MLAARE -Breakaway

I couldn't do it anymore.
Deal with people at work.

I'd been moving from customer to costumer for like 2 and a half hours straight.

And it got to be too much.
I was tired of the people.
This was Tuesday after all!
Tuesdays are supposed to be dead!
But no.
Today was one of those days where people were coming in constantly.
Making it difficult to finish up the last few tasks.
I was tired.
I needed a break.

So I asked the manager if it would be bad to take my last break half an hour before I was off.
Because I needed a mental break away.

Thankfully they said yes.
And it was a relief to be able to get off the floor for a bit.
It gave me enough energy to spend the last half hour of my shift on the floor able to help a few more customers before I could escape.

Most days this isn't a problem.
But for some reason today it was.
I couldn't 'adult' anymore.

In any case, I survived. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Hamster Shuffle

One of the things I like at work,

Is that I'm occasionally confronted with problems. 

Not with customers -that's hardly a favorite thing.

But with things within the department.

Things the are like...mental puzzles. 

Today, for example.

My puzzle, was to bring out as many new animals to our sales floor as possible. 

It was rather easy to do.

Because we'd had a busy week of selling hamsters.

So most of the cages were empty. O.o

Totally weird.

I mean, it happens, but its rare that the hamsters get so popular that we have most of them empty.

In the end we had like 9 empty cages. 

And I had a bunch of animals in the back. 

Winter Whites, Mice, Robo Dwarfs, Syrians etc. 

For the most part, we try to not have more than like 3 hamsters/mice per cage.

That way the cage stays a bit cleaner, the animals aren't as crowded, etc. 

But if we have few cages, then sometimes its easier to double them up. 

Especially if the animals already came to us in Quantities greater than three. 

Today.

That wasn't a problem.

I was actually looking for ways to split the animals so that all the cages could be filled.

And I succeeded!

..Almost...I ended up with one empty cage by the end of it with no animal to go within. :( 

But still.

I managed to figure out how to get almost all our cages filled!

I mean...if It had been another person, then maybe only half of them would have been filled. Because some of the animals were already in group greater than 3, and most would think to just stick them all in one cage.

not so me.

:D

It was a great feeling. ^^ To be able to shuffle animals around and create less work for me tomorrow. 

I only wish I was able to fill all the cages.....but there were none left to be brought out from the back. 

Still. All but one is a great accomplishment! :D

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Broken Lights

So, I was busy at the register, helping customers to buy their purchases.
And managed to escape once the rush died down.
Headed back to my department, and noticed one of my managers carrying some items. Reptile products like lights and heat mats. I wondered why he was carrying them away from their department aisle.

I got the story soon enough.
Apparently, a guy walked in with the three items.
A big lightbulb worth like $80
A smaller UVB lightbulb worth like $30
A $20 dollar heat mat.

And wanted to return them.

So my manager, who happened to be on the register asked him.
"Do you have a receipt."
"No, I do not."

Bit of background.
Apparently earlier (not sure if it was today or yesterday...)
My manager had been on register.
And returned three similar (if not the same type) of items.

And gave the guy a merchandise card.
And the guy immediately turned around and sold this card that had over $100 on it.
To a woman for $50 like once he left the store.
Which she then used to buy dog food.

We'd been scammed.
>.<

The manager wasn't to be taken for a fool twice though, when encountering a similar situation today.
So without a receipt.
He refused to do a refund.

And the man,
Apparently walked outside,
And smashed the items to the ground.
Breaking two out of the three of them.
I mean, light bulbs break rather easily if they're thrown violently to the ground.

My manager saw the whole thing,
And went outside to talk to him.
Asking "You know...if I paid all that money for this stuff....I wouldn't just break it."
Apparently the man started  cursing at the manager, saying all sort of things.
And left.

We'd just stopped another thief from getting money from us.

>.<
I  wish it hadn't happened in the first place.
And its a shame that our items were destroyed in the process.
But its hard to have eyes everywhere at all times.
Its even more difficult to tell when a customer is stealing, or just browsing through the store.
>.<
Basically we have to use more aggressive hospitality.
Say hi to all the customers,
Ask if we can help them.
Come back and check in on them on occasion.

Basically if the thieves know that you know that they're there.
They're gone.
Anonymity is their game.
The ability to get in and out without notice.

Notice them.
And it stops them.

Hopefully this run of reptile items that are getting stolen from us,
ends.
Ends without more items stolen,
But we'll have to see.

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Open Doors

So, before the store opens.
Our doors at work are locked.
In order to keep people from wandering into where they don't belong as we move freight and clean cages and basically have the whole store a mess.
Its also for our safety too. As we know who is in the store and who isn't before we open our doors.

But.
This morning.
I came in before the store opened, obviously to do my cleaning tasks.
So I rang the doorbell like normal.
Went to the doors.
And had a moment of surprise as they opened for me.
()_()
They aren't supposed to do that.
What crazy person would turn on the automatic doors before opening?!
So I turned to lock them.
Only to be stopped by a groomer.

And told some rather annoying news.

Apparently.
Our doors aren't going to be locked anymore.

A new policy has been implemented.
>.<
Which states that as soon as the Groomers come in for work, the doors to the main store have to be opened. To make it more convenient for our grooming customers to enter the store.

This wouldn't be a big deal.
Except.
The Grooming part of our store opens TWO HOURS before the main store opens!
That's two whole hours of work that we're still doing. We're still cleaning animal cages, cleaning the store, stocking shelves.
And now.
Our doors are going to be unlocked during that time period!

Sure. It means that we don't have to walk away from our tasks to go let grooming customers in.
But that also means that we can't keep customers out either.

They want us to "keep a better eye on the doors" to make sure no one who isn't supposed to enters. But seriously. Who has time for that? No one.
We're busy. We're not always in a position to be able to see the main doors!

>.<
It's like they expect customers to realize that we aren't open yet.
Ha.

Wrong.
You'd think they'd be able to see our hours posted on the door.
"We're open from this time to this time."
But no.

It's not something they look for.
If the doors open automatically for them as they approach.
They assume that the store is open!!

It's going to be annoying.
Frustrating.
A time waster in general
Because whenever we see a customer in the store we're going to have to stop them, and tell them. "Hey. We're not open yet. Our cashier won't be here until the store opens at this time."

I already had to do that today! Like half an hour before the store opened!
And the customer was like O.o "Why are your doors open then?"
BECAUSE YOU CAN'T READ THE STUPID SIGN AND STAY OUT!
Oh. So frustrating!
Because we have to let our grooming customers in. Apparently >.<

Now. I have to worry about people randomly being where they're not supposed to be.
Now. I have to warn people that "Hey, we have a fork lift out and about and you really shouldn't be in here because we are not open yet!"

Grrr.
And I'm sure people are going to get mad at us.
Though I really don't understand why they should.
Would they want to help people at their work if their work didn't open until a certain time and people showed up early? NO.
So why do you expect us to!

Learn the hours to the store!

But seriously.
Its a stupid new policy.
Is it worth it to make it easier for people to enter our store?
It helps like...maybe 100 people at the most in a week.

Is it worth it to risk customer safety if they're wandering around and a fork lift turns a corner and BAM hits them?
No.
Is it worth it to risk the safety of your workers? The doors locked are supposed to help us stay safe after all. No random people can walk in. We can work in peace.
But no.
Whoever came up with this stupid rule obviously has never worked a morning shift before.
Hasn't had to deal with customers in the morning who can't read door signs.
Probably hasn't even stepped foot in a Starsmet in their life to work!
Why fix what isn't broken?
Seriously.
Why?

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Long Hours

I overheard the Managers talking.

A bunch of price changes had come in that morning. Only discovered in the afternoon.
And we hadn't been given the hours to schedule people to do these price changes.
And there were a lot!
My department alone had like 900 price changes at least! I swear there had to be like 40 pages of stickers to fix so customers wouldn't be surprised at the register at why their purchase cost more than what they thought they did.
Because it felt like every item in the department went up in price. Y_Y Not good. Rather annoying.

So, the managers were lamenting the fact that they couldn't call anyone in to put these new sticker prices up.
Since I was already there....
I asked them.
"How many hours do I have?"
"Do you want more?"
I checked the schedule to see how many I was scheduled.
And I was nearly at my full limit. Like half an hour under.
And I told them that.
"So you get over time." Was their response.
So I told them that I could stay later after my shift and help them with stickers.
For 2 1/2 hours I moved through the department, replacing prices.

By the end.
I was exhausted.
I spent 11 hours at the store.

Basically all of it on my feet.
I was asleep on my feet.

oh. Long days of work. I'm glad I don't have it often.

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Healthy

>.<
I was right.
The Tortoise.
I was right.

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned he'd been unfairly isolated.

He'd been unfairly isolated.

I checked on him this morning to still see no Stool in his cage.
And I was tired of waiting.
So I gave him a warm soak (placed him in warm water.) To help move things along.
Which did help.

I looked at the Stool.
And guess what?

It was NORMAL!!
>.<
I was right. 
The Tortoise was completely healthy!
He was eating.
He was active.

So I stuck him straight out onto the floor.
Where he can enjoy a nice big cage. 
And eat even more food to his hearts content.

*sighs*
Really, I don't see why my coworker freaked out about it in the first place.
There was nothing visibly wrong. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -The Competitor

So. 
There I was.
Working.
When a coworker came up to me with a customer in tow, asking if we carried Dove Food.
Usually Dove food and Finch food is intermingleable and is what we do here in the store.
So that's what I told the customer.
but she was looking for something different.
Because she didn't just have the small doves like the ones we carried in our store.
But the bigger versions as well and they need a bigger food.

Which we don't carry.
Because its not a food we carry.... 
(though now that I'm writing this I'm wondering if we had something in our wild bird seed section.) 
And told her so.

And the customer said "Well, I guess I have to go to your competitor then because I know they have it there as I bought it from them before!" And then she stared at us.
As if expecting us to make a scene from that pronouncement.
Like she was expecting us to suddenly be able to procure the desired food item with the mere mention of our competitor's name.

Because obviously we're rivals.
Obviously the name should bring gasps of horror and the effort to bend over backwards to ensure that we don't give business to our competitor.

Meh.

Not really.
Seriously, if we don't carry it. Its not like we can just go into a warehouse out back and bring out a 'new item' to the shelf because we're not Amazon. 
We're a store.
One with limited supplies.
One that isn't a warehouse in of itself with tons and tons of items in a huge back room to bring out for all the crazy customers who want to buy in bulk.
No. We're a regular store. With limited space in the back for extra products. 
So we don't carry a ton of extra things.
Just what we think we can sell within a few days really. 

Really. 
Using the competitor's name isn't going to strike fear into our hearts.
Isn't going to help your situation at all.
If you know its there.
Go.
We'll even give you the names of a couple other stores that could possibly carry the item they want. 
We're easy going like that.

Because.
If we can't make the customer happy within the store, we'll do our best to ensure that we can help them out as much as we can anyways.
Even if that means telling them the names of other stores in the area that could help.

I mean.
If we can't order in for you fast enough, or you don't want to drive to our sister store for the product up there, then of course we'll tell you the names of other competitors to help you out.

Nobody likes feeling frustrated. Including us. 
We know how it feels.
We'll try to make the transaction as painless as possible.

So no.
Saying our competitor's name isn't going to produce a miracle item suddenly appearing.
Don't expect any dramatic scenes from it.
If they have it we don't mind if you go there to get it.

If the customer is happy.
We're happy.

-Sarnic Dirchi