Being Helpful

It was my last customer of my shift.
A couple of women, who were looking for a specific lightbulb because the one they had had burnt out after 10 days.
The problem?
I no longer carried the lightbulb they needed to replace.
It was a tiny thing, like no bigger than the first joint of your thumb.

And I used to carry lightbulbs that looked like that.
But we stopped...a while. Maybe a year or so ago.

So I was going to chalk this interaction up to "Sarnic fails to help." 
because there are times where I just can't...help a customer.
Though I do my best to help every customer as best as I can....there are days where i Just can't.

Like this interaction. Where I couldn't help because I didn't have the product. 

Still. I was trying to turn it around. Make it positive.
Suggested other products the customer could use.
Found out the customer had dropped the lightbulb a couple of times trying to get it to work.
But was going to see if she could find another lightbulb first elsewhere before she bought a new lightbulb set up.

And then, since I knew that they were in the store looking at reptiles bulbs for their new leopard gecko...and usually because people who own reptiles usually end up buying bugs while they're in the store. I asked them if they needed any crickets or mealworms. 
To which they responded mealworms.
The larger size.
But since they hadn't been in the store before.
I grabbed both sizes of mealworms just to make sure I got them the right size. 

And the 'larger size' ended up being about the same size as the 'smaller size' 
So I recommended they get the smaller size because you got more for less. 
Small -50ct like $3.19
Large -35ct like $3.69 

And since they were basically the same size....I told them to get the smaller. 

Which she did.

And the woman was like....so impressed? lol that I was helpful, and that i was happy, and that I was doing what I could to give them a better experience. 
She was like "Do you have a survey or a 1-800 number I can call as you are AMAZING!" 
lol. Which we don't. 
But she was like "You're amazing!" And "We're totally coming here from here on out!"
Which is the best sort of compliment when I can convince customers that they want to shop at my work because I'm there and I help them. ^^;;;

lol She ended up telling the cashiers who then told my manager over the radios that the customer thought I was amazing. ^^;;
Like awwwww

Seriously.
I love it when people compliment me at work.
Like I never know how to respond, but I love that people like me and want to compliment me for a job well done. ^^ 

Yay. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bread?

So there I was, minding my own business. 

When I hear over the intercom. 

"Banana Bread is Ready in Grooming. Banana Bread is ready in grooming." 

My coworkers all shared a look of brief confusion. 

"You think that's the dog's name?" One finally asked.

"I would hope so..." answered another. 

"As how they got the banana bread in the first place would be rather concerning..." said another. 

*shakes head*

People name dogs the strangest things....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Cleaning

So this morning I was cleaning the bird cages, when I noticed three little girls come on by.
Which at first I was not happy about because we weren't open yet.
But I figured they'd probably been at the vets and were just hanging out for a bit. (as that does happen on occasion.) 
And didn't think much more on it.

After all, I was busy cleaning the glass of the parakeet cages. Trying to get it done before the store opened.

Only...it's hard to clean things....when you have people watching you clean things.
And those three girls, were doing just that. 
Which always makes me feel a bit self conscious.
Though I try to not let it show. I usually ignore the people on the other side, and just focus on cleaning the glass.

and being grateful when the customers decide to not play the 'you missed a spot' game with me. 

In the end...I couldn't really tell if they'd been watching me....or they were looking at the birds.
As after I finished cleaning that section of the birds and moved onto other cages, the girls remained at the parakeet cages staring at them....

So perhaps they were trying to pick out their favorites.
Which would be a relief. 
Because I really don't like feeling like I'm on display. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Trial in Info

I had a customer call on the phone today.
Starting the conversation with the words: "I adopted a cat from you guys like 3 months ago."

Which is basically never a good way to start a conversation as 9/10 times this sort of sentence starter means that the person is looking to get rid of the cat.

Which was the case with this customer.

As they'd adopted the cat, and apparently have been grooming it twice a day on a daily basis....
-Which may be....a bit too much? Really....I think that's probably too much....
But the fur keeps shedding off the cat. And the customer can't really take it anymore.

*shakes head*
Which...cats shed yes....but honestly? You want to return the cat because of that?
Like I could understand if it was allergies or something....but with all furry animals...you have to be prepared for them to shed. And shed constantly.
Its not something that's just going to stop one day. *shakes head*

In any case.
The customer remembered that if they encountered any problems with the cat they adopted they could bring it back to us and we'd take it.

Which was almost correct.
Starsmet itself doesn't accept cats back once they've been adopted.
But the adoption groups themselves will. 
As we partner with specific adoption groups to get their cats adopted out, and often the adoption groups have a clause where if the person who adopts a cat of theirs can no longer take care of it, they want you to contact them so they can take the cat back and help it find another home.

The problem in this case?
>.< 
The customer had no idea which adoption group they adopted from.
Which isn't surprising, it's a common occurrence, but not to worry, it says on the paperwork they filled out which group they adopted from.

....But the customer for some stupid reason had neglected to grab the paperwork when they were leaving the store with their cat. 
Which granted, their reason of 'wanting to keep the cat contained'" is a good one....but you should have come back ASAP to grab the paperwork!!!! >.< Gah. 
After all that had records of the rabies and the vaccinations and all that sort of stuff. 
Plus the name of the adoption group....
*shakes head*

But the customer had neglected to do so.
Which meant I really had no means of knowing which group the customer needed to contact.

So I asked them what month they'd got the cat in.
As we switch groups every month so I could guess off of that and give the customer the right groups phone number.
Only....the customer had no idea. 
(Honestly I was beginning to wonder if this person paid attention to life at all or if the fact that their cat was shedding distracted them from all other information.) 
So I ended up giving the customer both numbers for each group so they could contact them.

And it would make it easier if the customer knew the name of the cat....
Only, yah, no surprise here, the customer had no idea what the cat used to be called. (as they'd changed the name) 

*exhales*
And the customer was like "Don't you keep records?" 
And the answer is...no? The adoption group could possibly, but we don't keep records of the vaccinations on paper anymore. It's electronic and sent straight to wherever its sent to and we can't access it. 
"Do you happen to still have that paperwork I left?" 
No? It's been 3 months. It either was grabbed by the adoption group, accidentally thrown away or who knows what else could have happened to it. 
*shakes head* 

In any case....the customer ended up with the phone numbers to both groups....
So it's their problem now to try and figure it out.
Which really...it's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.
No name, no records, no idea when you got it, just the cat.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Attitude Shift

It was towards the end of my shift.

Where I was helping out a bit by going through boxes and putting stuff on the shelves.

But we'd reached the point where the items left in the boxes...were overstock.

So I told the manager in charge that we'd gone through all the boxes. 

To which they were like "Great! Could you put the overstock in our bins?" 

To which my verbal response (as I'd been asked over our radio system) was "UGGGGHHH!!!" With the sort of. "No, I don't wanna!" attitude. Before I clicked on my radio and responded in a more cheerful tone. "Yah! I can do that." 

To which my coworker, who was nearby, kinda gave me a surprised look and laughed.

"That was so weird to see your true reaction." She said...or something along those lines.

Which considering it...

Yah I guess it would be kinda weird to see me be all >.< NO!!!! 

And then turn around and be like ^^;; Sure!!

lol...to which I was like...it's called acting. 

^^;; 

Yah....

There are just times when I'd rather not help out. I have other tasks in mind that also need to be done, and there are occasions when the inability to go ahead and do those tasks is aggravating to me. 

But thankfully I ended up getting both done. So yay for winning on both sides today. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Boxes

It was odd to see a man in a work uniform walk into the store that I didn't recognize.

I mean, considering i just met our new Pet Trainer and had no idea we'd gotten one until I saw him on the register like two days ago....I wouldn't put it past my managers to hire more people...though it would be odd to do so the day before Christmas.

But no.

This wasn't a new coworker for my store.

This was a manager of our Sister Store.

Who'd been sent down to our store on a mission.

To get more Pet Boxes.

As when we sell animals -specifically birds and small pets (and some of the larger reptiles) 

We put them in a box with holes in it (so the animal can breath but can't escape) 

Which isn't fun when you're needing to box up an animal...

and come find out that you don't have any boxes. :S 

Which, I got rather tired of that happening to our store.

(We've had to borrow from our sister store a lot) 

So I made an effort to have a surplus of boxes on hand.

Just so that I can ensure that we don't have to worry about running low.

(Doesn't always work when the supplier of said boxes is randomly out of stock on them...and our supply dwindles) 

But yah.

The manager of our sister store dropped by to grab more boxes.

lol though funnily enough he didn't know how many boxes or what size of boxes he needed.

After a call to the work to check in.

I ended up giving him two sets of our small boxes and one set of our large boxes (approx. 25 in a pack) 

To hopefully help them survive the Christmas craze until they can get their own supplies in.

(I have no idea how busy it was for them...but it was a slow start for us today, considering it was Christmas Eve.) 

And thankfully.

I have more than plenty leftover boxes that I'm not too worried about us running out.

Though...i probably am going to ensure we order some boxes next time we do a supply order.

...Just to be on the safe side. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Boom

So I had a customer today, who wanted to get some betta fish, and like most customers, was asking after their care and what they needed to buy to ensure the betta fish would do well. 
Specifically the customer wanted to know what type of water they could use.

And like usual I responded with "You can use Tap Water but you need to put a water conditioner in it, otherwise you can use any bottled water or well water, but not distilled water. Distilled is bad." 

Their response? "Or else the fish will explode?" 

To which I was like. O.o Huh?? 
Like....I don't...how? *shakes head* Distilled water won't make your fish explode..... 
It just doesn't have the nutrients within it that the fish need to stay healthy. Hence why it's not usually recommended for tanks. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

It's Empty!

We had a customer inform our manager today that our Guinea Pigs were out of water. 
Which...I thought odd...because the store had barely been open like an hour.
We'd just finished opening up the department, which included checking to make sure all the animals had food and water.
And despite their best effort....it takes longer than an hour for guinea pigs to drink the entire huge water bottle we have in their cage. Usually it lasts them the entire day. 
So unless it leaked....I was pretty confident in the fact that that water bottle would not be empty when I checked it. 

And guess what?
Yah.
It wasn't empty.
It was almost completely full. 
*shakes head* 

Apparently, the customer thought it was empty because there was a guinea pig that was continuously drinking from it and didn't 'appear to be getting any water.' 
So I checked the water bottle...and yah, it was functioning properly. 
*shakes head*

I mean it's great and all that customers are on the lookout for the welfare of our animals....
But I do wish that they would examine the situation a little bit closer before going to us with a 'problem.'
As 9/10 times...it's not actually a problem.
After all...A simple look at the bottle to see it's water level would have told the customer that there was water there...

-Sarnic Dirchi

Wrapping

I have people call work with the oddest requests sometimes. 
I mean...it makes sense that if it's somehow pet related, that people would believe that a Pet Store, that sells pet things, would sell it. 

But some of the things are just....I wouldn't have thought that they made a pet friendly version of the thing.

Today, I had a customer call the store asking if we sold Dog Wrapping Paper. 
As they'd seen some online and wondered if we carried it. 

And it's not wrapping paper that has dogs on it.
No it's a wrapping paper that is safe for dogs to tear up.
So you know...when you give your puppy dog a present on Christmas, they can safely bite it like crazy and tear the paper up and you don't have to worry about the dog accidentally eating it or having other issues.

Which. Cool!
But unfortunately...I don't sell it.
And having never heard of it before. 
I had no idea who might carry it. ....besides you know...the internet.
I suggested the customer try a couple other local petstores in the area.
But honestly...it's probably an online only thing....for now.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where's the Fish?

I had a customer come into the store, and headed straight for me at the fish wall.
When he reached me he was like "I bought two fish a couple of weeks ago, and they died." 

Which isn't an uncommon occurrence (unfortunately) for people to bring back dead fish. 
So I'm very used to the routine. 

Which basically starts with me saying "Do you have the dead fish?" as I can't always see if they have one with them. -Sometimes it's really obvious because the customer is carrying a baggy. 

But this dude didn't have one. 
He was like "No. I need to keep the dead fish?" 
And I was like "Yah, you need to have the dead fish and the receipt in order to do a return." 

Because I need physical proof that the fish died.
I mean, anyone could walk into the store and be like "I bought a fish and it died." and who knows if they actually had bought a fish and if it had actually died.
It's just a means to ensure people aren't stealing from us. 

But the guy was like "I HAVE TO KEEP MY RECEIPT TOO!" 
Uh? Duh? 
"I never keep my receipts!" 

Well then...that's a problem. Cus I need proof of purchase.

I mean, there were ways I could have looked up the receipt for him, because we do keep records of transactions done for the last couple of months.
But I didn't bring it up because the guy didn't have a dead fish. 
No proof of death...nothing I can do. 
*shakes head*
He wasn't very happy when he left...fishless. But hey, at least he knows now that he needs to do more than come tell me his fish died....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Barking Help?

I had a weird customer experience today.
Where it was a woman who was trying to find a solution for her dogs. 

But she was just....idk....weird. 
Like it was like she wanted me to try and guess what she was thinking. She wanted me to find a solution for her without her giving me any details to help her find the solution.
All the while she was being self-deprecating.
"i'm sorry I'm such a difficult customer." 
"You're probably really tired of me."
"I'm one of those customers you don't like." 

Which I'm always the type of person to jump to reassure someone that they're fine.
But this lady was sure making it difficult to put a positive spin on things. 

In any case.
Originally she asked for help with two muzzles. The cloth kind.
Asking which size would fit her dogs the best. 
She'd grabbed an XL and an Intermediate.
So I was like "What kind of dogs do you have." 
And she was like a Lab and a Pitbull.
The lab was easy to figure out. It would need the xl cus it's a large dog.
but the pitbull I had no idea...their faces are slightly different. So I wasn't sure whether it would fit an xl as well or the intermediate. 
So I tried to get a better idea by asking her about the shape of the pitbulls head. Because I wasn't sure...and she was like "I don't know!" and I'm like. "Well is it this big or this big?" holding my hands out to try and size it. 
She never gave me a straight answer.
So I couldn't give her a straight answer back. 
And I was like "Maybe you need a large for the pitbull" to which she gave me this look of "You're an idiot" and told me. "You're out of the large." 
*rolls eyes* 
Well. Sorry I didn't know that. But it makes sense why you grabbed intermediate and XL now. 

And somewhere in the middle of that she was like "Yah the pit tears through these soo easily, I've bought like six of them now." 

O.o Huh?
"what are you using these for." Was my next response.
And she was trying to use them to keep her dogs from barking...
Which the muzzles she was choosing...you only really want to have them on the dog for like maybe 20 minutes. They're not a permanent thing. 
So it's no wonder the pit was able to get out of them and maybe destroy them, because it's not meant to be a longterm thing. It stresses out a dog to have the muzzle on for long periods of time.

So I tried suggesting a bark collar.
Which she'd already tried before. Her neighbors had given her one -in a polite "your dogs are too loud while you're at work" sort of way.- but the bark collar wasn't 'strong enough' it had ended up rubbing the dog's skin raw, because it wasn't effecting him at all. 
:S 
So I was like maybe try the Sonic Egg?
To which she was like "I HAVE!"
But for whatever reason she doubledbacked on that statement like two minutes later.
"Oh, maybe I haven't tried that." 
Because the sonic egg is a device that sends out a sound whenever it senses the dog barking and gets most dogs to stop barking. It has a high success rate in that I don't often have it returned. 
And if she's not home all day, it's a good thing to try and use for her dogs that doesn't involve collars. 

She was doubtful that it would work though.
So I was like "You could try one of the collars that sprays citronella if it senses the dog barking." To which she was like "My dog likes the taste of everything." 
>.< Well...how do you know if it likes this taste if you don't TRY IT?

But I reassured her that she had a guarantee with us that if it didn't work she could return the product with a receipt within 60 days. 

And with more circular and unhelpful chatting and information from her, I managed to convince her to get the sonic egg.
But she was just....ugh. Just a weird energy. The conversation with her was difficult because it was like she expected me to have all the answers, but wasn't giving me information to help her with the answers and then was putting herself down and was making snide comments to the side as well on how I felt about helping her and gah.
>.< 
I hope I don't see her again.
Or if I do I don't have to help her because it was antagonizing. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Help Right Now

You gotta love the people who walk in the store and demand your help immediately and expect you to help them right then. 
*exhales*
So an older gentleman walked into the store. One of those "I know what I want and you're going to help me get it now." sort of guys. 

And what did this guy want?
He wanted our largest dog home. 
Which we happened to have a ton of them stacked at the front of the store.
So he had me follow him to the largest one we had. 
And he was like "This is your largest one right?"
And I was like "I believe so."

His response was... to give me 'that look' and then demand. "Do you believe so or do you know so?" 

Which can I just say I hate that sort of response?
Like. Dude, I gave you an answer. I get that you want to know for sure that it's the largest one.
But I don't give definite answers if I don't know the answer. 
It's that same sort of thing of  "Can I?" "I don't know Can you? Or May you?"
*rolls eyes*

In any case.
I responded with "I believe so." because I wasn't about to go and say "I know so" and then have me be wrong. 
But being the good employee I am, I offered to go look in the back and double check to make sure that it was the largest one we carried. "It's just going to take me a couple of minutes to check as I have to walk to the back of the store."

To which he was like "If it's too far for you, it's fine."
Which *eye twitch* Condescending much dude? 
It's not a major issue for me to walk to the back of the store and then come back up front. I do it all day long. It's nothing to think about. I was only telling you for the sole purpose of "This won't take two seconds so don't get mad at me if it takes a bit because I have to walk to the back of the store because you insisted I double check that this is the largest dog home we have." 
*exhales*
But instead I was like. "No, it just means you'll be waiting for a bit." 

Go figure. It was our largest dog home.
And just to make sure he got out of the store and out of my hair as quickly as possible.
I took him to a separate register, rung him up as quickly as I could, and then had a manager help me carry the kennel out to his car so he could get on his way.

The bright side....
Is that I had climbed into his truck to make sure the home was situated properly and the dude offered a hand to help me back down.
So hey. There's that.

Just kinda wish he hadn't been so demanding and a tad bit condescending the rest of the time. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Flashing Lights

So. 
Because we come in to work before the store officially opens. 
-To clean, to feed the animals, to stock the shelves.
The front door is often locked to prevent customers from coming in and wandering around before they're supposed to.

Usually it's not a big deal, because we have a doorbell that allows us to notify people within the store that someone is waiting outside to be let in.

Only....one of my newer coworkers didn't know this.
And he was showing up for his first stocking shift. 
-He's usually a cashier.

So when he came to work and found the door shut...and found that knocking on the door didn't get our attention, and that he couldn't access the store....

Decided to grab his car and pull up to the front of the store and sit there, with his headlights flashing at the store. 

Which....was rather creative of him.
Though while a few of my coworkers and I noticed the flashing lights....
We didn't think to go open the door.
I mean...it's kinda creepy to have this car sitting in front of the doors with flashing lights. 

*shakes head* 

Eventually someone let him in.
And he discovered that we had a doorbell.

But honestly...he could have solved the problem by calling the store....and asking to be let in. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Differences

It's interesting training my different coworkers. 
I had to do that today, a bit of training with a coworker who'd come into help open the department with me.

And I was going to have them do the cats, only I noticed as I was showing them the ropes, that my coworker was getting more and more sniffily.

And I already have one coworker who's allergic to furry creatures...
So I was like "Are you allergic?"
"I think so."

But instead of begging off cleaning the cats, like my other coworker does.
-Because my trainee today came in not expecting to be working in my department-
My coworker decided to go ahead and clean the cages.
Despite them having the sniffles and such.

And I was just kinda impressed...and grateful really.
That there was another coworker willing to deal with 'difficult' things instead of finding ways to avoid it.
It made opening a lot easier knowing that if needed, they're willing to do the things. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Boy or Girl?

I had a customer come into the store today, intent on getting boys and girls off all the fish that he wanted.
The problem?
I can't always tell the difference between boys and girls in the fish.
Basically almost all the fish.
Because all of them are young...and aren't yet full grown.
And also because most of the fish are egg layers and they're just...difficult to tell apart when they're babies.

And this customer wanted to know if I could tell him the difference with the catfish.
Which I could not.
And I told him so. That the catfish were too young, that I had no idea. (honestly I've never looked it up so I don't have the first clue as to what to look for)
But for whatever reason, the customer didn't seem to comprehend that when I said I had no idea for all the catfish.
That I literally meant ALL the catfish.
As he pointed to one tank of Albinos and asked if I could tell the difference and I said "No, I can't tell for any of the catfish." 
and he proceeded to point to every single tank of catfish after that point. (five tanks in total) and ask me the same question. 
*exhales* 
No. No. No. No. What do you not understand about me saying NO? 

*shakes head*
He ended up getting a couple anyways.
But do I know what gender they were? 
Not the foggiest. *shrugs* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

To Pet

There was a group of small children who came into the store today. (with their adult watchers of course) Who were looking around at the animals and such, like groups of kids tend to do in the store.

And I decided to be the 'cool coworker' and give them a more hands on experience and pulled out a guinea pig for them to pet.

lol.

To say I was instantaneously mobbed is an understatement. I was surrounded by children from every direction, reaching out to pet the Guinea Pig.

But surprisingly they were all rather polite about it, not too much fighting or jostling.

They each took the opportunity to pet the guinea pig and were happy it was so soft, and how his feet looked and a variety of other things lol. 

It was fun just to see the children get so excited over the guinea pig. ^^;;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Catfish Bonding

There was a gentleman who came into the store today in search of catfish.

Because the dude is rather obsessed with them. lol

The entire time I was fishing out different catfish for him, he was telling me different varieties that he'd owned, and currently had, and was still looking for to get.

His eyes positively lit up when I told him I had catfish too. 

Lol I got to watch a couple of videos and see many pictures of his catfish.

And of course.
He was super excited to find out that we carried the Bumblebee catfish because he'd been looking for them forever and last time he'd come in he hadn't been told about that particular catfish. 

-Mostly because it's easily overlooked as that catfish is constantly hiding. 

Lol.
Overall it was fun to catch fish for him.
I hope the ones he bought today do well. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where Is It?

It's always fun to help the grandparent aged people at work.
Because more often than not they come up to you looking at you like you are the holder of all the answers. And they expect you to know exactly where everything is and know where it is and guide them to it. 

lol Today I helped one of those grandparent couples find the frozen mice.
As apparently I'd helped them buy a snake a little bit ago....
-They looked familiar but I had no idea if I was the one to help them buy this snake. 

In any case.
I took them over to the frozen mice and pulled out one of the boxes I thought would be the right size for the snake they were describing and showed it to them.

They confirmed that yes that was the size, took it, thanked me and headed on their way. 

^^;;
I like it when I can easily give a customer a solution to their question. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Card Phone

So I had hopped onto the register briefly to cover the cashier while they needed to head to the back for a moment.
And I ended up helping a couple who were buying some bird food.
And the gentleman was being all techy and trying to use his phone with the card app thingy. 
Because that's a thing, and our new cardreaders actually work for the phone thingies. 

Only. 
His credit card didn't work with our machine.
It was trying to read it as debit card and wouldn't work as a credit card.

And he got so frustrated...at me.

Which was weird.
Because it's not like I can control the machines. Some machines don't like certain cards and won't recognize some cards can be both. 
But he got so frustrated, and the anger flared so quickly. 
It was so strange. 

Like...it wasn't something to get mad at.
Like I could see how it would be frustrating and why you would get mad if your card wasn't working for you.

But it seemed like such a waste of emotion really.
I didn't get it.
But at least he was able to use a different card on his phone and make it work. 
So yay. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi