Together or Not?

It was the end of my shift. 
I should have been off.

But as is all too common.

We got a rush right then.

I  turned from helping one customer get fish, to find another gentleman waiting for fish. He wanted six skirt tetras. 
To start.

So I fished them out.

Turned to ask him what other fish he wanted.

Only to have a woman point out a pleco that she wanted me to fish out.

I thought they were together the older gentleman and the woman.

But then, my coworker came to help back me up as I was trying to leave the department so I could go clock out as I was off at that point.

Only for my coworker to continue with helping the gentleman catch some other fish while the woman continued to tell me other fish she wanted.

So I had this moment where I was like....Did I accidentally switch from one customer to a different. Were these people not together as part of the same group?

I'm not sure.
I mean both were sticking around the fish wall.

So they were acting like they were family.
Yet....
I don't know.

I left before they were finished catching fish for the gentleman as I had finished catching the fish for the woman. 

*exhales*
I just wanted to go home by that point lol.
Clocking out nearly 20 minutes late. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Chatting

I had a couple come into the store today to return a dead pleco.
As it was the second one that had died on them and they wanted to know why.
So they brought in a sample of water to do a water test.

And in the course of testing their water, I got to talking to them.
Asking how old the tank was, how big it was, how often they were feeding and such.

As a lot of issues arise from a tank being too new (this one was a month old) being fed too much (this one was being fed twice a day) and often too small. (this one was fine.) But they were doing weekly water changes....which I'd heard was recommended for new tanks, though I still stress doing a once a month water change instead. But suggested that changing the water too much could also affect the fish and stress them out. 

And it was...idk 'fun' isn't the right word. But it was fun to share my knowledge with these people. Just being able to talk to them and explain how to take care of their fish and such and offer suggestions on how to fix their problems. Plus I ended up showing off my own fish tank in the process. ^^;; 

Lol. Idk.

I just....I like teaching people when I can tell they actually want to learn. I like giving knowledge away. I like trying to help people to succeed.

So it's nice to have a conversation that's rewarding on both sides. I get to share information and hopefully the customers can get their tank back in order. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Hay Hay Hay

I had a customer come to me demanding that I help her find Alfalfa hay.
Which...usually customers need Timothy hay...
But no she needed Alfalfa hay because her rabbit would DIE if it didn't have that SPECIFIC hay because it was a SENSITIVE rabbit that would die if you feed it the wrong thing and she was in a HURRY to get the HAY and needed the ALFALFA HAY now! 

O_o honestly...I didn't think dwarf rabbits had special needs....but apparently that specific type of dwarf rabbit did. 

But the customer gave off such a spastic energy. 
Like....she had this "I'm in a HURRY GO FASTER" sort of thing....yet she kept asking questions, wanting answers but wanting them FAST because she was in a HURRY. And.... *shakes head* 

I was glad to finish checking her out at the register because honestly, I don't need that sort of franticness in my life.

Hopefully the rabbit likes the hay. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Scared

I had a family come into the store today to return a hamster.
Which looking at the paperwork they'd had it like a week already.

But thankfully, the hamster was still alive. 

Still. I'm always curious why people decide to return animals. 
Plus. I have to ascertain that there is no issue with the animal so I can decide how soon we'll be able to bring it back onto the floor.

So when I asked them why they were returning the hamster.
The guy and girl shared a look before the guy said. "It scared the baby." 

O.o 

I admit...that's not one I've heard.
I mean. I've had animals returned because children have been afraid of them yes.
But it's usually the 2-8 year olds.
A baby....I wouldn't have thought hamsters could scare babies.
Mostly because I couldn't see any reason why a hamster would be allowed near a baby... *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Online Phone Calls

I got a phonecall from our...online store today at work.
Which was weird...I didn't realize there were people who like...worked for the online store?
I mean it's weird to hear "Hi, I'm from _____.com and there is a customer on the line who has a question about a product/service. Would you be able to answer it?" 

O.o
Sure?
Like....what were they wanting?

So the person put me briefly on hold so that they could transfer to call over to me. 

And this guy comes on the line.
Saying that he's been doing his research and such online and saw this sale going on for neutering dogs and he wanted to see how much it would cost at the store. 

O.o Which...I'm not sure what site he was looking at....
But my store doesn't....do sales....on that sort of thing?
Like we do have a Vet within the store, but they're entirely separate from the petstore aspect. Have their own name and business and such.
So like...I didn't think they would do sales on that sort of thing.

But I told the customer I would check the price of neutering at the vet's for them and put them on hold.

Though before I did, I did double check how old the dog was....as I remembered there being a difference in price (cus I've asked this sort of question before) if the dog was older or younger. 

The customer said the dog was about 2 years old.

So with that information I went over to ask the person at the desk the price.

The answer? $350 
*whistles* Yeesh. 

Considering the customer had said there was a 'sale' going on....
I doubted he'd be happy to hear this answer.

He wasn't. 

He was like THREE FIFTY! BUT THE RESEARCH I DID SAID IT WAS ONLY LIKE $200!!!

Honestly...I was wondering if he was even looking at the correct site. 
But in any case. I explained to him that the price of the neutering changes depending on how old the dog was. Which was why I asked the age of his dog. Since he was 2 years old instead of like a puppy. The price was different.

Which helped to calm him down a bit. Because he was like "Oh, so if my dog was a puppy it would cost less?" 

My answer was yes.
Pretty sure it was yes....I think it's cheaper to get them fixed when they're younger, but honestly I'm not positive on that. It's been a year or so since I've had to ask prices. 

But yah....it was an odd phone call. 
Hopefully I ended it on a good note for the customer....hopefully he finds a 'good deal' to get his dog fixed. 

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Stuck

My coworker kept getting stuck at the cats today.
Because we had a couple of different customers who wanted to hold/play with the kitties...but not really adopt them.

Which on less busy days...isn't that big of a deal. 

But when my coworker is spending like 30 minutes with the cats and the customers wanting to just play with them....On a Saturday....

It becomes more of a problem.

Especially when it happens twice in a row.

Apparently...my coworker wasn't quite sure how to ….disengage. 

Which I get.
It's not always easy to break away from a customer. 

And not every situation will have the same answer as to how to break away.

Thankfully it wasn't so crazy today that I couldn't handle the department while my coworker was stuck.
But hopefully in future moments it will be a little less difficult for them to breakaway.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Free Water Test

I had three guys come into the store today. College aged. Who were looking to get fish for their tank -I don't know if they ever did get fish....if they did my coworker helped them out.

But one of the guys...idk. He was acting off.
Well they kinda all were as college boys do.
But he was acting off in the sort of "I'm not sure you're processing the world right now." sort of way.

...Maybe he was an alien in disguise.

Or maybe he was just trying to be funny.
Who knows.

But like he pointed to a floating leaf in one of our tanks. (as there were live plants in that tank and one of the leaves had fallen off and was floating around) and was like "Look at this fish!"
To which one of his buddies was like "...That's a leaf."
"Oh...."

And then later....
He had a question about the free water testing that we do in the store.
Which the free water testing is a thing where you bring us a sample of your tank water and we can tell you if you're tank is in a state where you can add fish or not. 

But the dude was like "What is this free water testing and can I have some?"
As in..."Where is this water I can taste test." 

:S.....
Again. Not sure if he was teasing or not.
But I explained to him it was a test that we would do on his fish tank water for free.
And needed to clarify that we don't give out samples of our tank water to drink. 
:S Honestly, I don't think you'd want to drink fish tank water.....

But yah. It was a bit of an odd encounter today. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

One Box

I deal with customers sometimes....where I can't tell if they're genuinely upset, if they just have a loud voice, or if they're teasing....and it gets so frustrating because I automatically take it that they're upset. And it really doesn't help me at all, when I'm already struggling with a headache to have to deal with customers that you just...can't  make happy. It's draining.

So there was an older couple who came into the store.
They were looking for a specific box of litter, but had only managed to find one box on the shelf.
So they were wondering if I had any more in the back.

I checked.
We didn't.
So I went back to them and told them that that's all we had.
But that we might have more on our Saturday's truck.

And the grandpa dude just....gave off bad energy?
I don't know. It was like he was angry and he was speaking angry but I couldn't decide if he was angry.

But he wasn't happy that they 'drove all the way up here' only to find we didn't have the two boxes of cat litter that he needed. That we only had the one.

"In MY experience. You CAN'T Sell off the Wagon if YOU DON'T have product on the SHELF."

-Aka you can't make money if you have nothing to sell.

*rolls eyes*
Which dude.
Chill.

He was making it sound like he had driven for four hours to get up here only to find one box.
(Be glad we had one) 
But no. The couple were from the end of the valley. Like...maybe a 20 minute drive tops?

*shakes head*
It's always that side of the valley that seems to complain about the drive here.
I don't get it.
But without fail. If a person has a "long drive" ….it's because they're from that part of the valley. 

*shakes head* Silly customers. I have people come from up to 4 hours away to get stuff. So a little 20 minute drive is hardly an issue.

In any case.

It's not like we can control how quickly a product sells off the shelf.
We'll literally have items that don't get touched for months on end only for one week them to all suddenly sell out.
So the fact that there was only one box of litter left on the shelf...
Is saying something because I know most of the time we have 3-8 boxes/bags of litter per sku.

But yah.
Customer dude wasn't happy they were only leaving with one box.
I told him we might get more in Saturday and that he can always call (grandpa folk never like to call) and see if we have it before he comes in.

He was like "How about you bring it down to me?"

-Because he was making it sound like he was never going to come up this way again. *rolls eyes*
Oh no.

Dude. Chill. it's a twenty minute drive.
That's nothing. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Warm Hand

I had a customer today who wanted to hold a hamster. 
Just hold one.
Which she kept apologizing that she just wanted to hold it and not buy it.
But like....that's 85% of my job when it involves the hamsters. Lol a lot of people want to hold and touch but not purchase.
So I didn't really mind it. 

Though funnily enough, she never actually held the hamster when I brought it out.
As I had the hamster in it's upturned house.
Because they're not used to being handled.
So it's usually easier to scoop them up into the house and then gently tilt them down into the customer's hands.
Only the customer got to the point of getting it to her hands.
Nope.
She was satisfied to just pet it within the upturned house.

….Which is probably a good thing.
Because ten seconds later....
I felt something warm dribbling into my hand. 

*shudders*

The hamster had peed in the house...but that had holes in the top and therefore....dripped down into my hand.
*gags*
EWWWW!!!

Thankfully the customers had no idea lol.
I kept my act together but did quickly put the hamster away after that so I could go wash off my hand. 
Because EWWWWWW

Gah. That's a first. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Black 'Moors'

A customer came up to me wanting to get a black moor. 

Simple enough. Goldfish are easy to catch.

So I asked him. "Large or small?" As we carry those goldfish in different sizes. 

"Large." Came the response. So I guided the customer to the goldfish, to the two remaining black moors in our tank. And was like "Which one?" 

The customer huffed. "No! Not those! I want black moors!" 

"...These are black moors, sir." I said back. 

"OH...well then what are these black fish over here then?" he asked gesturing to a tank in our middle section.

"Black Mollies."

"Oh. Then I want one black molly." 

*shakes head* 

lol. I get the confusion with that one. Moor and Molly are similar to each other. 

In any case. I easily grabbed out a molly for him, bagged it up and he happily left the store. 

Yay. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Different Type of Chew Toy

I had a customer come into the store today looking for a cat bone.
Not a bone from a cat no.
But a bone that a cat could chew on.
Like a dog chews on. 

O.o
I wasn't aware that cats liked to chew actually....I kinda just always picture them chasing toy mice and biting down on their fabric toys when they 'catch' them.

But chewing? Not so much.

And we didn't carry any 'cat bones' in the store.
So I ended up directing her to a couple of toys where you could place treats within for the cat to bat around and knock out.
As the main reason why the customer was looking for something like a bone for their cat to chew on was because their cat gobbles down their treats really quick, and the customer was looking for something that would 'last a bit longer.'

Hence me suggesting the treat toys. 
Hopefully the work out. :S 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Vitamin K

There are customers that often ask for odd things.
Or super specific things.

Like I had a customer call on the phone, asking if we carry Vitamin K. 
Because he needed it for his dog. 

O.o I hadn't realized that dogs needed Vitamin K.
I mean...I think that's a nutrient that we people need...but I hadn't really come across it in the petstore.

And unsurprisingly I couldn't find it on our shelf.
As mostly we sell 'multi-vitamins' not specifically lettered Vitamins.

To which the person on the other end asked if the Vet within the store would have it.
I had no idea.
So I put him on hold and said I'd go check.

And came back with some interesting news.
Apparently Dogs don't need Vitamin K like we humans do. 
And Dog Vitamin K doesn't come in the easy little pill that we take.

No. It comes in a liquid format. 

And.
Only is given to dogs.
When they are suffering from Rat Poisoning. 

O.o

I really wish I knew why the customer needed Vit K now.
Because I assumed he was just wanting to get his dog all the vitamins that their pet needed. Or maybe was one of those people who think dogs are actually people and therefore need the same vitamins as people...

But now I'm wondering if there were other motives in mind....or other more pressing needs like their dog had been poisoned.... 

*exhales*
Another case of....I'll probably never find out. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fast and Easy

A customer approached me in search of crickets.

Which he'd managed to walk past it, as the podium where we keep our crickets isn't an obvious thing and is easily missed. 

In any case. 

I guided him back to the proper location.

Asking the usual question of what size and how many.

*shakes head*

As usual the dude didn't know what size of crickets.

...Honestly people need to remember to tell others what size of crickets they need before they send them to buy them.

In any case.

It was for a spider.

A tarantula.

So I figured it would be large crickets.

As that's the size that we usually bag up for customers who come in for their spiders.

He needed just three.

So I simply reached into the bin and grabbed three crickets, put them in a bag and bagged them up. 

The dude's comment was "Wow...that's efficient." 

^^;; lol. 

Yah. I try to make things as easy and quick as possible.

So woot for the compliment on it being efficient! :D 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Returned?

So yesterday I had a customer call the store.
She was someone I had helped out a bit with buying two mice a couple weeks ago.
I hadn't sold the mice themselves to her, but I had talked her through them and what to expect with them and such and helped her and her children check out and such.

Well...apparently one of their two mice had died the day before yesterday.
But they discovered it late at night, basically as we were closing.
So they couldn't come in.

And she was wanting to know if she could come in yesterday, even though our guaranteed return period had expired the night before.

And I was like. Sure. Because it was only one day over.

So she could bring back the mouse and get a new one if she wanted.

But she wouldn't have been able to come with her kids until later yesterday evening, past when I got off work.

So she asked if I would be able to hold the mice we had in the store so she would be able to get them.

Mice are usually one of those creatures that don't sell that often.
But knowing my luck I wouldn't hold them and then someone would want to buy them.
So after getting permission from my manager I told her I could hold them until like 6pm for her. 

She was happy. Said she'd be right in around then. 
And yah....

Well...I was rather surprised this morning to come in and find....that we had the same amount of mice we had yesterday still in the store today.

Which meant the customer hadn't come in. 

I thought that weird.
I thought for sure she would have....
But at the same time I get that life happens. 

In any case.
I was on my lunch break when I heard my name over the radio.
Though since I was on lunch I wasn't actively listening to the ear piece.
So I didn't know why someone was asking for me by name.

My manager took care of it though. 
And when I got back from lunch.

I discovered that the woman had come in.

Apparently she'd come in yesterday and returned the dead mouse....but didn't get her money back for it...and didn't buy a new one...

No she came in today with the other mouse she'd purchased -still alive thankfully- 
And was returning that one so she could buy two more mice from the 'same group'

As I'd told her the first time around that male mice don't always play nice with each other and that you have better luck with them if they came in together.
So she returned the one.
So she could get two.

Hopefully these mice do better than the others did. 
*fingers crossed* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Out

We ran out of large crickets today.
Which...in comparison to how often we run out of small crickets....
It's actually quite rare.

For the most part...unless we have a bad shipment come in during the winter...
We manage to keep a good stock of large crickets on hand.

The smalls. not so much.

But today...we ran out of large while we had plenty of smalls. 

O.o
Like...technically we wouldn't have run out....as today we would have received in our next shipment of crickets.
However...due to labor day....our shipments are all delayed a day.
Which means...yah. No more large crickets until tomorrow. 

I don't even know how we ran out really....
Was there a die off?
Did a ton of people come in over the holiday weekend and decide they all wanted large?

Who knows.
I just know we're out.

And until I get more in...it's not going to be fun to tell customers I don't have any large....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Within the Stand

Had a customer interested in one of our tank stand combos today.
Wanted to know if they could get it all included in one price.
Meaning the decorations within the tank as well.
Which *shakes heads*
Nope.
The sale price on the combo was just the tank, stand, and lights. 

So I was like "Sure, but they're separate" like. Would cost extra lol. 

And the dude was like "Oh...well then just don't look in the cabinet okay?" 

Which at first I thought he was teasing.
But I was like "Nah, I gotta look now. something in there?"

()_()
Um
Yah.
It was one of our $100 decorations. 
A giant ship.

Just hiding in the cabinet.

Honestly. I'm pretty sure one of our stockers just put it in there as we had no room for it elsewhere at the time.
But gah. :S

If the dude hadn't mentioned anything.
We totally wouldn't have thought to look inside.
Not unless the guys moving the stand realized it was heavier than it needed to be and looked inside.

Like....yeesh. 
It could have been bad to have that decoration disappear. *shakes head*

So good thing the customer mentioned it lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Gentle Twist

There was a customer who came into the store today, who ended up wanting a guppy and a catfish.
I didn't think much of the selection and caught the fish like I normally would before going to bag them up.

Which involves pouring the fish into the bag, going over to a little nozzle we have and filling the bag up with air, twisting the bag to ensure the air doesn't come out and tying the thing off with a rubber band. 

What caught my attention though....was the customer was like "Wow, that's like the gentlest I've seen someone bag up my fish. I feel much better now about my selection." 

O_o huh?

Apparently, I have some coworkers who twist the bag shut....a bit more violently? To the point where the customer was like "Are those fish even going to be alive when you're done?" 

O.O ...umm....

Like I don't know how much of that is exaggeration.

But it is weird to think that there's....gentle and hard ways to twist the bag shut.
And that I potentially have coworkers who do it in such a fashion that it worries customers. 

:S 
In any case....the customer was glad on how I handled her fish. 
Which yay?
Like I try to be gentle with them. I don't want to stress the creatures out more than I have to....

-Sarnic Dirchi