Sweep

Got irrationally irritated at work today.

Because I was busy.
Trying to a) open the department b) train the new guy and c) receive in shipments of things that were coming in, all while trying to d) handle the multitude of customers that decided to descend up on the store this morning making it difficult to get A, B, or C. done.

And then my manager comes up to me and goes "Hey the backroom is a little messy. Could you sweep it before you go?" 

And like.
It just pushed the wrong button.

Why?

Because I've literally been complaining off and on for the past two weeks (and longer) that NO ONE else in the department cleans at all. That I. AM. the ONLY one who DOES THE CLEANING.

And i'm frankly getting frustrated at the lack of action on the part of my coworkers because I've asked them THREE TIMES this week to clean certain things. 
AND THEY STILL HADN'T BEEN DONE.

And the manager decided to ASK. ME.

THe one who CLEANS everything.

TO GO CLEAN.

Gah. 

I'm just...irritated. Like. Why? Why not ask any of my other coworkers? Why ask me? 

I literally asked my manager that. I was like "Why me? I'm the only one who cleans why make me sweep when I've swept Every. Single. Morning. because they don't SWEEP AT NIGHT."

Just GAH.

….I still did it though.
Found a second to go back into the back room and sweep the floor clean again.

But yah.
Total mood ruiner right there.

Like yah teamwork and everyone pulls their weight jazz and such.
But it feels quite unfair to ask me to pull MORE weight when I had already CLEANED earlier today and was still trying to OPEN the department because I was opening BY MYSELF AGAIN WHICH INVOLVES A LOT OF CLEANINIG. *exhales* 

Yah.
Frustrated.
Quite frustrated. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Little Things

We have this chameleon at work that we've had for a few months now. 

So she's getting bigger and such.

But we haven't had any issues with her.

Except...this  past week.

There have been notes left expressing concern over the chameleon.

First it was the fact that there were slight crusties on the left nostril.

Then today there was a 'weird black spot' that 'should probably be checked out by a vet'

*exhales*

Which.

I'm glad that my coworkers are being attentive to the animals and are on the lookout for issues.

But sometimes they like to make a big deal out of nothing.

The crusties? If they only showed up the one day? Not an issue. 

Especially considering the chameleon shed today the crusties probably could have been a sign of shedding or something.

But unless the problem persists for multiple days in a row...I don't see a reason to isolate something so small and unnoticeable. 

Like the black mark?

That could have been a more major issue. As sometimes the black marks on lizards can mean improper heat or humidity for the animal...

But when I went to investigate it after seeing the note....

The black spot came right off with the shed.

Leaving the skin underneath unmarked.

So therefore. 

Not an issue.

Not anything that a vet needs to see.

And definitely not anything that would cause concern for the animal.

Hopefully...I don't come into another note tomorrow....

Because the chameleon is big and healthy and doing well!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Overreaction?

It's weird when my managers freak out over things that....I don't see a reason for them to freak out over.

So we have this chinchilla that we have isolated in our recovery room. And for the past week or so we've been giving him meds and such to help with an odd scabby/puffyiness that's been occurring on his ear that resulted him losing all the fur around that area.

Well apparently Sunday night.
One of my managers became convinced that the chinchilla was about to die.

Yet yesterday when I came in...the Chinchilla looked....fine. I mean, there was no real visible difference to the ear at all that I could see. 

But Sunday night, apparently the ear had swelled up and become all pus filled and disgusting looking??

Which....I saw nothing of the sort Monday, nor today when I looked.
The ear looked....like a normal ear...well as normal as it could when it's usually covered in fur and currently isn't.

The manager was surprised when I told him that the chinchilla appeared to be fine.
So...whatever happened Sunday...must have drained and vanished by the time I came in Monday morning because I didn't see anything out of the ordinary from what I'd come to expect to see....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Clean Welcome

I felt rather bad.

I'd been gone from work the last handful of days.
And before I'd left I'd told one of the managers to make sure that the closers were keeping the department looking nice.

And I came back today....
To find that the department had been kept cleaner than previous times I'd been gone.

Though there were still dishes in the sink, and floors needing to be swept and such.

And the manager had come up to me with such a brilliant smile, confident that he'd done a great job in keeping the department clean for me and that I would be happy when I got back.

And I just kinda burst his bubble.

So I feel bad about that. :( 
He'd tried so hard....
But other coworkers had come after he left...and mess things up.

Still though. It was nice to come back to a cleaner department.
It was nice to come back and not feel like I was entering a disaster zone.

It's a good sign for hopefully things improving around here.

We'll see.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Young Visitors

It's rather amusing how confused my coworkers and managers get when we have groups of kids randomly come into the store.

Usually it's like preschool classes that come in. Groups of 5-20 kids with their adult minders, exploring the store and looking at all the animals and such and having the teacher talk about 'what they learned' and such.

And depending on the group, some call and schedule a day for them to come in so that they can get a 'tour' and such.

But other groups just show up out of the blue to look on their own.

Today's group was the latter.
They just randomly showed up lol.

Which since a lot of my coworkers are new...they haven't really experienced this.

But me? Yah. Old hand at it. Usually it's more common in the late spring right before school lets out for the summer.
That doesn't stop them from showing up other times of the year though.

Most of the time it's easy.
You just let them wander around.

But if I have time (aka am not busy with customers) I do try to give them a special experience by pulling out like a guinea pig or a snake for them to touch and pet. You know. Something more remarkable than looking at the animals in their cages.

Which some days it's great.
And other days it can be kinda intimidating to have a mob of little kids suddenly crowding you lol.

Today it was more positive.

And I found it amusing because I was like "Watch another group will come this afternoon."

Because a lot of preschools have morning and afternoon groups that they work with.

And since the first group came in around 10am.

I was expecting the next group to come in towards the end of my shift. Sometime around 1 or 2pm.

Guess who showed up around 2 pm?

Yep same teacher with a different group. XD lol.

My coworkers/managers were rather impressed.

But yah. I've just learned that where there's one group of kids....there's usually at least one or two more groups that will show up in the same day. lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

How Many?

I had a customer come into the store today for crickets.
Which thankfully, I'd had some already pre-bagged.
And she was like "I need some crickets like around 18 or so."
Which I had...12 and then 24 bagged but nothing inbetween.

But she said "Oh yah this bag of 24 is fine!" 

Only to change her mind two seconds later and decide she wanted less than 24. 
Like between 15-18 were the numbers she was tossing out.

So I offered to bag up the crickets for her, she just needed to tell me which number she wanted. 

Which was when she saw the bag of 10 crickets that I'd prebagged.

"Oh! I'll take this one and then can I get another bag of ten?" 

….Sure?

But like...10 and 10 would equal 20....
So twenty crickets is fine....
But the original 24 you grabbed is too many??

*shakes head*

I bagged the crickets anyways. But it was still semi amusing lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Carry It

Had a customer call work today asking if we carried a specific brand of dental treats.
Which after checking the two locations I figured they'd be at, I told the customer that we didn't have them on the shelf unfortunately, so we didn't carry them.

To which the customer replied that I should go make sure we started carrying them, talk to the suppliers and such and get them in our store because those particular brand of treats are the best thing ever to give to their dog and even if they're a little pricey they were totally worth the cost and I should tell my suppliers to start carrying it.

….
The problem there is that I have no control over what our store carries.
It's totally up to corporate to decide which brands we'll sell and such.
So like...there's not much I could do there.

It's always interesting how customers think we have more control over what we get into the store than we actually do.

They expect us to have animals in stock and be able to order in products at the drop of a hat and like....we can't. We have set replenishments and if we don't carry the product then we don't carry it...

-Sarnic Dirchi

How Long?

Had a little girl excited to get a fish today.
To the point where she was like "Can I try and catch it!?!?!"

lol. Nope. Sorry kiddo. You gotta work here to catch fish.

But that didn't stop her from watching my every move from start to finish.

And she was like "Wow you're really good at this!"

"Yah" was my response lol. "I've been doing this for a while."

"How long is a while?"

"A couple of years." Came my response just because I didn't feel like telling the exact number.

"So like sixty?" 

O.o It was such a left field answer lol. Because like...unless she thinks I'm some sort of immortal....
I definitely don't look sixty lol.

"No. Six years." Was my eventual answer.

To which she thought it was cool.

*shakes head* lol. Such a weird number but it definitely made the day more fun after that lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Meds?

So a few days ago.

I took a couple of guinea pigs to the vet.

Because I noticed they were congested.

Only I got off my shift and left before the guinea pigs came back.

So I didn't see them until the next day.

And the next day I came in to find meds...

But they weren't for the congestion.

One as to treat the ringworm a guinea pig had (which we already had meds for that)

And the other was to treat the goopy eyes that the other guinea pig had.

But I saw no meds for the congestion.

So my first thought was that it wasn't as bad and no meds were needed.

Until today.

When I came in and saw the guinea pig that had the ringworm was breathing harder.

And was still congested.

So I decided to go back to the vet and double check. Just to see if he had noticed the congestion and if he had if he'd prescribed any meds.

Turned out he had.

And the meds?

They'd been placed behind a different chart.

With no indication marked anywhere on any chart that that medicine was supposed to be given to both guinea pigs. 

>.< So both guinea pigs went without full treatment for a couple of days.

*exhales*

All because someone didn't write something down.

*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Free Snail

A customer came up to me today with a concern.
As he saw our live plants and noticed on the packaging that they said "Free Snail" on them.

He was concerned because he'd bought a plant and hadn't seen the snail and therefore was concerned that he'd actually thrown it away.

He was very relieved when I told him that the words on the packaging actually said "Snail Free" aka the Plants are guaranteed to not have snails within them. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spur of the Moment

Had a customer who 'spur of the moment' decided that she wanted to get a betta for her fish tank as I was bagging up a pleco for the same tank.

I wouldn't have thought much of it.
But I'd noticed that she'd grabbed a fish from our overstock shelf.
Meaning that there weren't prices visible there because what we have overstocked from the other shelf holding all the bettas changes by the week.

So I told her. "That's a $15 betta." 
Because often people decide to 'spur of the moment' things when they think something is cheaper. 

Her eyes went really wide. ()_() And she quickly put the betta back wanting to know why it was so pricey.
So I directed her to other bettas that didn't cost as much.

-As they type of betta and the fins/tail/scales it has influences how much it's going to be.

She couldn't really see the difference when I was trying to explain.
But ended up buying a different $4 betta instead.

Hopefully he does well in the tank for her. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Prank Call

I don't usually mind prank calls.
I mean I find them annoying yes.
Because seriously, why is there such a thrill with pranking a pet store?

But what I don't like...is when the caller screams in my ear before pretending to fake sob that her 'fish drowned and what do I do?" 

*exhales*

I don't know kid. You made the fish drown it's not like they do it themselves.

*shakes head*

The oddest part of the conversation was that towards the end when I said something like "Did you take the fish out of the water?" 

She was like *deadly serious* "Are you accusing me of murder?" and then hung up. 

*shakes head*
So weird.
Prank callers are weird. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Rush

It always seems to happen. 
Where everything is going fine.
And then suddenly everyone and their mom comes into the store and like all of them need my help.

I got called over to the hamsters by a manager to help a customer who was returning his second dead hamster within three weeks... Which is rather crazy...but I ended up spending quite a bit of time with them trying to figure out possible reasons why two of their hamsters wouldn't make it and helping them pick out a third hamster (as they're trying one last time)

But then at the same time, there was a customer who was returning a Guinea pig that was sick (he wants to buy it back once we get it better)
The manager ended up taking over the return of the guinea pig, but left it up to me to go isolate him in our sick room....which took me like another fifteen to twenty minutes to do because I got waylaid at the fish wall by a customer seeking possible reasons why the fish in his daughter's tank were dying off. 
-I figured it was overstocking the tank too quickly as they added a bunch of fish at once.

And then before I got done talking with them, another coworker placed yet another animal return at the podium next to the guinea pig I was trying to isolate.
That animal?
A fancy mouse that had been purchased the day before and was returned because the mouse had bit their child. 
*exhales*
Which shouldn't have happened because you shouldn't be playing with the animals in the first three days....
In any case, since it was within twenty-four hours and the mouse himself seemed fine, I was able to put that one back on the floor.

And only then was I able to finally find a moment to spare -mostly because a coworker came to help me out--to go take the guinea pig into the back where we could keep an eye on him until we could get him to the vet. 

But yah.
Busy lunchtime rush. *shakes head* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spanglish

I brought my limited Spanish to use today.
As a customer came into the store who didn't speak English well.
And wanted to buy parakeets.
But like...we were having trouble making ourselves understood.

So after checking to make sure none of my Spanish speaking coworkers were there.
I did what I could using what limited vocabulary I remember from Jr. High to try and explain what I was trying to say. 
So yah a lot of Spanglish. And I probably totally used the wrong word endings and such.
But at least it helped a bit in communications.

Hopefully it helped enough to be useful to the customer....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Go Look It Up

We had a customer come into the store today while the Cashier, Manager and I were standing by the register.
And they asked if we carried any Pheromone spray. 
Which... O.o 
Ummm….

The cashier took the lead, asking if the customer was looking for a Calming spray --because we do sell some that have pheromones in them.

To which the customer was like "No! Not Calming! It's a Pheromone spray!" 

To which we were at a loss....like were you looking for a spray to keep them away from things, to attract them to things......like what?

The manager took a stab at it by asking "What is the purpose of the spray? What do you need it for?"

And the customer basically rolled their eyes at us and said in a snippety tone: "Go look it up on the internet and learn something." Before they turned on their heel and walked deeper into the store without another word. 

….
We all shared confused glances.
Because while I would be happy to go look something up to see if we carried it....
I can't really look it up unless I know what purpose you needed the spray for. 

Because again. They could have been used in a variety of ways. *shakes head*

I wonder if the customer did find it, or if they wandered around a bit before leaving.....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Milk?

I hear about the oddest things at work.
Just like...they're things I never would have thought would even be a product to sell.

But I had a customer come into the store today.
Looking for some Milk Thistle for her Cat.

Apparently it helps to support the liver or something.

But I had never heard of it before that point.
And a quick check of the store showed that we didn't carry it.

...How would you even milk a thistle? Why would you even think to do that? How much 'milk' can you get from one stalk? 
No idea.

In any case.
I directed the customer over to our Vet to see if they had it or knew who had it. Because I had no idea.

Only idk if the customer ever made it over there.
I do know that it felt like she stopped to ask more than one person if we had the milk thistle.
As at least twice, over the radio, my coworkers asked if we had any.

To which I had to say No. No we didn't.
*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Trying to Help

So I had my coworker call me up to the front of the store to help a customer who was trying to get a harness that properly fit her puppydog as the last one she bought ended up being too big.
But at the same time my coworker was like "this other customer" -A woman standing nearby with a cart- "needs help." 

Obviously I can't help both people at once. 
So I went for the first one. Helping the woman who needed the harness adjusted on her dog.

But the second woman. The customer with the cart.
Wasn't so patient.

"Can you help me?" She demanded of my coworker.
Which my coworker moved closer to help.

And the customer was like "I'm looking for a message canister' or something like that. Which after we gave her blank stares of confusion basically rolled her eyes at us and explained that it was like a message in a bottle. Where you could put information on a piece of paper and place it in a tiny canister thing that fits onto the dog's color. You know. For emergencies and such. 

Of course my coworker turned to me to see if I knew.
Because that's what basically everyone does in the store.
And here I was trying to fit the harness.
And I paused briefly to say "No, I don't think we have it, but I'll double check with the manager"
But before I could use the radios.
The customer was like "You know that harness is too tight right? It's cutting into the dog! It's hurting him!!" 

Which *rolls eyes* 
I hadn't noticed because I was distracted trying to help the lady with the dog and this demanding customer. 
But I doubt it was hurting the dog. Hard to tell though. The puppy never stopped whining which also was getting on my nerves. (Harness or no harness the do would whine) 
So I was like "Hold on." 
Undid the harness. Asked the question. Told the customer no we don't have them. And then tried to focus on the customer with the dog harness. 

*exhales*

I ended up passing that customer off to my manager because the dog's whining was getting on my nerves and he'd been helping her earlier when she'd first come in to buy the harness. 

But yah.
Not a fun early morning experience.
It left me feeling frazzled. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A New Home

A customer called today.
Asking if she could bring in a Black Moor Goldfish.
You see. 

She'd gotten the goldfish as a gift from a white elephant party. 

*long tired sigh* 
Seriously. I don't like people who give live animals away like that. Like. Why? Why force someone to become a pet owner for your own entertainment? 

In any case.
She didn't want the goldfish.
An so wanted to know if we'd take the goldfish from her.

We couldn't.
As we have a policy of only accepting fish back from customers who have purchased them from us within the time frame given in our return policy. 

The girl was like: "So...I have to keep the fish?"

And I didn't like the tone it was said in.
Like. Kinda resignation. But like...it was a tone where I didn't think the fish was going to have a long future.

So I was quick to add.
That if she could bring the goldfish into the store before I was off in a few hours.
That I would take the goldfish from her and put it in my tank.
As I do have this nice big 125 gallon tank to put him into. 

"We'll be right in!" Was the response.

I wasn't there when the customer came in though.
I waited around for like half an hour.
but then I had to go take a lunch. 

Of course the customer showed up halfway through my lunch.
Apparently she'd bought the fish over in a Tupperware.

But yah. 
The little goldfish seems fine. He's a perky little dude. 
But so tiny compared to my other goldfish lol.

Still. He seems to be quite happy swimming around in his new home.
So yay for rescuing the fish. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Soaking

So at work we sell some Nitrafying/Beneficial Bacteria.
Which is basically good bacteria for your tank that comes in liquid format that you place in your tank to help break down the ammonia and nitrites and possibly other things in your tank. 
It basically helps to establish your ecosystem and such.

Usually you just dump the correct amount in the water whenever you do a water change.
And don't worry about it after that.

But I had a customer come into the store today, looking specifically for that liquid so that they could soak a bag of gravel they were buying in it before putting the gravel in their tank.

Which. O_o 

I'm not quite sure it works like that?
Like I don't know if soaking the gravel in the bacteria liquid will help the tank at all. Like would the liquid stay with the rocks? Or would it just be like....a pointless gesture?

Of course...I could also see how it could work....

But at the same time....I'm leaning towards it not being as effective as just putting the liquid in the water.....

Still. I helped the customer as best I could and hopefully they're successful in their idea. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

No Touche

Had a customer come into the store with her two kids today.
Looking to get a fishtank.

Which she'd come in a while ago...like two or three months ago I think....(time is weird at work)
To look at the fishtanks and figure out which one she wanted and such.

...I think she might have been the customer who wanted the stand that our 60 gallon display tank was sitting on. (The one full of water and fish and would have taken a lot of effort to empty and therefore I didn't sell it to her.) -That was when we had the display tanks.

In any case.
She'd come in deciding that she wanted the 45 gallon tank instead.
Which was all fine and dandy.
And the interaction was going better than the last time.

Except.
Her kids were being so....touchy? To me?
One of the little girls kept grabbing my hand, or tugging my shirt, or tapping me to get my attention so she could point to something or ask a question.

Which usually I don't mind.

But there was just something about the energy the entire family was putting off.
That had me on edge.
Like nails on a chalkboard on edge.

And the little girl's constant touching wasn't helping at all.

So I did my best to be polite. But by the end of the interaction I was on edge.
And it didn't go away. It was difficult to feel calm and be willing to help customers because after that it all just...didn't feel right.

*exhales* Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Early?

A customer showed up at the door with his dog at eight am this morning.
Which overall isn't unusal.
As most of the time the grooming department is open by that point. So I often see people coming into the store at that time to drop off their dogs to be groomed.

Except....I did think it was kinda odd today.
Because it's New Years Day.
Therefore, most people have the day off.
And like even our store hours have shifted to account for that so we opened an hour later than normal as well. 
So like....why have an early morning grooming appointment?

Plus.
Our groomers hadn't yet shown up. 
Though I expected them to at any moment because if there's a grooming customer here then obviously a groomer should be showing up.
--unless they partied too hard or overslept or something. 

In any case.
Since the 8am hour was here...and no groomers were in sight.
I double checked with the manager in charge to see when the groomers were coming in.
She didn't know. Didn't know which ones were coming or when they were coming off the top of her head.
So she went to investigate.

And discovered....
That the guy's appointment wasn't until Nine.
The first appointment of the day wasn't until Nine.
The groomers wouldn't be showing up until Nine.

Because groomers aren't usually there much earlier than the customers.

Nope.
Apparently the guy had just wanted to drop off his dog An Hour Early. 

Which.
On any other day, probably could have worked out.
But not today. When our hours are weird.

So he ended up leave the store with his dog to go do something for an hour until his appointment time and the groomers came.

It was a nice try for him though.
I applaud his attempt.

-Sarnic Dirchi