Crate Problems

The Grumpy Lady came back into the store today. Which I swear, I see her like every day. The one who looks like she chews on nails for breakfast. And everytime I see her...it's either she's buying ANOTHER crate or she's searching for a particular type of dog food for her dog. 
And I really don't understand why she comes to the store so often. Like...do you really use that many crates? I don't know. 

In any case.
Today, she came into the store wanting help with getting a specific crate from the back of the store.
Only in the two minutes she'd wandered back there and maybe waited...no one showed up. So she came all the way back to the front of the store to yell at the cashier that no one was in the back to help her, before again going to the back to get help by one of my coworkers. 

And upon finding the brand and the size that she needed. 
She came back up to the front.
Had the cashier put the crate together for her then and there. 
And had a manager take it out of her for her.

...Only for her to return a little while later.
Upset.
Because the crate wasn't working right.
How was it not working right?
The tray in the bottom of the cage wasn't lying flat.
And the door wasn't shutting. 
And the divider in the crate wasn't in the crate.

Apparently...this is an issue she's had before? 

But the thing is...her problem was really easy to fix.
The latch...she was latching it wrong. 
It needed to go a slightly different way.
The tray?
Needed to be slid through the bottom of the cage, not put in through the door and place down through that opening. 
And the divider for the crate? Was in the box. 

But was that satisfactory for her?
Nope.
She didn't listen to these explanations at all.
And insisted that she wanted to buy a different brand of crate. 
And try that instead.
That brand being our most expensive brand.
Meaning that she paid a bit more money for it. 

All because she didn't want to hear the explanation of how everything she complained about was still in working order. 
*shrugs*
well...it's your money lady.
If you want to spend it rather than listen....
Go right ahead. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

On Time

Okay, it's probably rather telling how used I am to this...

but I had a coworker show up on time for their shift today.
Not just on time, they were a little early. O.o
Which meant....that I was able to get off on time.
For once.

And that's just....really crazy.

I'm so used to my coworkers coming into their shifts 5-15 minutes late.
That I'm just...mind boggled that I had a coworker show up for their shift on time.
Like wow. 
Just wow. 

It was just...nice. So nice. 
To clock out on time for once.
To get off when I was actually supposed to get off.
Really...I wish it would happen more.

-Sarnic Dirchi

No Lookie!

I had a mother and her three children come into the store today,
Where they were mostly just coming to look at the animals and the fish and such.

And what was amusing was that one of the girls was like "Oh what's this!?" as she tried to lift up the lid of our Large Cricket Bin.

And the mom was like "No! Don't even look at them!" 

And the girl was of course like: "Why?" 

And with the weight of experience behind her, the mom was like "Because I don't want to end up bringing home a bag of crickets because you liked them." 

lol it makes me wonder if this has happened before....
Because it seemed like from the kid's reactions that it hadn't.
Yet from the mother's it has....

Perhaps it wasn't the crickets but some other creature in a previous experience.

Still, kinda amusing to have the mother be so adamant about her kids not looking at the bugs. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Better?

It's interesting to hear customers talk about our competition stores. 
Because some people are like "Oh but this store does this sort of sale thingy." or "This store is selling this for cheaper." etc. 
And other people are like "Yah, no, not going back to that place, I bought this fish and it died!" 

Today was one of those later experiences.
Where the customer was like "Yah, we bought some box crickets from the competition, and all but three were dead in like three days! So we came here cus your crickets are usually good!" 

And I'm like... "Yah....depends on our shipment. but yah our crickets do better some weeks than others."
Because really temperature effects crickets so strongly. Too hot. They die. Too cold. They die.

So I'm not surprised to hear that other stores, even the competition, are experiencing the same sort of issues.
I've had shipments of crickets come in before where they're all basically dead with in 48 hours. 
soooo
I get it.

but hopefully this particular batch of crickets was satisfactory for the customers and that they live longer than our competition's crickets did. ^^;; :S 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Teaching Moment

Admittedly I was caught a bit off guard. 
When one of our new cashiers came up to me stating that I needed to teach her how to catch fish. 

I mean, it is part of training that everyone in the store learns how to catch fish and bag crickets.
So that if my department gets a bit overwhelmed, the people who aren't trained/work in my department can come over and help a bit whenever there's a rush. 

But that doesn't always happen....or if it happens it's like months later down the road. 

This particular greenie hasn't even worked here a month yet. 
So it was surprising that they came to me wanting to learn. 
Like I didn't mind.

I did wonder if it was on their own prerogative that they learn this....or if one of the managers told them that they needed to learn how....
I'm thinking the latter really. 

and it makes sense because my department is still shorthanded. (because hiring is taking forever and a day) 
So having anyone being able to help. 
Is a real blessing really.

So, while juggling helping customers....lol as the greenie happened to ask to be taught about catching fish right as I got hit with a rush of customers....I taught them how to catch the fish. :D 

And then when they were done, they sent the other cashier (as both are cashiers and both are basically new) over to learn as well. 
So yay! ^^;; I have two people who can come help me with at least the catching fish part of my department if things get a little crazy. ^^;; Woot! 

Next...teaching them how to bag crickets. XD lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

But It's Dirt

So normally when we do our cage cleanings, if we have a cage that had an animal in it but is now empty of said animal. We take everything out of the cage and clean it before we put a new animal into it. 
But sometimes when we do this, there isn't actually an animal available to put in the cage. 
So normally, I just set the cage up in preparation for when said animal comes in. 

Which is what I expected my coworker to do when I told her that a couple empty cages needed to be cleaned out today in the reptiles because they didn't have animals in them currently but we needed to clean them before the new animals showed up. 
-I knew that wouldn't be this week though as I'd already seen the list of reptiles we were expecting and already knew those cages weren't going to be filled. 

Still. I expected my coworker to clean out the cage, and then put everything back. 
Except. When I went to check in....
The tanks were completely bare. 
Like nothing in them.
Not even the dirt we use as the bedding for those reptiles. 

So I told my coworker. "You know you can set up the cages for the reptiles, they don't need to be completely empty." 

And my coworker was like "Oh, I didn't know when the reptiles were going to be coming in, so I figured it would be better for the cage to be empty so the dirt wouldn't mold before then." 

*blinks* 
Ummm
Come again?

I mean, okay, so when the dirt in the cages gets too 'moist' like people overwater it it can on occasion grow things....
But mold?

It's DIRT.
And in the dry climate we're in...
If you don't actively do anything to said dirt....
It just gets drier.
It doesn't mold.

Seriously. Especially in our reptile cages when there's heat constantly on them...the dirt dries out pretty quickly.

It's Dirt.
Dirt doesn't mold.
(yes I'm aware it can, but it's not common here.)

*shakes head*

So yah...I ended up having to set up those cages myself.
Because it looks better to have the cage set up.
Than to have it just a blank empty space.

-Sarnic Dirchi 

What Guarantee?

We had a customer call the store today with a concern.
As she'd bought two hamsters, one for each of her kids.
And one hamster was super sweet....
And the other was ....well....he likes to bite. 

And she was wondering if there was anything she could do to tame the hamster down or if she could bring it back.

The main thing was....she was calling about this....three weeks after she bought the hamsters.
Which was a week over our live animal return policy 

However, the manager, who had me handle the call, said to "take care of the customer" 
Aka. Allow her to return the hamster if she wanted to return it. 

So I took up the phone call.
She explained the situation.
I told her that it was possible to mellow out the hamster by buying gardening gloves and just handling the hamster more consistently....though that wasn't a guarantee of calming down the hamster. 

And that we usually didn't return hamsters after two weeks as it's past the policy.

And she was like. OH. I wasn't even aware that there was a return policy!

>.< Apparently, whoever had sold her the hamsters...had neglected to tell her that she had two week to bring the hamster(s) back for any reason. 

So I was like. "Well since you weren't aware of the guarantee, you can still have you return the hamster." 
Though I qualified it, because otherwise it might be another month before I saw her. Where I was like "But you need to come in tonight, because you're already a week over the policy."
And if she came tonight it made it more likely that there would be no misunderstandings or miscommunication because there are less people I need to remember to tell about the situation. 

Idk if she came in or not....I'll probably find out tomorrow morning if I see a hamster return lol. 

But it did mean that I had to go around to my coworkers (and will need to do so for the next couple of shifts) and remind them that they need to tell the customer about our return policy.

I had one coworker who was like "OH, I just tell them to read it."
And I'm like..."People don't read. Tell them." It's easier to know that the customer actually knows about our policies than to assume that they do because they 'might have read it' 
Like seriously. People don't read the paperwork. 
They fill out the lines they're supposed to and call it good. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Going Rogue

Apparently one of my coworkers has gone a bit rogue in the department or in the store in general. 

*exhales* Which is always a bit frustrating...on both the store's end and the customer's end of things.

And they've really only gone rogue....because they've gotten it into their head that they know better than the store and it's policies regarding how we feed and care for the animals, as well as that they know better than the vet (a person who's gone to school to learn how to treat animals and owns their own practice to do so.) 

So.
Apparently over the weekend -after I left work- 
We had a customer come in.

With a situation, in that they had bought an animal from us, had taken it to the vet, and it had later died. 

Which with our return policy...you have a couple of weeks to bring the animal back to us. (Even if it died.) and we'll give you your money back. It doesn't really matter the reason. It could be "I no longer like this pet." or "It's getting sick." Or "We found out so and so is allergic." Honestly. Any reason. You just have to have the animal and the paperwork/receipt proving that you purchased the animal from us. (Yes, we have to have you bring back the creature if it died, we need proof that it did die.) 

So I believe the animal in question was still within the guarantee range, though I don't know for sure...
But the customer came in....without the body....but did come in with a Vet Bill.
Expecting us to pay for it. 

Which. 
We couldn't do. 

We have it stated within the forms that the customer fills out upon purchase of the pet, that if the animal gets sick, the customer can bring the animal to us and we'll take it to the vet for you. 
Key words being "Bring the Animal to Us." 
Customers can't take animals to the vet and then bring us the bill. We have to take the animal to our specific vet, and then we'll treat it and IF it gets better the customer has the option of buying the animal back. If it doesn't and the customer wanted the animal back then we call them and let them know that their pet didn't make it. 

So how did my coworker go rogue?

First off. 
Apparently the animal they sold to the customer....wasn't healthy.
I'm not sure if it was injured or was sick in some way.
But the matter of the fact was that the animal wasn't healthy, and should have been taken off the floor instead of sold to the customer.
Because we don't sell sick animals. If the animal is sick we take them off the floor and isolate them in a separate room for treatment and observation.

However, this room....has been rather full recently because we've had a rash off issues popping up among the animals. (maybe its the weather change? Who knows. It goes in phases) 
And because my coworker was aware that the room was full or nearly full...
They decided that the animal would be better of being taken home by the customer...instead of putting it back in our sick room. 

The coworker proceeded to tell the customer that "If the animal gets worse." 
To which the customer was like "How could it get worse?"
That they can bring the animal back to us within the guarantee, and we'll take it to the vet for them. 

Which is where the coworker should have stopped talking.
But no the coworker was like "But basically if you return it to us, you're most likely not going to get the animal back. We often don't take them to the vet, but instead treat them here in the store." 

*exhales* *rubs eyes.*

Uggggghhhhh. 
Like NO. 
The only reason why a customer wouldn't get their animal back is if it DIES. 
Otherwise, if they customer wants the animal back we will keep their contact info to reach them and if their pet makes a recovery. We'll call the customer and let them know. 
It may take a month or two for the animal to get better. But as soon as we deem said animal healthy, we contact the customer asap so they can have their pet back. 

As to taking the animal to the vet.
It really depends on the situation as to why the animal was returned. 
We have a set of policies and guidelines based on various illness and injuries that animals could get. And depending on what the situation is...depends on if it's deemed necessary for a vet trip or if the animal can be treated just fine in the store. 
It's not like we go "Oh this animal needs to go to the vet, but we're not going to take it we'll just try and treat it here." That's not true! If it's deemed that the vet needs to be seen, then we take the animal to the vet. Simple as that. 

In any case.
Having been given this information by my coworker.
That the animal isn't totally healthy, that if it gets sick you can bring it back, but that if you do bring it back to us you most likely won't get it back because we probably won't take it to the vet.

It's no surprise that the customer decided to not bring the animal back to us.
Even though they knew they could.
They decided instead to take the animal to the vet themselves for treatment.

And for whatever reason....thought we would pay the vet bill.
Which we don't. We don't pay for people's vet bills, only the bills of creatures WE take OURSELVES to the Vet. 

And all this hassle....
because my coworker decided (whether intentionally or unintentionally is unknown) to paint the store in a negative light. >.< 
Like seriously....first you intentionally sold an animal that wasn't healthy....and then you made it so the customer wouldn't want to return the animal to us if things went wrong....
Like why?
Why?

I don't get it.
*exhales* 

My coworker should have known better.
They've worked here long enough. 
That they really should have known better.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Cat Adoptions

Had a woman come into the store today.
Wanting to look at one of our cats up for adoption.
Which I was semi confused...
Because I feel like this customer has already adopted a cat from us.
Like...she looked familiar, had the attitude that definitely felt familiar....

Though honestly I don't know if she looked familiar because I've just seen her in the store....
Or if she's actually adopted a cat from us before.

*shakes head* 

In any case.
She was interested in seeing of our cats that had come in yesterday from the adoption group.
One that hadn't been quite acting well...
Weepy eyed, kinda snuffled breathing. 

Which isn't uncommon to have the cats have the sniffles when they come in.
It's a stressful environment and the stress of travel can get to them. 
So the fact that the cat had the sniffles and was being shy.
Not concerning.

What was a little concerning was the fact that the customer pointed out that the cat was drooling.
Which, not a good sign.

Usually in dogs it shows that the dog is really stressed out. (unless it's a breed that just drools a ton) so I could only figure that the cat was super stressed as well.
And considering this cat is like 6 years old....understandable that it wasn't handling the changes in it's life well. (the original family could no longer keep her.) 

So that was a concern.
And I was like. "She just came in yesterday, so she's probably really stressed out." 
And the woman was like "So if I adopted her, would she get better, or would she get sicker?"
And I was like..."I don't know, she just came in yesterday."
I can't fully judge a cat's personality after one day.
Especially when I only briefly interacted with the cat this morning while I was cleaning the cages before the store opened. 
And the lady was like "Well can you take her to the vet and get her check out?" 
And I had to tell her. "We can't do that, it's the adoption groups responsibility so we can only take a cat to the vet if they give us permission to." -unless it's like a life and death- because it's the adoption group that has to pay for the vet, not us. So usually they come in to take the cat to a vet that they work with instead. 

Honestly, if the cat wasn't acting healthy, I probably wouldn't have considered adopting it if I was in their place.
But the customer actually seemed set on it.
And I was like...trying to decide if I wanted to move the cat adoption forward or if I should try convincing the woman to wait, because the sniffles, not a big deal, the drooling more concerning...

The cat ended up making the decision for us.
It suddenly started throwing up in the lady's arms.
Getting on her jacket sleeve. Maybe into her purse -though I hope we managed to avoid that, onto the floor.
I took the cat from the woman's arms, and put it on the floor where it continued to vomit and yah....
I was like "Yah no, I need to have the adoption group take a look at the cat. I don't think adopting her right now would be a good idea." 
And the woman agreed. 

And was like "I want to go clean myself up...and then I want to look at this cat." and she pointed to the cat...that's like...the least friendly in the group before walking away. 

and at the same time as I was putting the cat back into her cage, and cleaning up the mess.
Another group with a young kid were like "We want to see this cat!" 
-Which is the same cat that the other lady had just pointed at.

So I was like. Oh great, I'm going to have two families fighting over the same cat.

Thankfully she returned just as I was finishing cleaning up the vomit, 
And so I was able to say to both of them. 
"Okay, so this cat, he's not one that likes to be picked up. He will bite and scratch you if you do." 
-Because he's a rather fat cat and an older cat. 

Which the woman who'd been nearly set on adopting the sick cat was like "Okay, nope." And decided to wait until other cats came in. 

Which I feel bad for this fat cat.
It's like the...fourth or fifth time he's come into our adoption area with this group. 
Which at this point I'm like "why do you keep bringing him back?"
He's nearly unhandable.
Seriously he's fine for the first couple of days, but after that...he just...you need to get the bite gloves out in order to get him back into the cage. 
*exhales*
Thankfully this time around he's seemed to realize that if he just goes back in the cage it's less hassle for everyone. So when I'm done cleaning he'll usually go right in. So yay for less hassle this time around. So far. 

I mean he could be a sweet kitty. He's really playful and loves to interact with toys and occasionally the other cats. 
He just doesn't like being picked up.
Petted usually alright, the moment you pick him up...not so much.

Yet the family was like "We just want to see him."
And I was like "This isn't a good idea, since you have a young boy."
But I opened the cage to let them see him.
And he was like "Nope, there's people I ain't coming out."
Still one of the women in the family tried. 
Just to pet him and such.

He wasn't having it. Being playful in his swipes and biting, but you know it could go more aggressive if they persisted.
Thankfully the family knew not to do that.
But in the end, 
They decided to not adopt him.
For which I'm glad.
Because I was concerned with their young child, that it would be an issue.
And thankfully they realized that.

So yah, that was two failed adoptions for me...
But I'd adopted out two other cats earlier today, and my coworker adopted out two more.
So overall we did pretty good today with the adoptions. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A New Filtration

It's interesting on occasion dealing with the older generations.
Because you don't usually think of how the care of fish and fish tanks have changed over the years.
I mean, techy stuff, like computers and phones and cars and such...yah you totally see how that's changed.
But fish tank equipment?
You don't really think of that changing much. 

Yet. It has....
Like going from florescent lightbulbs to LEDs is the most visible change. 

But another one, is the type of filtration people use. 
The trend for a long while was like the undergravel filters....which have since switched to over the back filters and like canister filters. 

*shakes head*
In any case.
I had a customer come into the store looking to upgrade her tank for her fish.
And she was wondering if the tanks we had on the shelf came with the filters that had the 'tubes'

Which after a little bit of questioning.
She was talking about the air pump system.
Which....doesn't really filter the water, it just bubbles it so that the water doesn't stagnate. 

But the customer apparently didn't know that.
Thought that was the filter system she needed and something.

And so she was rather overjoyed to discovered the new filters...that don't need the tubes or anything.
You just basically need to plug it in and change the filter and walla it works!! lol. 

I don't think she ended up buying any of them today though.
Too many tank options and she was struggling on the price of some of them.

Sooo we'll see if she comes back.
But at least she knows there's an easier method of filtering her tank now. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Less Vocal

My manager commented to me today.
That I was being rather quiet today.

Which...apparently was weird to him?
Which I don't see how it was....

Because yes, I have my moments of talking.
But I usually don't say much during work unless I'm communicating with coworkers or customers.
And the day had been rather slow.
So I was in more of an introspective contemplative mood, lost in my head.
Which I am constantly anyways since I tend to be thinking of story ideas while I'm tasking. 

But yah....I was like "Yah, I'm usually quiet."
And my manager was like "No you're not."
And I was like "Yah...I am." 

lol *shakes head*
Honestly, I think he was probably thinking of me just responding and answering questions or teasing over the radio. As I can often be vocal over our radios in jumping in to help my coworkers, or just teasing them and such.

And admittedly I hadn't done much of that today.
Because there wasn't much reason to.

But apparently the fact that I was quieter....was throwing him off.....

Or he was teasing me.
I can never quite tell with that manager. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Another One Gone

*exhales* 
It always seems to happen in threes.

*shakes head*
I'm losing another coworker.
My manager informed me today that another person in my department is going to be quitting.
Though the manager was rather vague on the 'when' of this departure. 

But honestly at this point.
I'm not surprised.
Why not lose another coworker now?
I mean we're barely able to cover shifts currently because we're already two people short.
*shakes head* 

I've had to deal with having people who aren't as familiar with my department being in my department because we don't have the coverage and we desperately need it. 

so to hear that another coworker is leaving...
Is less than stellar.

I can only hope that this news is going to be the kick in the pants the managers need to be more proactive about hiring people.
Because at this rate it will be just me and my manager left at the end of the day and that's just not going to work well....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sliced

Animals can be so frustrating sometimes.

So, when we have sick or injured animals, we take them off the floor and isolate them so that we can treat and monitor the animals until they return to health and are able to be brought back onto the floor.

And today was the day where I clean the cages in the back, which usually means I check and see if we have any open cages on the floor, and then check the iso room to see if any animals can be brought out. 

And one of the animals I brought out was a guinea pig,
That had been in the back for a while as we treated it for some hairloss on it's face.
As he'd finally gotten to the point where the fur had grown back enough that I felt he would be fine returning to the floor.
So I put him along with a couple other guinea pigs out onto the floor with some others that were already in the cage.
As usually that's okay to do. Guinea pigs are social creatures and like having buddies.

It's only a slight issue if the guinea pigs have been isolated too long by themselves.
Or a guinea pig already on the floor decides he wants to be king of the food bowl and a jerk to everyone else. 

But after watching for a few minutes it looked like everyone was going to be playing nice, and so I left and returned to cleaning the cages in the back.

Only like an hour or two later....
I walked by the guinea pig cage on the floor and glanced in just to double check to make sure everyone was still doing well.

And that's when I noticed it. 
An odd movement to the guinea pig's ear.
A closer look...
Revealed that the ear had been sliced in half. 
Like, it literally looked like someone had take a knife and sliced the ear in half horizontally from edge to head. 
O.O 
So instead of one solid ear, the ear was now moving as two individual sides. :S 
And it was fresh. There was still blood.

And I'm like HOW?!?! HOW! 
I mean I've seen small tears and nicks in ears before. But sliced in half?!!? Never. 
I don't know if another guinea pig or two got a hold of that one's ear and pulled, tearing it. 
Or if something in the cage had somehow caught and injured the guinea pig. 
More than likely it was the other guinea pigs that caused the injury.

And since it was bleeding and you know...split in half....
I couldn't just leave him on the floor.
So even though I'd just barely taken him out of the room an hour or so before.
He was now returning back there until the ear heals. 
>.< 
Ugh. 
Why?!?!
You couldn't have just played nice now could you? 
*shakes head* 
I don't even know if the ear will heal together, or if it will just...be separated from here on out. I don't know.
In any case....back into iso he went. 
Hopefully he heals quickly. But note to self, keep a closer eye on him next time I bring him out. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Contemplation

I wonder if they ever came back....

I had a couple come into the store, interested in looking at our guinea pigs.
But we only had like four out on the floor at that point in time.
And they were hoping to see more.
Which I happened to have more guinea pigs in the back because we hadn't had room earlier so I hadn't been able to bring them out.
So I took the customers back there to let them see the guinea pigs.
And the girl was sooo excited to see all the different colors and such.
She was particularly partial to a fully black guinea pig with short fur.
And another brownish one with longer fur. 

They spent a good 15 minutes with the guinea pigs just holding them and talking about them and such.
Before deciding that they wanted to go check out or sister store.
Because my store only sells Male Guinea Pigs (to prevent breeding from happening in the store) while our sister store sells Females.
And the customers were wanting to get a female, and hadn't known that we only carried males until I told them so. 

So they wanted to go check out the girls before deciding if they were going to stick with their original plan to get a girl guinea pig, or come back and get one of the males they were liking here. 

*shrugs*
I don't know if they ever came back to the store.... 
I didn't see them again before I left.
So they either decided on a female after all, or came back after I left/ or got helped by a different coworker.
I dunno.
But yah, definitely was interesting that they spent so long with the guinea pigs in the store, because I told them like...two minutes in that they were all boys.
So the fact that they spent like 15 minutes looking at them was a bit....odd to me....like why look if they weren't what you wanted in the first place??

-Sarnic Dirchi

Numbers?

Interacting with new cashiers is always fun.
Just to see what sort of questions and problems they come up with.
because being new....they don't know much. So it's always interesting to see what they figure out on their own and what they ask for help on.

Today our new cashier had an issue returning some deadfish.
Mostly because I don't think they'd done it before.
but they came up to me wanting to know which fish the customer was trying to return as it wasn't pulling up on the screen.

So I was like...well did you put in the UPC on the receipt?
And they were like "I scanned it, but it didn't do anything." 
"Did you do the numbers by the fish name?"
"Yes!"

Somehow I doubted it.
As when I went over there. 
And put the numbers of the upc in for the return.
They all ended up working fine.

*shakes head*
Not quite sure which numbers the cashier was trying to put in....
But they weren't the right ones apparently. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

On Top

There's something rather amusing about animals climbing on my head.
Recently it's been the chameleons and the chinchillas who, if given the opportunity, want to climb up and perch on top of my head.
Not something I usually let them do for long that's for sure.
As they both have this tendency to want to well...jump...once they're that high up. *shakes head*
Definitely an odd feeling though to have something clambering about in my hair. 
Kinda fun though, an probably would make amusing pictures too. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

Come Now

So I was in the middle of talking to customers about fish tank filters towards the end of my shift.
When I hear over the radio the manager asking me to come over to the hamsters.
Thinking it was just another customer, I told the manager that I was with customers.
But it was like ten seconds later that the manager was like. "Sarnic, now, the hamsters, it's not good."

Which....*exhales* I automatically kinda knew what that meant.
It either meant that there was an injured hamster, or there was a dead one. 
So I said "Excuse me, I'll be right back." to my customers and darted over to the hamster cages to see what the problem was.

Turns out there was a dead hamster in the cage.
And the other hamsters were basically getting ready to cannibalize it. 
Y_Y 

So depressing.
Especially because I had cleaned the cages earlier that morning.
So like, everything was clean, everything was new, there really was no reason for the hamsters to go after one of their own.

Yet for whatever reason they did.
I can only guess it was because it was the smallest of the lot. Perhaps too weak, perhaps they could sense some sort of issue with it.
All I know...is that it was dead.
When it had been alive earlier. *exhales*

idk if a customer noticed it or if the managers just happened to randomly be paying attention.
But I took the dead hamster out of the cage and took care of it and that was basically that.
I could return to the other customers and continue helping them.

But still....why hamsters? Why take one of your own? I don't get it. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Stare Much?

It's rather common with retail.
Dealing with awkward people.
The ones who don't know boundaries, talk too much, stand too close, who just...well are awkward. 

I had a gentleman come up to me, wanting 25 Large crickets.
Which is easy enough to get -despite us being reeeeaaalllly low on Crickets at the moment. (Our Thursday shipment failed to provide the crickets they said they were giving us) 

And I wasn't really thinking much,
beyond the fact that gentleman kinda had a creepy stare going.
You know the stare where they don't blink as often as they should, and they're staring at you and it just...kinda makes goosebumps appear on your skin?
Yah.
It was an awkward stare.

And as I was counting crickets he suddenly asked me "If you don't mind me asking...how old are you?" 

Which I answered him, because I honestly don't care if people know how old I am.
And I kinda figured he was asking because I've been asked before when people notice the grey in my hair.
Because it's rather uncommon for a young person to have grey hair. 

So I was kinda expecting him to continue the conversation after I told him my age. 
You know the typical. "Do you die your hair? Is that real grey hair? etc." 

But no.
He just continued to stand there, after I answered. Staring. 
It was really weird.
Like...is it that strange to see me with grey hair? or are you just still trying to comprehend it?

*shakes head*
I was kinda glad to hand him his crickets so he would leave.
Cus the silent staring directly at me was rather off putting. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Which Way

There was a customer who flagged me down today while she was standing near the register.
Why?
Because she wanted to know how to put a dog harness on.
As you see, the rival store's harnesses have these handy dandy 'left and right' words sown into their harnesses so pet owners know how to put on the harness properly onto their dog. (which yes cool idea.) 
But our harnesses don't have those.
So she wanted to know which side was the right side.

Which....looking at the thing.
I honestly had no idea if there was a 'proper direction'
And it didn't help that I was put on the spot.
And I could feel her impatience.

And I hadn't wanted to be near this customer in the first place because she gave off a strong vibe of "I will make your life difficult." and I'm pretty sure I've already seen her in the store like everyday this week. (who comes in everyday to a petstore besides the workers?!?! Go do something else!) 

And yah.
Pressure.
Soooo could I figure out which way was the proper way to put the harness on.
*exhales* No.
Not in the moment.

So the customer just asked me to put it back.
And I can only guess that she went off to the rival store to buy a harness there. *shakes head*

Oh well...I tried.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

More More More

It's always fun to have customers who are super excited about their fish tanks.
Just to hear them talk about them is always entertaining and I love to see the pictures of how they decorated and everything.

What is less fun is dealing with the customers who are a bit...over zealous.
Like something miniscule goes wrong and they fly into full on panic and want to know how to fix it right then! 

But then there are also the customers who....just don't listen?

There's this family, where the father got one of our larger tanks, a 125 gallon, for Christmas and has been more than ecstatic about filling it full of fish. 

To the point where he's wanting to grab ALL the fish RIGHT NOW.
And it's rather hard to hold him back in his desires.
Though I am trying lol. 

He just wants all the fish. 
*shakes head*

I kinda figured I was in trouble after the first time they came to get fish and I told them to 'wait a week' and come back then....
Only for them to come in like two or three days later for more fish.

And then consequently I've been seeing the family...well it feels like every other day.
As they have started to bring back dead fish,
And want to get replacement fish for their dead fish.

And I'm just like.
Stop.

Bring back the fish you lose, sure.
But don't buy any more!
If the fish are dying then that means the tank isn't quite stable yet for the addition of more fish.

*exhales*

I saw them again briefly today.
Briefly because I was walking out of work while they were walking into work.
So I didn't have to help them this time around.
but I honestly wonder if it was to return more dead fish....or come buy new ones....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Returns?

I had two customer in a row call today that wanted to bring back products they'd bought in the store in order to get their money back.

Which isn't that surprising. It happens all the time. 
Especially right after Christmas when people decide that their new pet...isn't what they expected it to be.

But today was noteworthy in that 
Customer A, wanted to return some food that she'd bought because she no longer needed it...but she didn't have the receipt. 
Which isn't a problem...if we can look up the receipt. Or else if we can't, the customer can always exchange it for a different product or for store credit. 
The problem? 
The customer wanted cash back because she needed the money more. 
*exhales*
Which we don't do because if there's no proof of purchase we can't prove it came from our store.

But the customer was insistent. 
Soooo the manager took over to find a solution.

Yay for me not being a manager. 

The second phone call.
With Customer B was of similar note.
They'd bought some doggy stairs and had never ended up using them.
They had the receipt. Had the product unused.

The problem? 
The customer was trying to return the product outside of our 60 day guarantee.
It was like 120 days after the point of purchase.
which...waaaaayyy to long.

So once more, the manager took over. 
To figure out a solution.

*shakes head*

Yah... 
You'd think customers would be a bit more....proactive about returning things.....in a timely manner and with the receipt....


-Sarnic Dirchi

Empty Shelf

It's one of those voices over the phone where...you just kinda expect there to be trouble.

It was a customer, who started the conversation with "I was in there early today and your cashier, the young man...what's his name?" 
Which...isn't always the best sentence starters to be greeted with because it usually spells trouble in one or another.
And considering I recognized the accent of the customer on the other side...meaning I'd dealt with them myself in the recent past....
I was expecting it to not be a good conversation. 

So the customer had been in the store earlier today to buy a certain kind of dog food.
Only...our shelf was empty.
Which the customer was not happy with because the shelf had been empty like the last twoish times that they'd been in the store. 
And when the customer had talked to our cashier, our cashier had said something about it maybe being on the truck.
Which...even though we had a truck come in...we don't work it until the next morning because we can't ever guarantee when the truck is going to arrive. So to save on the hassle of having people scheduled to work the truck...and no truck showing up...we just work it the day after.

In any case. 
The customer seemed to think that we'd have worked the truck already...even though we wouldn't have.
But they wanted to know when we could expect to get that particular dog food in. Because the customer has beagle puppies and they wanted to feed said puppies a certain kind of dog food, but they didn't want to buy the large bag of dog food because they had no where to store it. Instead they wanted like the small 2lb bags of the food. Which...okay?

But I also knew why I knew this customer's voice now.
It's because I'd helped them like last week or the week before....with the same problem.
Them needing to buy that certain type of dog food. 
*exhales* Which either meant that we hadn't yet gotten in a truck carrying that food, that it had come in and had already sold out again, or....our inventory was potentially off (as sometimes mistakes happen and things get lost/ruined/nevercamein/broken) and so our inventory thinks we have the thing when we actually don't.

So I offered to find a scanner for the customer on the phone to double check our inventory. 
As that would also give me a better idea of what our stock said. As well as to when we could possibly expect another shipment of the food.

I pulled up the info on the scanner....and was told that our inventory stated we actually had 6 bags of the small size she was looking for.
Only...the shelf was empty.

Which meant it was either an inventory error...or we had those bags elsewhere in the store.
I put the customer on hold.
Did a little digging -and chatting with the stocking manager---
And found out that there was a shipper -a display of that brand of dog food in our center aisle.
-Which those come and go so frequently it's hard to keep track of what random products are actually there. 

Turns out....the customer's missing bags of food were on that shipper.

So I was able to return to the customer on the phone and tell them that I had tracked down some bags.
And they ended up putting three on hold so they could come grab them later.

:) Yay for being able to help the customer! Woot. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Unique

I had a customer call the store today looking for a filter for her fishtank.
Which isn't an uncommon occurrence to get phone calls like this.
People often want to see if the filter cartridge they buy is in stock, or they need to know what size to get, or how often they need to change them. 

But the customer today was like. "I have a fish tank with a special sort of filter. And I need to know if you carry it." 
"Okay, what filter is it?"
"It's a unique one." Was the response I got.
Which....tells me basically nothing? Because I carry cartridges of all shapes and sizes. lol. So what's unique to one person isn't unique to the next.

Thankfully though, the customer knew what type of fishtank they had. 
So I was able to go find the same tank in the store and see what kind of filter it needed.
Unfortunately for the customer, I didn't have any in stock. :( 
But at least i was able to tell them the type of filter they needed so that they could then order it online. 

-Sarnic Dirchi