Lost

 There are trends that happen at work.

Where suddenly you have three people in a row buying the same dog food, or two people asking the same hamster care question in a row, or four people wanting the same combination of fish in a row.

It's amusing most the time when it happens. Confusing too. Like what are the odds multiple people would want the same thing in a row. 

Today was a slightly odder coincidence.

In that we had two people lose their wallets and call to ask if we had found them -which we had- and come pick them up.

Like it happened a couple of hours apart.

But loosing wallets...isn't that common of a thing at the store.

So to have it happen twice in one day?

Well...I blame the heat mostly lol. Makes people distracted. Forgetful. 

It's just a good thing they caught the mistake in time and that we had found the items in time and kept them safe until the customers could come back and pick them up. 

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Decide Before You Get Help

 Gotta love those customers who ask for assistance at the fish wall before they're actually ready to get the fish.

*exhales*

It's really annoying really.

To get called over to the fish wall because a customer 'needs help with fish' only to find that the customer had basically just gone to the cashier and said "I need fish" before they had even had a chance to look at the fish on the wall so they actually have no idea what they want.

Like...I get people wanting to make sure they get help.

But I for one, would want to 'know' what I'm getting first before I drag someone over to help me.

Like it's just...irritating to stand there awkwardly hovering near the customer as they stare at the various tanks still deciding on what fish they want to get. 

I could be finishing other tasks. I could be helping other people. There's nothing useful in me just standing there while you try and figure out if you want to get a tetra or a molly or a goldfish and take an age and a half to make that decision. *exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Talking To Who?

 It's funny...how entitled people can be. How customers can think you're a mind reader. Or think that because they speak you're listening.

Like...there I was. Bagging up fish. 

I wasn't looking up. I was focused on the task at hand.

When I hear a voice say "Can you get me some crickets when you're done?"

I look up in time to see two girls passing by. Not even looking at me. And they continue walking along the fishwall to the front of the store.

A glance around shows me that I'm the only worker in the area.

And that there are other customers nearby.

But I had no idea who this girl was talking to.

Like I knew she was talking to me.

But like she didn't even wait for me to acknowledge if I'd heard her or not before she kept walking. 

It was just weird. I mean...I can't read minds. Saying that you 'want crickets' doesn't mean I automatically know what size of crickets the customer wanted nor how many she wanted me to get.

*shakes head*

So I just pushed it to the side and continued on with my task and finished helping the customer I was helping and then helped the other people who were still at the fish wall because again...the customer who randomly walked by and told me to bag her some crickets...wasn't around. Therefore her 'need' became a lower priority on my list because again, I couldn't even be sure she was talking to me when she didn't even stick around long enough to ensure that I had actually heard her and would help her.

She did come back eventually and I did bag up the number and size of crickets that she wanted after I asked her what amount and size she wanted.

But yah....kinda a weird occurrence that. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Make Up

 I had a customer come into the store today claiming that they were here with their little dog to do a make up class because the customer had missed their last session.

Which, okay fair. It's not an uncommon occurrence as life happens and customers who sign up for training classes can struggle to make it to every single one.

But today was more notable because well...my dog trainer wasn't scheduled to work today.

They usually have today off.

So to have a customer claiming that they had a make-up class for today...struck me as not correct.

Because I'm pretty confident my dog trainer wouldn't schedule a make up class on their day off. They know their schedule well enough to not do that.

Which made it more than likely that this customer had misremembered the day.

Unfortunately...I couldn't tell from the dog trainer's records....when exactly this customer was supposed to have a makeup class....which meant I needed to call them and leave a message and ask when this class was supposed to be.

Yah.

The customer ended up being a day early. Their makeup class is tomorrow. Not today. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Flipped Signs

 It's kinda funny how customers think that if they don't 'see' a sign then it doesn't exist. That it will magically make whatever policy the sign is informing you of go away.

Like we've had the 'mask required' signs torn down when they went from recommended to required in my state. 

We have also had our "Bathroom Out of Order" signs torn down because the customers probably thought that the bathrooms were closed because of the pandemic and not because they were literally out of order and we couldn't use them. *shakes head*

And this week I haven't had signs torn down per se.

But we do have signs up in the store saying that our fish sales are suspended this week -as we're doing a deep system clean as a preventative measure for potential zebra mussels (though my store hasn't seen any signs of them)- and we aren't able to sell fish because of said treatment and how we're not sure how it will affect the fish.

But the fish sign has been 'flipped over' a few times this week.

Like...just because you flip the sign so you can't see the words saying that we aren't selling fish this week doesn't mean that we'll magically be able to sell you fish because you flipped the sign over. *shakes head*

It doesn't work like that.

Especially because the SKUs we use at the register to sell the fish have been deactivated this week so even if we tried to sell the fish...we wouldn't be able to because the register wouldn't let them show up. 

*shakes head*

Silly people.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Reset

 Gotta love it when things go wrong at work. *exhales*

Our Register 2 ended up giving me major issues today.

Which isn't surprising. Register 2 ends up being the problem child most of the time out of our 3 registers we have up and running.

In this case.

The pinpad on the register stopped working.

Which honestly....I probably should have given it ten minutes to calm down and then seen if it would work again.

But instead I was like "Oh, let me just shut it down and start it back up again real quick"

Ha. Real quick.

No. Somehow the register decided that the shut down start up process wasn't it's thing...and refused to go beyond a certain point.

And like...I couldn't just leave the register to sit there like that.

As I would eventually need to pull out and count the till when we closed for the night...and I couldn't exactly do that if I never got to the point where I could open the register back up again.

So I ended up having to call our solution center ---and be on hold for forever---in order to talk to a guy on the phone about how to fix the issues.

Thankfully it wasn't a major task to fix once the dude finally connected with me.

And the register got back up and running easily enough once the Tech dude worked his magic on the other end.

But yah...having to go be all official on the phone is....stressful.

Hopefully I don't need to make that call again anytime soon. 

But knowing our registers...it's only a matter of time.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Walk Down the Aisle

 I had a customer call the store tonight to rant at me that he'd just experienced the 'worst customer service ever' from us because a coworker who took the phone call -according to my coworker it was a girl who called us so I'm not sure why the guy called back super upset- told the person on the phone that we don't do stock checks currently due to short staff and that our online store should be accurate in telling the customer if we had said product they were looking for or not.

Which the customer did not like at all. They didn't like being told to 'look online' when we should be able to 'walk down the D*** aisle and check ourselves'

Like nevermind that the automated voice message the plays when you call our store tells you right off the bat that we're not doing stock checks right now.

The dude was furious.

Ranting at me about our lack of service.

Like dude....being told no isn't the 'worst customer service ever' I'm pretty sure you've had worse than that.

And honestly, we had been in the middle of a rush. We had been busy. While we can still do stock checks while it's slow in the store, it's not that easy to break away when we're helping the customer in front of us.

*shakes head*

Especially when said customer on the phone was going to be a complicated customer. Where they were looking for a specific size dog gate with specific dimensions.

Like it's one thing to take two seconds and see if we have a product in the store.

But if you're wanting us to tell you the height and the width and the length and the price and all this extra stuff...then it becomes more difficult and time consuming and you'd probably be better off looking online anyways since the dimensions of doggie gates should be listed with the product.

*exhales*

But yah. Dude just ranted at me and hung up. Didn't give me a chance to talk or anything.

Which if he'd been a bit more levelheaded then I could have informed him that I was free at the moment to go look for whatever item he was looking for.

But he never gave me the chance. 

*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Rotating Fish

So work is trying out something different apparently.

We rest our fishwall recently. Added in a couple of tanks of new fish and such.

And I figured those fish would be part of our system for at least the next six months. As we tend to add and remove fish at least twice a year.

But apparently two of the tanks might be switching a little more often?

As I put up a couple of tank clings today. Saying that the fish in the two tanks were only available for a limited time. 

And the info graphic thing said that they were something like 'one time fish' where they'd only be available for a bit before being switched out for other fish. And these fish would be 'uncommon types' ones that are 'typically found in mom&pop' stores. 

So that's fun.

Though it does put slightly more pressure on me to buy them. XD lol. As we got in a couple of fish in that I want to try having in my tank. And I was going to wait to get them for a while...

But I don't know how long the fish are going to be there now. Is it just for the month? For three? For 6? Who knows. 

But yah...I'm curious as to what other fish we'll be getting in. And when we'll be getting more in. 

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Something Wrong

 So the other day I had a customer come into the store with a couple of dead fish.

And in typical customer fashion, they wanted to know 'why' the fish had died.

So I asked about their tank and such, trying to see if there were any notable things mentioned that could cause fish to die. 

And the customer told me that they originally had the glofish in like a large 36 gallon tank. 

But because they had goldfish in the tank....the associate who helped them said that the fish should be in a different tank.

Which was...technically true.

Goldfish are a cold water fish. 
Glofish are a warm water fish.

Goldfish get 10 inches at least.
Glofish stay around 3 inches.

But at the same time....the rules aren't as applicable to bigger tanks as they are to smaller tanks. 

Goldfish are fine being in tanks that are heated. And if there's only one or two in the tank in a 36 gallon...then other fish can be fine with them for a while...until they get larger.

But the associate helping this customer said that the glofish should go in a different tank so the customer bought a different tank. A glofish specific one with the blue lights and everything and they set up the tank for the glofish...moved them in....and then the fish all died. 

It could be the transfer to the new tank. 

But it was only 3 fish in a 10 gallon tank. That's not a bad amount of fish to have.

But it did turn out that the tank didn't have a heater in it. So the cold water may have been the cause of the glofish dying.

So the customer bought a heater and a couple of new glofish.

Though I did suggest that they could just put the glofish back in the bigger tank with the goldfish.

As there were other fish besides the goldfish in the tank. A shark. Some other tetras and such. So the glofish would have been fine. Especially because that tank had a heater already.

But the customer wanted to try again in this smaller tank. So I caught them a couple more glofish to try and see if they did well.

And like the glotetras tend to be hardier than the other glofish. So I wasn't too concerned. 

But the customer came back today with the two fish. Dead. 

Apparently they died within two hours of being put into the new tank. 

O_o 

It's just....how? 

If the fish died that quickly....it sounds like it could be a chemical issue. Like the customer put in too much water conditioner. 

As the heater was new....so that shouldn't be on the fritz....and unless the water changed temperature quickly....an overtreated tank was the only thing I could think of as a cause...but the customer denied that that was the case. *exhales*

*shakes head*

I'm not sure what's going on with it but I suggested that the customer just get their money back today and wait a bit and let the tank cycle and see how it went from there....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Significance?

 A customer approached me today and asked me "What is the significance of a betta fish?" 

Which...I was rather confused by.

What did the customer mean by 'significance?' 

Like...it sounded like they wanted to learn about bettas and such....but I wasn't certain.

It was said in such a philosophical type of tone like one would ask "What is the meaning of life?"

Still...I did my best to answer the customer's questions. Like where they're from and why they live alone and what sort of care they needed.

Dunno if I actually answered what they were wanting me to answer....but hey I tried. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Last Minute Shopping

 I will never understand customers that decide to go shopping at the last minute.

Take tonight.

I had customers right at 9pm when we closed asking me questions.

Two guys were wanting to know if we had another specific dog bed in stock as the one they found appeared to be stained.

I told them we didn't.

So they then wanted to know if they could get a discount on the bed because it was stained.

Which I said they could get 20% off.

But they were like "What is the stain?"

Like dude....I don't know. It's a brown stain. More than likely it's dirt. Who knows. It may not even be a stain at all. Just buy the thing and get out of my store we're closed. 

But nooo they then wanted to know if there was a specific dog food that I would recommend for their dog. 

And at the same time another customer needed help at the dog collars....right at close....wanting to know if there was a specific bark collar that worked better than another.

*exhales*

Like...how do people live like that?

Trying to shop right before a store closes?

Keeping the workers working after the store closes?

I don't get it.

I never will.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Closed Early

 The downside to closing early on a holiday....is that customers don't always get the memo that we've closed early.

Like they're so used to us staying open to a certain point that closing three hours early just...confuses them. 

I don't even know if they remember it's a holiday when they're confronted with closed doors. 

Like....I had a good 7 people calling the store after we closed --we didn't answer--

I had half a dozen people in the parking lot trying to come in. The doors were locked.

One lady tried to do a curbside pick up like half an hour after the store officially closed. 

Another tried to slip into the doors despite being told that we're closed only to be turned back outside because our registers were already shut down for the night.

One dude rang the door bell like three times wanting to be let in.

Like guys....GUYS.....we're closed.. Get it through your thick skulls.

You had alllll day to come to us. Why are you so insistent in coming in AFTER we closed?

*shakes head*

I don't get it. 

I mean...yes it's a pet store. Yes I get that animals need food too.

But it's not like there's anything so important that you need it 'right this minute' after hours.

If you're that desperate for food for your pet drop by the grocery store and grab a bag to tide them over until the morning. 

But like....you gotta pay attention to store hours. Especially on holidays. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Wall of Text

 Customers get upset over the oddest things.

We had this lady buy one of our smallest dog tags. Like one thats more the size of a nickel rather than a quarter.

And she got upset.

Because the tag couldn't fit all the information she wanted to put on it.

The tag says they can fit 'four lines of text' but like...the size of the tag does influence how many characters can fit on each line.

So obviously smaller tags will hold less information than larger tags.

And like....I only caught a glimpse of the screen. But the customer had this entire paragraph of text that she'd been attempting to fit on one side of the tag. 

Obviously it didn't fit. It wouldn't fit. The text would have needed to be microscopic in order to fit it all and what's the point of having words on the tag if you can't see them to read them? *shakes head*

She ended up buying a different tag and I didn't hear more after that so I'm assuming she got all the information on the new tag. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Shifted Hours

 We have this old guy that regularly comes into the store to get his little dog groomed. 

He's notable because the dude always causes trouble when he comes in.

Mostly it's in the 'dude is set in his ways and refuses to change' sort of trouble.

As he always shows up like half an hour early for his appointment.

Which tends to be at like 830 in the morning. Though if grooming opens at 8am then he'd show up at 730. Dude is crazy like that. Has to be half an hour early.

And he never understands it when the grooming salon isn't open when he shows up. 

Like today. 

Due to short staff grooming hours have shifted so they don't open until 9am. 

But the dude showed up at 830 and was confused why no one was in the salon. 

Why? Because the hours on the door said that they're open at 8am.

*exhales*

Like yes. Technically they are open at 8. But again due to short staff we don't have enough groomers/bathers to staff the full hours. So they're only open from like 9-5. 

And the dude...just didn't get it.

"I always come in at this time!"

Like dude. Why can't you understand that things change? That our hours shift because of staffing issues?

Honestly...if he gets scheduled the groomers should schedule him half an hour later than planned at like 930 so he can come in half an hour early at like 9 and be 'on time' 

*shakes head*

I don't get it. 

And I'll probably have to deal with him in another month or so when he inevitably comes in for his next appointment. *shakes head* It's gonna be fun to deal with. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

That's Not A Parking Spot

It's gotten pretty common at this point for me and my coworkers to look at each other and roll our eyes when it comes to dealing with customers.

Because the way they think just isn't....logical in a 'normal' way most of the time.

Like the customers who get upset that we won't give them 'deals' on products and discount the price for them.

Or the customer who came in needing crickets for their spider that they haven't fed in two weeks only to get upset that we had none available to sell.

Like...sorry that our shipment didn't come in. But there's nothing I can do about your negligence in taking care of your pet. *shakes head*

But today....

The main 'odd customer' that took the cake was the lady who came to drop off her dog for grooming.

As when the Pandemic started...we set up a table outside so that customers could do 'curbside grooming' check in for those people who couldn't wear a mask or weren't comfortable coming into the store for various reasons.

But for the past few weeks...we've neglected to put the table outside. Like I feel like it's been a month or so really. And it hasn't been an issue for us because like...no one has been using the curbside recently as everyone has gotten to the point where they don't need to wear a mask anymore or are fine coming into the store to drop off their dogs there.

And the front of our store...it has this nice wide concrete ramp for people to walk up to our doors.

It's probably at least twoish parking spots wide this ramp.

But isn't used for anything besides a 'grand entrance' into the store.

But today.

Today an old lady decided that this concrete area -which is in no way whatsoever marked for parking at all- decided that it would be alright if she pulled her van up onto this concrete rampish area and park her car there while she had a groomer come out and do the curbside pickup for her. 

And I could see why she would pull up on the ramp...because I think the empty parking spots next to the concrete were both full? But like.....it's not that hard to park your car in an actual stall and just...wait outside the store...or wait in your car until the groomer comes out and then get out of your car....

But like...parking on the ramp where you're not supposed to be parking like....where was the logic in that?

"Oh, I can't park next to it therefore I'll park on it!" *shakes head*

I don't get customers. I don't get their logic.

Like I know their logic mostly involves a 'how can I get this cheaper or make it easier for me" mentality. 

But I do wish that they would show a bit of self awareness of other people and think outside of themselves on occasion. *exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Stolen High

 You see people steal some of the oddest things in a pet store.

Tonight I discovered an empty bottle of Hemp on the shelf. Hemp specifically created for cats to help calm them down and such.

And I can only bet the dummy who decided to dump the dusty stuff into their pockets thinks they're going to get a nice 'high' from the stuff.

But like....I honestly doubt it? Sure it may be a hemp product...but I don't think it can be used the way they're thinking it can be used?

So like...I do worry that the person will end up sick if they try to 'use' it in any fashion.

But yah...it's just weird. Like why steal that? Why not take the bottle? What did you put all the leafy stuff into? 

Who knows.

Hope they're okay...but I hope they realize how stupid that was.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Don't Train It That Way

 We had a couple come into the store today wanting to get a remote trainer for their puppy.

Why? Because the 'dog doesn't pay any attention to us."

And I can get why you'd want to train the dog to behave and such.

But the puppy they had was TEN WEEKS OLD.

Like can you seriously expect a puppy to know what to do when a human makes random sounds at it? No! The puppy is probably still getting used to being away from it's mother.

And the owners want to use a remote training collar on this PUPPY to get it to pay attention to them?

*exhales* It's like...you're gonna cause more problems for the poor thing instead of solving them.

We did our best to discourage the owners from buying the remote trainer.

But no dice. They insisted. 

XP Ugh. 

I wish they would have gone for a training class instead or something. The poor puppy. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

An Odd Smile

 I had a lady want to get a mouse today.

Which isn't that odd. 

Like people buy mice all the time -despite their smell, they've been quite a popular pet this past year.

But there was just....something off about the interaction.

Like the customer said they had a cage. Said that they had had mice before.

But the customer wanted the mouse to be put in a clear container instead of our usual box with holes that we put the animals in.

So they ended up spending like an extra $5 on a critter tote so that the mouse would be visible.

Which...was like a red flag in my mind.

Why would you want to spend more money on a temporary traveling container???

Which made me think that the lady might be getting this mouse as a gift for someone.

And it might be a surprise gift. Like a thing to ask out to prom or a prank or something.

Yet...this was a mother aged lady. It wasn't a dumb college student. 

So it made a prank less than likely....and maybe they were getting the mouse for their kid? Who knows.

I just know that there was something off about the situation. Like the way the woman smiled just spoke of her knowing something I didn't.

But like....there were no major red flags given to stop the sale of the mouse...*exhales* Sooooo I sold it....hopefully it does well.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bark Collars

 You know....I understand the frustration of having to listen to sounds you don't want to listen to constantly.

Like the squeaking of dog toys in the store.

Or the constant barking of dogs.

Being sensitive to noise....they can get on my nerves quiet easily.

And so I understand it when customers call or come into the store looking for solutions to get the barking of a dog to stop.

And most of the time this barking is for the customer's own dogs. 

But I got a phone call from a customer who was...tired...of the neighbor's dogs barking all the time.

Apparently barking so loud that you have to have the TV turned up to full volume in order to hear anything.

And the customer was calling to see how much a bark collar would cost because they had -as well as other neighbors mabye?- contacted the owner and asked if they could get a bark collar and the owner said that they would...idk if it was look into it or what....

But apparently said owner hasn't gotten said bark collar yet for their dog.

And the customer calling was thinking it might be a price point issue so they wanted to see if that was the case.

Which yah. It can be. Our least expensive bark collar is like...$50 I think? Most expensive is up towards $200.

So I can see why someone wouldn't want to invest in one just yet.

Or maybe the owners just haven't had time to get one. Who knows.

I any case.

I tried to suggest to the customer that they could invest in a "Sonic Egg" which is a device that can be placed inside or outside and it doesn't involve any collars or anything but senses when the dog is barking (within 50ft) and sends out a sound to get said dog to stop barking.

Like they're pretty successful. I rarely get them returned. And it could be a more passive way to get said neighbor's dog to stop barking.

As I've seen news stories of 'good intentioned' neighbors who kinda...overstep and get the dog owner a bark collar for their dog...and it not going over well with the owner at all.

So I was doing what I could to mitigate that situation from occuring again by suggesting the sonic eggs as something the customer calling could do in their own home to stop the dog from barking....which yah might not help either...but hey it's better than a collar around the dog's neck.

*exhales*

Don't think this person was convinced though. They were very focused on the bark collar and the ability to shock or send vibrations to get the dog to stop.

Which...I can understand if you're listening to a dog barking all day long how you would go to any method to get said dog to stop barking.

 But yah...maybe let the owner figure it out? Maybe?

-Sarnic Dirchi

My Head Hurts

 So normally I don't mind it when customers speak to me with an accent. 

Like bravo to them for learning a second language and such.

And often times I just like listening to them speak and how they pronounce words and such.

But....

When I've had a migraine for like a week straight....

And I end up helping FOUR customers in a row -all of which had accents from different places....

It gets less fun because my brain ends up just...hurting.

Like normally it's not an issue, sure there's slight miscommunications here and there. But overall we're usually able to clarify and be understood between each other.

But today....all four customers were having trouble understanding what I was saying.

Which meant that I ended up having to repeat myself over and over and over.

And it's always antagonizing when I have to tell the same customer the same information multiple times because for whatever reason what I'm saying isn't computing to them...or you know...they weren't listening in the first place.

But to have FOUR people/groups in a row do this to me.

When my energy levels are really low and I'm suffering from a week long migraine.

Ha yah no.

I was sooo frustrated by the end of it.

Like I don't know what I can say to make my words clearer to you...but you need to actually pay attention to what I'm saying especially when you keep asking me questions that I already answered earlier in my explanation of things. 

*shakes head*

Yah I had to go hide in the back for a bit after helping all those customers because gah. Frustration does not help an aching head at all. 

Still...it was cool to hear those accents from all over the world despite the circumstances.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Not Engraving

 We had a customer complain that the engraving machine for our dog tags wasn't working right because they tried to engrave their tag...and the machine didn't engrave it.

So. I went over there to see what the issue was. 

And it turns out it was just....consumer error. *exhales* Like...I'm pretty sure the nice screen shows the user exactly how to place the tag in the tag machine so that the engraver can engrave it.

But this customer just ignored that part.

And when the lid unlocked so that they could lift it up and place the tag within -which there's this little knob that you hook the tag onto so that it's held in place when the machine pulls it deeper in to engrave it---instead of the customer placing the tag on the knob...they just opened the lid and tossed it inside.

*exhales*

Like...what did you expect? *shakes head* As that same area also is where the machine will drop the tag for you to reach in and grab -like a candy machine- when it's done engraving.

So if you toss it inside...it will just fall to the bottom where you can grab it again.

But it's not gonna engrave anything because the customer didn't place the tag in the spot where the machine could then do the engraving. *shakes head*

I was able to show the customer where to put their tag.

And I'm assuming it went off without a hitch after that because the next time I looked over there was a different person using the machine. 

So yah. Fun times dealing with people who can't follow instructions. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Arrive Faster

 Had a customer come into the store with some concerns because they'd ordered some stuff online...but hadn't yet received the stuff they ordered and apparently the customer had tried to contact customer service multiple times only to apparently have no one responding to them. 

Well...turns out that the customer ordered their items to be shipped to their house and not be picked up in the store. They also ordered the product on a SATURDAY. 

Like...no wonder you couldn't reach customer service if it's on a weekend...people don't always work weekends....

And like...it's barely been two days. If an item is expected to ship to you the minimum would be like 2 days...and since you ordered on a weekend...more than likely the won't pick the order until today or tomorrow...and then they still will need to ship it to you.

Like the expected timeframe for people who order online at our store to get it shipped to their house is 3-5 days. 

And those 3-5 days are usually business days meaning M-F.

So more than likely the earliest they'll receive their order is Wednesday, but I'm thinking probably Friday.

In any case....the customer didn't quite understand that....I'm not sure they even understood after I explained what was going on to them.

But they were also concerned because one of the items they ordered was ordered in the wrong size and they wanted a different size.

I don't know why they thought we could help with that....as we only deal with orders that are meant to be picked up in the store. If it wasn't for store-pickup we have no control over what the suppliers send nor do we have a way to contact them to fix the issue. *shakes head*

I did tell the customer that if the item arrives and it's the wrong size they can return it to the store and we could give them their money back, but since the particular item that was 'ordered wrong' is one that we don't carry in our store I wouldn't be able to replace it. They'd have to order it again online. 

So yah....gonna be interesting to see if this customer actually comes back...and just how long it takes them to get their order. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Scattered

 Had this old lady come into the store to return like...idk 4 bags of dog food? 

I was backing up on a register at the time and my other cashier was helping this customer out.

And whatever it was...it was complicated because I helped like six customers in the time it took my cashier to help one. 

So yah. Not a good sign. 

But I didn't think much of it after the cashier finished the transaction.

Until I saw the lady later on. In the dog food section of the store.

Which is like six or so different aisles filled with multiple brands of food. 

And I get that the customer was looking for a new brand of food to try.

But like...said customer...proceeded to leave a path of destruction behind them as they shopped through the various sections.

How so? 

Well, instead of grabbing the smaller bags that are easier to lift and move around so that the customer could look at whatever they were looking for on the bag....

The old lady was just pulling the heaviest bags (30+lbs) from the bottom shelves onto the floor so that she could look at them...and then would just leave them there on the floor when she moved on to the next brand because the other brands didn't have what she wanted.

There were a good dozen or so 30+ bags scattered on the floor throughout the dog food aisles.

And it got so annoying so quickly to have to put them back.

I ended up waiting until the customer was done and gone (which took like an hour) before putting the bags back into their proper spots. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Brand?

 Had a customer come into the store today to return some bags of food that they'd bought for their...particularly picky eater dog and cat.

Said dog didn't like to eat like...anything. 

Said cat is a nursing mother needing a higher protein diet but apparently doesn't like the food the customer bought for them last time and prefers the dog's food....*exhales*

In any case.

I had helped the customer the last time they came in with picking out those bags of food.

But I helped a ton of people in the week inbetwee so it took me a bit to place just how I had helped them and what the situation was. 

And as I was trying to figure out what I had suggested last time I was like "Okay, so which brands did you get last time?"

And the customer just gave me this exasperated look. Like they expected me to remember what food I'd shown them last time -when I've shown tons of customers tons of different brands of food- and they were like "I don't know!" 

Like....lady....you had the bags with you for a WEEK. You had to LOOK at said BAGS whenever you grabbed some of the food within to try and feed to your pets.

YOU brought the bags of the food BACK into the store. 

Like...How in the world do you not remember what brands of food you just dropped off at the register? How unobservant are you?

*exhales* 

So weird.

In any case. I helped the customer again, showed them a couple other brands they could try this time to see if that would work.

Hopefully it does.

Guess we'll see. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Digestive Issues

 I had a customer call the store like half an hour before we closed asking if we had any solutions to help out their dog.

As they're dog has been suffering from diarrhea and they wanted to know if there was anything they could give the dog to help fix that. 

Which yah. You can give a dog canned pumpkin and that can help with the problem. And we do sell that here in the store.

But the customer was like "Can I just give them people food?"

... I had to ask them to repeat the question.

"Can I just give my dog people food?"

*exhales*

Like...No? 

Giving a dog human food could make the problem worse depending on what you're feeding it. It could also cause other issues because human food isn't meant to be given to dogs. There's a lot of stuff within our food that dogs can't digest and such.

And like yes. You could give human food if you cook your chicken and your rice in such a way to make it 'safe' for the dog.

But like it might not solve the diarrhea problem. It's better to try the canned pumpkin and maybe switch to a different dog food. Or else wait out a week and see if the issue resolves itself because if the dog was suddenly switched from one type of food to another then yah....you're gonna have digestive issues. 

But also like....why wait until nearly 9pm at night to call and ask us this question? *shakes head* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Have A Seat

 We had a customer come into the store today who brought a camping chair in with them.

Said camping chair was used to sit on while the customer shopped around the store.

They would move to an aisle...and then sit down and look at things?? and then move on to the next aisle.

I think? I only caught glimpses of the group but yah, one customer was constantly sitting in a camping chair whenever they stopped moving around the store.

Gotta give them props for bringing their own seat. Though it was a first for me to see here lol.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Change My Mind

 Had a customer in the store today who told me that they wanted two of our nerite snails.

The smallest ones.

And handpicked out said 'small' snails by themselves.

-Yah they were the littlest ones.

So I grabbed them, bagged them up, handed them to the customer and sent them on their way.

Except...the customer came back like...two minutes later and said that they had changed their mind.

They wanted to get one of our Kuhlii loaches instead.

Which I'm not sure why they couldn't have just had me...grab both?

Like the customer could have gotten both the snails and the loach...unless there was an issue with tank size or maybe budget?

Who knows.

Like loaches tend to just eat food off the bottom of the tank, while the snails would help with an algae problem...

So not sure why the customer wanted to switch them out as they don't quite do the same task...unless you know, they were just getting the snails for aesthetic and not for their algae eating abilities and they decided that the loach would be a better aesthetic? 

*shrugs*

The interesting thing is that while the customer wanted the 'smallest snails' when it came to the loach they ended up wanting one of the bigger ones.

....Not sure why....but yah.

Customers are interesting.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Counting Crickets

 I honestly don't like it when people expect me to Math for them. 

Especially first thing in the morning.

And today. I had two different people want me to Math for them within like the first half hour of the store being open. 

*exhales*

The first customer was like "Hey I need $20 worth of crickets."

.... 

.....

....

Like dude....I have no idea how many crickets you can get for twenty bucks. Most people just say "Hey I need a dozen" "60" "20" and we call it good.

Because we don't sell crickets in 'bundles' like "Hey this box has $5 worth of crickets in it."

No our prebagged bags have numbers to them. "6, 12, 24 etc" saying how many crickets are in the bag.

But it's up to you to math it out yourself.

*exhales*

Like...$20?

I can tell you that you can get 10 small crickets for $1.30 because they're 13 cents each.

But like the price goes down as you get more.

And as you get more...it gets more complicated...to figure out just how many crickets you get for so much money.

*exhales*

Honestly....it was probably just the early morning hour. Because like. The lowest we go for crickets is 11 cents for the smalls if you get 76 or more.

If the crickets had been 10 cents each then $20 worth of crickets would be like 200 crickets. 

Knowing that they're 11 cents...I probably could have just done 175 and called it good.

Though I did actually math it out and guesstimated that around 180 would be $20.

Of course that's before Tax. But hey. I doubt most people know how taxing works or what price gets added to your overall cost.

But yah.

Frustrating. That the customer expected me to know this information like right away.

Like dude. I haven't taken math since high school. And at this early hour I'm not in the mood to math things out.

*shakes head*

The other customer was slightly more simple.

They wanted 15 small crickets.

Easy enough to grab.

But then they were like "How much is that?"

Like...I have no idea?

The crickets are 13 cents each.

10 would be $1.30

Adding 5 more would put the total to around $2 or so. 

....

Yah.

I don't like mathing first thing. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

All of Them

 We had a customer call the store today like...ten minutes before we closed, asking if we had any mystery snails in stock.

Whcih...yah...we did.

And the dude was like "Great! I'm right here, I'll be right in to grab all of them."

And sure enough at like 9 right on the dot when we closed...I see a guy walk in and head over to the fishwall.

*exhales*

Like....is there really a good reason to walk in right at closing time for animals? No. No there isn't. Surely this could have waited until tomorrow morning. 

Or like the dude could have come in even an hour earlier.

But to come in right at close and demand ALL our snails?

Yah. Didn't like him on sight. 

Because we usually have a ton of mystery snails on hand. 

Unless we didn't get in any on our shipments there's usually a good 40 or more of them in the tank.

And to fish them all out would take time. Time that I really didn't want us to have to waste when we had already closed for the night.

*shakes head*

However.

The dude ended up only taking like 15 mystery snails. A combination of our ivory, blue, and gold ones. 

As he'd never seen 'light' mystery snails before. 

Soo I'm guessing he's only ever seen the black mystery snails? Who knows.

In any case.

He hadn't expected us to have a good 40 snails in the tank as apparently other pet stores he's visited only ever have like...ten in stock.

So he wasn't expecting to get more than like...ten of them.

It was so unexpected that we had so many snails for him that he didn't even bring in enough cash to buy the 15 snails he ended up getting and he had to run out to his car to get more money in order to pay for all of them.

*shakes head*

At least he didn't totally wipe us out of our mystery snails. So bonus there.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Last Minute

 I will never understand the people who decide to do last minute shopping.

Like...I understand that people work late shifts and such and not everyone gets off work at 5pm.

But like...I don't understand people who decide to come into our store ten minutes before we close to shop.

It makes sense if it's an emergency and you need to pick up some food for your pet because you just realized you're out.

But buying animals ten minutes before close? Impulsive much? 

And it's so stressful on us workers because we're trying to close down the store and now there's people shopping around and messing things up and needing help and preventing us from getting our closing tasks done in a timely manner because they had to come in and linger.

It's especially annoying when it's a group of anti-maskers coming into the store right before close.

Like guys...just because the sun went down doesn't mean we can't see your maskless faces in the lights that we have on in the store.

*exhales*

It's frustrating. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Review

I have coworkers who occasionally like to go onto the internet and look up our store and read the reviews posted there.

Me? 

I'm not one of those people.

Mostly because if people take the time to review a place....it seems like they're more likely to leave a negative comment rather than a positive one.

And I tend to take criticism to heart when it comes to my store. I don't like it when people give bad reviews. Especially when like...it's over something stupid that we can't control. (Like prices or variety of animals we sell) 

So it was rather surprising today when I had a customer come in looking for help for getting the right type of food for their new dog.

And I gave them a couple of options to look at and made a couple other suggestions.

And the interaction was a pretty typical one. Customer asks questions. I give answer/opinion. They say thanks. I move on to the next customer.

But this person made a point to thank me for my help. And further stated that they would leave a good review of me online too.

Like. O_o 

Uhmmm.

I mean, it's good to get good reviews and such.

But I'm perfectly happy being unknown at work. 

Like I know people know me as I do get in my regulars and such that I interact with a lot.

And I know that people have referenced me before online as my coworkers who do look at reviews on our store have shown them to me.

But still.

Being told that someone is going to say something online?

Yah. Kinda nervewracking.

I'm good not being known. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Counting Ever Counting

 So I had to count all the animals in the store. Again. Tonight.

Again because I did this 'annual' animal count last month. But due to a glitch in the system...it didn't get recorded.

And instead of being like "Oh well, guess we'll just skip it this time." Corporate decided to just 'reschedule' it and have me do the count again tonight.

*exhales*

They're lucky this was like the one weekend this month that I didn't already have plans. Because that would have thrown quite a wrench in their plans since I'm supposed to be present, as the manager over the department, for these counts.

In any case.

Out of the ordinary, my head manager scheduled one of our cashiers to stay behind to help me count the creatures once the store is closed.

-As we need to have two people present so we can verify that the numbers are accurate. 

This mostly is important for counting all the fish we have. 

And usually it's one of my petcare people that does this. Or another manager.

It's a first to have a cashier helping out.

Which can bring it's own share of problems.

Namely in that the cashiers aren't often over by our fishwall, and probably don't look too closely at the fish they're checking out at the register when people bring them up to buy.

So expecting the cashier to be able to tell the difference between multiple varieties of fish in the same tank....yah....

Thankfully though, there wasn't too much confusion with this cashier. A couple of clarifications and they were good to count the animals.

So woot!

We even managed to count all 4,556 animals in like...an hour and a half? Which is rather impressing considering it can take a couple of hours to do this count. 

It was probably helped by the fact that we are low on animals due to...well people buying them up like crazy. 

So yah, helps to have a lower than normal amount of stock too.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Skin Colored

 There was a customer who came into the store today to do a training class with her dog.

And from a distance...it really looked like she wasn't wearing a shirt.

Which would be really odd...to come in shirtless into a petstore to train your dog....

So I assumed that she was wearing a shirt...but from how far away I was standing...it looked like there was nothing there.

Which was a valid visual...because the tank top she was wearing was nearly the same shade as her skin. So from a distance the color blended in to make it look like she didn't have a top on.

It was so weird. So weird. Why would you wear such a shirt? 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Don't Overcrowd It

 Had a couple of girls come into the store today looking to get some fish for their 'tank.'

In typical fashion the girls didn't know exactly how big it was and kinda gave an approximate size to what they had.

Which seemed to be around a 2 gallonish tank.

Which usually means getting a betta fish.

But the one girl wanted more fish than that. She wanted like 10 goldfish in that little tank because she wanted 'a ton of fish' in her tank.

It was a bit of a shock to her when I flat out told her if she put 10 goldfish in that small of a space at least 8 of them would probably die.

Apparently the concept of overcrowding hadn't really occurred to her.

Probably because the customers saw our tanks filled with a ton of fish in them...not realizing that all our tanks are considered to be one big tank as they're all connected to each other. 

So yah.

The customer ended up buying '5 goldfish' to split between two tanks and then an extra 2 goldfish for a friend.

*exhales*

I couldn't argue against it. But if she does try to put all 7 together in the tank I hope she quickly realizes that I was right in saying that doing that many together was a bad idea.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Replace My Light

It started this morning, when my manager asked what our return policy on our tanks was because a customer wanted to know if they were still within the timeframe of being able to return part of the set up as their light had stopped working.

My manager had thought it was 90 days, but I had to correct them and say that it was 60 days. Just like every single other product (with the exception of live animals) in the store. 

So if the customer was over the 60 days they wouldn't be able to make a return, but I did tell my other manager that depending on the tank sometimes the brand company (the ones who make the tank and put their name on it) have longer guarantees that they customer could check out online and see.

I didn't hear anything more on it...until a couple of hours later.

When one of my stockers came up to me with the phone in hand saying that a customer needed help with a fish tank question.

I pick up the phone and it's the same customer my manager had talked to earlier.

Where they had purchased a tank from us 'recently' and they wanted to know if they would be able to return/exchange out a light that had come with the tank kit that they'd bought as it wasn't working properly.

And I was like "That depends...when did you purchase the tank?" as we only have a 60 day return policy. So if the item is over 60 days we can't do a return. 

The customer said that they'd bought it "In March." 

And I had to stop them there because the way they'd said 'in March' made it sound like March of 2020 aka LAST YEAR which is a year too late to do anything. And with how they'd been talking earlier it didn't seem like they meant that the tank had been purchased within the last 30 days either. So I had to clarify as I honestly think they didn't realize that it was still March. It may be the last day...but yah still March. 

And they were like "Oh this March." 

So I was like "You bought it within the last three weeks?"

To which they responded "No, it's been like 6ish weeks?"

"So mid february?"

"Maybe the end of February?"

*exhales*

Which this would have gone so much quicker if the customer had kept their receipt, but they hadn't and half the reason why they were calling was to see if we could look up the receipt for them. 

So I tried. I pulled up their account on the computer to see what I could find....

And I didn't find any tank purchase. Found a ton of Skinny Pig purchases (they'd bought like SEVEN skinny pigs in the last month and a half) and a couple fish purchases but nothing indicating that the customer had bought a tank within the last 60 days. 

The customer was like "But isn't there anything you can do?! Can I try and look it up on the website or something?"

There wasn't anything I could do as our store only holds records for 60 days in our system.

And I highly doubted that the website was that sophisticated as to keep track of all the purchases, so I suggested that the customer go through their bank statements and such to see if they could pinpoint which purchase from our store was their tank purchase and depending on the date on said statement I might be able to do something.

It was a few hours later that my petcare person took yet another phone call and I just knew it was this same fish tank customer.

And the associate ended up handing the phone over to me, and yep, same customer.

They'd discovered that their SO had been the one to buy the tank and that their statements showed they'd purchased it at the end of JANUARY (that's hardly March you silly customer) and they wanted to know if they'd still be able to return the tank light if it was a couple of days over the 60 days.

Which again. I would need a receipt to prove that that was the timeframe the tank was bought in.

They ended up giving me their email address to see if that would pull up more receipts.

Which it did. And luckily for them the last one it pulled up (aka the earliest receipt on record) was the receipt for their tank. 

Honestly though, with how persistent the customer was being about trying to get this light replaced (which is funny because my coworker said that they had said it had been broken for a month but for the entire month they hadn't thought about trying to replace it??? people are weird) that I was about ready to say "Yah sure whatever, bring in the light and stop bugging me."

But thankfully we found the receipt. So it makes it easier to do the whole return and such to get the new light.

Thankfully I didn't have to deal with the return itself as the customer is supposed to have come in after I left for the day.

But hopefully we don't hear from them again.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Why This Cat?

 So recently we've been getting some complaints from customers about how 'quickly' (aka not at all) our adoption group has been responding to applications sent in by people to adopt out the cats that are in our adoption center.

In particular is an Orange Tabby called Bob Hope who seems to be the star of the show...and yet is still here in the store. 

So I reached out to the adoption group to see how long it takes for responses to occur to people.

And I was told that they should be receiving a response from them within two days on whether or not their application was accepted.

And that part of the reason why Bob Hope hasn't been adopted yet is because applicants keep indicating that they want him to be an outdoor cat...and the adoption group doesn't adopt out 'outdoor' cats. They only do 'indoor cats'

In any case.

We've had this really persistant customer, who's called us multiple times absolutely frantic about the fact that they've been 'trying to reach' the adoption group and 'haven't received a response' about their application to adopt out Bob. 

One of my fellow managers managed to get this customer's name and info so I could send it along to the adoption group to see what was going on there.

And it turns out that the customer has been rejected by the adoption group as a good fit for Bob.

One reason was because the customer wanted to keep him outside.

But the main reason for rejecting this customer was because the customer had owned cats before...and abandoned them in other states. Namely California and New York.

I don't know how the adoption group found that out, if the customer had admitted to it or if there's like a record of adoptions made in the country that various groups can access...

But because the customer had abandoned the cats....they were deemed not a good fit for Bob Hope and therefore unable to adopt him.

And like...I can understand circumstances happening where you might have to rehome one cat for some reason.

But...it's been multiple cats. in at least TWO different states that have found a home with this customer only to be left behind by them. 

Which shows that the customer isn't able to hold a long term commitment of owning a cat and could possibly abandon Bob Hope as soon as they happen to move again. 

And it makes me wonder...because the adoption group contacts all applicants on their status....why this particular customer is so frantic to get the cat.

Like why this cat? Why do you NEED him so much? Why are you trying to go through every single route available to get this particular cat?

It's kinda...suspicious. Weird. *shakes head* 

I can only hope he gets adopted by a good owner soon so if this customer calls again they can be told he's found a home with someone else.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Let Me Hold Him

 Gotta love the customers who just...like straight to your face.

Or at least...confuse their facts.

Had a customer today who asked if their daughter could hold one of the cats in the store.

And they were so confused when I told them that with the pandemic we don't handle the cats and only the adoption group is allowed to open the cages and the only way to get the cages open is to put in an application online at the adoption group's website.

The customer was like "Since when has this been a thing?"

Uhmm...like the whole entire past year?

We didn't have cats come back into the adoption center until like...Septemberish of last year? From March until September the cages were empty.

And it's been a policy that only the adoption groups can open the cages for customers that entire time.

-It's a social distancing thing. we can't really social distance if we're handing the cat to the customer and it's an enclosed space so less ability to social distance again- 

And the customer was like "But last october my daughter was able to hold the cats!! I remember because it was for her birthday!"

Like....are you sure you did that at our store? Because that policy has been in effect and all my associates know to only let the adoption group have people handle the cats.

So unless one of the volunteers or the adoptees were present to open the cages for the cats...the customer couldn't have held a cat at our location.

Like Idk what other stores are doing. But that's been our policy the entire time.

*shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Covering Register

I ended up getting stuck on register for like...an hour today pretty soon after I came into work because our cashier needed to take their lunch and I was the individual who was the 'most free.' at the moment.

And like...I don't mind covering the register for a lunch break. It's only 30 minutes of having to interact with people. Nothing too crazy and I can handle having nothing to do for that long if it ends up being a dead period.

But like. I tend to plan on how much energy I'm going to be spending doing certain tasks.

So if I'm planning to only be on the register for half an hour...and it takes longer...than my irritation ends up getting triggered as I'm forced to be someplace that I wasn't expecting to be for longer than I wanted to be.

This ended up being the case because our cashier -who is usually a stocker- went to our head manager and asked if they could be off register for a little bit longer and help out elsewhere in the store before they went crazy.

Which I hear you.

If you have any experience elsewhere in the store besides on register...then cashiering shifts are the worst shifts ever. Just having to stand there and wait for people to come to you to buy things. 

And the head manager granted my coworker's request and had them work on a 'single pallet' in the back to get all the product out on the shelf.

And like....H.M. made it sound like it would only be another 15 minutes or so. That this would be a 'quick task' my coworker could do before returning to register.

Nope.

Took them like 45 minutes to get back to me. XP 

*exhales*

I can't fault them.

But I really didn't appreciate being stuck in a place I wasn't planning to be stuck at for over an hour. 

Not. Fun.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Flying off the Shelves

 We had a customer ask us today what we do with the hamsters that don't sell in our store.

Which obviously that probably means that the customer has a snake or some other creature that eats rodents and they're looking for a cheap means to get their creature more of their food source....

But like....dude. Our hamsters ALWAYS sell.

I think he honestly forgot that there's this pandemic going on.

Or else didn't realize, like most people haven't quite realized, that buying pets has become quite the popular pasttime with people.

I mean if you're staying home all the time and not going anywhere...you'd want some sort of companionship as well to keep you company.

And many many people have turned to pets as their answer.

Even now. A year later we're still struggling to keep animals in stock.

After all, it takes time to breed animals and get them old enough to be able to be shipped out to stores to be sold.

So it's been a struggle to keep anything in our store for like...longer than a week. 

It's been a struggle to get any animals in our store at all.

And hamsters?

They're selling like hotcakes.

Like I literally only had like two hamsters available for sell when the customer asked us this question. 

The rest of the cages were either empty or had mice in them.

Our hamsters basically sell within two or three days of becoming available.

And that's when I actually get them in.

Like half the time my expected shipments end up being short at least half of the animals that we were supposed to get in.

And honestly...we're just as surprised as customers are at how quickly everything is still selling.

like you'd think after a year everyone would have already gotten their pets and be content with it.

But nope.

It's still an ongoing problem.

One that probably won't be fixed until things 'get back to normal'

-Sarnic Dirchi

Greetings

 Gotta love the customers who are just random.

We had an older gentleman walk into the store and say to our cashier: "Welcome to Starsmet!" 

Which...it's us the workers in the store who are supposed to greet the customers with that. We're the ones who are supposed to say "Welcome to Starsmet!" to them. 

*shakes head* lol

It definitely threw my cashier off a bit before they responded back in kind. "Welcome to Starsmet." 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Only ONE?!

I had a customer come into the store like five minutes before close wanting some dewormer medication for their kitten.

The problem?

We only carry ONE type of dewormer for cats and it's a tapeworm dewormer.

And the customer was positively flabbergasted that we only carried the ONE dewormer.

"But you're a PET STORE!" they kept saying. Like it meant that we were a big warehouse and would carry a thousand and four products of the same thing but in different brands. *exhales*

Like...we have LIMITED space lady. There's only so much product we can fit on our shelves.

And I honestly don't know why we only carry the one dewormer.

We have at least twelve different types for dogs it feels like.

but only the one for cats.

Not sure why that is.

But that's how it is.

And it's 2 minutes before close and me and my coworkers are exhausted from having to deal with a ton of needy customers like this customer the ENTIRE day and we're just ready for everyone to leave and be done for the night.

And this customer is just expecting me to wave my hand and suddenly pull out the product they showed me on their phone like a fancy magic trick.

No can do.

They ended up buying the tapeworm dewormer in the end.

But it was very hard to not snap at the customer and be like "Either buy it or leave but I want to go home." at them.

*exhales*

Why do people have to be difficult?

-Sarnic Dirchi 

A Difference in 'Color'

There was a customer who came into the store today who wanted to get twenty ghost shrimp.

Which...that's a lot of shrimp to catch when the tricky litter buggers tend to be quick and like to swim/jump out of the net.

But twenty isn't too crazy of a number.

Unless the customer decides to be difficult.

And the customer decided to be difficult.

Like it's not a big deal if people want their shrimp to be bigger or smaller. That's an easy enough distinction to make.

But this customer?

They wanted the "Colored" Ghost Shrimp.

Like...

Ghost Shrimp are called Ghost shrimp because they're see-through. Aka. They don't have color. They're clear.

There isn't really anything to distinguish them from each other beyond their size and if the females have eggs visible within them.

But the customer insisted that 'some' of them had color.

*shakes head* 

The color? 

From what I could tell the customer was seeing 'color' in the organs and food and eggs and such. Basically they wanted any shrimp that 'didn't look like the other' 

Which again. They all practically look the same.

So it ended up being a bit of a game between us.

Where I would try and catch as many ghost shrimp as I could.

While the customer would look in the tank and pick out specific ones that they wanted that had the 'color' to them.

I think in the end they managed to hand pick like...6 of them? While I managed to fish out 14 others without interference.

Because there was no way I was going to stand there for twenty minutes fishing out one stupid ghost shrimp at a time because the customer thought that they had a different color when they're literally all the same freaking color.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Waiting

 It's amazing how many Saturday's have passed by in a person's lifetime...and yet customers seem to forget the fact that Saturday is a 'shopping' day for most people who work 9-5 M-F jobs. 

So of course the store is going to be more crowded, more busy, you'll actually have to wait in lines in order to buy the things you decided that you needed to get today. 

 It's also amazing how many people think that they're so much more important than all the other folks waiting in line and want to skip said line and be served first. *exhales* Like yes. I get you don't want to wait. But too bad. Everyone else is waiting too.

I had a customer come into the store today to return a hamster that had...well died. 

And instead of wanting to get their money back they decided they wanted to go look at the hamsters first and see if they wanted to get a new one.

And unfortunately for them, in the time they were looking....the line got really long. Like really really long. 

Because people have this amazing herd mentality of deciding to all check out at the same time.

And unfortunately it was just me, my cashier, and the petcare person in the store at that point.

And I was busy trying to catch a bird while my pet care person was catching fish and my cashier was trying to ring out people as fast as possible -which is near impossible when people decide to be complicated with returns and purchases and asking a ton of stupid questions.

And the customer who decided to wait to get a new hamster didn't want to wait in line to get their money back.

Which they had to wait in line to get their money back because I had already marked the receipt and taken the body of the hamster and therefore the customer needed to get their money back today because we can only honor things within a certain time frame and since I'd already marked the receipt...they wouldn't be able to get that return if they left.

Which yes. The line was long.

But it didn't seem like they had to wait that long because as soon as I was done catching the bird I jumped onto the register to help back up cashier and they were at my register soon enough.

Still. Kinda frustrating how impatient people get. Especially on Saturdays.

Like it's not my fault you all decided to come in on the same day at the same time and spend your stimulus check here. That's on you people. I just work here.

-Sarnic Dirchi