Lumpy

So I took a guinea pig to the vet today.

Because I noticed, when I was trying to put him out onto the floor, that he had this larger lump on his chin.

It was a lump that I'd seen before.
As we'd been treating the area for ringworm.
But it had been smaller back then.
Looking more like the jaw was just oddly shaped.

Than an actual issue.
Plus with the ring worm making the area bald...
It's hard to tell what looks normal and what doesn't look normal when there's no fur where there's supposed to be fur.

So I took it over to the vet.
And the first thing he says to me is "If it's an abscess on the jaw....it's not going to be good. I have no way to treat that."

Which I thought was an odd conclusion to come to.
As I've seen a few lumps on a guinea pig's chin before.

And more times than not. It's just an infection that needs to be drained. Swollen with liquid and such.
I mean. When I briefly touched it, it felt harder than that.
But at the same time.
I figured it would be a fixable problem.

And I was right.
The Vet was able to drain the lump.
and now we just need to treat the guinea pigs with meds until it's healed up.

Easy peasy.
*fingers crossed* That he doesn't end up with other issues in the process.

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Plastic Groom

So I saw a little girl in the store earlier this morning, while I was working on cleaning the bird cages.
Who had a little plastic dog toy on a leash that she would drag everywhere.

Which I thought was cute.
But I didn't think more on it after she left my sight as I was busy trying to get the cages all cleaned and put back together before it got busy with customers in the store.

But it turns out, the little girl loves dogs and loves watching the dogs in our Grooming Salon get groomed, and she's always wanted her little plastic dog to get groomed. 

So today one of our groomers did just that.
They grabbed some doggie wipes and wiped all the scuff marks off the toy, put some rubberband bows on the dog's ears, and brushed the doggies teeth for her. 

The mother ended up tipping her in the end. Which was gratifying.

But the little girl was just so happy that her toy doggie had gotten 'groomed.' 
And it was definitely a highlight to my coworker's day lol. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Busy?

It's always hard to judge how busy the day after Christmas will be at work.
Because it's hard to know how many people will choose to come into the store after the holiday.
Especially on a weekday. 
I was expecting it to get busy.
Mostly because it's the day after the holiday. 
But at the same time. 
It's a week day.
So a lot of people would need to go back to work today as not everyone had it off. 

But after everyone's work shifts?
Oh yah.
Totally got busy, so my coworkers told me (as I had to drop by work to grab something) 
So fun for them.

Me though?
It was mostly fielding phone calls.
As customers called to see if we had certain animals in stock.

The most popular one being the question of "Do you have any guinea pigs?"
Nope.
I sold the last of them on Monday.
I'm out until Sunday. :S 

The next popular was if we had kittens.
Which again. Nope.
We adopted them all out Saturday.
Dunno when we're getting more in. 

So yah.
That was fun answering the same question over and over again lol. 

Not too bad, but it did make it difficult to finish opening when I constantly had to walk away to check the oddball requests and such. 

Overall though, I'm glad it wasn't too busy. :D Hopefully it stays that way tomorrow. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tank Size?

So the store was kinda crazy today.
Understandable.
Day before Christmas.
Lots of people coming into the store to get their kids pets or set ups for pets for the holiday and such.

And I had an older couple in the store.
Looking at potential tanks to give to....someone.

I never quite got who they were getting it for. 
But the original intention went from buying fish to buying a tank for someone else. 

So the woman wanted to look at tank setups and such. 
So I guided her to the aisle of tanks.
Gesturing to the closest one.
Which was a 55 gallon size.

Just to kinda explain what could come in the tanks and such.
And I guess the woman hadn't realized that the tanks...were actually on the shelf.
She just thought that they were...pictures? I guess?

I mean all the tanks are in boxes.
So you only see a picture of the tank on the outside of the box.
But the tanks are right there. 
In the box.

But the customer was like "I need to see the size of this tank! How big is it?"

….."It's the size of the box."

"But how big is it?! What does it look like!"

…..*exhales*
It took a bit. To clarify that the tanks are in the boxes and that the tanks are the SIZE of the boxes.
Like you look at the box that's basically the size of the tank.
-They're slightly smaller than box...you know to have some protectively packaging and such. 

Still managed to get it through to the customer in the end.
And the couple ended up buying a 20 gallon tank to take home. 

So hopefully that works out well for them. :D

-Sarnic Dirchi

Class Pet

So a few days ago, I had a customer come into the store.
A teacher.
Who'd been given a giftcard by the parents of his students (I think is how it went) so he could buy himself a classpet. 

Which he was so excited about!

Except the giftcard didn't cover the entire cost of the cage and set up and everything.
It really only covered like half the cost of everything.

But after going over different potential pets.
I mentioned to him that we had another sale that would be starting in a few days (Today)
And it's possible that the setups he was looking at would go on sale that day.

-I had no idea though as we don't know our own sales really until we put the stickers up in the store.

So today.
He came back in. -As he'd left the other day without buying anything. 

And discovered that the tank he'd been looking at had indeed gone on sale. 

Which put the price point of buying a Bearded Dragon and the entire setup much more in an affordable price range for him.

So he ended up buying the bearded dragon and everything. 
And left the store quite happy. ^^;; 

Yay. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Snails?

It's a common question we get asked. 
Why there's a single goldfish in our tanks. 

Today was no exception.

A customer was interested in getting fish for their tank.
And they asked the question.
Why is there a goldfish in every tank?

To which I gave the answer.

They're in there to eat the snails.

Because goldfish love eating snail eggs and baby snails. So it helps to keep the pest ones under control while we work to get rid of them. 

But this time.
The customer asked me a question I hadn't been asked before. 

"Where are the snails?" 

…..
"Eaten." 
Was my response. 

I mean...that's why the goldfish were in the tanks....
To eat the snails.
Therefore if there's no snails in the tanks...
That means they got eaten. 

*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Banished

The new managers in the store have such the interesting dynamic.

Like. I don't even know why it happened. Or what the circumstances were that provoked this to happen.

But the Head Manager banished our Associate Lead to the first aisle of the store.

Aka. She couldn't go past the first aisle/register area.

*shakes head*

I don't know what caused it.

But definitely was one of the odder things to happen recently in the store.

It only lasted for half an hour or so.

But still...

Never had a Lead banished to a specific part of the store before lol. 

Walked Out

We had a guinea pig stolen last night.

Which....I still don't quite understand how that happened.
Like I get how it happened happened.
But like the fact that it happened is still a bit mind-boggling.

One of my coworkers was showing some customers a guinea pig.
The large one in our main cage. 
-Which the associates have taken to naming some of the animals when they stay in our sick room, and this guinea pig was one of those animals. They named him Scott.

In any case.
My coworker had Scott out and the customers were holding him,
When another associate needed my coworker's help with the birds.

….Which is when things get fuzzy.

Like...I don't know why my coworker didn't put the guinea pig back before helping the customer.
Or if the fellow associate was supposed to have been switching places and helping with the guinea pig...and then didn't.
:S Had this associate gone to grab paperwork?
Had they not known that the guinea pig needed to be watched?

I don't know what happened.

But next thing was that the cashier noticed the people walking out of the store...and then possibly saw the guinea pig when they got in the car.
-So like maybe the put him in a pocket or inside their jacket and hid Scott from the associate's view.

In any case.
Yah, the customers stole Scott.

Which has all my coworkers up in arms about it. Because that was a NAMED guinea pig therefore more special. *shakes head*

I still wish I knew why my associate didn't put the guinea pig away first. 
Probably miscommunication. 
Possibly distraction and not thinking.

In any case.
Hopefully the thieves ended up at a different store to buy supplies for their stolen pet. Because they had nothing to keep him in or feed him with when they left.

*exhales*
Some people.
Why?
Why steal?
I don't get it.

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Lid

An older woman came into the store today.
Looking for a lid for the tank that she'd bought.

Which of course I can find a li---

Then she said it was  2.5 gallon tank. 

:S

….I don't sell lids that small.
Glass top lids come in 10 gallon size at the smallest. 

I mean, we had a tank that size that for like maybe 6 months came with a glass top lid.

But that was a year or two ago.

I've never, to my recollection have sold the lids by themselves.

The customer though?

She was insistent that she'd gotten lids that size from the store before.
She'd bought them.
So we HAD to have them.

At this point I wasn't even sure when she'd bought the tank. Like I'd been thinking recently.
But as she was talking....idk if this was an older tank or an older tank.

*exhales*

So I was like "Well, in the past 6 years I've been working here--"

To which she interrupted me and was like "Oh! I bought the lids like 15 years ago!" 

…
…
…
…

"Well in the past SIX years I've been Here we haven't sold the lids."

It confused the customer to hear that.

Apparently she thought that if we sold it once upon a time.
We would then ALWAYS sell it.

*shakes head*

Nope.
That's not how retail works unfortunately.
Some products stay pretty much the same.
But companies and makers of things are always looking to improve things. 
So designs are changing, styles are changing, sizes come in and out of favor.

Companies stop making products.
Or change them.
Or stop selling them in our location because they weren't popular sellers. 

So yah.
We didn't have the lids.

"Where am I going to find one then!" was her demand.

*shrugs* I have no idea.
Online is the easiest answer.

But of course She "doesn't do the online shopping." *shakes heads* 
So maybe it would be our competitor or the local pet stores that have them.

But honestly I don't know. 

Hopefully she finds one eventually though.

-Sarnic Dirchi 

A Needed Pair

Had a gentleman come into the store today wanting two parakeets because he wants to breed them.
The only problem?
Often our parakeets come in too young to be able to tell the gender.
As they're usually 3-4 months old when they come in.
And the coloration above their beaks only starts to come in around 3-4 months old. 
So we get a mixture of birds where we're like "Oh yes!  This is a boy/girl" and others where we're like "I don't know."

Unfortunately for the gentleman, out of the four birds he was considering.
I could only tell that one of them looked to be a female.
The other three didn't have the coloration yet to tell for sure their genders, so I could only make guesses on what colors I could see.

And the guy was so set on having a boy and girl....
That he ended up going "I want this other one! I'm sure it's a boy! And if I'm wrong, well that's on me."

….Okay then. 

When I caught the bird and looked closer at the beak....it didn't quite look like a boy's coloration....but again...the color hadn't fully come in yet.

Hopefully he got lucky and ended up with the pair he wanted....

Though I honestly don't know why he wants to breed them in the first place....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Yes Even Crickets Are Included

Tis the Season of White Elephant Gifts.

Which means major headaches for the store customer wise.

Because we have a Policy of NOT SELLING to customers who want to buy an animal for the soul purpose of giving them away at those parties. 

Why?
Because we want animals to find forever homes where people actually want them.

If they're given away as a random present the chances are high that the animal won't have adequate care provided to it right away because the recipients weren't prepared to take on a pet....if they wanted to keep it anyways. 

So to avoid the hassel of stressing out people who don't want a sudden pet.
And to keep the animals safer from being tossed about in the white elephant game...

We don't sell them to people. 

And this time of year we tend to do a bit more homework to ensure that the animals being purchases aren't being bought for this reason.
(regrettably a few get past us....but we do our best.) 

It's just weird...that customers don't seem to get that it's a bad idea to get an animal for that reason.

Even ones we use for food.

Today I had a customer come in wanting to buy "A ton of crickets." 

To which I was like "Okay, how many is that?"

Because "a ton" could be Thirty crickets or it could be like 400. 

The customer was like "I need $20 worth because that's how much each White Elephant Gift needs to be for our party." 

Honestly...if the customer hadn't mentioned "white elephant" I probably would have bagged up them up no questions asked. Because people do come in and buy approximately 150 crickets often enough for their reptiles that I wouldn't have questioned it when asked to bag 'a ton of crickets.'

But they said White Elephant.

So I told them that we don't sell live animals for white elephant gifts.

And the customer just got a bit miffed about it.
Because like...the crickets are sold for food.

So why can't the customer buy them as a white elephant gift because wouldn't it be 'fun' to open up a bag of crickets! They're going to die anyways.

….but like there's a difference?

When they're sold as a food source then it's understood that they're going to die quick.

Sold as a gag gift?
What are you going to do with them after the gift was opened? I mean...unless the receiver happens to have a reptile that will eat them...the crickets would have been probably tossed in the garbage or tossed outside to freeze to death...and that's just...not right.

The customer wasn't happy.
Wanted to have a manager step in.
But the manager said "No." 
Because it's against policy to sell live Pets as White Elephant gifts even if they are little measly crickets used for food.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Listen?

I don't know what it was about today.
But like...no one could hear me?

Customers would ask me questions and I'd start telling them answers.
Only for them to be like "What? Wait what?"

And I had to repeat myself like two or three times before they would understand.

>_< 
It was rather frustrating.

Because I was trying to get tasks done and trying to finish things before I was off.
And the fact that the customers weren't listening to me and making me repeat myself just got ….on my nerves. 

Like I was speaking in my normal fashion at normal tone if maybe a bit fast.
And I guess what I was saying just wasn't what the customers were expecting and soo...it didn't work out? 

*exhales*

Who knows.
Who knows.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Allergic?

One of my coworkers told me an interesting thing today.

In that they are....apparently allergic to birds.

At least the feathers. To the point where they can break out in hives if they come in contact with them. 

Which. I can get not wanting to be around them.

I mean another coworker can't be near the birds because they're allergic to the pine bedding we use in the bottom of the cages. 

But no...what's notable about finding out my coworker was allergic to birds...

Is that they've been in the department for like two or so months now?

And this is the first I'm hearing of this allergy.

I mean I even told my coworker on Saturday to open the floor because I hadn't gotten to it due to customers and that requires feeding the birds....

And like....the coworker only brought it up AFTER I told them that Birds needed to be done. Food/Water switched out. It's like one of the easiest tasks there is.

And they'd gone to go do the task...but like ten minutes later, they came out of the backroom -where the cart of food for the birds was- to then tell me that they were allergic.

Like....Why did you bring it up now?

Did you not Touch the Birds, Saturday when I thought you had?

Did that mean that the Birds weren't FED Saturday because you DIDN'T Do what I thought you'd done?

Like...WHEN did you think the birds got FED if you WEREN'T FEEDING THEM? IT's a morning Task!!

So yah. 

I was a bit irritated because a) that was one more thing I had to do now 

and I don't even know if it's like a real allergy.

Like I can get that it's real. I will believe it's real until proven otherwise.

But because the manager wasn't even aware of this....

I do wonder if it was true or if it was something said to get out of the task...

*exhales*

In the end though....

Why work in a PET STORE if you're ALLRGIC to the ANIMALS???

Like sure. Be a Cashier. Be a Stocker. You don't often deal with birds there.

But in MY department? That's like one of the major things we do. We have to feed the birds, clean their cages, Catch them for customers....

Yah... >.> 

I'll have to keep an eye out.

And see.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Force to Open

So we have these automatic doors that we can control by turning a little knob above the doorway.
Which allows us to not have the doors automatic at all (which they're usually 'off' until the store opens) or we can have the doors open for people coming in but not leaving, or leaving but not coming in, or you know...both. 

So for when our store hours are open we change the knob so that the doors will open to both people coming and going....

Only apparently we didn't do that today.

Which none of us realized it because there were customers in the store and they were buying stuff and leaving and entering....

It was only like 37 minutes after we opened that a gentleman walks by me and is like "So your doors aren't working, they won't automatically open and shut."

()_()

No one had thought to check to make sure the doors were turned on.

*shakes head*

Apparently we were all a bit distracted today lol.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bird Wandering

Somehow the customers today had perfect timing. For like two hours.

Where everytime I would get into the bird enclosure to work on the bedding change. I wouldn't be able to do more than like 30 seconds of cleaning before the cashier was calling me over to the fishwall/crickets to help customers there.

But like.
I would help one customer.

See that there is NO ONE else around.
Go back to the birds to work on the bedding change.
ONLY
for the cashier to call me BACK OVER to the fishwall/crickets AGAIN to help another customer that RANDOMLY appeared in the minute it took me to walk back to the birds and start cleaning.

It happened like SIX times in a row. 
Gah!!!

I don't get how the customer managed it.
It didn't matter how long the customer I helped took.
Whether it was a five minute thing or a twenty minute thing.
By the time I got back to Birds....I would just have to turn around and go back to the fish. Grrr.

So frustrating.

I just barely managed to get the bedding change done before I was off. Bleh.

-Sarnic Dirchi

More Flakes

Had a customer come into the store today looking for Cichlid Flakes.
Which is rather different as most of the time people buy the pellets for the Cichlids.

The problem was, he could only find one bottle on the shelf.
Which isn't that surprising as I wasn't fully aware we carried Flakes.
So like...I don't think that there would be more than one or two bottles of the food on the shelf, because we don't usually fully stock up the less common purchases. 

But apparently he's been buying the flakes for a while now.
And is getting frustrated that we don't have a bunch of them in stock for him to stock up on.
Because he goes through one bottle of flakes in a week. 
O.o

Which is impressive because like...it takes me a month at least if not longer to use up the same size bottle of flakes for my own fish (though I don't have cichlids) 

But he wasn't quiet happy that I only had one bottle on the shelf.
And that we didn't get in any on today's truck.

He was like "I may have to start going elsewhere."

Which makes sense. I mean...there's not much I can do to help in that regards. We can't really order in product for customers anymore.
Which means basically what we get is what we get.

Hopefully though we'll have more come in on Saturday...but we'll see. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Which Fish?

Had a customer come up to the fish wall today. Looking at the fish.
And he was really liking the Koi fish, but was concerned that his wife wouldn't approve of getting a 'larger' fish in the tank. Though with how small the koi were currently, he was fine adding it in to his 55 gallon tank for now. 

So before doing anything drastic...like buying the think.
He went to check with her.

And came back with the " :/ " response. Of "I don't approve, but idk if I can stop you." from his wife.

So he decided that he would go for smaller fish, because they already had some larger goldfish in the tank with his guppies and other types. 
Instead he went with more guppies. Some females and males so he could continue to breed them -as he has a breeding thing going on as well.

But as I was fishing out the fish, his wife came up. And was like "What are you DOING?!" 

He was getting smaller fish. That was all.

And idk what spurred it.
But she was like "Well show me this koi fish of yours that you want." So he showed her a couple of cool ones that he liked the looks of. 
And she was like "So. Which one did you want if you could only pick one?"

And with a bit of teamwork between the two of them, they decided on a golden butterfly koi to get.

Only after catching the fish I ended up choking on like air.
So excused myself to go cough up a lung in the back until I could get my breathing under control.

And by the time I got back out, they had decided to go for a second koi fish. A silver butterfly this time. 

So I fished that one out too. Bagged up the bunch and sent them on their way.

But it was just nice to see a couple working together to get fish and coming to an agreement on which ones they wanted. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Small Crickets

So at work we have this thing where we prebag crickets for customers so that if we're busy helping another customer, then the customer needing crickets can just grab a bag and go.

And usually we do them in different amounts. Because there are customers who need only 6 crickets, others need 24, while yet others need 76. So like I usually bag up a variety of numbers to try and help as many customers as possible.

But today when I went to look in our small cricket bin.
I could see barely like...200 crickets in there.

Aka. We're really low. 

And when I have so few crickets...
I don't usually bag them up because I don't want to bag up the wrong amount as some days everyone needs like 24 crickets, while others people only need like 6. 

Sooo.
I didn't bag up any.

And it confused multiple customers.

Because they're like "Are you out of small crickets? You don't have any bagged up." 

So...note to self.
If I do have some I should probably bag up a couple of smaller amounts.
That way it will show people that we do have crickets. As they'll just assume the other larger amounts were taken earlier. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Fight

I tried to bring out a couple of guinea pigs from our sick room (as they were now healthy) back onto the floor today.

Try being the key word.

As most of the time, our guinea pigs get along with each other.

But if you get one that's slightly larger than the rest, or one that's more aggressive than the others.

They don't take too nicely to newcomers when they're introduced back into the cage.

For the most part I don't usually have to worry about combing guinea pigs together.

But today I had a larger guinea pig in the cage with a bunch of smaller ones.

And when I brought out two more, one of those ones was of large size.

So of course the two bigs ones decided to take a disliking to each other.

And the one in the cage ended up drawing blood from the newcomer. 

*exhales*

It wasn't a bad wound.

A scratch by the eye.

But geez it bled a lot.

Big bright red droplets spattering all to the ground as I quickly pulled the guinea pig out of the cage, trying to keep him from bleeding all over while I was grabbing a paper towel to help staunch the blood and keep it from getting everywhere.

Which was interesting.

Because I was taking the whole situation rather calmly.

Just trying to get the guinea pig taken care of and make sure the bleeding had stopped before I moved him further away from the cage.

And my coworker nearby....had to turn and walk away. Because they can't stand the sight of blood.

I hadn't known that about them. 

It was just interesting because I was the one dealing with the wounds up close....

Of course I've seen a lot of things here at work....so not much fazes me anymore.

But yah.

Glad I managed to get the guinea pig cleaned up a bit.

Though I had to take him back into the sick room so we can make sure the small wound on his head heals properly.

And definitely need to make sure he's not housed with another big guinea pig when he's able to go back out again. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Loose Puppy

A dog without a collar wandered into the store today.
The cashier immediately grabbed a temporary leash and caught the puppy.

But after a couple of minutes of waiting for the owner to come in... and no one showing up....
The cashier called for help.

Because what random dog just runs into the store?

Turns out it wasn't so random. 

No, apparently one of the groomers had been grooming the dog,
But needed to take a break.
And so had locked the dog up in a kennel.

Only.
Apparently the lock to that cage in the back was broken.
So the dog somehow managed to get out of the cage.
and then somehow managed to pass by at least three other groomers, and maybe customers, and out the grooming door and into the store and then outside....and then back inside....

Without anyone noticing...until the point where the cashier saw the dog.*shake head*

It's crazy.

And our head manager was freaking out because what if the dog had run out into the street and been killed? What if it had been injured?! What IF?!

Thankfully though, the dog hadn't wandered far because it's cold and rainy outside today.

But still.
It's crazy.

How in the crazy of the store...
One dog managed to slip by so many people without being noticed. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Hamster Problem

I don't have the full story for this.

But earlier today, a customer came into the store with a bunch of hamster products.
Cages, food, houses, etc. 
Basically a whole start up on getting a hamster.
But I think...maybe it was two kits?

In any case.
They were returning everything. 

-I kinda figured it was a) a joke gone wrong b) their hamster died and they didn't want to try again or c) some other situation where they ended up not wanting the hamster.

Apparently everything was in 'unsellable' condition aka -dirty/not cleaned.
So we returned a bunch of product we couldn't resell. *exhales*

And I think the customer took their refund and....left?
Maybe bought things?
But like. I don't know it wasn't that big of a deal. 

However.

Some time later. (not sure if it was minutes or hours) 
The customer came back in. (if they'd even left at all)

To complain...

I'm not sure fully.
But apparently they hadn't gotten the 'correct' refund? 
I guess they got back less than what they'd paid for?

*shakes head*

Not sure.

But this customer kept up a running series of complaints as the Manager took over the return process to help get the right amount of money back.

(I think)

But the process was taking a while.
I feel like a good twenty minutes went by.

Not helped at all by the fact that I saw the customer walk away to point at something or grab something and then come back....

At one point they even wanted the manager to return a gift card? 
Like...we don't do that.
We don't return gift cards. 
*shakes head*

But apparently....

From what my coworker tells me.

The customer had bought a ton of hamster stuff with the intention to breed the hamsters.

-Which I do wonder if they bought two hamsters from our store because like....breeding would be impossible then because we only sell males. *shakes head*

But in any case.

The customer wanted to breed the hamsters.

And then sell them back to us for a profit.

Which is a cool idea in concept.

Only it doesn't work because we don't accept animals unless it's from specific breeders that we go through.

So we wouldn't be able to take any hamsters from this customer. 


In any case.
The customer kept up like a running commentary the entire time.
I couldn't hear what they were saying.
But like I could hear their voice constantly talking for forever really.

*shakes head*

And it was just...such a weird situation.

So weird. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Off Go The Lights

*shakes head*

Sometimes I forget that my coworkers don't know things. 

So for the past little while.
The lights on our fishwall have been going out.
Usually it's one or two like...every other week it feels like.

Which is odd because I barely remember bulbs going out on the wall before this year. *shakes head* lol. They last a while. 

But today another light had burned out.
So I went and grabbed the last of the bulbs we had. (hopefully we get more in soon because I'm sure at least six more lights will go out at some point) 

And like I usually do, I opened the door that leads to the area behind the fish wall, to flip off the lights to the section of tanks holding the dead lightbulb.
That way I wouldn't shock myself trying to get the lightbulb out while the lights were on.

And my manager was like O.O Why are the lights off?!?!

O.o Well...because I turned them off?

Apparently he and my coworker with me this morning didn't know....that you could turn off the lights at the fish wall up at the front of the store.

As there's a control panel in the back of the store that allows you to turn on certain lights earlier than they're automatically scheduled if necessary.

But apparently the two of them didn't know that we had switches up front too.

*shakes head*

Which is funny because my coworker at least...knows to flip the switches on in the morning and flip the switches off at night.

But apparently they never knew that the switches were connected to the fish lights. 

Now the do. ^^;;

And I got the bulb replaced too! ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Trying To Leave

It's funny.

They scheduled me to be off earlier today at work.

But I ended up staying half an hour later then planned because we got hit with a rush of people just as I was prepping to clock out.

There was a line of customers and only one cashier.

The manager was stuck with the cats as another set of customers decided if they wanted to adopt one or not.

My replacement ended up getting snagged by customers to help them in the Dog section of the store.

Leaving me to quickly back up cashier, grab fish, and help a customer grab a dog cone, as well as let customers hold guinea pigs...

And it's crazy.

How rushes happen like that.

Like the store had literally been dead for almost the entire day.

But right then was when everyone needed help. 

*shakes head*

So it goes I suppose lol. 

Time Away

I'm so grateful to my work for their willingness to let me leave at the drop of a pin when...well, when tragedy struck my family. 

I'm grateful for work that is willing to cover my shifts, willing to let me have all the time off I need so I can be with family. 

So grateful that I have this job and this understanding.


I meant to return to posting in this blog on the 14th...but tragedy struck and I lost my Mother Dearest that day.
Found out while I was at work.

It's...it's been hard.

Posts will continue on this blog when I return to work.

For now though I'm focusing on being with family and supporting them however I can. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Further Discount?

So. 
We have this tank in the store.

a 65 gallon tank.
That is currently discounted.

For the simple reason that a customer accidentally broke one of the glass lids that go on top of the tank...therefore the tank is missing one of it's two lids.

So the tank has been discounted 25% to account for that missing piece.

But bonus for buyers...

Is that the tank/stand combo is usually like $400.
But due to our monthly sales...

It's now on sale for $250. 

Nearly half off.

Which when we add in that 25% discount, which is taken off of the sale price and not the full price....

Really you're basically getting the tank for half off. 

A good deal.

But I had an older couple come into the store today.

Who were less than pleased that the tank was missing it's lid. 
Even though I explained that's why we took an extra 25% off the tank. 
To account for that missing piece.

I even mentioned that we sold glass lids...albeit the lids aren't wide enough (though are long enough) to cover the entire gap because the 65 gallon tank is a bit wider than typical glass tops.

And the glass tops we do sell are like $15-$30.
So it's not like you're breaking the bank to buy a new lid.

But the couple...wasn't having it.

They were focused on the missing glass lid.

The dude was like "I could make one from Plexi but that's like $50 right there!

*coughs* Well...considering the tank is half off....I don't think $50 if it is that much....is that big of a deal??

But he was like "Will you give us the tank for $150?" 

O.o

Uh.
No. 

Like. Sure. If the tank was damaged. If the stand was damaged. If it was anything major...than maybe we would discount it that much.

But like....it's just one glass lid.

And the tank is already basically half off.
So why...go lower than half off for a tank that's overall fine?

I mean a stand itself is usually $150. So you're basically asking to buy the stand and get the tank for free.  

*shakes head*

We can't do that.

So....the couple said they'd 'think about it' and left. 

*exhales*
Oh well. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

-This blog will be taking a brief hiatus and will return Nov 14th 

Dwarfs?

I had a customer call the store today.
Asking if we would accept the return of live fish...because he had a couple of Gourami's he'd bought a little bit ago...that weren't playing nice to each other and he realized he had a regular gourami and a dwarf gourami and didn't want the regular one anymore because it was aggressive.

Which I could see why the customer was asking.
Because they knew that we would return dead fish within a two week period...
But apparently whoever had helped him the first time hadn't clarified that we'll accept the fish back for any reason with two weeks.
So yes...we do accept them back alive.

His only problem?
He was outside the return period. 
By like a week. 

However.
I was in the mood to be helpful.
So told him that if he brought them in, I could return them for him.

As he had mentioned wanting to exchange them out. 
Which is more helpful than just wanting his money back.

Though at the time I was confused how "One of my dwarf gouramis was a regular" could have happened.

I mean the dwarfs are in separate tanks from our regulars.

Though in retrospect...it makes sense that they could think all the gourami's were dwarfs...if they didn't look close enough or weren't paying attention....

And when he brought in the fish...
Sure enough one of them was a blue gourami instead of a dwarf lol.

But yah.
He ended up returning both fish.
And got six other fish in exchange.

So I think he went home happy. :D yay. :D

-Sarnic Dirchi

Vanished

I had a customer come into the store today.
Wanting to know if it was possible for fish to disappear.
Because he had bought a rainbow shark a couple of days ago.

But couldn't find the fish today even though he'd seen it last night. 

So he wanted to know if fish could disappear.

Yes.

Fish can just vanish.

Like you don't think dead fish can just...disintegrate and vanish.

But like during the night? Over like 6-9 hours? 
Yah.

Totally can vanish.

Did the fish jump out and his cat take it? Possibly.
Could it still be hiding in the tank? Very possible. I mean. I had fish disappear for 6 months before I saw them again. (but my tank is much larger) 

In any case...
I couldn't give him a straight up answer on what happened to his fish.
because I don't know.
I can't look into the past/future and see specific events.

But yes. Fish can just vanish and yes you never see the body.

Sooo he bought a different fish, and then returned home to see if the shark was hiding in one of his ornaments. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Wrong Email

I had a customer call today freaking out because she received two email receipts from our store....but she hadn't been in our store for the past month. 

So she wanted to speak with a manager to figure out how someone had gotten her credit card information to buy things from us.

It's an issue that I'd dealt with before. So I did a little digging to check to make sure I was right.

Was the charges she was seeing just on the receipt or on her bank account?

Just the receipt. 

Did the card number at the bottom of the receipts match any of the ones she had?

No. They did not.

Then It was simple really.

Because we have a program where people give us their phone numbers and email addresses so that a0 we can give them discounts and b) so that if they choose their receipts can be emailed to them.

Therefore. Nobody was stealing actual money from the woman.

They just had used 'her' phone number. 

-Which is either because a) they'd gotten a new number/said the wrong number or b) coworker error and the wrong number had been typed in. 

To prove that I was right, I went to our registers to look up her number.

And sure enough there were two different names listed under that phone number, but with different email addresses. 

Which means that the cashier had simply clicked on the wrong name while sending the receipts.

Therefore....she had nothing to worry about. The receipts wouldn't affect her accounts in anyway because her email address isn't (and shouldn't be) connected to any credit card information because we don't keep track of credit card information on the register computers.

So she was fine.

….She wasn't fine. She didn't like that 'someone was using her account." which yah....with the new points system we have, if you're using the wrong phone number and someone chooses to redeem those points....then yah. Not good for you. But hey, if they didn't redeem any points, it just means that their points were added to your account so....you came up on top in that.

In any case. She wanted the other person 'taken off her account'

Which *shrugs* 

I have no idea how to do that.

If I could do it then I would go through and delete duplicate accounts that are constantly showing up on the computers when we put in phone numbers more than once. 

No. I was pretty sure she'd have to go through customer service for that. 

So in the end, I ended up transferring her over to a manager so he could figure out how to help her from there.

It go buys after that point....so I have no idea how that conversation ended.

But hopefully she hung up with more peace of mind that her money was safe.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Can of What??

A customer called the store today.

Asking if we had Fluker's Can o' Snails. 

O.o 

While the Fluker's name was familiar.
I wasn't at all familiar with us carrying anything snail like besides the aquatic snails we sell in the store and their pest counterparts that also reside in our tanks.

But no.
Apparently Flukers carries canned snails.

I mean I'd heard of canned mealworms, crickets, and grasshoppers.

But snails were new.

Unfortunately we don't carry them in our location.

But now I am curious as to what the contents look like.

Like are they just regular garden snails?
Are there like two or three large ones in the can, or a bunch of little ones? 

---I literally just went and googled them.

There's 25-30 medium sized shell-less snails in each can.

Apparently they're mostly used to feed turtles.

Go figure. 

The things you learn when customers call you looking for things. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Full Price Sale

A customer came into the store today and wanted to know what we had that was on sale.

So I gestured to the sale tags we have hanging throughout the store and told her that "anything that has this tag is on sale." 

To which she then asked me "But do you have any full price items on sale?"

Which I guess...since I gestured to tags that were on a clearance rack....would explain why she asked that. 

But at the time I was like O.o 

Because I had just explained that if they had tags....they were on sale.

So I repeated myself.

And said that the sales changed every month and such. 

Don't think she was happy about that.

But yah....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Type of Lizard?

A customer called the store today.
To say that she and her children had caught a lizard with a blue tail, and that they'd tried looking online to see what type it was....but couldn't figure it out.

So they called us to see if we knew the type of lizard it was...and if it was poisonous. 

Which considering we're in a desert....I'm not aware of any being unsafe to handle. 
Like tropical ones?  Yah I can see why you don't want to touch them. 

But desert ones? 

In any case.... I had no idea what type of lizard it was. 
And told the customer so.

And her response was "Well is there someone there who does?"

Not currently because I was the only one scheduled.
But I told her that it was unlikely my coworkers would know either....

Because we don't deal with wild animals. 
We don't sell wild animals.

We only really know the reptiles we sell in the store.
And the local lizards?
We don't sell them. 
So we wouldn't know which types were 'safe' and which were 'dangerous.'

She was understanding.
It made sense why we wouldn't know.

But now she wanted to know who would know.

*shrugs* Idk. A zoo? An aquarium? A visitor center of the local state/national parks? 
I honestly don't know. 

Hopefully she found answers.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Walked Out

It's never a fun feeling to see a customer waiting in line...only to leave the line and their cart and walk out of the store.

*exhales*
It happened today. 

I had jumped on register to help with a rush.
And the customer I was helping was taking a little longer than usual because there was an issue with a return, and then scanning the right cans, and making sure the prices were right, then her going to go grab a thing of food she forgot....

So overall. It was taking a while.
I was trying to go as fast as I could.
But I can only do so much when the customer is the one slowing down the process.

And there was this gentleman standing there.
Waiting for his turn. 

So while the lady was grabbing her food I was like "I'm sorry, it's going to be just a little bit longer."

He didn't respond.

But just as I was finishing up with the lady's transaction.
Where she was paying and pressing the buttons and such.

The dude suddenly steps out of line.

Originally I'd thought it was because he'd forgotten something.
But no.
He left his card by one of our dog toy displays....and walked out the door.

Which was confusing to everyone in line....
Because like 60 seconds later...I was able to help the next customer in line. 

Apparently....he wasn't patient enough..... 

Y_Y I feel bad though.
I wasn't trying to make him wait.
But like...I have to help the customer in front of me first. *exhales* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Wheels

A couple came into the store today.
To return a filter wheel they bought, with the intention of searching for and getting the correct size they were looking for.

Unfortunately for them.
We don't carry the biowheel that comes in Marineland fishtanks here.

The only way a customer can get a biowheel...is to buy a new filter.
If they want just the wheel itself, I believe you have to go online to find it.

Which the customers weren't too happy about.

"But you sold us the tank that the filter came with!"

Yes. Yes we did sell it to you.

But that doesn't mean we carry parts for the things we sell.

That's extremely rare really.
Missing tubes, extra hoses, bio wheels etc....we just don't have.

Pretty sure it's a conspiracy thing by the companies who create the products to keep you buying their things and giving them your money.

In any case.

I did what I could to help them.
Ended up getting them a couple of fish and such.

But yah.
They left without the filter wheel that they wanted. Y_Y

-Sarnic Dirchi

Totally Cleaned

Had a customer come into the store today looking to get new fish...as he had accidentally killed all but three of his other ones after doing a water change.

It's unknown if it was the water change itself that killed his fish.
But the dude was trying his best to keep his tank clean...
He just got...overexcited and emptied out the entire tank full of water.

Which....you should never do with a fish tank once it's established because....well you basically get rid of all the beneficial bacteria and start the tank all over....

Which can be super stressful to the fish.

Plus...at one point the dude used vinegar to clean his rocks?? and Vinegar is not good for fish either. *shakes head*

But yah.
His main issue was that he emptied out the entire tank instead of the 25%-50% that's usually recommended.

So I did what I could to teach him, though he kept saying some dude at a different petstore had already told him the same thing.

Sooo hopefully something each of us said stuck in his noggin lol. 

But yah. He ended up getting more fish today to put in his tank.
*fingers crossed* that they do well. :S 

-Sarnic Dirchi