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