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

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

Yip Yip Yip

 I don't understand people who just let their dogs bark/yip/yap incessantly. 

Like...maybe they've dealt with it so long they tune it out?

Or maybe they just like having noise constantly around them?

Who knows.

In any case.

Today we had a yippy dog in the store.

One of those little white poodle mix dogs that can sit on your lap and such.

And the freaking dog would not shut up.

It yipped and yapped the entire time it was in the store. 

Which considering the dog was in the store for a training class....meant that it was in the store for at least an hour. Maybe slightly longer because I saw the dog outside of the training class for a little bit after the class had ended.

But like.

For that entire hour.

The dog would not shut up.

And on more than one occasion its yipping encouraged the other dogs in the class to start barking too.

Which barking dogs is part of the job. 

Having it last for like an hour straight? Not so much. 

Especially when the yip is at such a tone that it echoes loudly through the entire store.

Not as bad as the border collie bark, but this yippy mini poodle mix made it difficult to speak and be heard because the bark was so pervasive. 

It just. Echoed. 

Constantly.

Echoed.

And when I'm noise sensitive...having a dog constantly yapping makes it easy to trigger a headache.

Which a headache it did trigger.

But like....I didn't understand the pet parent themself.

Like why in the world would you allow your dog to yip constantly for so long? 

If it were me I'd be making more of an effort to shut the dog up. Like...at least try to hold the dog's mouth closed or cover it's eyes or something to get it to be quiet.

Especially when you're in a training class.

Like yah...a training class would probably mean they'd be teaching you how to get your dog to be quiet. 
But at the same time. It wasn't that sort of training class, at least I don't think it was. 

But how inconsiderate is it....to let your dog bark the entire time you're sitting in a class. To have the dog barking so loudly that you can't hear yourself talking halfway across the store, let alone within three feet of the yipping pup. 

I can't believe the pet parent would just sit there and let the dog bark without trying to quiet it.

But that seemed to be the case. And even the dog trainer said it was a 'bad class' because of it. Because they could barely make themselves heard and such. 

Like...how do you expect to learn anything if you can't hear anything the trainer was saying? 

It's frustrating.

Like me and my coworkers were talking about writing off one of those 'sonic eggs' hand remotes and using it as we walked past the training area to get the dog to be quiet.

We didn't do it. 
As we didn't want to interfere with the class, nor cause any potential problems because we knew how any of the dogs would react to it.

But gah.

So. Annoying.

I was so glad when yippy dog left.

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Training Class?

 Sometimes you gotta wonder about people's sanity.

So today is Black Friday right?

Crowds of people thronging everywhere hoping to find good deals on things to buy for Christmas.

It's been even more...well...stressful with the pandemic going on. Since tons of people gathering together could mean another uptick in cases in the next couple of weeks. 

So it's expected for it to be like a really super busy Saturday.

And like...I'd hope that people would choose to shop online instead of coming into the store.

But towards the middle of the day. 

One of my coworkers asked if it was okay that someone was holding a random dog training class within our store.

Which we have people come in all the time for like general obedience sort of training. Usually one on one stuff to get the dog used to interacting in the real world, so we don't really mind that.

But apparently it was a whole group of people (unsure how many people but more than the one on one) holding a training class in the back of the store.

Which A) you can't do that in our store. We only officially allow training classes to be taught in the store by our own dog trainers. 
And this is mostly done for safety purposes. Because if a dog gets hurt within the store we can be liable for that. So to decrease any potential issues we don't allow random people to hold random classes in our location. 

and B) Why would anyone think it would be a good idea to hold a class on Black Friday? Like aka the BUSIEST day of the year? With so many people thronging into the store... it's gonna be loud. People are gonna be wanting to access product and if the class is blocking said product That's not good.

But also like. C) We're in the middle of a PANDEMIC.

Why in the world do you think it's okay to hold a class on the busiest day of the year in a pandemic especially when we have cases skyrocketing? Like No. No. No.

Our Dog Trainer ended up telling the unofficial class they had to leave.

But like still....I don't get it. Why would anyone think that it's a good idea to hold training this day? *shakes head* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Persistent Customer

Most of the time when we get calls from customers, they're quick conversations. As alot of them are just asking if we have certain animals or products in stock.

But occasionally you get those 'difficult' customers on the phone that end up keeping you on the line for a good ten minutes or longer because either they have a ton of questions or they feel the need to tell you their whole life story before actually stating while they called.

So it's always a bit of a Russian roulette answering the phone, especially if you're in the middle of a rush or trying to help another customer at the register.

Because it's easy to multi-task if the customer just has a quick question.

It's much harder to help two needy people at once.

And unfortunately I took the gamble and lost when a customer called.

As I was in the middle of trying to help a customer in the store who had come in for a training class....when we'd cancelled all our training classes over a month ago because our dog trainer left. And the customer should have been called and informed of this so that they could come in and get their money back. But the customer was claiming that they never received a call and so I'd gone off to try and find a record of their paperwork so I could figure out how to give them their money back.

But I wasn't able to find it.

And so I was going to head back and tell the customer that i couldn't find their information and request their phone number and additional details so I could have a different manager look it up on the morrow...when the phone rang.

And since it was the middle of a rush...my cashier was busy with customers and my petcare was also busy with tasks and I had the phone on me.

And not knowing how long it would take for me to finish helping the training customer, I took the chance to answer the phone because i was hoping that it would be a quick question.

-_- It wasn't a quick question.

It could have been but the dude on the other line was....difficult.

Like talking to a man who has to feel he's always correct and everyone else is wrong sort of interaction.

*exhales*

The conversation started off simple enough. He wanted to us to check a price in the store on an item to see if it was the same price as the one he'd found online as he didn't want to spend more money in the store if it was cheaper on our website.

To which I informed him that we will price match our online store as usually our online store has different prices/sales going on than our in store locations. So if he would bring in his phone and show us that the price was lower on our website we'd price match it in the store.

Easy simple solution.

But the dude wanted to know if we had the product in stock.

Said product being the 12 count filter cartridges of our store brand filters.

I know the brand well. Knew I was looking for the PF-L version. So I wandered over to the fish section to check real quick to see if we had it in stock.

We didn't. Not in the 12 count. We only had it in the 6 count.

Again. This should have been a good point to end the conversation. We didn't have the product he wanted. We only had the six count.

But he wasn't happy that we only had the six count because he wanted the 12 count because the 12 count was cheaper online than the six count. *exhales*

So he wanted to make sure that I was actually looking at the right product.

He was like "It's the one with the PF-L on the box" and I was like "Yes that is the location I am looking at and I don't have it on my shelf."

"But the website says you have a few left!"

Well...its probably an inventory discrepancy because I have none on the shelf.

Again, he didn't like me saying we didn't have any so he was like "Tell me the short sku. I want to see if it matches the online website so I know if you're looking at the same one."

By this point I'm annoyed. Because like dude I've told you at least six times now that I don't have the item on my shelf. And this phone call is taking more time than I wanted it to and considering I was in the middle of trying to help another customer, this wasn't a good thing.

It didn't help that when I told him the short sku....it didn't match the online sku. So the customer wanted me to track down that online sku in our store.

And I was like "That short sku isn't on my shelf. And the PF-L is the only 12 count large that I carry in that brand. It's possible that the short sku online is an old one as the packaging has changed recently and sometimes the skus change when a new package design comes out."

He didn't like that and proceeded to ask me if he could order it online or not.

Which if he ordered it for store pick up I would have to decline that pick as we still don't have the product on our shelves, but if he was able to order it for delivery to his home, he would be able to get his filter cartridges that way.

As our warehouse isn't connected to our store so if he orders it for delivery the warehouse would send it to him if they had it in stock.

The customer then voices concern of wanting to make sure that if he ordered the product online he would get it for the online price.

Which...yes dude. Whatever price is shown online would be the price you would pay to buy the filters. There's no way the website would know which store location is closest to the customer's location or the prices in those stores. *shakes head*

Like yes prices in stores vary between locations because different cities have different tax rates on products they sell and such. But online? Nope. If you order it online you get that price you see.

It was only then that the customer was finally satisfied and hung up.

Unfortunately though he took long enough on the phone that the customers I was trying to help with their dog training problem....walked out of the store. Before I could get their phone number or any further information from them.

So there isn't a way I can refund anything because I have no paperwork and no contact info....

So yah. Failed the training customer at that point.

But it left me feeling irritated at the guy on the phone for sure.

Like dude. You made a two minute conversation into a ten minute ordeal in the middle of a rush when you didn't need to.

I get wanting to make sure that we don't have the product in stock.

But there comes a time where it just goes into overkill. Like just believe the worker that we don't have it. *exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Adopt?

I ended up playing trainee to my sister store today.

Which is so weird because like...it's my sister store...I shouldn't need to be training anyone over there as I don't work over there.

But one of my coworkers transferred over to that store, and found themselves alone in their department, confronted with a situation they never had to deal with directly when they were at my store...at least I don't think they did.

It's hard to know who knows what with all the crazy of the pandemic.

As my coworker was calling me in relation to the adoptions.

Which due to the pandemic, we've only recently begun doing cat adoptions again and haven't yet started dog adoption events in my location. So it's been since like...March? 

And my coworker called asking if it was alright to put a dog in one of the cat kennels as apparently the adoption group had brought one in?

Uh...no. The adoption center is for cats only. To my knowledge none of our locations keep dogs up for adoption on the premises because we don't have room for them nor the man power to care for them as they'd need to be walked and taken outside and such.

At the same time I don't know how the other stores work. We each do our adoptions slightly different so it could be that the sister store does allow dogs...but since it was like the first occurrence that I'm aware off...I think there was probably a miscommunication there.

In any case, my old coworker later called again...well like three more times? Just asking for clarification on the adoption process. Because even though we've started adoptions up again...it's the adoption group in my location that needs to handle all adoptions instead of us doing them. So this coworker probably never needed to learn the adoption process as we haven't had it for most of the year....

Especially considering that they weren't sure exactly what forms needed to be filled out...I ended up needing to walk them through the process. 

*exhales* Hopefully it all got done right and correctly....guess we'll see.

But hopefully the experience gives my old coworker more confidence to handle future adoptions without needing to call for my aid. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Training

Had a customer today approach asking if we did service dog training.

Which I knew was something that a couple of our previous dog trainers have been able to train in.
But I was certain if our current one was able to because they were new to the store.
(Turns out they can do service dog training, but I wasn't aware at the time of the conversation with this customer)

And when I told the customer that we did not.

He was like "WeLl YoU ShOuLd!! YoU woUlD MakE A LoT of MoNEy!!"
Literally that was his tone. He got all wide eyed and loud at me. 

Like. Dude. I can't control what we teach. 

There's no reason to get all pissy at me because you're getting a service dog but have no one available to train you on how to use a service dog. *exhales* 

He was like "Can't you talk to someone?! Suggest it?!"

And like I know our dog trainers can do such classes.
But they have to have more experience.
And again, I wasn't sure how much experience my dog trainer had.

So I told the customer that while some stores may have dog trainers who could do such certification and training, that it really depended on the dog trainer themselves and what classes they were qualified to teach and such and that our dog trainer wasn't yet qualified (though apparently they are. oops) 

But yah.
Not the best interaction with a customer.
Like I don't get people who expect us to provide them all the things and get mad when we can't. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Rescheduling?

I do wonder...how contacting all our customers is going.

As with the canceling of our Dog Training Classes and Our Grooming Services for the foreseeable future of at least two weeks if not longer....

I do wonder how long it will take our Dog Trainer and our Groomers to contact all the customers who wanted to do classes or groom their dogs and tell them that they have to cancel their appointments and reschedule for another time.

It's probably going to be a lengthy process....or else they're just hoping that the customers will read the emails stating those services are cancelled....

(which customers don't know how to read so idk how well that's working out)

But it does feel like a lot of my calls today at work involved customers asking about our Training and Grooming services.

*exhales*

Some of them were rather understanding of the situation.
Others seemed completely clueless. 

I had one customer who wanted to know when she could get her dog rescheduled for a groom.

And like.
*shrugs*
We don't know.

We don't know how long the salon is going to be closed. 

It all really just depends on how well people can listen to directions. Stay Home. And let the Virus run it's course with as little deaths as possible.

But until it's deemed safe to have strangers in close contact with each other again...
Who knows when we'll start up those services again.

I mean, our public school have postponed having students come back to class until the first of May. And that's like..six weeks away.

So we'll see.
There's still so much information coming in.
So many changes still occurring.

It's hard to know.
Just how all of it will play out in the end.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Run?

Had a customer come up to me today asking how old their puppy has to be before they can tolerate longer walks/runs.

O.o

Having never really gone on 'long walks/runs' when I had dogs...it wasn't anything I had actually considered.
Like...you go until they get tired?

I didn't tell her that.
Basically said "I'm sorry, I don't know, I'm not a dog trainer." 

Sooo I think she left to find someone else to ask? *shrugs* Dunno.

Come to find out later -when she was long gone and I couldn't help her-

Usually you want to wait til they're 9months to a year old....sometimes longer depending on the dog, to go on longer walks/runs with the pup to help protect their joints/bones etc. 

*shakes head*
I learn something new every day. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where Is It?

My manager called me after I got home from work today.

Because earlier, I'd answered a phone call.

Where a customer was calling again because the last person she'd talked to over the phone had told her that the least expensive pet training collar we had in the store was $100.
But she'd gone online and found one for half that price that we should also have in the store.

So she wanted me to go and see if we had it in stock. 

I ended up going to the aisle holding all our electronic gizmos and double checking the tags there to see if we had this 'cheaper training collar' 

I nearly didn't see it.
But I did find the placeholder for said training device.

Now I had to find out if we had it in the store.
So I went to our cabinet holding all the pricey electronic stuff and unlocked it. 
-As to avoid theft we've locked up our electronics. 

And managed to find it.

The customer said she'd be in 'soon'
And so I just gave the cashier the heads up that a customer was coming in for a training collar and it was in the locked cabinet on the right side in the door.
Keyword there is LOCKED

Because we also have a second cabinet where we keep the online orders customers have sent in. 

So I said "locked" because electronics is always locked. 

Should have known it wouldn't be easy for my coworkers to find it.
*exhales*

Because my manager called asking if I had put a remote trainer on hold.

Which I technically hadn't because I'd left it in the locked cabinet.

But I could understand the confusion because we often place items in the onlineorder cabinet when people call the store and request us to put things on hold for them.

The lady didn't request to put the collar on hold though.
So I left it in it's place.

And the manager wanted to know what I'd done with it. *shakes head*

Manager too didn't first understand what I meant by 'locked cabinet' so I had to clarify that it was in the cabinet where we keep the training collars and the flea and tick stuff and had to again clarify that I'd stated it was in the door of said cabinet. 

*exhales*

We got there in the end.
And hopefully the customer was happy with it.

But still...sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying to tell my coworkers things if they don't remember them two seconds later....

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Boundary

I had a family come into the store today looking for a way to keep their dog from escaping the yard.

So I directed them to our wireless and wired fencing systems.

Where the dog wears a collar around it's neck, and if it crosses the boundary set by the wired/wireless set ups....it gives a shock to the dog to tell it go back within the boundary lines. 

The customers seemed to be more interested in the wired versions -probably because it was less expensive than the wireless ones-

But the thing about the wired fencing systems is that you have to dig a trench in your yard and lay the wire in the ground to create the boundary your dog can't cross.

While the wireless doesn't do that.

It seemed like the digging wasn't an issue for them though. 

No.

What the parents were mostly concerned about...

Was if the fence system would shock their children too if they crossed it.

As apparently they were under the impression that it was the wire itself that gave off the electric shock.

*shakes head*

Nope.

It's the collar the dog is wearing. The wire line just acts as the trigger. If the line is crossed, the collar sets off a shock to the dog. 

So....unless the child is wearing the collar (which why???) .....the wire is perfectly safe and shouldn't cause any issues to humans at all. (you know...besides being a tripping hazard if they don't bury the wire) 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Clickers?

Sometimes I feel bad about leading customers all over the store when I'm trying to help them find what they're looking for.

I had an older woman come into the store today.
Who originally was looking for some pet stairs for her dog.
So that the dog could climb onto the bed and such.

But after leading her to said stairs, she also asked what type of clickers we had.
Because she wanted one for her dogs.

So I lead her to the inexpensive ones as they were just one aisle over.
Only she wasn't quite fond of them because it had taken me a moment to get the thing to work (the plastic made it difficult to click it) and she didn't want to have a hard-to-press clicker as she wasn't that strong in the fingers.

She wanted to know if I had any others, specifically ones that were more like....hmmm I don't remember what she wanted exactly....I think it was one that made noise at the press of a button?

Which the clickers....are kinda like buttons....
But in any case, I lead her across the store to the mini 'training' wing we had by the training center to see if we had any of those clickers she was looking for.
Nope.
We just had another similar clicker to the one I'd shown her by the leashes. 
Only it was like a dollar more, but it had the ability to change the loudness of the sound.
Which I hadn't realized you could do with a clicker, but apparently you can. 

But as she was debating about getting it.
She let it slip that she was looking for a clicker so that she could get her dogs to stop barking.

....at least that's what I heard the first time, but apparently it's her son's two dogs that won't stop barking, and her own dog is...fine I think? 

*shakes head*

But I was like "Oh! to stop barking."
Because I don't think she mentioned that earlier, she was just talking about clickers. 

But I knew just the thing for the barking. The handheld noisemakers to make them stop. 
It's the portable Sonic Eggs in the store that we have.
Little handheld devices that you can press and it creates a sound to get the dog to stop barking. 

Which....was back on the other side of the store, near the original spot I'd led the customer to the first time for the doggie stairs. 

And as we walked over there, I was telling her about it, but also checking in with the manager to see if we had any....

Which we unfortunately didn't. 
But!
With further questioning, she mentioned that the barking issue was indoors mostly.

Which I had a solution to that!
The regular Sonic Egg thingy that we carry lol. 
It's the same thing as the portable sonic egg, only this one just sits in the house and creates a soundwave to get the dog to stop barking. 

So I ended up convincing her to get one for her son, and she was thinking she'd come back another da for the handheld one.

Only as I passed by her at the register, she decided that she did want a second larger Sonic Egg to try at her house too.

So yay for me being able to help her find products that she needed lol. ^^;;

*fingers crossed* That they work for her and the doggies. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Crate Problems

The Grumpy Lady came back into the store today. Which I swear, I see her like every day. The one who looks like she chews on nails for breakfast. And everytime I see her...it's either she's buying ANOTHER crate or she's searching for a particular type of dog food for her dog. 
And I really don't understand why she comes to the store so often. Like...do you really use that many crates? I don't know. 

In any case.
Today, she came into the store wanting help with getting a specific crate from the back of the store.
Only in the two minutes she'd wandered back there and maybe waited...no one showed up. So she came all the way back to the front of the store to yell at the cashier that no one was in the back to help her, before again going to the back to get help by one of my coworkers. 

And upon finding the brand and the size that she needed. 
She came back up to the front.
Had the cashier put the crate together for her then and there. 
And had a manager take it out of her for her.

...Only for her to return a little while later.
Upset.
Because the crate wasn't working right.
How was it not working right?
The tray in the bottom of the cage wasn't lying flat.
And the door wasn't shutting. 
And the divider in the crate wasn't in the crate.

Apparently...this is an issue she's had before? 

But the thing is...her problem was really easy to fix.
The latch...she was latching it wrong. 
It needed to go a slightly different way.
The tray?
Needed to be slid through the bottom of the cage, not put in through the door and place down through that opening. 
And the divider for the crate? Was in the box. 

But was that satisfactory for her?
Nope.
She didn't listen to these explanations at all.
And insisted that she wanted to buy a different brand of crate. 
And try that instead.
That brand being our most expensive brand.
Meaning that she paid a bit more money for it. 

All because she didn't want to hear the explanation of how everything she complained about was still in working order. 
*shrugs*
well...it's your money lady.
If you want to spend it rather than listen....
Go right ahead. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

To the Side

There was a woman who came into the store today who had a large fluffy GoldenDoodle puppy dog.
She was needing assistance with harnesses.
As she was tired of her dog pulling her around.
And she wanted to get something that would prevent him from doing that.

Well...harnesses in of themselves don't help with the pulling problem, they actually make it worse. 

So instead I recommended her to an Easy Pull Harness. One that hooks the leash to the front of the harness instead of on the back like regular harnesses do. Which means that whenever the dog tries to pull away, they leash will pull them to the side because the hook to the harness is in front...if that makes sense.

In any case.
The customer wanted to try this particular harness on her dog right there in the store.
So I helped her get it onto her dog and fit it to him, and then we tested it to see if it actually worked.

It did!

Woot! :)
Yay for being able to suggest a simple solution to a customer's problem. :D 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Batterys

I ran into an older gentleman at work today.
Who was looking for a remote control collar to well...control his dog.
Usually when people are looking for the electronic collars its for bark control.
But surprisingly....
He wanted to use it as a training tool.
To prevent his dog from doing naughty behaviors and such.

So I lead the guy to the collars, and did my best to explain which option I thought would be the best for him.
-Which I have rather limited knowledge in dog/cat sections since I don't usually deal with those problems on a daily basis.
But we eventually found a solution and I got him the collar he wanted to try out.
-Since he can return it within a certain time frame if it doesn't work out. 

And that was basically the last I expected to see of him as he headed up front to check out.

Only a couple of hours later....
I see him trying to get help from my manager.
As he couldn't get the remote part of the remote control collar to work.

But my manager was trying to leave work, and so basically handed the situation to me.
Which...again....I don't know much about control collars....like at all....
But I'm willing to give it a shot.

And I'm quite good at puzzling my way through the problem and finding a solution.

This one ended up being rather simple.

The customer had believed that he only needed to put one battery into the remote instead of both.
So it was a matter of putting both batteries into the remote and walla!! It worked!! lol.

He wanted me to open up the collar portion of the setup as well, to ensure the battery was placed in correctly in that portion too....
But unfortunately it required a mini screwdriver to open it....and I couldn't find one in the store.
So I was unable to help him in that part.

But at least I figured out his original problem! :D

-Sarnic Dirchi

In the Store

So I got a phone call today at work,
Where the customer was asking me questions about a couple dog training classes we do.
Specifically the potty training class.
As she wanted to know if her puppy needed to have its rabies shot before she signed up for the class.

And I didn't know the answer.
So I put her on hold to ask a manager.
Manager wasn't sure either.

So I went to the training center to look at the papers to see what it said.
And there was a lady standing right there on the phone.
I didn't think anything of it.

Until she asked me if I was the phone she was talking to on the phone with. O.o 

Apparently the customer had decided to call the store...while she was in the store to ask about training instead of finding an associate in the store to ask her question to in person....

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Court Case?

Dealing with customers can occasionally cause quite the headache.

Especially if I have time to fume about it afterwards.

So, one of our new cashiers called me over to the register to help him out with a problem.

At first I thought that the problem was that the people wanted to sign up for a dog training class, which new guy didn't know how to do.

So I was like "Well you need to grab the paperwork..."

"They already have the paperwork." New guy told me. And the woman pulls out the paperwork from her purse. "They want to return the class." He continued.

Oh.

That's not hard.

But then I saw the address, saw the store number. And realized....the class they'd signed up for...wasn't at our store.

"Did you do this at a different Starsmet?" I asked them.

"Yes. We want to transfer into a class down here."

"I'm sorry," I told them. "We can't transfer classes. You have to return the class you purchased at the first Starsmet, and then come down here and sign up for one here."

Dog Training Classes aren't something we can transfer between stores because each store has a different dog trainer that gets commission on their classes. Because they get commission you can't just transfer one class to another dog trainer because then the second dog trainer wouldn't get paid for teaching the class basically.

The woman was like "But I already tried to return the class! And they said they couldn't do it because it was past due but that I could transfer to a class down here."

O.o

It's statements like that where I wonder if someone actually told the customer that.....or if the customer is just making it up on the spot to try and get their way.

I usually tend to think the latter....

"I'm sorry, but we don't transfer classes....I can double check with a manager though and make sure we haven't had a policy change I wasn't aware of though."

"Yes, Please do that."

I do that. Confirm that we can't transfer a class between stores, that the customer would have to go back to the first Starsmet to return the class there, get their money back and then come down here and purchase the class here.

And somehow...in the midst of that I offered to call our sister store in the next valley over to see what the deal was with not returning the class.

Only after I'd spoken to a manager there, and been briefly put on hold as they checked some things....did I look at the date.

The date for the class?

OCTOBER 2016.

They'd waited SEVEN MONTHS to try and return the class.

And guess what? Usually we only have a 60 day return policy on classes just like most other products in the store (with the exception of live animals)

Why did they wait?

"Because I moved, and life got crazy." yadda yadda.

*shakes head* You'd think that they'd have tried to make an effort to come before now.... I even wonder what caused them to remember that they had even signed up for a class seven months ago. My guess is it's a need for money or something.

Still. I talked to the manager, who said that they'd get the dog trainer in touch with the people about the class.

And I told the customer this. That the dog trainer had their information and should be giving them a call later in the day to see if they can work things out.

-As I confirmed with our own dog trainer that depending on situations, classes can be rescheduled even months and months later depending on the circumstances.

I also confirmed that the dog trainers usually call once or twice if a person has missed a couple of classes to confirm that they still wanted to take the class.

I confirmed that dog trainers do try to make sure the people who sign up for the class actually come to class.

*shakes head*

So again, I have to wonder why these people didn't act before now.

Because they probably got at least two calls to remind them they missed class....

In any case.

I explained the situation to the customer, told them there was nothing more my store could do etc etc etc.

And the woman seemed really understanding. It was her fault after all that she'd waited this long and was now having issues.

But the friend the woman came with. oooh. She wasn't having it.

"We may take this to court!" she proclaimed like a juvenile. "Because you guys promised us a service and you didn't provide it. So we should be able to get this class!"

O.o

Uh.

NO.

I didn't get a chance to respond really because they walked out the door then.

But honestly.

They would lose that court case and waste more money in the process.

Because we upheld our side of the agreement.

The customer signed up for a class and didn't come. It's on their heads for wasting their money.

It would have been different had the other Starsmet said "We're going to have class this day at this time." and then not actually hold it when the customer shows up.

Then there would be a case.

But no. If you didn't go to the class....it's your own fault for wasting your money, not ours.

And that little exchange...was stuck in my head the entire day, causing my headache I mentioned earlier. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Nightly Chaos

 It's funny, sometimes how clueless my managers can be about the state of my department.

Apparently, last night, Head Manager got a taste of the 'chaos' that is the closing shift.

It's not surprising that the night shift isn't well done.
Because a) I haven't been able to properly train my newest coworkers.
They've just kinda been thrown in and trained by whoever is on duty.

Which means they pick up the habits of the people already closing.
Chaos begets Chaos.

And with basically like all of the closers now being greenies with hardly three months under their belts....It's not surprising things are difficult.

In any case.
The Head Manager apparently had trouble keeping my coworkers in the dept and have them helping customers.

One was focused on the task of feeding the snakes -as that is a night task.
The other one would wander away.

So apparently HM had to spend most of the shift wrangling my two closers to keep them in their spots.

*shakes head*

This isn't surprising at all.
I know that newbies have a hard time multitasking. They get focused on one thing. I had that struggle when I first started work. Get focused on one task, forget about the fact that I needed to help customers. So I understand that. It's something that can be adjusted with time so long as there is somebody there to correct them. The longer it goes uncorrected, the more likely it is to become a habit that you can't break.

The fact that my coworkers wander away from the dept also isn't new. I currently have three wanderers on the night shifts. Those who just disappear to elsewhere in the store.
They don't realize that they need to stick around, and if a customer takes them from the dept they need to go right back to the dept.

In any case.
This whole realization process resulted in this sort of conversation:

Head Manager: We can't have the closers feeding the snakes anymore. They get too focused on that task and forget to help the customers. So can you feed the snakes in the mornings?
Me: No, policy says to feed them at night. Plus we don't really have time to do it.
Head Manager: But what does it take? Like two minutes to feed the snakes?
Me: Something like that.
Head Manager: The night people don't know how to multitask like the morning people do.
Me: *thinking* Because you don't give them the opportunity to learn how to do tasks and help customers at the same time. Me: It's because they're new.
Head Manager: Well, it's already too late to relearn it, they can't be feeding snakes and expected to help customers.
Me: But policy says to feed them at night because they shouldn't be handled after they're fed. So you'd basically be taking them off the floor for the entire day.
Head Manager: Fine... Well they can't feed the snakes until after we close then!!
Me: *thinking* Great....then they're never going to get fed.

Honestly.
The easiest solution to this problem would be to have me work a few evening shifts with everyone to make sure that they're doing tasks correctly, staying in the dept, and helping customers. They need a guiding force that isn't being given to them because none of the other managers care about my dept unless something goes majorly wrong. *shakes head*
The easy solution would be to have a meeting for everyone and go over the expected tasks, but the Head Manager shut that thought down. Saying that we should do "more one on ones" ....like we have time for that. >.< *shakes head* Ugh.

There's also talk of switching to feeding all the snakes on one day. Sunday when it's slow.
Which originally, was how we were doing it.
But we stopped doing it because Special Coworker wasn't doing well on feeding the snakes, as he was focusing on that task more than the customers. So we switched to doing a couple every night.

*shakes head*

What I really need is a one on one with the managers and go over what is expected and what we can handle.
As we had no problems feeding the snakes before closing...until we hired the new people. It's a matter of proper training. Teaching them. Not just letting them loose in order to see how the pieces fall into place.

Guess we'll see how that all turns out....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Greenie Leading Greenie

You know the saying of the 'blind leading the blind?'

I had to leave my coworkers in that sort of scenario today.

We have a new manager over me,
One who hasn't been in my department before. He was over in the stocking department, and has had very little time or training in my own department.

Basically he's still pretty green, I don't even know if he's had a proper shift in our department yet.
-As he's still been doing stocking shifts because we're short on stockers as well. And I can manage the department well enough without a manager over me.

In any case.
He was scheduled to finally have a shift in the department.
Only....

We had just hired a new greenie.
Like literally it was her first day on the floor.
And she only came in an hour before I was scheduled to leave for the day.
Which meant....
I only had an hour to train her in basically everything.

Before my manager showed up......
Who also still needs to be trained in basically everything.

*shakes head*

I had to leave them in the department, two greenies, by themselves for a few hours before our next coworker came into the department. :S

Not the best feeling in the world to leave work on.
Hopefully they don't burn down the store....or get customers angry at them....

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Done Too Soon

I love coming into work early.
Because that means that I get off work early.

The only time I don't love coming into work early.
Is the weekend.
Because we don't have the same amount of tasks on the weekend that we do throughout the week.
No cages to clean, no fish tanks to clean.

Basically all the things that take up a lot of time...
We don't have to do.
Because the focus is all on customer service. Since the weekend is the busiest time for us (and the holiday weekends means even more crazy.)

So when they bring me in at the normal 'weekday' time....
I get done with everything really early.
Like before the store opens.

And there aren't a whole lot of customers in the store in the mornings.

Which means...I spend a lot of time twiddling my thumbs, trying to keep myself busy once all my tasks are done.

It was even worse...
When the managers decide to have you train a greenie on those days.
Because even though the greenie is slow at all the tasks -since they've never done them before.
With both of us doing them at the same time....we get things done faster.

Which left both of us twiddling our thumbs looking for things to do.
Add to it that I had a third coworker come in...

Yah...
Our department looked pretty spiffed up since we had time to do basically all the things we don't have time to do during the week. lol.

Thankfully, I was able to send the greenie to go train on how to be a cashier, so it only left two of us bored out of our minds.

-Sarnic Dirchi