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

There But Not There

So my manager had called us all to the front of the store for our usual morning huddle.

Said morning huddle usually involves us grabbing our radios/earpieces and the manager telling us goals/promotions/tidbits etc to help the day get off to a good start.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

But one of my coworkers....was acting weird.

Just...giving off a dark energy as they stared into the middle distance, totally disengaged from conversation.

If anything, they were giving off the attitude that they were sulking.

Which isn't surprising. My coworker tends to shut down and go all stonefaced and moody whenever they're told to do something that was against what they want to do. 

It was bad today. 

As my manager tried to engage this coworker in conversation. Asking them questions and trying to get them to participate etc.

Only to be met with a wall.

It was like my coworker had turned into a statue.

They didn't respond. Didn't move. They just stood there fuming.

It was...well creepy really.

To have them acting in such a way.

I made a mental note to keep my distance.

As they were giving off enough negative energy that I didn't want to have to be closer to it than I needed to. 

Thankfully the attitude improved as the day progressed. 

But still...not the best way to start out the morning. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Size Matters

I had a customer today who wanted me to grab her three or four of our larger goldfish.

As per usual I asked them if there were any specific colors that she wanted.
She said to give her a variety.

So I fished out four goldfish of different shades and went to bag them up. 

Only for her to be like "Only one of those is large." 

As one goldfish was indeed larger than the others, since the goldfish in our large tanks are anywhere from 2-3 inches in length usually. 
And three of them were closer to the 2 inch mark, while the fourth was closer to the 3 inch size. 

So I explained to her that they all came from the same tank, but that I could catch larger ones if she wanted me to.

She declined.
Saying it was fine.

But I could tell it wasn't.
After all, she had brought up the size of goldfish.
Therefore she wasn't satisfied that three of them were smaller.

So I told her that it would be no hassle for me to fish them out and catch her larger ones.

To which she then happily agreed.

So out went the three smaller ones.
And in went two big ones. 
-As she stopped me before I could fish out a third.

Leaving her with three fish instead of four.

*shrugs*

But hey.
At least she was happier with the larger fish. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Green

I had a customer come into the store today.
Looking for something that would help him control the algae in his tank.
So I asked him how big it was, as usually my mind goes to the plecos when it comes to getting rid of algae and I wanted to make sure I recommended the right size algae eater for him.

It was a 45 gallon tank.

So I was like "What type of algae is it."
Hoping that it would be green.
Because some plecos don't eat certain algaes.
It was green.
So I could go full steam ahead.

However, in the course of conversation....
I was like "How much algae is there."
"None right now, but it will have some soon." 

O.o
"How new is your tank?" I asked.
He'd just set it up the night before.

Which meant....the tank had no algae.

So I told him that he wouldn't need an algae eater for at least a month.

He seemed doubtful of that news. Confident his tank would get algae quickly.
But I told him so long as he didn't overfeed his fish and only left the lights on for like 8-10 hours then the algae wouldn't grow.

And that...lol he was like "You just answered all my questions! Because I'd been wondering if I was overfeeding my fish or leaving the lights on too long and you just told me I was and wow! You're amazing!" 

^^;; 
Lol glad I was able to help.
He left a much happier customer as I was able to help him figure out a solution to his problem. :D 
So yay. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

They Lasted.

An older couple came into the store today.
With some old air pumps that had stopped working.

They were wanting an exchange on them. 
Since they stopped working. 

The only problem?

They'd bought the air pumps THREE YEARS AGO. 

We only guarantee things we sale in the store for like 60 days.

But these people were wanting to exchange out these 3 year old air pumps for brand new ones.

Apparently three years ago, the managers in charge had done this for them. Had exchanged them out the last time the air pumps went out. 

>.> 
I recognized the people....
Don't really remember that particular incident.

In any case.
The reasoning came from the fine print in the instructions. About the guarantee. Where the product was guaranteed for the lifetime of said product or something.

I don't think it specified the specific yearage in that.

But the manager today took that to mean that the products were guaranteed for their life so long as they were properly used and cared for.

Which since they lasted for THREE years.
Yah.
You guys totally got your money's worth for them.

As honestly, I think most products aren't made to last longer than like 2 years at most.
So the fact they got three years of use from them?
Yah. No. 

Just go buy new ones.
They're not broken. They just died from old age. 

In the end the manager only ended up exchanging one of the two air pumps. Making the couple buy the second one.

*shakes head*
Honestly.

It's like a $20 air pump at most.
Why all the fuss? Just buy the new ones. 

>.>
I do wonder now if I'll see them 3 years from now to try the same stunt again.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Take. The. Dog. Out. Side.

A woman and her excitable dog approached me this afternoon at work.

To inform me that her dog had peed over by the registers and wanted to know if there was a mop or papertowels that she could use to clean it up.

So I was like "How big is the spill?"

"It's big."

Ah. So it was a mop then.

If it was small enough for papertowels I would have just directed the customer to our cleaning stations we have throughout the store so she could clean it up.

But huge spills would need a mop and we usually don't let customers wield those. 

So I go to the back. Grab the mop.

Wheel it up to the front. And see the spill. 

With the customer coming up to it.

Okay.

Got it.

Only as I'm wheeling it to the large puddle, I notice a smaller one.

Got it.

No big deal. Mop up the bigger one and then the smaller one.

So I did that. And went to search for some 'wet floor' signs so customers wouldn't slip.

And what do I find?

Another pee spot.

Where I had just gone by like two minutes earlier and hadn't seen.

But the doggy had definitely gone that way in the meantime.

Meaning...

>.< It was a third spill.

And I only had two wet floor signs nearby.

Meaning I had to go to another clean up station to grab another sign.

AND WHAT DO I SEE?!

Two more pee areas in the leash aisle.

ANOTHER pee area by our cat adoption area.

And the manager comes over the intercom with YET ANOTHER spill over by the training center.

THE FREAKING DOG PEED IN THE STORE EIGHT TIMES.

And the customer made no other effort to inform us of these spills.

She'd only told us of the first one.

AND it had to be her dog. Because it was the ONLY dog in the store at the time. >.< 

Did she not notice?

Possibly. Customers can be completely clueless sometimes.

But still.

EIGHT times?

WHY?

I get that the customer was probably like "Oh, you're done now. No need to take you outside."

But the fact that it happened eight times.

GaH.

I was ready to just march up to the customer and be like "GO TAKE YOUR DOG OUTSIDE ALREADY." Because she was creating sooo many hazards in the store just by letting her dog go wherever. I mean what if someone had slipped?! Gah.

-_-

-Sarnic Dirchi

Frustrated

It's frustrating when I'm not able to help customers out.

I had two such encounters today.

One was with a grandmother aged lady. 
Who had a puppy she was trying to find a doggy gate or pen for to a) keep the puppy confined to certain areas of the house and b) prevent the puppy from getting into the front yard when she went outside. 

And it was frustrating.
Because the customer ended up taking a phone call halfway through our interaction.
Leaving me to play with her puppy as she was a bit too distracted trying to hear the voice on the other end to pay attention to her dog who kept trying to jump out of the cart to go to her.
Plus I hadn't finished trying to explain how doggie pens would work and what size they were and such.

Which when she finally got off the phone, I continued to help her.
Except she wasn't impressed with the pens.
Mostly because you couldn't stake them down.
And she was worried her puppy would knock it over. 
>.>
Not sure...it was like a four pound puppy. But okay.

So I led her to the gates. 
To which she was very specific. "It had to be eight feet wide outside" because that was the distance between the houses.
Unfortunately the gates don't go that....long. As they're meant for more normal doorway lengths.

-And at the same time there was another customer at those gates too who wanted help so I was multitasking between the two. 

*exhales*
In any case. I was getting frustrated.
Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to explain things properly to the customer. Couldn't make the words come. 
So I finally requested my manager to come help me.

As by this point my maybe 5 minute interaction had become a twenty-five minute ordeal and I just wanted to get back to finishing cleaning the reptile cages.
-It took me an hour to get back to them because of course we had a rush then.-

But the manager came just about the point I was trying to explain getting a tie-out for her puppy so the dog could be on a leash and the leash would be staked to the ground so the puppy couldn't go out into the front.
And he took over.

And I....I walked straight into another customer.
Who was desperately tryin to find some protection for her service dog.
As she'd come from out of town and hadn't even thought about the winter weather and was taken off guard by how cold it got this week and was worried ordering something online would take too long and she didn't want her dog to get too cold/wet/etc because the dog is often outside for long periods of time.

So she'd come in for a raincoat.
Which we have....seasonally.
Specifically she was looking for one that had a hood, and would protect both the back and the stomach of the dog. 

We didn't have anything like that.
I had a handful of winter coats....without hoods.
And I had hooded raincoats....that didn't really cover the torso.

And she kept staring at me, expecting me to be able to wave my hand and give her the specific coat she was wanting.
Only I can't do that.

I think she ended up buying two coats and layering them.
Not sure. 

But yah.
It's been just a frustrating day customer wise.

Culminating with a customer being unhappy that I told her she couldn't have her dog in the cat adoption area because not all cats like dogs and we don't want to stress them out. 
And she was like "They love the dog!"
And I was like "It's policy still."
"Where?!"
And directed her to the sign we had on the glass that said "NO DOGS INSIDE" 

She wasn't happy with me.
But hey.
I'm just trying to look out for the animals here. 

*exhales*
I'm so ready for it to be the weekend. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Please Play

I had a customer come into the store today.
Searching for a solution to get their cat to play with cat toys.
As they had tried a variety of different toys from simple to complex, to get their cat to play with because the kitty is overweight and needs to loose said weight.

Only...for the cat to show no interest in any of the toys.

And this was setting off the customer's anxiety because their kitty is their service animal, and they didn't want to lose their companion and didn't want to feel like a bad cat owner because their kitty was overweight and wasn't losing it.

So the customer wanted suggestions on what else they could do to get their cat to lose the weight.

*exhales*
It was a difficult solution really.
Because the customer had literally tried every. single. type. of. toy. 

To only have the cat stare at them and then to the owner with a "you expect me to do what?' expression.

And it was stressing out the customer that the cat wouldn't play with toys.

A solution was made even more difficult to come to because the customer themselves has a restriction on how long they can stand, how much they can move, how much they can lift.

So really it has to be the cat's own prerogative to play because the owner doesn't have the ability to do long term play with the cat. 

Other issues, besides being overweight, include that a) the kitty is older. 8 years at least b) has lost most of it's teeth and c) is on a special diet. 

It was one of those conversations....where I'm not sure I helped at all.
I asked if there was things the kitty liked to play with or eat.
Because those could possibly be used as an enticement to play, instead of just sitting around all day.

To which the customer said that the kitty loves Cat Grass.
So I suggested maybe putting toys in a container with some cat grass to get the scent on them.

And since the kitty has no teeth, she has to eat soft food.
So I suggested maybe making the cat work for the food by placing it on toys or such that she'd have to work to get her food at.

But yah....
I had no idea how to help the customer beyond that.
I mean....cats are fickle creatures. They can be particular about their toys.

And knowing that the cat was steadily getting teeth pulled (as the previous owner hadn't taken good care, and the cat has stage 4 tooth decay) ....I told the customer it may just be a wait and see thing.
Because if the cat isn't feeling good....maybe suffering from aching teeth....she's not going to feel like playing. 
So until they can get her to a stage of feeling better....there may be no interest in toys …..

I hope something helps.
It wasn't fun to see/feel how stressed out the customer was.
Especially because I wanted to help them find an actual solution....
*fingers crossed* that something works. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Discounts

A woman came into the store today, worried that her bettas were going to die.
Because she keeps her house in the sixties. 
And she noticed her bettas weren't doing well.

Which makes sense because it's been colder these past couple of days.

So she wanted to know how to fix it.
Easy solution.
Buy a heater.
(Or you know....turn on the heat in your house.) 

The problem?
The heaters are like $15 each.
And she has three betta tanks. 

And when she realized she would need a heater for each tank.

She was like "Are these on sale? Can I get a discount because I'm buying three? I mean I'm buying THREE! I should get a discount because I have to get them!" 

>_<
Uh...that's not how it works.
The heaters do go on sale sometimes but they weren't currently on sale. 

*exhales*
She was like "Well I talked to your manager and he got me a discount on a tank last time so can you go grab a manager and see if I can get a discount on these heaters?" 

The manager she referred to? No longer works here.
But you know, like a good little worker bee I went to get the current manager in charge.

Who was like. O.o But we don't do that? We can't just give discounts willy nilly.
*shakes head*
I don't know what he said to the customer -I got distracted helping another customer- but I saw her paying for her heaters up at the register.
I don't know if she got a discount or not. 

But yah....I get why customers want to save money wherever they can...but at the same time...we can't just give them a discount because they ask. *exhales* Not unless there was something wrong with the item. And the heaters were in good condition. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Conference Rush

It was rather amusing today at work.

Because it's General Conference weekend.

Which means for the four hours of Conference from 10-12 and 2-4....

The store basically dies.

Like we still get in customers during those hours.

Just not as many as we usually would on a Saturday....

Until the breaks.

From 12-2 and 4-6.

That's when the customers all come into the store. ^^;; 

It's a mad rush for those couple of hours as everyone leaves their homes to quickly shop before going back to Conference. 

I'm used to it.

These rushes.

My coworkers.

Not so much.

We've gotten in some new people since April.

So they've never experienced the Conference Rushes.

Where for two hours it's absolutely crazy busy with customers.

And then it dies.

They were a bit overwhelmed with how busy it got. lol. 

Just wait until Christmas guys. lol the Month of December gets so busy. 

*shakes head*

Should be fun. :P lol.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Counting Crickets

I had a customer who came in this morning...to be disappointed that we didn't have any boxed crickets available.

-Every week we get in prepackaged crickets which usually have around 24 crickets in them.
And cost wise, are a little less expensive than getting bagged crickets of the same amount.
The one downside to the prepackaged crickets is that they're....more prone to dying.
Some will make it a couple of weeks, but for the most part the crickets within are dead within like 3 days. *exhales*

So basically every Wednesday, when I count all the animals, I go through the boxed crickets, and those who have more than 20 dead...I end up tossing.

Which I'd done that yesterday, and tossed basically all the boxes because the crickets were dead.
--I actually dump any remaining live crickets into our cricket bin first and then toss the packaging away--

Doing this on Wednesdays is usually a good thing.
As Thursday is when our next shipment of boxed crickets comes into the store.
So I basically make room the day before in prep for the new ones.

This would have worked perfectly for the customer....
If she hadn't shown up right when the store opened.
*exhales*
as we usually don't get the crickets until an hour or two later.

So she was too early for the crickets.

Which apparently she'd never encountered the problem before?
She was left a little...gobsmacked really that there were no packaged crickets. 

As she had no idea how many crickets she needed to get now.

So I told her the boxes usually have around 24 in there. 

She was like "I don't know! Just get me a bunch!" 

…..A bunch means a different number to every person.
For some it's 10. Others it's 20. Others its' 50. Others it's 100.

So I was like...."So how many is that?" 
She finally decided 50 was the number she needed. 

I dumped some into the bag, counted them, bagged them up and handed them to her like "Here you go!"

And she was...shocked lol.
"Already?!"
Was kinda her response.
She hadn't expected me to bag them that fast.
But like...it doesn't take that long to count crickets.
Especially when I've been doing it for six years. *shakes head* lol.

Still. She didn't quite believe me. "That's 50?" She asked tilting the bag.

I actually think she was trying to count them. 
Makes sense as it doesn't always look like the number of crickets that you think it is.

But I knew there was 50 in there.
I'd put more than 50 in there actually as with bigger numbers I make sure to have a couple of extra in case a) some die or b) I miscounted somewhere. 

In any case.
She commented on how quick I was once again and then left. :) 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Escape Attempt

Anoles are annoying creatures.
Because they're often fast.
Hard to catch.
And like to escape.

That's what happened today while I was doing the bedding change for the reptile cages.
One of the lizards had climbed into a decoration and was refusing to come out.

And when I finally managed to convince the bugger to get out....
The Bahaman anole proceeded to jump down to the ground and skitter away underneath the shelves nearby.

Which ahhhh!!!
Loose lizard!
So I went scrambling after it, trying to catch the thing.

Only Bahamans are darker colored lizards.
So when they hold still they can blend in rather well with the shadows. 

So I spent a good amount of time just shining a light to try and see the creature before trying to catch it....only for the lizard to move to the other side of the aisle where I couldn't reach it so I'd have to get up, dash around to the next aisle...only to find it had either crossed over.....or gone back to the aisle I'd just vacated.

>.<
Gah.
I finally called a coworker over to help me so that we could try and catch the lizard from both sides.

And I finally managed to snag the creature. 

So THERE! HA!

Only....pretty sure the lizard got his own revenge lol. Because my muscles have been more sore today...and it's probably partially tanks to that made scramble around the store to catch it. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Disco....The Dance?

So my manager was telling me and a coworker today, that all our disco stuff can be sold for 50% off because they want all that product to be out of the store.

And my coworker stopped him and was like "What's Disco?" 

My manager and I both had a moment of....confusion.
Because we thought everyone knew what Disco meant here in the store.

As it's just short hand of "Discontinued."
As we often have products that the company has decided to no longer sell so it goes to "Reduced to Clear" because we're Discontinuing it to make room for new product coming into the store. 

So it was weird...that my coworker didn't know what Disco meant....
Because that's the term we use. We don't say the full word. 

*shakes head*
It was a bit more mind boggling...because this coworker has been working here for a couple of years now. 
Like....how could you not have heard Disco before that point? *shakes head*
No idea.

But hey, now my coworker knows what it is. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Just Redial

I probably could have handled the call a little better.
A customer called on the phone, sounding grandfather aged, who wanted to know information about neutering his dog and if we did that here.

Which I explained to him that the Vet within our store would neuter dogs, but the store itself did not.

...Really I should have just said "Yes, our Vet will." 

Because the dude wasn't comprehending that we could do it yet couldn't do it.
He wasn't understanding that there was an actual vet clinic located within our Petstore.
And it's the clinic that handles that sort of thing.
The Petstore just sells...like well toys and food and animals and such. 

In any case he was like "How do I get a hold of them?"

Which I could have tried to transfer him to the Vet.
Because we can do that now.
But nearly every time I try and transfer them under the new system....I end up accidentally hanging up on the customer because the phones are dumb and like to bring up different screens at the wrong time... *Exhales*

So to make it easier for the customer I was like "Just call back this number and listen for the vet option and press that button. It will be number 7 or 9"
-I haven't listened to the options for a while, I don't remember exactly what number to press. 

-_-
Cue fifteen seconds after hanging up with the guy....the phone lit up with his number on the caller id. 

….obviously he hadn't listened to all the options. *exhales*

Thankfully someone else grabbed the phone before I did.
Though I heard a second later on over the radios. "Could a manager talk to a customer about neutering procedures?" 

Which I'm assuming the manager did.
As I didn't hear anything after that point.
Idk if the manager just spoke to the customer.
Or if they ended up transferring him over to our Vet.

In any case.
I hope he got the answers he was looking for at least.... 

-Sarnic Dirchi