.
O.o I can only guess I was injured when I was messing with the canister filter....but who knows for sure.
It's just kinda crazy that I didn't realize that I was injured until after the fact.
But hey... a tiny papercut isn't much....unless it's on your hand...and you're dealing with water all the time...
But I still managed to survive, and to help the customers with their tank. ^^ lol.
I also got complimented by the woman in that she says that she actively looks for me when she comes into the store because I'm very helpful. ^-^ awwwww!!!
I love it when customers love me. ^^ lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, May 19, 2017
This Cat?
So, I was in the middle of a crazy rush, over at the cat cages.
Where multiple people wanted to look at cats in a row.
And one customer in particular, was this big football player of a guy. Possibly pro wrestler huge.
Who was extremely taken by one of our cats up for adoption that happened to be declawed.
He was thinking about possibly getting the cat for another....
I honestly don't know what the relationship was between him and the woman.... I don't even know if it was brought up.....I kept thinking she was like a grandmother or mother....but I honestly don't remember. It could have been a neighbor friend for all I knew.
All I knew was that a woman that this customer knew, had recently lost her cat, and he wanted to get her a new cat to help her feel better basically.
And from the sound of it, he was going to bring the woman back tomorrow to come look at the kitty.
Only to fast forward a couple of hours to the man walking in the store, cat carrier in hand, with the woman and some other guy in tow.
To look at the cat.
It was just....weird all around.
Because I don't know if the woman actually liked the cat.
But she was so confident that the guy 'knew what she wanted'
Only...the cat didn't seem to be the type she was looking for. It seemed like she wanted a cuddly cat, and the cat they were looking at wasn't being very cuddly....
It was also weird because the woman didn't seem ready for a cat. She wanted to prepare the house, gather all the things she'd need, wait another month....
And yet after an hour or so of shopping around the store, she was adopting out the cat....
I don't quite know how to feel about it.
Because honestly it felt like she was pressured into getting that cat, and I told her multiple times she could wait, yet the guy she'd come with was insistent that this was the cat she wanted....
*exhales*
I really hope that the cat they took home today was the one she wanted....because I'd feel bad for both her and the cat if it wasn't....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Where multiple people wanted to look at cats in a row.
And one customer in particular, was this big football player of a guy. Possibly pro wrestler huge.
Who was extremely taken by one of our cats up for adoption that happened to be declawed.
He was thinking about possibly getting the cat for another....
I honestly don't know what the relationship was between him and the woman.... I don't even know if it was brought up.....I kept thinking she was like a grandmother or mother....but I honestly don't remember. It could have been a neighbor friend for all I knew.
All I knew was that a woman that this customer knew, had recently lost her cat, and he wanted to get her a new cat to help her feel better basically.
And from the sound of it, he was going to bring the woman back tomorrow to come look at the kitty.
Only to fast forward a couple of hours to the man walking in the store, cat carrier in hand, with the woman and some other guy in tow.
To look at the cat.
It was just....weird all around.
Because I don't know if the woman actually liked the cat.
But she was so confident that the guy 'knew what she wanted'
Only...the cat didn't seem to be the type she was looking for. It seemed like she wanted a cuddly cat, and the cat they were looking at wasn't being very cuddly....
It was also weird because the woman didn't seem ready for a cat. She wanted to prepare the house, gather all the things she'd need, wait another month....
And yet after an hour or so of shopping around the store, she was adopting out the cat....
I don't quite know how to feel about it.
Because honestly it felt like she was pressured into getting that cat, and I told her multiple times she could wait, yet the guy she'd come with was insistent that this was the cat she wanted....
*exhales*
I really hope that the cat they took home today was the one she wanted....because I'd feel bad for both her and the cat if it wasn't....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Where'd the Water Go?
Ah. I gotta love my coworkers. :)
So, I was in the middle of...well I think it was helping a customer,
When my coworker came up to me and said. "We have a problem with one of the fish tanks."
Which isn't ever a good thing to hear.
And I glanced over to the fish wall as my coworker explained. "The water in this tank suddenly disappeared, it's so low, and there's hardly any water coming in through the locklines..."
Indeed. :S It was.
The tank in question, which held some guppies and catfish.
Was indeed almost completely empty.
Like only a couple of inches of water remained in the tank. :S The other 90% of the tank was now dry. O.o
How had the tank suddenly gotten so empty?
First thought was that there was a crack or a leak and we were so screwed, but then I figured that couldn't be possible because a) the tanks haven't broken yet and they're ancient and b) there was no huge amounts of water on the floor. lol.
But I quickly did see what the culprit could be.
Because in the tank above the 'suddenly empty' tank....was the gravel vacuum. Also hanging out IN the tank...with no one actively using it.
So I asked my coworker. "Did you leave the gravel vacuum in the tank and go do something else?"
To which they were like. "...Yah?"
Solution found. lol.
I told my coworker to Not. Do. That.
Because the gravel vacuum would continue to suck water from the tank if you leave it in there and don't watch it.
If you have to leave off the gravel vacuuming task, you always. ALWAYS take the gravel vacuum out of the tank first, and then go do whatever you needed to do.
That way, if you're taken away for longer than anticipated....the tank won't suddenly loose most of it's water.
Thankfully, my coworker noticed before the tank was completely empty, so the fish were still fine. :)
-It's not the first time this has happened either. Other greenies have made this mistake too, just not recently. lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Interrupted Music
So we have music playing at work.
A recent thing.
Well, a reintroduced recently thing.
As when I first started at Starsmet, we had music playing....
And then the music started playing with commercials.
And then the music stopped playing....
Because I think corporate thought playing music was a waste of resources or something? Who knows.
In any case.
Last year they brought the music back! Woot!
We no longer had to work to silence which has been great. :D
And it's been interesting, because the music choices for work are rather....
well. Strange.
We basically have a little bit of everything playing. Techno, country, hip hop, oldies. It's a crazy mixture of music and some of the songs are eye raising. Like...people listen to these songs willingly? lol.
In any case, the fun thing is that every time the month changes, the music alters a bit as well. Some songs go away, some new songs are introduced.
Which is nice, so that we don't get sick of hearing the same songs over and over and over and over.
However,
This month, actually within the past week, there's been a change.
And not a fun change.
>.<
They've introduced commercials again.
Bleh.
Those totally don't work. People don't listen to commercials and with all the ambient noise that's already in the store -dogs barking, people talking, fish system running, birds chirping....the commercial ends up sounding like those Charlie Brown Adults. Blah blah blah blah
I hope it's just a phase for this month.
Because if we end up having to listen to the same commercial playing over and over throughout the day...
It's going to drive people insane.
Guess we'll see.
-Sarnic Dirchi
A recent thing.
Well, a reintroduced recently thing.
As when I first started at Starsmet, we had music playing....
And then the music started playing with commercials.
And then the music stopped playing....
Because I think corporate thought playing music was a waste of resources or something? Who knows.
In any case.
Last year they brought the music back! Woot!
We no longer had to work to silence which has been great. :D
And it's been interesting, because the music choices for work are rather....
well. Strange.
We basically have a little bit of everything playing. Techno, country, hip hop, oldies. It's a crazy mixture of music and some of the songs are eye raising. Like...people listen to these songs willingly? lol.
In any case, the fun thing is that every time the month changes, the music alters a bit as well. Some songs go away, some new songs are introduced.
Which is nice, so that we don't get sick of hearing the same songs over and over and over and over.
However,
This month, actually within the past week, there's been a change.
And not a fun change.
>.<
They've introduced commercials again.
Bleh.
Those totally don't work. People don't listen to commercials and with all the ambient noise that's already in the store -dogs barking, people talking, fish system running, birds chirping....the commercial ends up sounding like those Charlie Brown Adults. Blah blah blah blah
I hope it's just a phase for this month.
Because if we end up having to listen to the same commercial playing over and over throughout the day...
It's going to drive people insane.
Guess we'll see.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Making Their Day
It's always fun to make a child's day at work.
Because it usually is just the simple things.
Like letting them hold the bag of fish, or hold the bag of things that their parents just bought.
Or pulling out the snake for the child to see closer, or the guinea pig for them to pet.
It's the simple things.
Today, it was a grandmother and her two grandchildren.
Both little ones in the cart.
Admiring the fish.
As she pushed them along.
And it just so happened that they'd come at the time when I'd finally gotten round to feeding the fish.
-As it was busy for a Tuesday randomly enough. O.o
So I was doing it later than usual.
And the children were like "Can we feed the fish?!"
Usually we don't let customers feed the fish.
Though recently we've been doing events on the weekends where we give kids the opportunities to feed the fish.
And since I wasn't busy at that moment in time and the kids and their grandmother were the only ones in the department.
I went ahead and let the two kids feed a couple of the fish tanks.
lol.
It was like Christmas for them.
They had so much fun sprinkling the food in the tanks and watching the fish swim up to the surface to eat it. lol.
It was fun to make their day. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because it usually is just the simple things.
Like letting them hold the bag of fish, or hold the bag of things that their parents just bought.
Or pulling out the snake for the child to see closer, or the guinea pig for them to pet.
It's the simple things.
Today, it was a grandmother and her two grandchildren.
Both little ones in the cart.
Admiring the fish.
As she pushed them along.
And it just so happened that they'd come at the time when I'd finally gotten round to feeding the fish.
-As it was busy for a Tuesday randomly enough. O.o
So I was doing it later than usual.
And the children were like "Can we feed the fish?!"
Usually we don't let customers feed the fish.
Though recently we've been doing events on the weekends where we give kids the opportunities to feed the fish.
And since I wasn't busy at that moment in time and the kids and their grandmother were the only ones in the department.
I went ahead and let the two kids feed a couple of the fish tanks.
lol.
It was like Christmas for them.
They had so much fun sprinkling the food in the tanks and watching the fish swim up to the surface to eat it. lol.
It was fun to make their day. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, May 15, 2017
Not Yet Open
It was 15 minutes before the store opened when I saw the customer standing at the doors peering in.
Which in of itself was kinda surprising as usually those doors have already been switched to automatically open when people approach so that the handful of customers who come in before the store opens when they drop off their pets for grooming can enter easily.
Since the customer hadn't tried to force open the doors, that told me that he wasn't a grooming customer.
So I went to the door to double check. And to unfortunately tell him that the store wasn't open yet. That we'd open in 15 minutes.
And he gave me such the puppy dog eyed look. Of 'but I walked all the way up here to enter and now you're telling me I can't.' that just made me feel guilty for telling for telling him No.
If it were any other day, where the doors had already automatically opened, he could have just walked right in non the wiser that the main store actually wasn't open yet.
Today though...since the doors hadn't automatically opened for him....he got the bad news. He couldn't enter early.
I'm not sure what he did in the meantime, waiting for the store to officially open...
All I know is that he came back a good thirty minutes after we officially opened, to try and find the product he was looking for.
I hope he was successful.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which in of itself was kinda surprising as usually those doors have already been switched to automatically open when people approach so that the handful of customers who come in before the store opens when they drop off their pets for grooming can enter easily.
Since the customer hadn't tried to force open the doors, that told me that he wasn't a grooming customer.
So I went to the door to double check. And to unfortunately tell him that the store wasn't open yet. That we'd open in 15 minutes.
And he gave me such the puppy dog eyed look. Of 'but I walked all the way up here to enter and now you're telling me I can't.' that just made me feel guilty for telling for telling him No.
If it were any other day, where the doors had already automatically opened, he could have just walked right in non the wiser that the main store actually wasn't open yet.
Today though...since the doors hadn't automatically opened for him....he got the bad news. He couldn't enter early.
I'm not sure what he did in the meantime, waiting for the store to officially open...
All I know is that he came back a good thirty minutes after we officially opened, to try and find the product he was looking for.
I hope he was successful.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, May 13, 2017
To Get A Cat
There are times when you hear depressing stories at work.
Usually involving the death of a beloved pet, or the news that people had to get rid of their pet for various reasons.
It was about half an hour before I got off work,
When I got a call to the cat adoptions, where a guy wanted to adopt one of our cats.
And it turns out....
That he had recently (in January) adopted a dog, who had some issues.
Mostly in that the dog didn't like other dogs.
Not a big deal, just keep the dog away from others.
However, somehow the dog got loose and attacked one of the man's neighbor's while he was out walking and then ran into the neighbor's apartment and attacked their dog.
Now the guy who got attacked was easy going about the entire thing, was willing to let it slide and was understanding. And the customer was willing to put his dog into quarantine and make sure there was no issues and had signed all the paperwork and such.
...but unfortunately...the neighbor's roommate was a jerk about the whole situation.
Blew it up out of proportion, wanted his 15 minutes of fame and money and whatever, calling the cops etc.
And ended getting the story placed on the news.
Which resulted in Animal Control coming by the customer's house....after he'd signed paperwork voluntarily volunteering to isolate his dog and such and quarantine him at home to ensure nothing was wrong....and they apparently took the dog, watched it for 10 days....and then put it down.
It was heart wrenching to hear that.
To see the customer get emotional over it.
I could tell that he loved his dog.
Which was kinda eye opening because you never really hear the owners side of the story in those sort of news cases.
And the fact that they put down his dog....it depressed him greatly.
He'd just got her after all.
Had spent a ton of money on her.
And they'd put her down.
So he had to sell/throw away/return everything he'd bought for his dog,
because it was just too depressing to think about getting another one.
And so....he was in the store looking to adopt a cat instead.
Because he wanted a companion pet, and cats wouldn't be as much maintenance as dog would be.
So I ended up helping him fill out the paperwork and taking him around the store to help him buy all the things he'd need for his cat and such.
And yah...
I'm really hoping that this experience turns out better for him than the one he had with his dog.
Because I doubt any person wants to go through trauma like that twice.
*fingers crossed*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Usually involving the death of a beloved pet, or the news that people had to get rid of their pet for various reasons.
It was about half an hour before I got off work,
When I got a call to the cat adoptions, where a guy wanted to adopt one of our cats.
And it turns out....
That he had recently (in January) adopted a dog, who had some issues.
Mostly in that the dog didn't like other dogs.
Not a big deal, just keep the dog away from others.
However, somehow the dog got loose and attacked one of the man's neighbor's while he was out walking and then ran into the neighbor's apartment and attacked their dog.
Now the guy who got attacked was easy going about the entire thing, was willing to let it slide and was understanding. And the customer was willing to put his dog into quarantine and make sure there was no issues and had signed all the paperwork and such.
...but unfortunately...the neighbor's roommate was a jerk about the whole situation.
Blew it up out of proportion, wanted his 15 minutes of fame and money and whatever, calling the cops etc.
And ended getting the story placed on the news.
Which resulted in Animal Control coming by the customer's house....after he'd signed paperwork voluntarily volunteering to isolate his dog and such and quarantine him at home to ensure nothing was wrong....and they apparently took the dog, watched it for 10 days....and then put it down.
It was heart wrenching to hear that.
To see the customer get emotional over it.
I could tell that he loved his dog.
Which was kinda eye opening because you never really hear the owners side of the story in those sort of news cases.
And the fact that they put down his dog....it depressed him greatly.
He'd just got her after all.
Had spent a ton of money on her.
And they'd put her down.
So he had to sell/throw away/return everything he'd bought for his dog,
because it was just too depressing to think about getting another one.
And so....he was in the store looking to adopt a cat instead.
Because he wanted a companion pet, and cats wouldn't be as much maintenance as dog would be.
So I ended up helping him fill out the paperwork and taking him around the store to help him buy all the things he'd need for his cat and such.
And yah...
I'm really hoping that this experience turns out better for him than the one he had with his dog.
Because I doubt any person wants to go through trauma like that twice.
*fingers crossed*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Where'd It Go?
It's always a difficult question to answer when customers ask me why we stopped carrying something in the store.
Especially when I don't know the answer.
But also when I do know the answer.
Sometimes it's easy.
"Our Breeder stopped breeding this animal so we're no longer carrying it."
"We're experiencing a shortage right now."
"There was a recall on this product, we'll get more in once they fix the issue."
Other times it's hard. Like how do you explain to a customer that "Due to changes in a particular company's policies in regards to their food and selling said food, we've now limited their line of food within our store?"
Today's question about product availability involved some freeze dried veggies that we used to carry on our shelves.
Honestly, I hadn't realized that they'd disappeared from the shelves until the customer pointed it out to me. Though it was satisfying to finally realize what used to be in the empty spot. *shakes head*
In any case.
They noticed because the customer bought a tortoise, and bought some freeze dried vegetables to feed the tortoise on my suggestion since that's what we feed them in the store.
Only....for the past three or four months.
None of our stores have been carrying this product.
We have no freeze dried vegetables from any of the brands we used to have available. It's not even on our website apparently.
And do I know why?
Nope. I haven't the foggiest idea.
There are a lot of reasons why we stop carrying products.
a) not enough demand, so the company decided to pull selling the product.
b) they're repackaging/rebranding the product so it's temporarily off our shelves.
c) there's a shortage.
d) they feel they've oversaturated the market with the product and so pulled it.
e) there's an issue with production.
f) some other reason.
Honestly. I don't know.
And I feel bad for customers who suddenly don't have the product they always came into the store to grab.
Honestly, stores should give more of a warning. Or companies should. They should say "Hey we're no longer going to be carrying this, but try these other solutions!"
Because there are those picky animals out there that will only eat ONE thing and ONE thing only.
And if that thing disappears.
They're left scrambling to find a way or another food solution to get their pet to eat.
Which is what the customers today are dealing with.
The tortoise they bought is finicky. He'll eat the freeze dried and basically nothing else.
(they did get him to eat tomatoes)
So I did what I could offering suggestions
Which was met with "we already tried that."
*Exhales*
But I turned them towards fruits to try for their tortoise since they hadn't gone that route yet.
So *fingers crossed* that the tortoise takes to that. :S
Guess we'll see.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Especially when I don't know the answer.
But also when I do know the answer.
Sometimes it's easy.
"Our Breeder stopped breeding this animal so we're no longer carrying it."
"We're experiencing a shortage right now."
"There was a recall on this product, we'll get more in once they fix the issue."
Other times it's hard. Like how do you explain to a customer that "Due to changes in a particular company's policies in regards to their food and selling said food, we've now limited their line of food within our store?"
Today's question about product availability involved some freeze dried veggies that we used to carry on our shelves.
Honestly, I hadn't realized that they'd disappeared from the shelves until the customer pointed it out to me. Though it was satisfying to finally realize what used to be in the empty spot. *shakes head*
In any case.
They noticed because the customer bought a tortoise, and bought some freeze dried vegetables to feed the tortoise on my suggestion since that's what we feed them in the store.
Only....for the past three or four months.
None of our stores have been carrying this product.
We have no freeze dried vegetables from any of the brands we used to have available. It's not even on our website apparently.
And do I know why?
Nope. I haven't the foggiest idea.
There are a lot of reasons why we stop carrying products.
a) not enough demand, so the company decided to pull selling the product.
b) they're repackaging/rebranding the product so it's temporarily off our shelves.
c) there's a shortage.
d) they feel they've oversaturated the market with the product and so pulled it.
e) there's an issue with production.
f) some other reason.
Honestly. I don't know.
And I feel bad for customers who suddenly don't have the product they always came into the store to grab.
Honestly, stores should give more of a warning. Or companies should. They should say "Hey we're no longer going to be carrying this, but try these other solutions!"
Because there are those picky animals out there that will only eat ONE thing and ONE thing only.
And if that thing disappears.
They're left scrambling to find a way or another food solution to get their pet to eat.
Which is what the customers today are dealing with.
The tortoise they bought is finicky. He'll eat the freeze dried and basically nothing else.
(they did get him to eat tomatoes)
So I did what I could offering suggestions
Which was met with "we already tried that."
*Exhales*
But I turned them towards fruits to try for their tortoise since they hadn't gone that route yet.
So *fingers crossed* that the tortoise takes to that. :S
Guess we'll see.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Eaten
We had a casualty at work last night.
Where upon opening a cage to show off some of our Syrian Hamsters to some customers,
My coworkers discovered that one of the Syrians had been cannibalized by the others.
:S
Never a pretty sight. Ever.
Honestly, half eaten hamster bodies can work really nicely for horror movie scenes.
They're creepy. And depending on which part of the hamster has been eating...can be disturbing.
So I feel for my coworkers and the customers who had to witness that.
Because *shudders* Not fun.
I never like encountering it at work.
So I'm glad it's a rare occurrence.
But I often use this as a reason why you never want to buy two hamsters and put them in the same cage together.
Because you never know when the hamster is going to snap and decide to kill it's cage mate. :S
My coworkers thought that the hamsters had gone cannibal because their wasn't enough food in the bowl.
Which I doubt is the case, as the hamsters always have food.
My theory is that the hamsters were often kill and eat the 'weak link'
The hamster that they can sense is sick, or small, or just isn't going to survive and so kill it to prevent it from affecting the others.
Just my thoughts though.
*shrugs*
In any case. Hopefully we don't get another cannibal moment anytime soon.
Or if we do....that there are no customers around to witness it this time around. :S
-Sarnic Dirchi
Where upon opening a cage to show off some of our Syrian Hamsters to some customers,
My coworkers discovered that one of the Syrians had been cannibalized by the others.
:S
Never a pretty sight. Ever.
Honestly, half eaten hamster bodies can work really nicely for horror movie scenes.
They're creepy. And depending on which part of the hamster has been eating...can be disturbing.
So I feel for my coworkers and the customers who had to witness that.
Because *shudders* Not fun.
I never like encountering it at work.
So I'm glad it's a rare occurrence.
But I often use this as a reason why you never want to buy two hamsters and put them in the same cage together.
Because you never know when the hamster is going to snap and decide to kill it's cage mate. :S
My coworkers thought that the hamsters had gone cannibal because their wasn't enough food in the bowl.
Which I doubt is the case, as the hamsters always have food.
My theory is that the hamsters were often kill and eat the 'weak link'
The hamster that they can sense is sick, or small, or just isn't going to survive and so kill it to prevent it from affecting the others.
Just my thoughts though.
*shrugs*
In any case. Hopefully we don't get another cannibal moment anytime soon.
Or if we do....that there are no customers around to witness it this time around. :S
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Cat Trees
I had a customer come up to me today, asking for help with the cat trees.
Which if figured either meant a) a price check or b) help carrying the cat tree up to the front.
Turns out that it was the latter option.
lol the customer thought that the cat trees in public view were only displays. But they actually can be taken right off the shelf.
We had two of the cat trees on the shelf, one that was plain white, the other that had a dotted/mottled appearance to it.
So I asked her which one she wanted.
And she oooed over the second one, but....responded that she'd just take the first one because it was closest and she didn't want to make me work more than necessary.
Yet, she dithered for a second when I pulled the first cat tree off the shelf. -As that's when she realized we would just take whichever one.
Should she get the second one further back, or the first one that was already out.
I could tell that she wanted the second one.
So I reassured her that it was no hassle, that it would be easy to get, and that if she was spending the money on the cat tree in the first place, then she might as well be happy with her purchase and get the one she wanted.
Which convinced her. lol. She decided to go for the mottled cat tree instead.
So I pulled it off the shelf, and lifted it to carry it up to the register for her.
Heh. Which is always fun to do. Because the cat trees look a lot heavier than they actually are. Honestly they probably only weigh like twenty or thirty pounds...
The cat litter usually ends up being more heavy as a comparison.
The trees just look heaver because they're taller and longer.
And this particular tree was taller than I was lol.
But I easily lifted it and brought it up to the register for her and then carried it out to the car.
To which her friend who was waiting in the car was like "Wow you're strong!" lol.
;) Yes. Yes. I am.
Though really. It's not heavy.
After a bit of creative juggling and maneuvering, we managed to get the cat tree into her car and off the customer went. Happy with their purchase and impressed with my lifting skills. ;) lol
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which if figured either meant a) a price check or b) help carrying the cat tree up to the front.
Turns out that it was the latter option.
lol the customer thought that the cat trees in public view were only displays. But they actually can be taken right off the shelf.
We had two of the cat trees on the shelf, one that was plain white, the other that had a dotted/mottled appearance to it.
So I asked her which one she wanted.
And she oooed over the second one, but....responded that she'd just take the first one because it was closest and she didn't want to make me work more than necessary.
Yet, she dithered for a second when I pulled the first cat tree off the shelf. -As that's when she realized we would just take whichever one.
Should she get the second one further back, or the first one that was already out.
I could tell that she wanted the second one.
So I reassured her that it was no hassle, that it would be easy to get, and that if she was spending the money on the cat tree in the first place, then she might as well be happy with her purchase and get the one she wanted.
Which convinced her. lol. She decided to go for the mottled cat tree instead.
So I pulled it off the shelf, and lifted it to carry it up to the register for her.
Heh. Which is always fun to do. Because the cat trees look a lot heavier than they actually are. Honestly they probably only weigh like twenty or thirty pounds...
The cat litter usually ends up being more heavy as a comparison.
The trees just look heaver because they're taller and longer.
And this particular tree was taller than I was lol.
But I easily lifted it and brought it up to the register for her and then carried it out to the car.
To which her friend who was waiting in the car was like "Wow you're strong!" lol.
;) Yes. Yes. I am.
Though really. It's not heavy.
After a bit of creative juggling and maneuvering, we managed to get the cat tree into her car and off the customer went. Happy with their purchase and impressed with my lifting skills. ;) lol
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, May 8, 2017
A Pickup
I've decided that I'm not a delegator.
I'm the type of person who holds to the mindset of "If you want something done, do it yourself."
So I often find myself at work taking on more responsibilities than I probably should. Trying to multitask things to try and make everyone happy.
Today's case started when a customer called on the phone to check and see if her online order was ready to be picked up yet, as she'd ordered it a couple hours ago.
:S Uhoh.
Usually when I get that sort of phone call...it means the managers forgot to look at the online orders that morning. So who knew how many people were waiting for their stuff to 'be ready' to pick up.
At that point in time, it was pretty slow in the store. I mean, I was still working on doing the opening tasks with my coworker, but I had time to detour a bit.
And after confirming that the order hadn't already been picked, I told the customer that I would make sure to get her order ready to be picked up in the next 15 to 20 minutes.
To which she was like "Great! I'll be there in half an hour."
:S uh.....
Automatically that didn't bode well for me, as usually if I'm on a deadline...that's when customers decide to show up and demand help.
Which turned out to be true.
I spent like 15 minutes or so helping a customer figure out a harness for her dog to wear.
Must have tried on like seven different types.
And then I had to go help the customers in my department that were waiting for assistance.
Before I was able to finally find a manager to grab the ipad so that I could log in to get to the online orders....only for me to have forgotten my password for that thing....since I hardly ever use it. :S oops. lol. So a manager had to sign me in.
But once you're signed into the online orders....it's not like I can just find her order and pick that one first.
No. It doesn't tell you what products are needing to be picked until after you open up the order. *exhales* So I had the bad luck of picking the wrong choice (there were four) and the choice I picked ended up being fish stuff...which was great! In that I knew where all that product was.
But bad because none of the product was on the shelf so I had to go hunting through our overstock area for said product which took way more time.
Thankfully I managed to find the customer's order and was pulling the final product off the shelf for her when she walked in the door and went to the register. So I was able to basically walk up to the front of the store, switch into "confirm pick up" in the ipad and have the customer sign off that they picked up their order and it was done.
But oh so stressful. To get that all done while juggling other customers.
Left me a bit high strung after the stress lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
I'm the type of person who holds to the mindset of "If you want something done, do it yourself."
So I often find myself at work taking on more responsibilities than I probably should. Trying to multitask things to try and make everyone happy.
Today's case started when a customer called on the phone to check and see if her online order was ready to be picked up yet, as she'd ordered it a couple hours ago.
:S Uhoh.
Usually when I get that sort of phone call...it means the managers forgot to look at the online orders that morning. So who knew how many people were waiting for their stuff to 'be ready' to pick up.
At that point in time, it was pretty slow in the store. I mean, I was still working on doing the opening tasks with my coworker, but I had time to detour a bit.
And after confirming that the order hadn't already been picked, I told the customer that I would make sure to get her order ready to be picked up in the next 15 to 20 minutes.
To which she was like "Great! I'll be there in half an hour."
:S uh.....
Automatically that didn't bode well for me, as usually if I'm on a deadline...that's when customers decide to show up and demand help.
Which turned out to be true.
I spent like 15 minutes or so helping a customer figure out a harness for her dog to wear.
Must have tried on like seven different types.
And then I had to go help the customers in my department that were waiting for assistance.
Before I was able to finally find a manager to grab the ipad so that I could log in to get to the online orders....only for me to have forgotten my password for that thing....since I hardly ever use it. :S oops. lol. So a manager had to sign me in.
But once you're signed into the online orders....it's not like I can just find her order and pick that one first.
No. It doesn't tell you what products are needing to be picked until after you open up the order. *exhales* So I had the bad luck of picking the wrong choice (there were four) and the choice I picked ended up being fish stuff...which was great! In that I knew where all that product was.
But bad because none of the product was on the shelf so I had to go hunting through our overstock area for said product which took way more time.
Thankfully I managed to find the customer's order and was pulling the final product off the shelf for her when she walked in the door and went to the register. So I was able to basically walk up to the front of the store, switch into "confirm pick up" in the ipad and have the customer sign off that they picked up their order and it was done.
But oh so stressful. To get that all done while juggling other customers.
Left me a bit high strung after the stress lol.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, May 6, 2017
A Ton of Questions
The customer had already made my manager annoyed.
And so he was quite happy to pass him off to me to deal with.
Because I tend to be the expert with fish, and this customer recognized me as I'd apparently helped him before, so he trusted me.
In any case.
The situation was that the man had bought some neon tetras a day or two ago, but two of them ended up dying but he couldn't find the bodies.
But he wasn't sure if they were neon tetras, and refused to believe that my manager knew what he was talking about when he confirmed the fish the customer was describing were neons.
And so insisted that my manager take him over to the fish wall and show him the fish that the manager was talking about so the customer could confirm that they were the fish that had disappeared from his tank.
And the man pointed to the neons in our top tank, saying the fish he lost looked more like those fish, instead of the neons in our middle tank.
(We split our neon tetras between two tanks because we get in too many each week to have in just one tank.)
But the neons were the exact same fish.
It's just that the lighting in the top tank is such that it makes the neons up there look more faded, while the ones in the bottom tank are more vibrant with their blue stripe visible.
But the customer had difficulties believing they were the same exact fish. Seemed skeptical that the lights in the tanks could change how fish look.
-I bet he'll think differently when he takes the new neons home and sees that they no longer have the blue stripe. Because he complained that they didn't before.
But the conversation didn't stop with him getting his neon tetras.
No....I ended up talking to this customer for like thirty minutes about a variety of fish related issues.
Like how his fish are always hiding and he never sees them.
-His tank sounds like it's over crowded, so he needs to rearrange the decorations so the fish will come out more.
Or his fish tank is messy and smelly and noisy.
-Which if he stops over feeding the fish, does his water changes, and turns his lights off, it would be less of an issue.
--He was surprised that I didn't have difficulties maintaining my 125 gallon tank.
Though the lights opened up another conversation as the man thought that the fish lights needed to be on all the time, whether white or blue. And again seemed skeptical that fish could live in pitch black.
I don't know why he's so skeptical....fish in the wild live with nighttime all the time....it makes sense that the fish store fish can do the same thing. *shakes head*
And he also brought up filtration. In that he wants to get a bigger filter for his 10 gallon tank so that he can keep it cleaner....but also put more fish into the tank. As 5 seems like too few for a tank that size, especially if they're always hiding.
He also had an issue with the bottom feeder food he was feeding his catfish as the pellets don't sink, and he was upset that we couldn't just exchange out the food for him, for pellets that would sink. (he had no receipt and we had no way to look up said receipt because he didn't have a number with us, nor could he remember when he bought it.) That problem I couldn't fix exactly. I suggested that he buy a different brand...but he didn't like the idea of spending more money. I also suggested other fish may try and eat the pellets...though that doesn't solve the problem of feeding his catfish/plecos.
-Though if he wants his messy tank to stay cleaner....he shouldn't feed specific food to the bottom feeders and let them clean up the extra mess.
*sighs*
In the end he ended up buying four platys as well to see if they would help liven up his tank.
And I was finally able to send him on his way to the register.
*shakes head*
It was a bit...well not draining, but intense to have him basically be my first customer of my shift to deal with. Such a long drawn out conversation....
But I think he trusts my knowledge enough that he's probably going to try and come only when I'm working. *shrugs* Guess we'll see if that actually happens. lol.
At least I made him mostly happy. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Catnip On Hold?
I had a customer call on the phone today.
Who'd apparently been trying to get a hold of someone for 40 minutes.
-Sounds fake, but okay.-
Because she wanted to see if we had a certain product in stock.
Which I wasn't familiar with at all, but she said that the product said that they were carried by Starsmets, so after looking for it and not finding it, I asked a manager if we carried it and low and behold we did.
So I told her that we did.
And she asked if we could put it on hold for her.
Which I did.
And I told her to go to register one and tell them that she had items on hold when she came in and that they'd be in the cabinet.
-Really we need to have a word for the storage place where we put items that have been ordered online and are waiting to be picked up, or items that are on hold for a customer.
And the customer was like "Can you repeat that last bit? What about catnip?"
"No, Cabinet." I repeated. Only realizing as I said the word how similar it did sound to catnip.
So it wasn't surprising when she misheard it again.
Thankfully, I had a different similar word I could switch to. "Cabinet, you know the cupboard?"
"Ah!" That's when she got it thankfully lol. As I wouldn't have been able to come up with another similar word that quickly on the spot.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Who'd apparently been trying to get a hold of someone for 40 minutes.
-Sounds fake, but okay.-
Because she wanted to see if we had a certain product in stock.
Which I wasn't familiar with at all, but she said that the product said that they were carried by Starsmets, so after looking for it and not finding it, I asked a manager if we carried it and low and behold we did.
So I told her that we did.
And she asked if we could put it on hold for her.
Which I did.
And I told her to go to register one and tell them that she had items on hold when she came in and that they'd be in the cabinet.
-Really we need to have a word for the storage place where we put items that have been ordered online and are waiting to be picked up, or items that are on hold for a customer.
And the customer was like "Can you repeat that last bit? What about catnip?"
"No, Cabinet." I repeated. Only realizing as I said the word how similar it did sound to catnip.
So it wasn't surprising when she misheard it again.
Thankfully, I had a different similar word I could switch to. "Cabinet, you know the cupboard?"
"Ah!" That's when she got it thankfully lol. As I wouldn't have been able to come up with another similar word that quickly on the spot.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Orange
I think I shouldn't be talking to people on the phone anymore.
Because once more, I got stuck in another circular conversation with a customer.
It was an older woman who called this time,
Wanting to know if we sold orange service vests for dogs.
We don't. We don't sell any service stuff because I believe you need to get your dog certified as a service animal first. You can't just pick one up in a store without completing a course or something.
In any case we don't sell them.
And I told her so.
"We have orange harnesses, but no vests." I told her.
"Oh, will those show that my dog is a service dog?"
"...No. I don't think it will." I mean...it might to those unexperienced with what service dogs should be wearing, but overall no. If it doesn't proclaim the dog as a service dog....it won't pass as a service dog.
"Because I need to get a vest so I can bring my dog to the hotel. As he's old."
.....O.o Uhm....last time I checked being an old dog doesn't qualify him as a service dog?
And I started feeling frustrated at this point, because the woman was trying to basically cheat the system to allow her dog to go where it probably isn't supposed to be (unless its a service animal.)
*exhales* And since I have friends and coworkers who do need service dogs and have jumped through all the hoops to get their dogs certified as such and deal with 'fake service dogs' on a near daily basis....
I too don't like it when people try to cheat the system that way. As it just gives service dogs a bad rap if the dog isn't trained to behave itself.
In any case I was like:
"I'm sorry, but I don't think the harness will pass."
"So do you sell the vests?"
"No just the harnesses."
"And the harnesses will pass as a service vest?"
"No I don't think it will."
"Would anyone in the store know for sure?"
"No....no they wouldn't, as it would probably depend on the hotel as to what they consider a 'service vest' But we just sell harnesses, but not for service, and no service vests."
I was glad to hang up when we finally got to an understanding.
I dunno if the woman ever came in to get the harness.
But hopefully she doesn't try to pass it off as a service vest.
*shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because once more, I got stuck in another circular conversation with a customer.
It was an older woman who called this time,
Wanting to know if we sold orange service vests for dogs.
We don't. We don't sell any service stuff because I believe you need to get your dog certified as a service animal first. You can't just pick one up in a store without completing a course or something.
In any case we don't sell them.
And I told her so.
"We have orange harnesses, but no vests." I told her.
"Oh, will those show that my dog is a service dog?"
"...No. I don't think it will." I mean...it might to those unexperienced with what service dogs should be wearing, but overall no. If it doesn't proclaim the dog as a service dog....it won't pass as a service dog.
"Because I need to get a vest so I can bring my dog to the hotel. As he's old."
.....O.o Uhm....last time I checked being an old dog doesn't qualify him as a service dog?
And I started feeling frustrated at this point, because the woman was trying to basically cheat the system to allow her dog to go where it probably isn't supposed to be (unless its a service animal.)
*exhales* And since I have friends and coworkers who do need service dogs and have jumped through all the hoops to get their dogs certified as such and deal with 'fake service dogs' on a near daily basis....
I too don't like it when people try to cheat the system that way. As it just gives service dogs a bad rap if the dog isn't trained to behave itself.
In any case I was like:
"I'm sorry, but I don't think the harness will pass."
"So do you sell the vests?"
"No just the harnesses."
"And the harnesses will pass as a service vest?"
"No I don't think it will."
"Would anyone in the store know for sure?"
"No....no they wouldn't, as it would probably depend on the hotel as to what they consider a 'service vest' But we just sell harnesses, but not for service, and no service vests."
I was glad to hang up when we finally got to an understanding.
I dunno if the woman ever came in to get the harness.
But hopefully she doesn't try to pass it off as a service vest.
*shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
A Circular Conversation
I had to deal with a 12 minute circular conversation today on the phone.
Where an older gentleman, who lived alone, was calling about his cat.
Apparently he's had her for a year, and she's all fixed and vaccinated.
And he loves her but thinks maybe he should give her up.
Because why?
Because she's peeing outside the litter box.
And he was wondering if there was anything to stop her from doing that.
Not that it's a big deal, because it's on tile that she's peeing, just outside of the litter box, and it's not on carpet, but maybe he should give her up because she keeps doing that, but is there anything that would make her stop?
So I suggested first that there were sprays that could discourage the cat from going in certain areas....but if it was too close to the litter box it may discourage her from going there, so perhaps he could try moving the litter box over the spot she would pee in and see if that would solve the problem?
But its in a corner in his kitchen you see, on tile, which means it's easy to clean up because it's not carpet and well...maybe he should give the cat to the pound, but he kinda wants to keep her you know?
You could try the spray. I suggested.
Would Lysol work? He asked. Or maybe Febreze?
No. There's a certain spray that we sell that will stop cats from peeing where you don't want them to pee.
How much does it cost?
Around $15-$20. I told him.
Oh...but that's too much. He can't afford that, maybe he should just give her to a shelter, but he loves her you know? She waits for him when he gets home, and likes to cuddle, but...she keeps peeing outside of the litter box, so maybe he should just give her up.
Well...
There were a few shelters I listed off for him that could possibly take the cat.
But she's been microchipped, and fixed and is up to date on all her shots. She keeps peeing outside the litter box though.
Well maybe you need to get a larger litter box? I suggested.
But the one I have is already normal sized!
So get a larger one? Or a covered one?
Why would it need to be covered? It doesn't need to be covered and she poops in the litterbox just fine, but can't pee in it! So maybe he should give her up, but he's not sure, he loves her you know.
Well, you could try a different litter....or maybe it's a kidney issue, like maybe she has kidney stones and needs to see a vet.
Her urine does have black flecks in it, could that mean something bad?
It's possible, I tell him, but I'm not a vet,
he expresses surprise.
So you should go to a vet have her checked out.
But I can't afford that, so I should just give her up to the shelter right? But I dunno, she's a good cat, vaccinated and everything, maybe I should keep her, but perhaps I should give her up.
*head desk*
Literally. That was basically how the 15 minute conversation went.
With basically ever time he spoke bringing up a shelter to give the cat to.
*shakes head*
I did what I could...offered suggestions of our adoption groups, products to try, concepts to work on.
And he couldn't seem to comprehend most of it. *exhales*
It's hard to get people off a thought when they're firmly set on that thought.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Where an older gentleman, who lived alone, was calling about his cat.
Apparently he's had her for a year, and she's all fixed and vaccinated.
And he loves her but thinks maybe he should give her up.
Because why?
Because she's peeing outside the litter box.
And he was wondering if there was anything to stop her from doing that.
Not that it's a big deal, because it's on tile that she's peeing, just outside of the litter box, and it's not on carpet, but maybe he should give her up because she keeps doing that, but is there anything that would make her stop?
So I suggested first that there were sprays that could discourage the cat from going in certain areas....but if it was too close to the litter box it may discourage her from going there, so perhaps he could try moving the litter box over the spot she would pee in and see if that would solve the problem?
But its in a corner in his kitchen you see, on tile, which means it's easy to clean up because it's not carpet and well...maybe he should give the cat to the pound, but he kinda wants to keep her you know?
You could try the spray. I suggested.
Would Lysol work? He asked. Or maybe Febreze?
No. There's a certain spray that we sell that will stop cats from peeing where you don't want them to pee.
How much does it cost?
Around $15-$20. I told him.
Oh...but that's too much. He can't afford that, maybe he should just give her to a shelter, but he loves her you know? She waits for him when he gets home, and likes to cuddle, but...she keeps peeing outside of the litter box, so maybe he should just give her up.
Well...
There were a few shelters I listed off for him that could possibly take the cat.
But she's been microchipped, and fixed and is up to date on all her shots. She keeps peeing outside the litter box though.
Well maybe you need to get a larger litter box? I suggested.
But the one I have is already normal sized!
So get a larger one? Or a covered one?
Why would it need to be covered? It doesn't need to be covered and she poops in the litterbox just fine, but can't pee in it! So maybe he should give her up, but he's not sure, he loves her you know.
Well, you could try a different litter....or maybe it's a kidney issue, like maybe she has kidney stones and needs to see a vet.
Her urine does have black flecks in it, could that mean something bad?
It's possible, I tell him, but I'm not a vet,
he expresses surprise.
So you should go to a vet have her checked out.
But I can't afford that, so I should just give her up to the shelter right? But I dunno, she's a good cat, vaccinated and everything, maybe I should keep her, but perhaps I should give her up.
*head desk*
Literally. That was basically how the 15 minute conversation went.
With basically ever time he spoke bringing up a shelter to give the cat to.
*shakes head*
I did what I could...offered suggestions of our adoption groups, products to try, concepts to work on.
And he couldn't seem to comprehend most of it. *exhales*
It's hard to get people off a thought when they're firmly set on that thought.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, May 1, 2017
A Court Case?
Dealing with customers can occasionally cause quite the headache.
Especially if I have time to fume about it afterwards.
So, one of our new cashiers called me over to the register to help him out with a problem.
At first I thought that the problem was that the people wanted to sign up for a dog training class, which new guy didn't know how to do.
So I was like "Well you need to grab the paperwork..."
"They already have the paperwork." New guy told me. And the woman pulls out the paperwork from her purse. "They want to return the class." He continued.
Oh.
That's not hard.
But then I saw the address, saw the store number. And realized....the class they'd signed up for...wasn't at our store.
"Did you do this at a different Starsmet?" I asked them.
"Yes. We want to transfer into a class down here."
"I'm sorry," I told them. "We can't transfer classes. You have to return the class you purchased at the first Starsmet, and then come down here and sign up for one here."
Dog Training Classes aren't something we can transfer between stores because each store has a different dog trainer that gets commission on their classes. Because they get commission you can't just transfer one class to another dog trainer because then the second dog trainer wouldn't get paid for teaching the class basically.
The woman was like "But I already tried to return the class! And they said they couldn't do it because it was past due but that I could transfer to a class down here."
O.o
It's statements like that where I wonder if someone actually told the customer that.....or if the customer is just making it up on the spot to try and get their way.
I usually tend to think the latter....
"I'm sorry, but we don't transfer classes....I can double check with a manager though and make sure we haven't had a policy change I wasn't aware of though."
"Yes, Please do that."
I do that. Confirm that we can't transfer a class between stores, that the customer would have to go back to the first Starsmet to return the class there, get their money back and then come down here and purchase the class here.
And somehow...in the midst of that I offered to call our sister store in the next valley over to see what the deal was with not returning the class.
Only after I'd spoken to a manager there, and been briefly put on hold as they checked some things....did I look at the date.
The date for the class?
OCTOBER 2016.
They'd waited SEVEN MONTHS to try and return the class.
And guess what? Usually we only have a 60 day return policy on classes just like most other products in the store (with the exception of live animals)
Why did they wait?
"Because I moved, and life got crazy." yadda yadda.
*shakes head* You'd think that they'd have tried to make an effort to come before now.... I even wonder what caused them to remember that they had even signed up for a class seven months ago. My guess is it's a need for money or something.
Still. I talked to the manager, who said that they'd get the dog trainer in touch with the people about the class.
And I told the customer this. That the dog trainer had their information and should be giving them a call later in the day to see if they can work things out.
-As I confirmed with our own dog trainer that depending on situations, classes can be rescheduled even months and months later depending on the circumstances.
I also confirmed that the dog trainers usually call once or twice if a person has missed a couple of classes to confirm that they still wanted to take the class.
I confirmed that dog trainers do try to make sure the people who sign up for the class actually come to class.
*shakes head*
So again, I have to wonder why these people didn't act before now.
Because they probably got at least two calls to remind them they missed class....
In any case.
I explained the situation to the customer, told them there was nothing more my store could do etc etc etc.
And the woman seemed really understanding. It was her fault after all that she'd waited this long and was now having issues.
But the friend the woman came with. oooh. She wasn't having it.
"We may take this to court!" she proclaimed like a juvenile. "Because you guys promised us a service and you didn't provide it. So we should be able to get this class!"
O.o
Uh.
NO.
I didn't get a chance to respond really because they walked out the door then.
But honestly.
They would lose that court case and waste more money in the process.
Because we upheld our side of the agreement.
The customer signed up for a class and didn't come. It's on their heads for wasting their money.
It would have been different had the other Starsmet said "We're going to have class this day at this time." and then not actually hold it when the customer shows up.
Then there would be a case.
But no. If you didn't go to the class....it's your own fault for wasting your money, not ours.
And that little exchange...was stuck in my head the entire day, causing my headache I mentioned earlier. *shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
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