Mices?

I was helping a young family look at our Small Pets today.
The various hamsters and Guinea Pigs mostly. Helping them to figure out which pet would be best for their children.
-I suggested Guinea Pig-

In any case, while in the course of that Conversation I brought up that we only carry males of the various rodents to prevent breeding from happening within the store.

Which didn't really effect the family much,
but when I was done with them and moved on to the next customer, they were like "Yah...I overheard your conversation about only carrying males and I was actually looking for Female mice. 

Ah.
Yah. No. Our sister store further north of us carries females.
But my store only ever gets the males in.

So I offered to call our Sister Store to see if they had any female mice available, that way the customer wouldn't be driving all the way up there only to find they didn't have any.

Sister-Store said that they had two or three mice.
So I asked them if they could do a brief hold on them so the customer could come up and grab them.
They were very very very very very reluctant to do so despite my assurances that the customer was literally on their way right then so it wouldn't be longer than maybe half an hour.

They finally acquiesced and so I sent the customer out the door.

I didn't think much more on it, besides the 'I hope they get their mice.' sort of thoughts.

Until the end of my shift.
When another customer came into the store wanting to look at our mice.
So I showed them the ones we had, double checking to make sure they wanted them as pets instead of as feeders -as I had a different gentleman come in looking for pinkies as feeders earlier-- and after showing the customer the mice, mentioned that they were male.

Which...nope. They too were apparently looking to get a couple of female mice.
And they'd already been to the Sister-Store only to find they were out of mice (so proving that the earlier customer had managed to get their mice) 

I ended up directing them to our competitor down the street as I think they carried both genders, and if not our competitor then there was a local petstore a stone's throw away that might also have the female mice they were looking for.

*fingers crossed* that they found them as my Sister-Store probably won't get more mice in until next weekend.

But still...it's interesting that after like...not having anyone interested in the mice for the past little bit...suddenly two different customers come in on the same day looking for the same gender of mice in the same number. *shakes head* So weird how those coincidences happen.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tank Size

Had a Father/Daughter duo come into the store looking to get a fish for the Daughter.

And she was set on getting one of our fancy goldfish.

But the problem was...they'd grabbed a little 2.5 gallon tank...just the tank. No filter.
And wanted to put the goldfish in the tank.

Which would have meant that they needed to do a water change every couple of days to keep the water clean enough for the goldfish.
But the daughter was unconvinced about getting a beta fish which would have done better in that size of tank.

Surprisingly though, the Father inquired how much it would cost to get a bigger tank.
So I led them to the 10 gallon tanks to show them the ones that would be better and only like $10 more and come with a filter and lights and such.

So they ended up getting that tank instead!
Woot!

Yay for helping the goldfish to be able to survive a little longer. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Voice

I know it's not really their fault.
But I have a coworker who has the unfortunate knack for getting on my nerves within like five minutes of coming on shift.....
When they're on register.

Because when you're the Cashier, you can't really leave the area of the register because customers can appear at any random moment. 

But this coworker...has taken to 'directing traffic' to make sure customers are receiving help.
Which is nice.
But at the same time really super annoying because it feels like every five minutes this coworker is calling for someone to check on people going this way and that way and this other way while also asking for help in searching for products to see if we have more or doing a price check and *exhales* It gets super annoying.

Especially if I'm the only one on the floor because the managers are busy elsewhere.
And it's really really REALLY hard to get my own opening tasks completed in a timely manner because my coworker would call for backup or a price check or inform me there were people needing help--who didn't actually need help and Yah. 

>_< It was super irritating.

*exhales*
It's gotten to the point that whenever I hear their voice over the radios. I just get irrationally annoyed.
*shakes head*
But it's more when they're on register.

Probably because they talk a lot more while on register.
When they're out wandering the floor, their voices come over the radios a lot less often.
Which is great for me because getting called away from my own tasks every five minutes is sooooo frustrating. 

So yah.
*exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Smalls Anyone?

It was the strangest phenomenon today at work.

Because our Small Goldfish was rather low. Like under a hundred. 

But thankfully, our shipment came in today.
1200 small goldfish.

And like, I hadn't needed to fish out any goldfish before that point. Barely anyone had needed me at the fish wall.

But then basically a minute after I'd placed the last of the goldfish in, this customer who had been hovering nearby but had indicated earlier that they didn't need help was like "What's the difference between these two tanks?" they asked gesturing between our Large and Small goldfish.

To which I responded "Size." 

And they were like "Okay I'll have three of the smalls." 
Which I easily fished out.

But then like five minutes later. 
ANOTHER customer wanted goldfish.

Four this time.

And then like 10 minutes later.
Yet another customer needed goldfish. This time a hundred of the smalls. 

*shakes head*

It was like the people had a sixth sense of "Oh hey, there's now small goldfish at Starsmet! I need to buy some now!"

So weird how it happens in waves like that.

But at least it was only those three people who needed them today.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fix It

Had one of the Vet people stop me this morning as they were standing near the bathroom and I was passing by.
They stopped me to complain that the papertowel dispenser in the guy's bathroom hadn't been working for a while, like a couple of weeks, and the vet person had had enough of it.
Stating that "All you need to do is feed the paper towels through the machine and it will work! I would do it myself but I don't have a key."

Which was correct, when I got a manager it was an easy fix as they had the key to fix it. 

But what has me confused....is why this person thought that I was the one who could solve the issue.
For one. I'm a GIRL. Therefore I have no reason whatsoever to end up in the BOYS restroom so I would have no idea that something was broken in that bathroom. 
And for two. I'm NOT the janitor. So I'm not the one to do any of the cleaning in the bathrooms. *shakes head*

Honestly I wonder if it's just timing.
I just happen to be nearby when various personnel from the Vet find an issue in the bathroom. 
Though I feel like they've also sought me out specifically to tell me issues as well....

Maybe it's because I've been there the longest, so I'm the most easily recognizable? *shrugs* No idea. 

But I do wish that they would just seek out the manager when such issues arise. *exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi

The KingSnake

-_- So this morning I came in to a note stating that our KingSnake was on hold until this morning for a customer.
Which was irritating because we don't put our animals on hold for customers.
There's too much of a chance of miscommunication happening, or something happening to the animal, or like the customer never coming back....
So yah. We don't put animals on hold.

But apparently the animal was put on hold because the snake had come in on Thursday and the customer wanted to buy it Friday but my coworker thought it would be better to let the snake stay in the store for another day so it wouldn't stress out....*exhales* Which honestly. I doubt the snake would have had issues if it had been sold yesterday. We've sold plenty of animals the same day they're put out on the floor and it doesn't usually cause problems. 

In any case.
The morning came and went.
And guess what?
No customer showed up to purchase the King Snake.

But then, while I was on lunch.
The customer showed up.
Which was after NOON.
Hardly first thing in the morning like the customer originally promised. 

-This is also why we don't put animals on hold because customers don't usually show up when they say they will.

In any case.
My coworkers were helping the customer to get their snake.
And...were having issues.

And upon coming back from break I immediately knew why.

Because this customer is one that I've dealt with like a dozen times before.
And they are always....chaotic.
Some times it's simple.
Othertimes it's...crazy.

This particular customer has bought a ton of lizards and frogs from us. Mostly Anoles, Long-Tailed Lizards, and Green Tree frogs.
And apparently snakes as the customer thought that I'd helped them purchase a few as well...though I don't really recall that.

In any case.
I don't like this customer.
Because they're always asking very particular and difficult questions, almost always saying that 'they're in a hurry', but are almost always in the store for a good hour or so, constantly coming up to you with more questions that aren't always answerable. And like....when they finally go up to the register to checkout they end up leaving it at least three times to go ask more questions before they actually purchase things.
The customer is chaotic. 
And I hate dealing with them because I don't like their energy. There's something 'off' about them and I don't like being around them.

Today the customer was causing issues because they wanted to buy the kingsnake.
but also buy goldfish to feed the kingsnake despite us telling the customer that kingsnakes don't usually eat fish. 
Customer remained unconvinced and at one point while my coworker was bagging up the goldfish and asking questions to make sure the goldfish were bagged properly...told my coworker to 'do their stupid job' or some similar statement.

They also tried to walk into the backroom behind the fishwall when my coworkers retreated there to get the container to carry the snake in.
To which the coworker threw a fit because they 'had a container' they were 'buying a tank.'

And it took a minute to understand that the tank the customer was buying to move their anoles into was what they wanted the snake transferred in because they believed that the snake would be more stressed out in the container than in a larger tank.

So it was going to be ring around the rosie when they got home.

In any case.
We managed to get it sorted, have the customer buy the tank and the snake first and then have them get the tank 'set up' for the snake before we moved the snake into the tank. 

*exhales* But the customer didn't leave right after putting the snake in the tank.
No they hung out for whatever reason for a while by the registers before finally finally leaving the store.

Which the whole store basically celebrated when they finally walked out because GAH. That customer is so chaotic and difficult to work with. XP 

I honestly hope they don't come back anytime soon.
but with my luck they'll be back within the week for another pet or some issue. *exhales* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Snakes

It's amusing to see my manager freak out whenever we get reptiles in.
As he doesn't like snakes.
At all.

And would happily be no where near them.

So he was less than pleased to see that we got in three snakes today.

But he was a good sport when I showed him the different varieties we got in.
So yay manager for tolerating the snakes lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Smell

Had a customer call on the phone today to complain about a groom that they had done on their dog yesterday.

Which was interesting, because the customer claimed that they didn't notice anything when they picked up the dog and paid for the grooming that they had done.

They took the dog home.

And later in the evening, one of their kids was like "Hey this dog still smells really bad."

Which is when the customer took a closer look and noticed that the dog was still dirty and that it did still have a bad smell to the coat.

Which is...odd.

Hours later?
HOURS later?

Like. 
Do you know what the dog could have gotten into between coming back from the groomers and to when the child pointed out the dog still smelt?

Like I highly doubt the groomers within the store would let a dog leave dirty if there was a bathe and groom that happened. 

In all honesty, I expect that something happened between the dog coming home and the child speaking up.
It was HOURS.
The customer didn't call until the next day!

The dog could have gotten into so much in the meantime.

Like I know customers can be unobservant. 
but at the same time.
There's only so much I can believe.
Especially since the groomers would have no reason to not do a proper groom.

*exhales*

In any case. The customer wanted us to 'fix' it either by redoing the groom or giving the customer their money back. 

It was at that point that I transferred the customer to the grooming salon,
As I have no power to fix any issues in the grooming department since I don't work in that portion of the store.

The Grooming Manager ended up taking over...so hopefully they got the situation sorted.
Guess we'll see.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fine Print

Had a customer call the store today to double check what a sale tag said as she thought it had been buy a specific brand of dog treat, get a second dog treat half off. But her receipt wasn't showing that sale on it. 

So I went to double check.
And had bad news for the customer.
As the sale is one of those sales that I personally hate because we get a ton of customers who don't read the fine print and then complain when the sale doesn't work how they thought it does.

And this sort of thing always happens with the buy one get one half off sales.

Because it's not buy one product get the same product half off.
No it's buy this particular product and get a completely different product half off. 

In this case. It was buy a Dog Toy that dispenses the Doggy Treat and you can get the doggy treat half off.

So not buy one treat get the treat half off.
Buy the toy get the treat. 

The customer was understandably upset about this particular snag. 
As they'd bought two treats.
But no toys to put the treats in.

And the customer kept repeating "That's misleading. So misleading!" over and over again as if she expected me to be like "Oh yes it is let me fix it for you."

Like nope. That's the sale. Not my fault you didn't read the print.
I mean the print for the Buy 1 is exactly the same size as the words underneath. 
But the customer didn't read what the product was.
It was just the Buy 1 get 1 that she saw and assumed she knew the sale.

So yah.
she's thinking she's going to come back and return one. 
We'll see if she actually does. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Social Kitty

We had a customer come into the store today, who wanted to look at the cats.
Because her daughter had just adopted a kitty from us earlier last week and that kitty is the most cuddly cat the Mother had ever seen.
And she was jealous.
Because the previous kitties she's had in her home....haven't been friendly. They don't want to cuddle with her, be around her, she'll get swatted etc.

And she wants a kitty like the one her daughter has.
That is sweet and cuddly and friendly.

And she'd seen an orange kitten in the Adoption Center that looks exactly like the one her daughter had adopted.

-Which pieced the puzzle together as that adoption had been one that I'd worked with and the kitten still here in the store was with the kitten that had been adopted and more than likely they are littermates. 

Unfortunately for the mother.
There were two problems. 

The kitten still at the store was 
a) on hold.
and
b) the shyest of the three kittens that had been there.

The daughter had gotten the friendliest most social one.
The middle kitten had been semi social

And this last kitten.
Shy. Very shy.
But has come out of her shell since her siblings have left. But is still likely to hide in a corner.

Not the social cuddly kitten the Mom was looking for. 

Plus...the Husband doesn't want them to have a cat.
Which later was explained that they had just got new furniture. 
And was further explained that the Mom and her Husband are NEVER home.
They're away all day. 

Which with new furniture? 
Not a good idea.
Especially for a kitten. 

As the Mom wanted a kitten.

But basically since all the cats we had left are rather shy (as the social ones go quite quickly) 
I ended up convincing the Mom that if she wanted a kitten...she should wait until more social ones came in.

Which thankfully she agreed with.
So hopefully she'll just enjoy her daugher's kitten when she visits and will wait until her lifestyle is better for having a cat.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Hold?

It was the oddest thing today.
I had a customer call asking about the adoptions process and I told her I would put her on hold so I could check.

And like a minute and a half later when I finally got an answer and tried to pick up the call again.
I found the line dead. O.o

Even though I told the customer I would be putting them on a brief hold.

I probably wouldn't have thought much about it.

Except I had another customer call.
This time asking about an online order.
As he'd ordered something two days ago but hadn't received an email saying we'd picked it.

So I told him I would put him on hold so I could go check and see if we had the order picked or not.

But like in the thirty seconds it took me to put him on hold and sign into our Ipad to check the order...

The dude ended up calling back. O.o 

And claimed to my manager that he'd been 'hung up on' far too many times today. 

My manager was able to confirm the order was picked and ready to be picked up.

But I was more focused on the claim that the guy had been hung up on.

Like?
No.
He hadn't.
I'd placed him on hold.
I hadn't hung up on him at all.

But considering that it was 2 people within like a half hour period who didn't stay on hold...

I decided to test and see if our holding system wasn't working.
So I grabbed my own phone and called the store and put myself on hold just to see what would happen.

And all I heard was our usual 'elevator' holding music. 

And it's obviously holding music, it's not like a dial tone of 'sorry we hung up on you' sort of thing. 

So yah.
Frustrating.
Because like....did the customers just choose to hang up?
Did they get cut off?
Who knows.

But My guess is that they just didn't have the patience to wait a couple of minutes for an answer and wanted a faster one. 
*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Pellets

So a while ago. Idk if it was Spring Time or before the End of the Year.
We had a bunch of items go penny....so probably early springtime.
And a lot of those penny items we tried to find use for in the store.

One of those being a bag of litter for small pets (like bunnies and rabbits) 

We kept it thinking that we could use it.
But like...we use a completely different type of bedding for the small pets.
And a completely different type of pellety thing for the birds.

So there really was no reason whatsoever that we would be using this bedding.

So it sat there.
In the back.
For ages.
Until today.

As sometime within the past week the bag of bedding got moved to a different location.
That location being on top of the container holding the pine pellets for our bird bedding change.
And I needed that bin today.
But didn't need the bag on top. 

So I grabbed it to go put it elsewhere.

And all of a sudden paper pellets are spilling out onto the floor.

The bag had this huge hole in it. XP 
And I don't know if it was me...but I"m assuming it was whoever put the bag in the spot in the first place had broke it.

But that meant I had an open bag of bedding. 
And that's more likely to get spilled and make messes....

So I decided to do something different.
And mix this paper bedding in with our wood pellets we use for the bird bedding.
That way neither one would go to waste and I could use up the bag and be done with it.

I only ended up using half the bag this week, so hopefully I can use more of it next week.
But the manager liked the effect of the paper with the pine lol. 
Said it looked "Halloweeny" Which would have been awesome to do closer to the actual holiday. *shakes head* Oops lol.
But at least I found a use for it. :D 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Chatter

So we had some important visitors in the store today.
Which always mean an increase in chatter over the radios. 

Not something I can always handle. 
As it can give me a headache because often the conversations are trivial and go on for far too long and I'd rather not have it constantly in the ear.

I'm rather surprised I didn't get a headache. *shakes head* 

In any case.
The cashier took the 'chatter' to heart.

Constantly talking like every two minutes over the radio.
Telling us where customers were going, requesting backup, asking questions, asking if we'd helped people, directing us to where people were going. And also getting worked up over the cats again in worrying about something being wrong.

And it would have been fine.
Except this chatter seemed to happen every two minutes.
Which was less than fine.
Because I was getting irritated that I kept getting pulled away from my own tasks as I was working to open the department and she kept pulling me away for these little tasks that she could have done herself really.

I think I just got irritated because like often the tasks are something they could have done themselves.
And like...it felt like everyone is always looking to have someone else do the work.
And it feels like that someone else is me.

So yah.
It got to the point where everytime she'd start speaking I'd feel a flash of irritation. 
*exhales*

Hopefully I don't have to deal with her tomorrow.
Because her constant yammering in the radio had me quite done with helping people or being around people today. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

2 days?

I got some unfortunate news today at work.

As we'd sold our Conure a couple of days ago, Saturday night apparently.
Which was great, and impressive because like the bird hadn't been out on the floor a week yet I feel like.

But...
We had the customer call us towards the end of my shift.
Saying that their daughter and just gone into the room...and discovered the bird was dead.

O.o

Dead?
After like 2 days??

That's...weird.
So weird especially because the conure had been doing pretty well at work.

And the customer was like "yah we got a parakeet a bit ago, but it only lasted a month before it died too." 

O.o

That sounds like there's a house issue then....
Because if two birds of two different breeds die in the same house....

There's something wrong.

I tried to check to see if they were keeping the house too cold, or using air fresheners or if the bird was in a breeze.

But the customer denied that any of those were an issue.

*exhales*

So they're coming back to return the dead bird.

Which is just...sad. So sad.
The bird was just a baby like maybe 4 months old?
And to have it die after two days?!

It's sad. Y_Y 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Counting Fish

Had a customer come into the store today and request that I catch them 25 small goldfish.

Which I did.
In my usual manner where I get as many in the net as I can, and then plop the goldfish one at a time from the net into the container so that I can count them out and make sure that there were 25 in there.

So I counted them out, and then bagged up the fish and handed them to the customer who was like "Are you sure there's 25 in there?"

Like yes?
I had just counted them after all. I'd even added in an extra goldfish just in case one died. So I knew how may where in there. 

"Yes."

"But how can you count them?! They're moving around so fast!" came the customer's bewildered response.

Huh....apparently the customer hadn't been watching me count out the fish like I thought they had. So I was like "Cus I count them one by one." 

It's not like I just get a scoop full, look at it and go "that's 25." Nope. I count one by one to make sure I get an accurate number. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Oh Worm?

We got our bug shipment in today.

Which was a relief because we've been out of all our worms (mealworms,waxworms,superworms) for a week now because we didn't get a large enough replenishment (and no mealworms whatsoever) last week in order to meet the demand of our customers.

Which sucks because like--we can't ever predict what will become popular when.

Like for a while it was Superworms, now its waxworms.

And it seems like whenever the demand for them gets super high----

That's exactly when our supplier randomly decides to send us barely any or none at all. 

*shakes head*

I don't get how that coincides so well, but it is frustrating.

Especially because I only get the various worms in once a week.

And so if you miss grabbing one of like the six containers we got in (and some people are greedy and like buy them all in one go) then...well you're screwed until the next week when you can try again. 

So I was glad today that we got in a larger quantity of our worms than like...six of them.

I mean the Superworms still seem to be going through their shortage as I only got like maybe 9 containers of those? (They'll probably be gone by the end of the day honestly) 

But at least the other ones I got twice that many.

So they'll hopefully last a bit longer.

Still...I'm not looking forward to telling customers that once again...we're out of worms when they do all get sold out. *exhales* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A New Companion

Had a customer come into the store today looking to get a parakeet.
As she'd taken on two birds from another older woman when she passed away.
And yesterday the customer had to put down one of the birds, and since parakeets are social, the vet recommended getting her remaining bird a buddy to hang out with.

So she was staring at our parakeets trying to pick out one that she thought could go well with her current one.
Which is difficult, because alot of the time parakeets are pretty good with each other, but sometimes they're not.
And there's a bunch of factors on whether or not they'll accept a new bird or not.

I'm usually more concerned when the bird has been by itself for a long time. Like months or years....
But considering the bird has just been by itself for a dayish?

I figured it would be alright for her to put in another parakeet with this one.

So she ended up picking out a turquoise colored parakeet, which I then caught for her.

Hopefully the new birdy does well with her current one. *fingers crossed*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Another Visit? Really?

*shakes head*

Coworker is at it again.
With the vet visits.

Like we ended up taking a bearded dragon to the vet and that leopard gecko that the coworker was insisting needed a vet.....
And they ended up coming back looking so much worse than when they had left our store. 

Like. They'd been given meds and such.
and the Leopard Gecko ended up dying. 
When he'd been doing okay before being taken to the vet.

And the Bearded Dragon had been semi active....but is now barely moving now that we've taken him to the vet.

And today the coworker left a note being like "Maybe we should take the bearded dragon to a different vet. Because it could be something else wrong! Like an ear infection causing the problems!"

Like.
How about we FINISH the first set of meds before doing anything and see if that works.
Like we've only been giving the meds for maybe a week now? Maybe? 

And the vet we took them to in the first place recommended that the meds be given for 21 days.
So like....We should probably do the meds for the time frame first before stuffing him full of other meds? Because like....it does take some medications time to get into the system and begin working and *exhales*

Yah.
This coworker bugs me.
Sometimes....going to the vet isn't the answer.
Sometimes it's a simpler solution like maybe giving him a warm soak every day or something.

Guess we'll see what happens.
*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Price?

Had a couple come into the store today who decided to get our 45 gallon fish tank because it had gone on sale today because a new one had started.

Though before deciding that they wanted the tank they wanted to double check one thing. 
If ensemble came with the decorations on display in the tank. 

Nope.
They didn't.

Which put a slight crutch in their plans.
Because they liked the decorations.
But the big ship decoration inside of it was $100 by itself.

(The tank/stand/lights had gone on sale for like $150) 

After a bit of debate they ended up deciding just to get the tank and set it up first and maybe come back for the decorations at a different date.

Makes sense to me.

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Decorations

We got something into our store today that I haven't seen in like five years it feels like.

Fish tank decorations.....for Halloween.

Like for a while there we would sell little fish tank decorations for basically every major holiday. Christmas, Valentines Day, Halloween....and maybe a couple of others.

But a while back....it stopped.

Which was weird because I would go into our sister stores on occasion....and they would have holiday themed temporary decorations....but we never got them in. 

*shakes head*

That changes now...well at least for Halloween.

Because I came into work this morning and discovered that a whole endcap had been redesigned with a halloween theme and halloween decorations and it. is. great!!! :D

I ended up buying like five of those temporary decorations then and there because Halloween is my roomie's favorite holiday and I figured it would be fun to put a bit of halloween into my giant fishtank this year (though I won't put them in until probably the end of September or so. ^^::) 

But yah!
Halloween decorations!! WOOT! :D

-Sarnic Dirchi

Early to Check Out

It was one of those weird days where customers decided that they all needed to come into the store....before we were open.

Like five minutes before the hour, I had three customers. THREE customers in line to buy things they needed.
Like. O.o Why? WHY?

I know it's good to show up early to like appointments and such.
But stores?
No. Stores have specific hours on their door for a reason.

*exhales*

At least they were quick purchases, one item for each customer.
So I didn't spend more than five minutes helping the three of them.

Still though.
Why?

I don't get it. 
I honestly don't.

-Sarnic Dirchi