I was in the middle of helping a customer with a dog.
A dog that had decided to pee in the middle of one of the aisles. *exhales* Which isn't uncommon since it is a pet store that allows pets inside.
And the customer had been trying to find a way to clean up the mess.
But since it was a bigger dog...a few paper towels weren't going to clean up the mini lake that had formed.
So I reassured the customer that I had it covered, that I would go grab a mop to clean up the mess, as that would be a lot easier than using twenty or so paper towels to clean up that way.
I'd gone to our back cleaning area, to grab one of those rolly mop buckets and mop. Filled it up with cleaning liquid,
And rolled it out of the back room.
-Keep in mind I AM at my job, in my uniform-
And I'm walking towards these two customers as I was heading to go clean up the spill. Rolling this mop bucket with me.
In uniform.
And the customer looks at me and goes: "Do you work here?"
....No. I don't work here. I just like pushing random mop buckets around stores. *shakes head*
Like honestly....how could it be more obvious that I worked there?
So my response was a blank "Of course I do." Gestures to myself.
Why would I be pushing around a mop bucket in this store if I didn't actually work at said store? *shakes head*
Customers....customers.....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
The Cleanliness Issue
She's back.
>.<
I actually don't know if it's the same woman or not.
But if it is.
She's back.
You see.
Last Fall, we got terrorized at work by a particular customer.
Who's obsessed with our guinea pig cages.
And their cleanliness.
She was constantly complaining that our cages were too dirty, that we had too many guinea pigs in them, that they were in unclean and unhealthy conditions....it got to the point where the manager had us cleaning the cages Two if not THREE times a week to keep her happy!! Which is totally unrealistic in being able to keep our resources from running out and our monthly budget in check.
When the fact is...we had the amount of guinea pigs that were recommended for the size of the cage in the cage. That we cleaned the cage per policy of once a week, so on and so forth.
There was just the slight problem where we had this random fly issue. (ssoooo many flies. O.o)
Where the guinea pig cages would somehow get all the flies in the store stuck in their cages.
To the point where there were like 15 or so buzzing around.
Which is a lot.
And it's not like flies are easy to get rid of. They tend to fly around and avoid things.
Still, I did my best to get the flies out of the cage and make sure the cage stayed clean. But they're guinea pigs...they make a mess.
But once winter hit, and the flies vanished....so did the complaints.
However.
Today as I was going about doing tasks.
One of my managers who had just arrived into the store for his shift.
Told me that he'd been stopped by a woman who complained to him about the state of one of our Guinea Pig cages.
That she said it hadn't been cleaned in five days and that it was messy.
The manager said, he'd take care of it.
And somewhere in the conversation it was stated that she was coming back and he said he'd see her later with the cage cleaned.
Which resulted in me having to do a quick bedding change in that cage to get it clean.
Which really, is a quick five minute job.
But bugged me to no end.
Why?
BECAUSE I HAD CLEANED THAT CAGE YESTERDAY!!!!!
It. HADN'T. Been FIVE days since that cage was cleaned. It was literally YESTERDAY, We were like at 27 hours since the cage had last been cleaned.
SO DON'T TELL ME IT HASN'T BEEN CLEANED IN FIVE DAYS. IT HAS!!!
UGH!!
No, the problem with that cage is that the guinea pig within has taken to spilling his food all over the cage, pulling his food bowl out of it's spot and just basically creating a disaster zone. *rolls eyes* There are some guinea pigs that just like to do that.
So while it had been cleaned yesterday.
It was a bit.
And when I say a bit.
I mean like just the tiniest bit messier than the other cages also holding guinea pigs.
Which come on customer!
If you notice that only ONE cage in a series of cages is looking messy, couldn't you put two and two together and assume that that cage had been cleaned as well??
Ugh.
But I just....take personal offense to this customer's complaints about the guinea pig cages.
Because I've literally been the one to clean those cages 90% of the time in the last 5 years I've been working at that store.
And guess what.
I haven't changed a single thing! It's the same procedure back then as it is now. Nothing has changed.
Ugh.
Honestly.
I wonder if it's just the color of the bedding within the cage that sets her off.
As I believe when we last dealt with her being unhappy with the cleanliness of the cages it was because we'd been directed to use a colored bedding that was like White and Orange (I think it was Halloween themed at that time?)
But white bedding....ends up showing messes a lot better than darker colored bedding like browns or greys.
And we had just switched our color from a darker Purple to a sky blue color.
And the blue color tends to show the stains as well from the animals.
Because when the bedding is darker, no complaints from this customer.
But if it's lighter, then the complaints come pouring in.
Which again.
WHY DOESN'T THE CUSTOMER NOTICE THIS?! It's not like we're inconsistent in the cleanliness of the cages. They get changed every week.
*exhales*
At some point I'll be able to meet this customer face to face and maybe just maybe be able to prove my point and get across that her expectations are crazy.
>.< Maybe I'll nicely state that we're always accepting applications to the store if she wants to apply.
Maybe.
Grrr.
I hope this is the last time I hear from her.
But I doubt it will be.
Unfortunately.
-Sarnic Dirchi
>.<
I actually don't know if it's the same woman or not.
But if it is.
She's back.
You see.
Last Fall, we got terrorized at work by a particular customer.
Who's obsessed with our guinea pig cages.
And their cleanliness.
She was constantly complaining that our cages were too dirty, that we had too many guinea pigs in them, that they were in unclean and unhealthy conditions....it got to the point where the manager had us cleaning the cages Two if not THREE times a week to keep her happy!! Which is totally unrealistic in being able to keep our resources from running out and our monthly budget in check.
When the fact is...we had the amount of guinea pigs that were recommended for the size of the cage in the cage. That we cleaned the cage per policy of once a week, so on and so forth.
There was just the slight problem where we had this random fly issue. (ssoooo many flies. O.o)
Where the guinea pig cages would somehow get all the flies in the store stuck in their cages.
To the point where there were like 15 or so buzzing around.
Which is a lot.
And it's not like flies are easy to get rid of. They tend to fly around and avoid things.
Still, I did my best to get the flies out of the cage and make sure the cage stayed clean. But they're guinea pigs...they make a mess.
But once winter hit, and the flies vanished....so did the complaints.
However.
Today as I was going about doing tasks.
One of my managers who had just arrived into the store for his shift.
Told me that he'd been stopped by a woman who complained to him about the state of one of our Guinea Pig cages.
That she said it hadn't been cleaned in five days and that it was messy.
The manager said, he'd take care of it.
And somewhere in the conversation it was stated that she was coming back and he said he'd see her later with the cage cleaned.
Which resulted in me having to do a quick bedding change in that cage to get it clean.
Which really, is a quick five minute job.
But bugged me to no end.
Why?
BECAUSE I HAD CLEANED THAT CAGE YESTERDAY!!!!!
It. HADN'T. Been FIVE days since that cage was cleaned. It was literally YESTERDAY, We were like at 27 hours since the cage had last been cleaned.
SO DON'T TELL ME IT HASN'T BEEN CLEANED IN FIVE DAYS. IT HAS!!!
UGH!!
No, the problem with that cage is that the guinea pig within has taken to spilling his food all over the cage, pulling his food bowl out of it's spot and just basically creating a disaster zone. *rolls eyes* There are some guinea pigs that just like to do that.
So while it had been cleaned yesterday.
It was a bit.
And when I say a bit.
I mean like just the tiniest bit messier than the other cages also holding guinea pigs.
Which come on customer!
If you notice that only ONE cage in a series of cages is looking messy, couldn't you put two and two together and assume that that cage had been cleaned as well??
Ugh.
But I just....take personal offense to this customer's complaints about the guinea pig cages.
Because I've literally been the one to clean those cages 90% of the time in the last 5 years I've been working at that store.
And guess what.
I haven't changed a single thing! It's the same procedure back then as it is now. Nothing has changed.
Ugh.
Honestly.
I wonder if it's just the color of the bedding within the cage that sets her off.
As I believe when we last dealt with her being unhappy with the cleanliness of the cages it was because we'd been directed to use a colored bedding that was like White and Orange (I think it was Halloween themed at that time?)
But white bedding....ends up showing messes a lot better than darker colored bedding like browns or greys.
And we had just switched our color from a darker Purple to a sky blue color.
And the blue color tends to show the stains as well from the animals.
Because when the bedding is darker, no complaints from this customer.
But if it's lighter, then the complaints come pouring in.
Which again.
WHY DOESN'T THE CUSTOMER NOTICE THIS?! It's not like we're inconsistent in the cleanliness of the cages. They get changed every week.
*exhales*
At some point I'll be able to meet this customer face to face and maybe just maybe be able to prove my point and get across that her expectations are crazy.
>.< Maybe I'll nicely state that we're always accepting applications to the store if she wants to apply.
Maybe.
Grrr.
I hope this is the last time I hear from her.
But I doubt it will be.
Unfortunately.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Locks and Chemicals
I taught my manager something new today.
Which is always interesting when it happens.
Because you know with managers....you kinda assume that they know everything.
After all. They're managers!
In any case.
I had gone up to the manager on duty to ask him a question about cleaning products.
As I was wanting to wash the outside glass of our animal cages to get rid of all the human prints all over them.
But we'd just switched to a new series of cleaning chemicals and I wasn't sure which of the new ones was the one we were now supposed to use for glass.
The manager couldn't remember off the top of his head,
So we both went to the back where the supplies were to check it out.
And figured out which one it was.
But then as we were conversing and such.
the manager was like "Yah, supposedly there's a key to open these up, but I don't know where it is."
-As we have the series of chemicals hooked up to a gizmo that allows us to dilute the chemicals with water in the proper ratio, but the chemicals are locked up behind some small doors.
And I was like "I do! I know where the keys are."
Because I'm the type of person to figure stuff out like that, and also the type of person that likes to just get things done myself instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
So I knew where the keys to the doors that held the chemicals were.
Because I needed that key for when the cleaning chemical in our back room needs to be switched out. -As I could do it much faster than telling a manager to do it because they're liable to forget.-
"Really?! Where?!"
So I showed the manager where the keys were.
Which was rather amusing because the keys were in a desk in a drawer....that the managers are opening constantly anyways.
So the fact that this manager didn't know that the keys that were right in front of his face practically whenever he opened that drawer...belong to the locks of the chemicals.....was rather amusing because I'm not often in that office. *shakes head* I just had the luck to see where they were at one point lol
But now my manager knows and he's super happy about that. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which is always interesting when it happens.
Because you know with managers....you kinda assume that they know everything.
After all. They're managers!
In any case.
I had gone up to the manager on duty to ask him a question about cleaning products.
As I was wanting to wash the outside glass of our animal cages to get rid of all the human prints all over them.
But we'd just switched to a new series of cleaning chemicals and I wasn't sure which of the new ones was the one we were now supposed to use for glass.
The manager couldn't remember off the top of his head,
So we both went to the back where the supplies were to check it out.
And figured out which one it was.
But then as we were conversing and such.
the manager was like "Yah, supposedly there's a key to open these up, but I don't know where it is."
-As we have the series of chemicals hooked up to a gizmo that allows us to dilute the chemicals with water in the proper ratio, but the chemicals are locked up behind some small doors.
And I was like "I do! I know where the keys are."
Because I'm the type of person to figure stuff out like that, and also the type of person that likes to just get things done myself instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
So I knew where the keys to the doors that held the chemicals were.
Because I needed that key for when the cleaning chemical in our back room needs to be switched out. -As I could do it much faster than telling a manager to do it because they're liable to forget.-
"Really?! Where?!"
So I showed the manager where the keys were.
Which was rather amusing because the keys were in a desk in a drawer....that the managers are opening constantly anyways.
So the fact that this manager didn't know that the keys that were right in front of his face practically whenever he opened that drawer...belong to the locks of the chemicals.....was rather amusing because I'm not often in that office. *shakes head* I just had the luck to see where they were at one point lol
But now my manager knows and he's super happy about that. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, June 26, 2017
At the Reptiles
I was on the opposite side of the store from my department when I heard the cashier call for me over the intercom.
Well. Specifically it was for Pet Care, but since my coworker was busy in the back cleaning cages.
The call was for me.
And where was I needed?
At the Reptiles.
My view of those cages was blocked originally, but as I moved towards it, I saw two women walk by the reptiles and head down the reptile aisle.
Curious as to why they hadn't stopped at the cages, I moved to the aisle, only to see that they had vanished.
O.o Had those people not been the ones needing my help?
I glanced around the reptiles, but no one else was there.
So I turned around to the cashier and held up my hands. "Who am I supposed to be helping?" I asked. Though I still suspected it was the two women who had disappeared elsewhere.
And I was slightly irritated they hadn't stuck around where they needed help because I didn't want to have to go chase them down.
The cashier was confused, leaning over the counter to try and see the customers she'd called me over to help. "I...they were just here. Two women." She said.
I had been standing between our two reptile displays, and turned around in time to see one of the women customers coming towards me. "Hi!" she said. "Could you tell us where the reptiles are?"
lol.
I could only...well spread my arms out and say "Right here."
Because....HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE THE REPTILE CAGES WHEN YOU WALKED RIGHT BY THEM?!!?
*shakes head* I don't understand it. But my guess was they were expecting something different than what we had and so didn't see the animal cages? Who knows.
But I was able to help the two women out. Answer their questions about snakes, because their son/grandson wanted a snake for his birthday.....next year....and they decided that they wanted to start researching early about getting a snake, so they would be aware of what they would be getting themselves into. As well as to get them used to the idea of having a snake in the house. lol.
Hopefully I was able to help answer all their questions. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Well. Specifically it was for Pet Care, but since my coworker was busy in the back cleaning cages.
The call was for me.
And where was I needed?
At the Reptiles.
My view of those cages was blocked originally, but as I moved towards it, I saw two women walk by the reptiles and head down the reptile aisle.
Curious as to why they hadn't stopped at the cages, I moved to the aisle, only to see that they had vanished.
O.o Had those people not been the ones needing my help?
I glanced around the reptiles, but no one else was there.
So I turned around to the cashier and held up my hands. "Who am I supposed to be helping?" I asked. Though I still suspected it was the two women who had disappeared elsewhere.
And I was slightly irritated they hadn't stuck around where they needed help because I didn't want to have to go chase them down.
The cashier was confused, leaning over the counter to try and see the customers she'd called me over to help. "I...they were just here. Two women." She said.
I had been standing between our two reptile displays, and turned around in time to see one of the women customers coming towards me. "Hi!" she said. "Could you tell us where the reptiles are?"
lol.
I could only...well spread my arms out and say "Right here."
Because....HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE THE REPTILE CAGES WHEN YOU WALKED RIGHT BY THEM?!!?
*shakes head* I don't understand it. But my guess was they were expecting something different than what we had and so didn't see the animal cages? Who knows.
But I was able to help the two women out. Answer their questions about snakes, because their son/grandson wanted a snake for his birthday.....next year....and they decided that they wanted to start researching early about getting a snake, so they would be aware of what they would be getting themselves into. As well as to get them used to the idea of having a snake in the house. lol.
Hopefully I was able to help answer all their questions. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Two of Them
There was a gentleman who came into the store today to get some fish.
And fishing out the first few were rather easy.
But then the customer was like: Oh, I saw two other fish I wanted, where did I see those?
And me, being the helpful person I try to be asked him: What did they look like?
To which he said: There were two of them.
Uhmmm....
There are a lot of tanks that only have a two of the same kind of fish in them.
So I tried again asking him if they were striped or blue or larger....
Because I can find fish easier if I actually knew what they looked like.
But no.
All he would tell me was that there were two of them.
*shakes head*
He did find them eventually.
Up in one of the top row tanks.
But I probably could have found them a lil bit faster if he'd told me what they looked like....
-Sarnic Dirchi
And fishing out the first few were rather easy.
But then the customer was like: Oh, I saw two other fish I wanted, where did I see those?
And me, being the helpful person I try to be asked him: What did they look like?
To which he said: There were two of them.
Uhmmm....
There are a lot of tanks that only have a two of the same kind of fish in them.
So I tried again asking him if they were striped or blue or larger....
Because I can find fish easier if I actually knew what they looked like.
But no.
All he would tell me was that there were two of them.
*shakes head*
He did find them eventually.
Up in one of the top row tanks.
But I probably could have found them a lil bit faster if he'd told me what they looked like....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, June 22, 2017
The Right Guinea
So the day before, I had a couple of customers come in wanting to get a guinea pig.
Only they couldn't get it yesterday and had wanted me to put the guinea pig they wanted on hold.
Which we don't do at work.
Because there's too much of a chance of coworker miscommunication, the animal accidentally getting sold, or the customer never coming back, and the poor animal just sitting there for forever.
There are exceptions made of course, but usually that's a case of the customer coming back the same day in an hour or so.
But we don't hold animals for the day.
Nor do we allow customers to pay for the animal and pick it up later (again miscommunication issues0
The customers weren't happy about that.
Because what if the one they wanted got sold?
I did my best to reassure them.
Telling them that the guinea pigs haven't really been selling this week.
(Which is unfortunately because I have over 20 I can sell, but only room for 6 on the floor)
So that it's likely the guinea pig they wanted would still be there.
But I couldn't guarantee that it would be.
Mostly because the next six customers could all randomly decide that they wanted a guinea pig and all of them would be gone by morning.
I was quick to reassure them though, that I had more in stock in the back, I just couldn't bring them out to the floor because we didn't have room for them there. So if the one the customer wanted was sold when they returned the next day, they would have more options available.
...That was probably a mistake to say that lol. Give the customer more options.
but they were really intrigued with the knowledge that we had more guinea pigs available.
In any case.
From their wording.
I half expected them to be banging on the doors right as we opened this morning.
Because it sounded like they wanted to be in the store ASAP so they could get that guinea pig.
....Yah.
They didn't show up until after lunch lol.
But surprise surprise.
Their guinea pig they wanted was still there!
Woot!
Which would have made helping them so much easier....
If they hadn't remembered that I had told them yesterday that I had more guinea pigs.
Curiosity had them wanting to see what other guinea pigs we had.
Just so they could make sure they grabbed the best one that they liked best.
So I lead them to the back and showed them the other guinea pigs we had waiting there.
And the customer loved a creamy colored one.
But was still debating about whether or not she liked the grey and white one that was currently visible on the floor.
Not wanting to stand in the back and have them dither about it.
I lead the customers back to where the other guinea pig was.
Taking the cream one with me.
I then grabbed out the grey one.
And held them out side by side so the customer could see the two of them together at the same time.
After a minute or so of deliberation, the customer ended up picking the cream one from the back lol.
Which I guess means it was a good thing that they asked to see the others so they got the one they really wanted. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Only they couldn't get it yesterday and had wanted me to put the guinea pig they wanted on hold.
Which we don't do at work.
Because there's too much of a chance of coworker miscommunication, the animal accidentally getting sold, or the customer never coming back, and the poor animal just sitting there for forever.
There are exceptions made of course, but usually that's a case of the customer coming back the same day in an hour or so.
But we don't hold animals for the day.
Nor do we allow customers to pay for the animal and pick it up later (again miscommunication issues0
The customers weren't happy about that.
Because what if the one they wanted got sold?
I did my best to reassure them.
Telling them that the guinea pigs haven't really been selling this week.
(Which is unfortunately because I have over 20 I can sell, but only room for 6 on the floor)
So that it's likely the guinea pig they wanted would still be there.
But I couldn't guarantee that it would be.
Mostly because the next six customers could all randomly decide that they wanted a guinea pig and all of them would be gone by morning.
I was quick to reassure them though, that I had more in stock in the back, I just couldn't bring them out to the floor because we didn't have room for them there. So if the one the customer wanted was sold when they returned the next day, they would have more options available.
...That was probably a mistake to say that lol. Give the customer more options.
but they were really intrigued with the knowledge that we had more guinea pigs available.
In any case.
From their wording.
I half expected them to be banging on the doors right as we opened this morning.
Because it sounded like they wanted to be in the store ASAP so they could get that guinea pig.
....Yah.
They didn't show up until after lunch lol.
But surprise surprise.
Their guinea pig they wanted was still there!
Woot!
Which would have made helping them so much easier....
If they hadn't remembered that I had told them yesterday that I had more guinea pigs.
Curiosity had them wanting to see what other guinea pigs we had.
Just so they could make sure they grabbed the best one that they liked best.
So I lead them to the back and showed them the other guinea pigs we had waiting there.
And the customer loved a creamy colored one.
But was still debating about whether or not she liked the grey and white one that was currently visible on the floor.
Not wanting to stand in the back and have them dither about it.
I lead the customers back to where the other guinea pig was.
Taking the cream one with me.
I then grabbed out the grey one.
And held them out side by side so the customer could see the two of them together at the same time.
After a minute or so of deliberation, the customer ended up picking the cream one from the back lol.
Which I guess means it was a good thing that they asked to see the others so they got the one they really wanted. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Which Words?
So, this past weekend, I helped out a pair of customers. A woman and her father buy fish.
And I'd taken silent offense at the father because while I was catching them fish, I ended up taking a little bit longer than my usual quickness because a) the fish were being difficult and b) I was trying to catch them fish that were similar sizes so that they wouldn't pick on each other.
And I'd thought I had heard the father comment that "you're not a very good fisherman are you?"
It got my ire up that statement because more often than not customers comment that I'm amazing at catching fish and that I do it pretty quickly.
So for this guy to say that I wasn't very good....it got on my nerves because I am good. I was just trying to catch specific fish so that they would all play nice.
*exhales*
In any case.
They came back into the store today.
Why?
Because apparently all their fish had died.
O.O
which....it had only been like four days since I'd last helped them....so how could they have lost all their fish so quickly?!
They think it's because they put in gravel into the tank that had originally belonged into a salt water tank (they were doing freshwater fish) and that whatever was in the rocks had killed the fish.
Which makes sense....though I hadn't really heard of that before....
In any case.
They'd replaced the gravel, cleaned out the tank, tested their water, and decided that they should be able to add in fish just fine now.
And so I repeated the process of catching fish for them.
Only this time for the father to comment "Wow, you're a pretty good fisherman, I mean fisherwoman."
Which. ^-^ Yes. Yes I am. lol
But it's now left me doubting his original statement from the first time I'd helped this duo out.
Had he actually complimented me the first time too and I'd misheard him? So I'd become quietly annoyed for no reason?
Or had I heard correctly the first time around and he'd changed his opinion on my fishing skills in the meantime?
*shrugs*
I may never know.
But thankfully I had remained cordial the first go around.
Hopefully this time their fish actually live. :S
-Sarnic Dirchi
And I'd taken silent offense at the father because while I was catching them fish, I ended up taking a little bit longer than my usual quickness because a) the fish were being difficult and b) I was trying to catch them fish that were similar sizes so that they wouldn't pick on each other.
And I'd thought I had heard the father comment that "you're not a very good fisherman are you?"
It got my ire up that statement because more often than not customers comment that I'm amazing at catching fish and that I do it pretty quickly.
So for this guy to say that I wasn't very good....it got on my nerves because I am good. I was just trying to catch specific fish so that they would all play nice.
*exhales*
In any case.
They came back into the store today.
Why?
Because apparently all their fish had died.
O.O
which....it had only been like four days since I'd last helped them....so how could they have lost all their fish so quickly?!
They think it's because they put in gravel into the tank that had originally belonged into a salt water tank (they were doing freshwater fish) and that whatever was in the rocks had killed the fish.
Which makes sense....though I hadn't really heard of that before....
In any case.
They'd replaced the gravel, cleaned out the tank, tested their water, and decided that they should be able to add in fish just fine now.
And so I repeated the process of catching fish for them.
Only this time for the father to comment "Wow, you're a pretty good fisherman, I mean fisherwoman."
Which. ^-^ Yes. Yes I am. lol
But it's now left me doubting his original statement from the first time I'd helped this duo out.
Had he actually complimented me the first time too and I'd misheard him? So I'd become quietly annoyed for no reason?
Or had I heard correctly the first time around and he'd changed his opinion on my fishing skills in the meantime?
*shrugs*
I may never know.
But thankfully I had remained cordial the first go around.
Hopefully this time their fish actually live. :S
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Wasting My Time
People who take forever to make up their minds bug me.
Especially when I'm trying to get tasks done and the person is just sitting there waffling in their decision on what they want to do.
I had an older couple come into the store.
With a million questions about the birds.
Because the woman's canary had just died and she was looking into getting another bird, possibly a parakeet and she saw one she really liked and wanted to get....
But they live like 2 hours away, and had around three or four other stops they had to make today....
Which with the heat we've been having, it's not a good idea to make an animal stay in a car longer than necessary. :S
But the woman kept waffling between realizing she probably couldn't get the bird today, but really wanting to get the bird.
And I was doing my best to offer solutions,
To which they finally settled on going to run half the errands first and then coming back to grab the bird.....
Only they never came back. (yay I didn't want to have to deal with their waffling anymore)
But I did spend like a good half hour trying to get them to make a decision.
*exhales*
Then there were customers who were returning dead fish, but taking forever to decide what fish they wanted to get in exchange or if they even wanted to exchange or get their money back.
And yah....after dealing with like 4 of these time wasting customers today...
I'm so done with dealing with those types of customers.
Hopefully tomorrow brings a better more decisive set of customers.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Especially when I'm trying to get tasks done and the person is just sitting there waffling in their decision on what they want to do.
I had an older couple come into the store.
With a million questions about the birds.
Because the woman's canary had just died and she was looking into getting another bird, possibly a parakeet and she saw one she really liked and wanted to get....
But they live like 2 hours away, and had around three or four other stops they had to make today....
Which with the heat we've been having, it's not a good idea to make an animal stay in a car longer than necessary. :S
But the woman kept waffling between realizing she probably couldn't get the bird today, but really wanting to get the bird.
And I was doing my best to offer solutions,
To which they finally settled on going to run half the errands first and then coming back to grab the bird.....
Only they never came back. (yay I didn't want to have to deal with their waffling anymore)
But I did spend like a good half hour trying to get them to make a decision.
*exhales*
Then there were customers who were returning dead fish, but taking forever to decide what fish they wanted to get in exchange or if they even wanted to exchange or get their money back.
And yah....after dealing with like 4 of these time wasting customers today...
I'm so done with dealing with those types of customers.
Hopefully tomorrow brings a better more decisive set of customers.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, June 19, 2017
Some Chocolate
So I happened to be in the back of the store, grabbing a quick mouthful of water from the drinking fountain.
A woman had followed me in that direction. I'd assumed she'd been looking for the restrooms as they're right there by the drinking fountain.
But as I straightened she was like "Oh, is that a vending machine with chocolate?!"
Unfortunately it wasn't. The vending machine in the public part of the store is for drinks.
But in our breakroom we have a vending machine that has snacks in it.
Normally I wouldn't point this out to a customer.
After all it's in an 'employees only' part of the store, and you don't want customers just wandering into the breakroom.
But for some reason at that moment I decided to show her where it was.
I told her that we had the vending machine in our breakroom and lead her inside.
I didn't just leave her there unattended though.
I stayed there in the room with her, just to be on the safe side and make sure she wouldn't steal anything.
And watched as she searched her purse for some change.
But her smallest bill she had was a $10 bill.
And I told her that she could get cash from the register up at the front of the store.
But a coworker of mine happened to be clocking in at that point and so she asked him if he happened to have two fives she could exchange for her ten.
It took me a second, but I remembered that I actually had fives in my wallet.
Because my sister had recently paid me back for a purchase I made for her, and she'd paid me back in fives.
So I took out two fives and exchanged them for the woman's ten.
But when the woman tried to put the $5 into the vending machine....it wouldn't take them. Either one.
And I could sense a bit of her frustration at that.
So deciding to be the good citizen, since it was just a dollar for the chocolate that she wanted, I pulled out one of the dollar bills I'd received from my Mother Dearest, again because I was being paid back for something else I'd bought.
And placed it in the vending machine. Which took my dollar, for the lady to use.
In return she handed me back one of the fives I'd just given her.
And I was like "No, you don't have to, you can keep that."
But she insisted I keep the five.
Because she was grateful that I'd gone the extra mile for her.
You see....her and her husband were at the vet's (which is in the store) and they were about to put down their 16 year old Dachshund, because it was that time. He was old, suffering, and basically would be better off to be put out of his misery.
And they wanted to give him his favorite treat one last time before he passed on.
That treat?
A chocolate bar.
-Which admittedly I found odd...because chocolate isn't good for dogs....
But it was their dog's favorite treat.
And she was just grateful that I'd been there to lend a listening ear and to help her out in getting the chocolate for her dog.
I'm glad I was able to provide her a little bright spot in an otherwise sad day.
-Sarnic Dirchi
A woman had followed me in that direction. I'd assumed she'd been looking for the restrooms as they're right there by the drinking fountain.
But as I straightened she was like "Oh, is that a vending machine with chocolate?!"
Unfortunately it wasn't. The vending machine in the public part of the store is for drinks.
But in our breakroom we have a vending machine that has snacks in it.
Normally I wouldn't point this out to a customer.
After all it's in an 'employees only' part of the store, and you don't want customers just wandering into the breakroom.
But for some reason at that moment I decided to show her where it was.
I told her that we had the vending machine in our breakroom and lead her inside.
I didn't just leave her there unattended though.
I stayed there in the room with her, just to be on the safe side and make sure she wouldn't steal anything.
And watched as she searched her purse for some change.
But her smallest bill she had was a $10 bill.
And I told her that she could get cash from the register up at the front of the store.
But a coworker of mine happened to be clocking in at that point and so she asked him if he happened to have two fives she could exchange for her ten.
It took me a second, but I remembered that I actually had fives in my wallet.
Because my sister had recently paid me back for a purchase I made for her, and she'd paid me back in fives.
So I took out two fives and exchanged them for the woman's ten.
But when the woman tried to put the $5 into the vending machine....it wouldn't take them. Either one.
And I could sense a bit of her frustration at that.
So deciding to be the good citizen, since it was just a dollar for the chocolate that she wanted, I pulled out one of the dollar bills I'd received from my Mother Dearest, again because I was being paid back for something else I'd bought.
And placed it in the vending machine. Which took my dollar, for the lady to use.
In return she handed me back one of the fives I'd just given her.
And I was like "No, you don't have to, you can keep that."
But she insisted I keep the five.
Because she was grateful that I'd gone the extra mile for her.
You see....her and her husband were at the vet's (which is in the store) and they were about to put down their 16 year old Dachshund, because it was that time. He was old, suffering, and basically would be better off to be put out of his misery.
And they wanted to give him his favorite treat one last time before he passed on.
That treat?
A chocolate bar.
-Which admittedly I found odd...because chocolate isn't good for dogs....
But it was their dog's favorite treat.
And she was just grateful that I'd been there to lend a listening ear and to help her out in getting the chocolate for her dog.
I'm glad I was able to provide her a little bright spot in an otherwise sad day.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, June 16, 2017
On the Hunt
There's always a slight amount of stress involved when I answer the phone at work.
Because there's no way to know what sort of customer is on the other end.
Are they just grooming customers that need to be transferred back to the grooming department?
Are they someone with a quick question that you can answer in two seconds?
Or are they the type of person who makes you hunt all over the store for a product, or else asks a gazillion questions that you may or may not know the answers to and you end up spending an eternity on the phone with them.....
Which means that when you're helping an actual customer in the store and the phone rings...it's always a game of Russian roulette on if you answer the phone while helping the person in the store...if you'll be able to quickly multitask and answer the phone customer's question...or end up in a bad situation where you're now helping two needy people at once. *Exhales*
Thankfully....
This wasn't like that.
I wasn't helping a customer, I wasn't busy.
But the customer on the phone did have a need.
He called wanted to know if we had a specific brand of rat food in the store.
Oxbow Essentials.
Which I know very well that we carry oxbow food.
But it always throws me off slightly when the customer adds in extra words like "Essentials"
Because I don't always look closely at the packaging to see what all the little words under the brand name say.
So I had to go check to make sure that the Oxbow we had in the store actually was the Oxbow Essentials he wanted.
It was!!
Only....there was a small problem.
We didn't have the adult rat food in stock on the shelf. :S
I mean I had the young rat food in stock,
but unfortunately the customer was in need of the adult food.
A glance above in the overstock in the aisle showed that we had no extra food up there.
But instead of telling the customer that I didn't have any of that food in stock.
I told him I would put him on hold and check around the store.
As I knew that we had a truck come in today, so perhaps that food was on the truck.
After all, that particular section of the shelf had been empty for nearly a week now.
Which meant....either we'd lost the food somewhere in the store, or it should be coming in soon.
A quick question to the manager, a check in our boxes off the truck....
Revealed no rat food.
Which left me with just one option left.
We've just started a new organizational thing where we have boxes of overstock product placed on the steel in our store. And thankfully, they've now been labeled with aisle numbers and the sort of things that are in the boxes.
Like :Aisle 5 Fish food and Filters.
That sort of thing.
Usually we don't get too much overstock in our small pet section. (unless the DC goes crazy sending us Hamster balls. :S )
But it was worth a shot to go look and see if somehow extra animal food had ended up up there.
I found the right box.
Could see that there were red bags up in it. (the boxes are clear)
And upon grabbing a ladder and reaching the boxes.
Discovered where all our missing adult rat food was. lol.
There were five bags of the stuff in that box.
So when I got back on the phone with the customer and informed him that I had found his food.
He was extremely happy. :D lol.
So grateful that I had found him his food, so he wouldn't have to try and find it elsewhere.
I ended up placing a bag on hold for him, just to ensure when he came in that he WOULD have a bag of food to buy.
As I doubted that someone would come in within the day and buy all 5 bags of rat food.
But it's better to be safe than sorry.
Hopefully he got the food alright. :)
I'm just glad I was able to help him out. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because there's no way to know what sort of customer is on the other end.
Are they just grooming customers that need to be transferred back to the grooming department?
Are they someone with a quick question that you can answer in two seconds?
Or are they the type of person who makes you hunt all over the store for a product, or else asks a gazillion questions that you may or may not know the answers to and you end up spending an eternity on the phone with them.....
Which means that when you're helping an actual customer in the store and the phone rings...it's always a game of Russian roulette on if you answer the phone while helping the person in the store...if you'll be able to quickly multitask and answer the phone customer's question...or end up in a bad situation where you're now helping two needy people at once. *Exhales*
Thankfully....
This wasn't like that.
I wasn't helping a customer, I wasn't busy.
But the customer on the phone did have a need.
He called wanted to know if we had a specific brand of rat food in the store.
Oxbow Essentials.
Which I know very well that we carry oxbow food.
But it always throws me off slightly when the customer adds in extra words like "Essentials"
Because I don't always look closely at the packaging to see what all the little words under the brand name say.
So I had to go check to make sure that the Oxbow we had in the store actually was the Oxbow Essentials he wanted.
It was!!
Only....there was a small problem.
We didn't have the adult rat food in stock on the shelf. :S
I mean I had the young rat food in stock,
but unfortunately the customer was in need of the adult food.
A glance above in the overstock in the aisle showed that we had no extra food up there.
But instead of telling the customer that I didn't have any of that food in stock.
I told him I would put him on hold and check around the store.
As I knew that we had a truck come in today, so perhaps that food was on the truck.
After all, that particular section of the shelf had been empty for nearly a week now.
Which meant....either we'd lost the food somewhere in the store, or it should be coming in soon.
A quick question to the manager, a check in our boxes off the truck....
Revealed no rat food.
Which left me with just one option left.
We've just started a new organizational thing where we have boxes of overstock product placed on the steel in our store. And thankfully, they've now been labeled with aisle numbers and the sort of things that are in the boxes.
Like :Aisle 5 Fish food and Filters.
That sort of thing.
Usually we don't get too much overstock in our small pet section. (unless the DC goes crazy sending us Hamster balls. :S )
But it was worth a shot to go look and see if somehow extra animal food had ended up up there.
I found the right box.
Could see that there were red bags up in it. (the boxes are clear)
And upon grabbing a ladder and reaching the boxes.
Discovered where all our missing adult rat food was. lol.
There were five bags of the stuff in that box.
So when I got back on the phone with the customer and informed him that I had found his food.
He was extremely happy. :D lol.
So grateful that I had found him his food, so he wouldn't have to try and find it elsewhere.
I ended up placing a bag on hold for him, just to ensure when he came in that he WOULD have a bag of food to buy.
As I doubted that someone would come in within the day and buy all 5 bags of rat food.
But it's better to be safe than sorry.
Hopefully he got the food alright. :)
I'm just glad I was able to help him out. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Nearly Dried Out
I was near the end of completing my first task of the morning at work.
That of facing the department. -Making sure product was in it's correct location on the shelves and all lined up neatly and such.
When I walked by the endcap holding our bettas, and glanced to the shelf underneath holding some of our small betta tanks we sold...
And saw stuck to the side of one of the boxes of a small tank....was a dried up betta fish.
Y_Y
It's not unheard of for the bettas to jump out of their cups. -We have a small hole in the top of the cup where we drop food and occasionally bettas jump out for whatever reason.
So I was rather sad to see that this guy had gone suicidal.
I grabbed the betta to go throw him away....
Only for the betta to flop in my hand!!!
()_() the fish was STILL ALIVE!!! AHHHH!!!
Cue momentary panic as I quickly grabbed a container to fill it with water and put the fish in it. :S
-Because I had no idea which cup he'd jumped from and time was of the essence.
And surprisingly he started swimming around.
*shakes head*
I did find the cup eventually that he'd jumped out of and put him in his proper home.
But I do have to wonder how long the betta was out of the water....
I mean I had thought he was dead from how shriveled he looked....
Yet he was alive!!
His fins are all clampy ragged now though...so who knows if he's going to survive long term.
But for the moment, I saved his life. ^^
Yay.
-Sarnic Dirchi
That of facing the department. -Making sure product was in it's correct location on the shelves and all lined up neatly and such.
When I walked by the endcap holding our bettas, and glanced to the shelf underneath holding some of our small betta tanks we sold...
And saw stuck to the side of one of the boxes of a small tank....was a dried up betta fish.
Y_Y
It's not unheard of for the bettas to jump out of their cups. -We have a small hole in the top of the cup where we drop food and occasionally bettas jump out for whatever reason.
So I was rather sad to see that this guy had gone suicidal.
I grabbed the betta to go throw him away....
Only for the betta to flop in my hand!!!
()_() the fish was STILL ALIVE!!! AHHHH!!!
Cue momentary panic as I quickly grabbed a container to fill it with water and put the fish in it. :S
-Because I had no idea which cup he'd jumped from and time was of the essence.
And surprisingly he started swimming around.
*shakes head*
I did find the cup eventually that he'd jumped out of and put him in his proper home.
But I do have to wonder how long the betta was out of the water....
I mean I had thought he was dead from how shriveled he looked....
Yet he was alive!!
His fins are all clampy ragged now though...so who knows if he's going to survive long term.
But for the moment, I saved his life. ^^
Yay.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
A Fish
It's always fun when grandparents come into the store wanting to spoil their grandchildren.
Because I really like seeing the sweet interactions between grandparent and grandchild. lol
Today it was a grandfather and his granddaughter who came into the store.
Though at first I thought it was father/daughter as the dude totally didn't look grandfather aged.
But he said he was here to spoil his granddaughter -who was like four years old or so.
Very cute and young enough to still be shy around people.
She had the most adorable dimples. lol.
And the grandfather was like "I have this tank it's like a 1.5 gallon with a filter, but we need some rocks and a decoration. Then we need a fish, but not just any fish. It needs to be a fish that is Red and not Orange. Though I'm not sure if she knows what those colors actually are. So we'll let her pick one."
So I helped the duo pick out some rocks and pointed them in the direction of the decorations. -the girl by passed all the cutesy princess décor to go straight for the shark head decoration we had lol.
-Apparently because the grandfather was from San Diego and their beaches have been closed for nearly a month because there have been Great White's sighted close to shore.
and so the granddaughter is kinda obsessed.
And in the end after picking everything out.
The little girl went with a Red Betta fish. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because I really like seeing the sweet interactions between grandparent and grandchild. lol
Today it was a grandfather and his granddaughter who came into the store.
Though at first I thought it was father/daughter as the dude totally didn't look grandfather aged.
But he said he was here to spoil his granddaughter -who was like four years old or so.
Very cute and young enough to still be shy around people.
She had the most adorable dimples. lol.
And the grandfather was like "I have this tank it's like a 1.5 gallon with a filter, but we need some rocks and a decoration. Then we need a fish, but not just any fish. It needs to be a fish that is Red and not Orange. Though I'm not sure if she knows what those colors actually are. So we'll let her pick one."
So I helped the duo pick out some rocks and pointed them in the direction of the decorations. -the girl by passed all the cutesy princess décor to go straight for the shark head decoration we had lol.
-Apparently because the grandfather was from San Diego and their beaches have been closed for nearly a month because there have been Great White's sighted close to shore.
and so the granddaughter is kinda obsessed.
And in the end after picking everything out.
The little girl went with a Red Betta fish. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Crickets?
I had a customer come up behind me as I was dumping our fresh shipment of crickets into the bin and ask me: "Do you guys sell crickets here?"
Uhmmm....
Well if you'd taken two seconds longer to look at what I was doing....you'd see that I just dumped a bunch of them into this container here.
I actually said something along the lines of "Yah, right here." and pointed down into the bin.
They quickly told me the crickets they needed and I grabbed them out for the customer and soon they were on their merry way.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Uhmmm....
Well if you'd taken two seconds longer to look at what I was doing....you'd see that I just dumped a bunch of them into this container here.
I actually said something along the lines of "Yah, right here." and pointed down into the bin.
They quickly told me the crickets they needed and I grabbed them out for the customer and soon they were on their merry way.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, June 12, 2017
In the Store
So I got a phone call today at work,
Where the customer was asking me questions about a couple dog training classes we do.
Specifically the potty training class.
As she wanted to know if her puppy needed to have its rabies shot before she signed up for the class.
And I didn't know the answer.
So I put her on hold to ask a manager.
Manager wasn't sure either.
So I went to the training center to look at the papers to see what it said.
And there was a lady standing right there on the phone.
I didn't think anything of it.
Until she asked me if I was the phone she was talking to on the phone with. O.o
Apparently the customer had decided to call the store...while she was in the store to ask about training instead of finding an associate in the store to ask her question to in person....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Where the customer was asking me questions about a couple dog training classes we do.
Specifically the potty training class.
As she wanted to know if her puppy needed to have its rabies shot before she signed up for the class.
And I didn't know the answer.
So I put her on hold to ask a manager.
Manager wasn't sure either.
So I went to the training center to look at the papers to see what it said.
And there was a lady standing right there on the phone.
I didn't think anything of it.
Until she asked me if I was the phone she was talking to on the phone with. O.o
Apparently the customer had decided to call the store...while she was in the store to ask about training instead of finding an associate in the store to ask her question to in person....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, June 10, 2017
What's Your Name?
So there was this cute little girl and her father in the store today.
And I saw them sitting underneath our fish tanks on the shelf that usually holds gravel.
It looked like they were patiently waiting for some help with fish.
But when I asked them if they needed me to catch them anything,
The father said that they were trying to think of name to name the fish first before they got it.
Which is understandable. Some people like to name their fish before they take it home.
lol and little kids seem quite prone to this, so it made sense she'd want to name a fish before picking it out.
So I went and helped other customers, and glanced up a little bit later when the Dad and daughter walked by. And the father said with a sheepish smile. "We're going to go ask the fish what they want to be named."
lol. So cute.
I really wish I heard what names they wanted to be named.
Though I don't even know if they ended up getting any fish.
If they did it wasn't from me.
I hope they did.
I hope they got cool names too. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
And I saw them sitting underneath our fish tanks on the shelf that usually holds gravel.
It looked like they were patiently waiting for some help with fish.
But when I asked them if they needed me to catch them anything,
The father said that they were trying to think of name to name the fish first before they got it.
Which is understandable. Some people like to name their fish before they take it home.
lol and little kids seem quite prone to this, so it made sense she'd want to name a fish before picking it out.
So I went and helped other customers, and glanced up a little bit later when the Dad and daughter walked by. And the father said with a sheepish smile. "We're going to go ask the fish what they want to be named."
lol. So cute.
I really wish I heard what names they wanted to be named.
Though I don't even know if they ended up getting any fish.
If they did it wasn't from me.
I hope they did.
I hope they got cool names too. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Switched
So a couple of days ago, I was helping a customer out who wanted to adopt a kitten that we had.
Only, she wasn't able to adopt said kitten until after she got off work that evening.
So I said that I would put the kitten on hold for her until a certain time that night.
And made sure to place an 'on hold' sign in front of the cat's tag so no one else would adopt that particular kitty, as well as left a note to say that the kitten was on hold for this particular customer.
And I left work, thinking that that was that.
Only, when I came back into work yesterday morning.
I saw that the tag for the kitten was gone...but the kitten that was supposed to have been adopted was still there.
And a different kitten had been taken.
O.O
Which was the most confusing thing ever!
Because the customer had insisted on taking a picture of the kitten that they wanted. So they would know which kitten it was they wanted.
So why would they take home the wrong kitten then if they had a picture of said kitten?
I didn't know.
But I did tell my manager about it, because we had adopted out a kitten under the wrong name...which causes problems for the adoption group because they have their kittens microchipped and it's hard to update the chip if it's the wrong kitty....
Well, this morning I came into work.
To find that the grey kitty was gone, and the white kitten had been returned.
It turns out.
That my manager had called the customer and told them that they'd filled out the wrong paperwork for the kitten they'd taken home.
And the customer was like "I thought I'd taken home the wrong cat, but when I told the girl who was grabbing the kitten she didn't understand what I was trying to say."
O.o Which...I wonder what was up with my coworker.....
But in any case. The customer came in to switch the paperwork out so that she would have the right adoption information for the kitten she had taken home....only she wanted to hold the original kitten she wanted, and decided that she actually did still want that kitten.
So it was a simple matter of bringing back the kitten she'd taken and switching it for the original one she wanted. Easy peasy and everyone ended up happy. :) yay!!
Glad we were able to get that situation sorted. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Only, she wasn't able to adopt said kitten until after she got off work that evening.
So I said that I would put the kitten on hold for her until a certain time that night.
And made sure to place an 'on hold' sign in front of the cat's tag so no one else would adopt that particular kitty, as well as left a note to say that the kitten was on hold for this particular customer.
And I left work, thinking that that was that.
Only, when I came back into work yesterday morning.
I saw that the tag for the kitten was gone...but the kitten that was supposed to have been adopted was still there.
And a different kitten had been taken.
O.O
Which was the most confusing thing ever!
Because the customer had insisted on taking a picture of the kitten that they wanted. So they would know which kitten it was they wanted.
So why would they take home the wrong kitten then if they had a picture of said kitten?
I didn't know.
But I did tell my manager about it, because we had adopted out a kitten under the wrong name...which causes problems for the adoption group because they have their kittens microchipped and it's hard to update the chip if it's the wrong kitty....
Well, this morning I came into work.
To find that the grey kitty was gone, and the white kitten had been returned.
It turns out.
That my manager had called the customer and told them that they'd filled out the wrong paperwork for the kitten they'd taken home.
And the customer was like "I thought I'd taken home the wrong cat, but when I told the girl who was grabbing the kitten she didn't understand what I was trying to say."
O.o Which...I wonder what was up with my coworker.....
But in any case. The customer came in to switch the paperwork out so that she would have the right adoption information for the kitten she had taken home....only she wanted to hold the original kitten she wanted, and decided that she actually did still want that kitten.
So it was a simple matter of bringing back the kitten she'd taken and switching it for the original one she wanted. Easy peasy and everyone ended up happy. :) yay!!
Glad we were able to get that situation sorted. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Fiesty Kitty
It was rather the unconventional sight that confronted me when I walked into work this morning to clock in.
I saw the cart first. By the cat adoption center.
The cart where we place all the food on so that we can easily feed said animals.
It really didn't have a reason to be over by the cats though, as all their supplies are right there within reach.
So I was wondering if my coworkers last night had been pulled away after closing down the back rooms where we keep our extra animals -as the cat adoption center is nearby that-
When I noticed that within the cat adoption center...all supplies we use to clean the cages out, replace litter, and give food/water....were still all out.
O.o What had happened last night that my coworkers couldn't even put away the supplies?
And then I saw the cat.
It was loose.
Wandering around the adoption center.
()_() AHHH!!
cue momentary panic as I was like "DID MY COWORKERS SERIOUSLY LEAVE THE CAT OUT OF ITS CAGE ALL NIGHT LONG HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO PUT IT BACK?!"
And then I made it to the door to the adoption center and saw the note on top of it.
The note simply stating that one should not open the door because the cat within had gone crazy and wouldn't go back in the cage and hopefully it would be calmer in the morning.
Oh.
OH.
It happens occasionally.
Where one of the cats up for adoption gets super freaked out.
Hissing, clawing, scratching, darting underneath the cages and basically yowling up a storm.
Because they're stressed, and on edge, and more than likely don't like the other kitties.
That was basically the case with this particular cat.
And I wasn't that surprised,
As I'd noted yesterday morning when cleaning the cages, that the kitty was on edge.
She hadn't liked coming out of her cage.
-But because the kitties within had totally messed up their living quarters, I had to get everything and the cats out of the cage to clean it up.
That particular kitty hadn't liked it.
It was skittish and scared and wanted to just stay in it's little home and hide.
It took a little bit of work to coax her back in, but I hadn't thought anything more on it than "hmm leave her within the cage next time."
I dunno what happened last night...I can only guess that my coworker needed to do another deeper cleaning of that particular cage due to the multiple cats and had done like I'd done and pulled the cats out of the cage as well to let them wander around the adoption center.
Only...whatever had happened....that poor kitty had become even more freaked out.
To the point where my coworker couldn't get her back into the cage.
You could kinda see the path of destruction and the various methods my coworker had tried to get the kitty out from under the cages and back into it's cage.
So once I clocked in and set my stuff down.
I went to work, to get the kitty locked back up.
It took a bit of time and patience,
But thankfully the kitty had calmed down enough overnight that she wasn't scratching or clawing or anything.
Just hissing/growling. But once I got a hand on her (hand covered with a bite glove as a precaution) I was able to pull her out and set her in a separate empty cage away from the other cats she'd been in with before.
So hopefully the slight space separation from the others will help her to calm down and relax.
Hopefully.
Only time will tell. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
I saw the cart first. By the cat adoption center.
The cart where we place all the food on so that we can easily feed said animals.
It really didn't have a reason to be over by the cats though, as all their supplies are right there within reach.
So I was wondering if my coworkers last night had been pulled away after closing down the back rooms where we keep our extra animals -as the cat adoption center is nearby that-
When I noticed that within the cat adoption center...all supplies we use to clean the cages out, replace litter, and give food/water....were still all out.
O.o What had happened last night that my coworkers couldn't even put away the supplies?
And then I saw the cat.
It was loose.
Wandering around the adoption center.
()_() AHHH!!
cue momentary panic as I was like "DID MY COWORKERS SERIOUSLY LEAVE THE CAT OUT OF ITS CAGE ALL NIGHT LONG HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO PUT IT BACK?!"
And then I made it to the door to the adoption center and saw the note on top of it.
The note simply stating that one should not open the door because the cat within had gone crazy and wouldn't go back in the cage and hopefully it would be calmer in the morning.
Oh.
OH.
It happens occasionally.
Where one of the cats up for adoption gets super freaked out.
Hissing, clawing, scratching, darting underneath the cages and basically yowling up a storm.
Because they're stressed, and on edge, and more than likely don't like the other kitties.
That was basically the case with this particular cat.
And I wasn't that surprised,
As I'd noted yesterday morning when cleaning the cages, that the kitty was on edge.
She hadn't liked coming out of her cage.
-But because the kitties within had totally messed up their living quarters, I had to get everything and the cats out of the cage to clean it up.
That particular kitty hadn't liked it.
It was skittish and scared and wanted to just stay in it's little home and hide.
It took a little bit of work to coax her back in, but I hadn't thought anything more on it than "hmm leave her within the cage next time."
I dunno what happened last night...I can only guess that my coworker needed to do another deeper cleaning of that particular cage due to the multiple cats and had done like I'd done and pulled the cats out of the cage as well to let them wander around the adoption center.
Only...whatever had happened....that poor kitty had become even more freaked out.
To the point where my coworker couldn't get her back into the cage.
You could kinda see the path of destruction and the various methods my coworker had tried to get the kitty out from under the cages and back into it's cage.
So once I clocked in and set my stuff down.
I went to work, to get the kitty locked back up.
It took a bit of time and patience,
But thankfully the kitty had calmed down enough overnight that she wasn't scratching or clawing or anything.
Just hissing/growling. But once I got a hand on her (hand covered with a bite glove as a precaution) I was able to pull her out and set her in a separate empty cage away from the other cats she'd been in with before.
So hopefully the slight space separation from the others will help her to calm down and relax.
Hopefully.
Only time will tell. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
A Slip of Paper
I had a customer come up to me on the register today, and hand me a piece of paper.
On that paper was a picture of a dog tag and the price listed.
Which confused me at first, because....why hand me a picture of the dog tag and not grab the dog tag itself to buy it?
Well...it's because the customer thought that the dog tags were in the machine that engraves the dog tags. -As on the display around the engraver were empty slots where no dog tags were hanging. And so believed that he simply needed to show me the piece of paper to get the tag he wanted.
....Well no.
But luckily our other display of dog tags was right behind him.
Even more lucky is that the tag he wanted was in stock.
So I simply pulled the dog tag from the display and continued on with his purchase so that he could go engrave it on our engraver.
Though...it would make more sense if the dog engraver acted more like a vending machine....that would make life easier for everyone...you know until the tags ran out....
-Sarnic Dirchi
On that paper was a picture of a dog tag and the price listed.
Which confused me at first, because....why hand me a picture of the dog tag and not grab the dog tag itself to buy it?
Well...it's because the customer thought that the dog tags were in the machine that engraves the dog tags. -As on the display around the engraver were empty slots where no dog tags were hanging. And so believed that he simply needed to show me the piece of paper to get the tag he wanted.
....Well no.
But luckily our other display of dog tags was right behind him.
Even more lucky is that the tag he wanted was in stock.
So I simply pulled the dog tag from the display and continued on with his purchase so that he could go engrave it on our engraver.
Though...it would make more sense if the dog engraver acted more like a vending machine....that would make life easier for everyone...you know until the tags ran out....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, June 5, 2017
A Fitting
I helped out an older couple today.
They'd brought their cat in the store to get her a harness because she didn't like wearing collars and they wanted to take her on walks and such.
So I showed them where the harnesses were, and I ended up showing them how to put the harnesses on their cat.
lol. It was rather frustrating because I went through three or four harnesses -which involved taking off the tags to get the harness to fit around the cat, before I finally found a harness that was the color and style that they liked.
-The woman was concerned the harness was too tight around the legs, and the husband was concerned over the coloration.
But in the end. It worked out. :) They found a harness that they liked.
And I got to spend a good twenty minutes with their kitty cat. ^^ awwww
She was such a mellow sweetheart, their cat. You could turn her every which way -which I had to do to get the harness on and fitted- and she hardly reacted at all.
Those customers definitely lucked out with her. ^^
lol and they were so grateful that I took the time to help them out, and stayed with them, and talked with them, and showed them how to put the harness on and how to adjust it.
It definitely made my day to have them soo grateful that I went through all that work to ensure that they were satisfied that they'd gotten the right harness at the right fit.
Honestly, I hope to see them and their cat again. :) It was a good experience all around. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
They'd brought their cat in the store to get her a harness because she didn't like wearing collars and they wanted to take her on walks and such.
So I showed them where the harnesses were, and I ended up showing them how to put the harnesses on their cat.
lol. It was rather frustrating because I went through three or four harnesses -which involved taking off the tags to get the harness to fit around the cat, before I finally found a harness that was the color and style that they liked.
-The woman was concerned the harness was too tight around the legs, and the husband was concerned over the coloration.
But in the end. It worked out. :) They found a harness that they liked.
And I got to spend a good twenty minutes with their kitty cat. ^^ awwww
She was such a mellow sweetheart, their cat. You could turn her every which way -which I had to do to get the harness on and fitted- and she hardly reacted at all.
Those customers definitely lucked out with her. ^^
lol and they were so grateful that I took the time to help them out, and stayed with them, and talked with them, and showed them how to put the harness on and how to adjust it.
It definitely made my day to have them soo grateful that I went through all that work to ensure that they were satisfied that they'd gotten the right harness at the right fit.
Honestly, I hope to see them and their cat again. :) It was a good experience all around. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Here and Now
So there was a woman who said she wanted a cat.
But my coworker was busy in the middle of the task, and me with nothing tying me up at the moment, volunteered to help out.
I asked the woman "So you want a cat?"
And she gave me this blank look before a few seconds too late responding with a 'yes.'
So I lead her over to the cats and asked her which one she wanted to adopt.
And she was like "I don't know his name, I already gave him a new name in my head which is the nickname of a name, which is Houdini..."
O.o Okay.... like...I can understand not knowing the cat's name...but you could have given me a description....
Turns out it was the black cat we had in our adoption area that she wanted.
Only she had a slight problem.
She didn't have enough cash on her.
And she stated that if she went to an ATM it would only let her withdraw $40. No more.
....Which sounded odd to me....unless she had a set withdrawal limit placed on her card?? I know you can withdraw more than that.
In any case.
She was trying to wheedle me down the $10 difference from the cash she could access and the cost of the cat.
Which I couldn't do.
Because we don't set the prices. The adoption group does, and unless the adoption group specifies the cats can go for a lower price....the price doesn't change.
However I told her that she didn't need to go to an ATM to get the cash back.
That she could use her debit card and just do two transactions at our registers by buying a small item and asking for $40 cash back the first time, and $10 back the second time.
Which....She didn't comprehend at all.
Which totally confused me because this woman is the second woman in like the last month who's had trouble comprehending being able to split transactions to get more cash back...
*shakes head*
In any case.
I sent the woman off to go get a couple of small cat toys to go get her cash back before she did any of the paperwork....
Because I thought it best if she had the money on hand.
And...just some of her conversation just struck me as....odd....
Like she wanted the cat...but was disappointed that with the $50 she just got the cat. Nothing else.
*shrugs*
So I told her to come find me when she was ready to fill out the paperwork....
Only for me to realize two or three hours later....
That the woman had never come back...
A quick check of the cat cages showed me that the cat was still there....
So none of my coworkers had done the adoption in my stead....
So it looked like the woman had left....
I wondered if it was to get cash from the ATM like she mentioned earlier....
But by the end of my shift....she hadn't returned.....
Turns out another coworker had interacted with her before I had....
And apparently this customer is super impulsive, and super impatient.
If she sees it and wants it then she wants it NOW.
Apparently she had other errands to run that day because she needed a new phone and needed it NOW among other things.
Which I guess....when she realized how much money she would need to spend on a cat to get everything it would need....
She didn't have the patience or the time to focus on that impulse.
For which I'm grateful.
Cats shouldn't be an impulsive buy.
No animal should.
And thankfully, the woman didn't come back for the cat later either.
Which means I guess her impulsive streak with the cat had faded.
Or she'd forgotten about it.
Again. I'm grateful.
I don't know how good of a life the cat would have had with this impulsive customer....
-Sarnic Dirchi
But my coworker was busy in the middle of the task, and me with nothing tying me up at the moment, volunteered to help out.
I asked the woman "So you want a cat?"
And she gave me this blank look before a few seconds too late responding with a 'yes.'
So I lead her over to the cats and asked her which one she wanted to adopt.
And she was like "I don't know his name, I already gave him a new name in my head which is the nickname of a name, which is Houdini..."
O.o Okay.... like...I can understand not knowing the cat's name...but you could have given me a description....
Turns out it was the black cat we had in our adoption area that she wanted.
Only she had a slight problem.
She didn't have enough cash on her.
And she stated that if she went to an ATM it would only let her withdraw $40. No more.
....Which sounded odd to me....unless she had a set withdrawal limit placed on her card?? I know you can withdraw more than that.
In any case.
She was trying to wheedle me down the $10 difference from the cash she could access and the cost of the cat.
Which I couldn't do.
Because we don't set the prices. The adoption group does, and unless the adoption group specifies the cats can go for a lower price....the price doesn't change.
However I told her that she didn't need to go to an ATM to get the cash back.
That she could use her debit card and just do two transactions at our registers by buying a small item and asking for $40 cash back the first time, and $10 back the second time.
Which....She didn't comprehend at all.
Which totally confused me because this woman is the second woman in like the last month who's had trouble comprehending being able to split transactions to get more cash back...
*shakes head*
In any case.
I sent the woman off to go get a couple of small cat toys to go get her cash back before she did any of the paperwork....
Because I thought it best if she had the money on hand.
And...just some of her conversation just struck me as....odd....
Like she wanted the cat...but was disappointed that with the $50 she just got the cat. Nothing else.
*shrugs*
So I told her to come find me when she was ready to fill out the paperwork....
Only for me to realize two or three hours later....
That the woman had never come back...
A quick check of the cat cages showed me that the cat was still there....
So none of my coworkers had done the adoption in my stead....
So it looked like the woman had left....
I wondered if it was to get cash from the ATM like she mentioned earlier....
But by the end of my shift....she hadn't returned.....
Turns out another coworker had interacted with her before I had....
And apparently this customer is super impulsive, and super impatient.
If she sees it and wants it then she wants it NOW.
Apparently she had other errands to run that day because she needed a new phone and needed it NOW among other things.
Which I guess....when she realized how much money she would need to spend on a cat to get everything it would need....
She didn't have the patience or the time to focus on that impulse.
For which I'm grateful.
Cats shouldn't be an impulsive buy.
No animal should.
And thankfully, the woman didn't come back for the cat later either.
Which means I guess her impulsive streak with the cat had faded.
Or she'd forgotten about it.
Again. I'm grateful.
I don't know how good of a life the cat would have had with this impulsive customer....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Left Out
It was towards the end of my lunch break when my manager came into the break room with a concern.
We'd gotten in a shipment of our feeder goldfish earlier that morning.
Like around 9:30 or 10am or so. As I saw one of the delivery guys approaching the office with packages. A walk by a little bit later showed that there was a box of our feeder goldfish waiting by the office.
Being in the middle of something, I made a mental note to get to it later.
Which was a mental note to work on that task after I got off lunch.
But my manager beat me to it.
He opened the box.
And what did he find?
1100 goldfish.
Dead.
And he was super concerned that it was our fault. That we'd left the fish to sit in the box too long -as from his perspective the box had been there before he showed up, therefore he didn't know how long that box had been waiting to be opened for.
And because we hadn't gotten to the fish in time, we'd been the reason why the fish had died.
Hardly.
I was quick to reassure him that it wasn't our fault.
After all the fish -both feeder goldfish and our fish shipments- spend hours in the boxes and usually end up fine, even if we don't get to them right upon them arriving to the store.
So them sitting in a box in our store unopened for a couple of hours wouldn't be the issue.
No.
More than likely what happened was that because the weather has become much warmer recently. 80s and 90s....the fish probably were left on a dock in the sun, or in an unconditioned truck for a few hours...and the fish got too hot...and died.
Thankfully, this occurrence happens rarely. But when it does happen....it usually happens around this time of year when the weather heads towards summer.
I don't recall there ever being a 99% fatality rate though.
Over half yes, but not almost all of them.
My manager and I proceeded to open the bags of dead fish and sift through them to catch the few lucky survivors who didn't perish in the heat.
There ended up being around 30 of them when all was said and done.
And it was doubtful that those few would even make it through the night. :S
So instead of placing the survivors in the tanks on the floor to sell, we put them in a tank we had set up behind our fish wall, to see if they'd make it or not.
I hope they do.
Though by the time I left work ten more of them had already died....
So we'll see.
:S
But hopefully our replacement shipment turns out better than this one. :S
-Sarnic Dirchi
We'd gotten in a shipment of our feeder goldfish earlier that morning.
Like around 9:30 or 10am or so. As I saw one of the delivery guys approaching the office with packages. A walk by a little bit later showed that there was a box of our feeder goldfish waiting by the office.
Being in the middle of something, I made a mental note to get to it later.
Which was a mental note to work on that task after I got off lunch.
But my manager beat me to it.
He opened the box.
And what did he find?
1100 goldfish.
Dead.
And he was super concerned that it was our fault. That we'd left the fish to sit in the box too long -as from his perspective the box had been there before he showed up, therefore he didn't know how long that box had been waiting to be opened for.
And because we hadn't gotten to the fish in time, we'd been the reason why the fish had died.
Hardly.
I was quick to reassure him that it wasn't our fault.
After all the fish -both feeder goldfish and our fish shipments- spend hours in the boxes and usually end up fine, even if we don't get to them right upon them arriving to the store.
So them sitting in a box in our store unopened for a couple of hours wouldn't be the issue.
No.
More than likely what happened was that because the weather has become much warmer recently. 80s and 90s....the fish probably were left on a dock in the sun, or in an unconditioned truck for a few hours...and the fish got too hot...and died.
Thankfully, this occurrence happens rarely. But when it does happen....it usually happens around this time of year when the weather heads towards summer.
I don't recall there ever being a 99% fatality rate though.
Over half yes, but not almost all of them.
My manager and I proceeded to open the bags of dead fish and sift through them to catch the few lucky survivors who didn't perish in the heat.
There ended up being around 30 of them when all was said and done.
And it was doubtful that those few would even make it through the night. :S
So instead of placing the survivors in the tanks on the floor to sell, we put them in a tank we had set up behind our fish wall, to see if they'd make it or not.
I hope they do.
Though by the time I left work ten more of them had already died....
So we'll see.
:S
But hopefully our replacement shipment turns out better than this one. :S
-Sarnic Dirchi
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