Sometimes I wonder if the people who ship us our bugs, take a random disliking to certain stores.
Like they purposely and knowingly send them more bugs than they know the store can handle.
I've been wondering that about our store.
If they've just gotten a vendetta against us for some reason.
You see,
One of our bug options at the store.
Is prepackaged crickets.
Crickets that come to us already nicely packaged up in a little container -they're live crickets- with their food and water and everything.
For those who want to grab a 'lunch box' for their reptilian friend.
Which is all fine and good.
Except most of them end up dying within the week.
Which means by the time the next shipment comes around.
The containers we haven't sold are full of dead bugs.
Not sellable.
We used to just toss those and write it off as a loss.
Now though, we take the time to refill their boxes of crickets with fresh ones.
Ones that we have in a loose container to bag up per customer request.
Which when you only have like six or seven boxes isn't a big deal.
But for the past couple of weeks.
They've been sending us a lot more prepackaged crickets.
Why?
Who knows.
But they're waaay too many.
Each box of prepackaged crickets we get in usually has like 12 containers inside.
And it used to be that they'd send us like 24 of each. Maybe 36 if we really needed them.
So that's like 3 boxes.
No big deal. three boxes total is fine.
The past couple of weeks though.
We've been getting EIGHT boxes.
EIGHT!
At 12 containers per box.
That is basically 100 boxes of crickets!!!
Considering that our little rack area only has room for like...40 boxes...
That's waaaaaay over doing it.
Way.
Way.
Waaaaay.
Over doing the shipment.
For the past couple of weeks we've only managed to sell like 40 of them.
So if I'm constantly getting 100 boxes of crickets...
And we only sell like 40.
And most of them die off in a week if not sold.
that's a 60% loss.
And since we're now refilling up those boxes.
If we're only selling 40 and have 60 left.
(Okay so I had like 30 left this week.)
And we get in a 100 more AGAIN.
The number isn't going to get any smaller.
Unless we go crazy convincing all customers to go with the boxes.
We're going to be overrun again next week.
When the fesh shipment comes in.
And I have to dip into our loose cricket resources to make sure the prepackaged crickets can sell...
It's going to be a nightmare!
I mean 30 is like 3 boxes of crickets that I had left over last week.
And I got in 8 more this week.
So 11 boxes of crickets.
Aye. Aye. Aye.
We're doomed.
>.<
I half wonder if this is the final shove though.
That would be nice.
Because these prepackaged crickets have been on clearance -i.e. we shouldn't be carrying them anymore- for the past 6 months!
Did they have a ton at the warehouse?
Did they decide we were the only store now to get the overstock?
Who knows.
But we're receiving a ton,
And I can only hope that its the final shove before we stop carrying them for good.
Because that would be one less headache and time waster of our day if we didn't have to worry about ensuring those prepackaged crickets had enough crickets in them to sale.
One can only hope.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
MLAARE -Continuing Cat Bath
I was right.
about the cat customer.
I was right,
That she was going to be a handful to deal with when she came in.
So, after a night,
Where I spent worrying that the people who wanted to get the black cat.
Were actually getting it to sacrifice it during the full moon.
(Because I have heard of that happening before.)
And that I'd have to think of ways to convince them that this cat wasn't for them....
I happened to be showing a young family one of our other cats,
When this woman walked in.
(After the deadline I gave her last night, mind you, so I'd taken down the sign saying this cat was on hold.)
She was older, grandmotherly.
And guess who she was looking at?
Yes.
The black cat.
She asked to see her,
but I had to finish with another customer first.
Because I can only have one cat out at a time.
Finally though, I got out the cat for the woman to hold.
And the first thing she exclaims is "Wow! This cat sheds a lot!"
And my response was 1. It's a Long Haired kitty. Of course she is going to shed!
2. It's the changing of the seasons so they're going to shed more then as well.
3. She hasn't been combed out in at least a week or so because we don't have time to do that in the store. So once she gets a nice thorough brushing, the shedding won't be as much -so long as she keeps up a weekly combing thing.
The woman had tons of questions about the cat.
Many which I could not answer.
So I ended up giving her the number to the Adoption Group. Because they know more about the kitty's personality than I do. Especially since the cat has only been in our store...like a week. You don't know for sure their personalities in the first week. But I had her call them (and she spent like 15 minutes on the phone talking to them.) to have them answer any questions she had.
But another,
Was that she wanted the cat all nice and clean and deshedded before she adopted out the cat.
And asked if our Groomers could do that.
I said only a couple of groomers were able to groom cats, the others were dog only groomers. So if one of our cat groomers was present, then we'd see what we could do.
-She was getting the cat for her granddaughter for her birthday btw. So no crazy rituals (beyond crazy birthday celebration stuff I suppose...)
Luck was on the customer's side,
Because one of our Groomers Sila was in fact there. -She's been grooming cats for years.
And so we asked what could be done.
And so the Sila quoted a price for what needed to be done -bath, drying, brushing, cleaning. etc.
Which the customer was fine with doing.
But also. I learned an interesting tidbit.
Indoor cats shed a lot more than out door cats.
Why?
Because outdoor cats have the sun and temperature changes that tell them when the seasons are changing. But with indoor cats and their artificial light and set temperature settings...their coats don't know 'what season it is' and so shed more frequently because of it.
Go figure. O.o
In any case.
Back to the customer.
so we established a groom could be done,
and I had them start the paperwork.
But they had to leave to go to a thing.
So they were going to finish the paperwork, pay for the grooming, and finish the adoption process.....
But I have no idea if they actually came back.
Because I left before the came back.
Which is....rather hard, because I knew the situation best. It means that something is more likely to go wrong because I had to hand it off to someone else to deal with. *sighs*
Hopefully it was all sorted out alright.
Hopefully the cat was adopted, and the granddaughter is happy with her new pet. :)
Guess we'll see when I get back to work....I'm guessing it all worked out.
I just hate it when I don't know the ending of certain stories.
*sighs*
-Sarnic Dirchi
about the cat customer.
I was right,
That she was going to be a handful to deal with when she came in.
So, after a night,
Where I spent worrying that the people who wanted to get the black cat.
Were actually getting it to sacrifice it during the full moon.
(Because I have heard of that happening before.)
And that I'd have to think of ways to convince them that this cat wasn't for them....
I happened to be showing a young family one of our other cats,
When this woman walked in.
(After the deadline I gave her last night, mind you, so I'd taken down the sign saying this cat was on hold.)
She was older, grandmotherly.
And guess who she was looking at?
Yes.
The black cat.
She asked to see her,
but I had to finish with another customer first.
Because I can only have one cat out at a time.
Finally though, I got out the cat for the woman to hold.
And the first thing she exclaims is "Wow! This cat sheds a lot!"
And my response was 1. It's a Long Haired kitty. Of course she is going to shed!
2. It's the changing of the seasons so they're going to shed more then as well.
3. She hasn't been combed out in at least a week or so because we don't have time to do that in the store. So once she gets a nice thorough brushing, the shedding won't be as much -so long as she keeps up a weekly combing thing.
The woman had tons of questions about the cat.
Many which I could not answer.
So I ended up giving her the number to the Adoption Group. Because they know more about the kitty's personality than I do. Especially since the cat has only been in our store...like a week. You don't know for sure their personalities in the first week. But I had her call them (and she spent like 15 minutes on the phone talking to them.) to have them answer any questions she had.
But another,
Was that she wanted the cat all nice and clean and deshedded before she adopted out the cat.
And asked if our Groomers could do that.
I said only a couple of groomers were able to groom cats, the others were dog only groomers. So if one of our cat groomers was present, then we'd see what we could do.
-She was getting the cat for her granddaughter for her birthday btw. So no crazy rituals (beyond crazy birthday celebration stuff I suppose...)
Luck was on the customer's side,
Because one of our Groomers Sila was in fact there. -She's been grooming cats for years.
And so we asked what could be done.
And so the Sila quoted a price for what needed to be done -bath, drying, brushing, cleaning. etc.
Which the customer was fine with doing.
But also. I learned an interesting tidbit.
Indoor cats shed a lot more than out door cats.
Why?
Because outdoor cats have the sun and temperature changes that tell them when the seasons are changing. But with indoor cats and their artificial light and set temperature settings...their coats don't know 'what season it is' and so shed more frequently because of it.
Go figure. O.o
In any case.
Back to the customer.
so we established a groom could be done,
and I had them start the paperwork.
But they had to leave to go to a thing.
So they were going to finish the paperwork, pay for the grooming, and finish the adoption process.....
But I have no idea if they actually came back.
Because I left before the came back.
Which is....rather hard, because I knew the situation best. It means that something is more likely to go wrong because I had to hand it off to someone else to deal with. *sighs*
Hopefully it was all sorted out alright.
Hopefully the cat was adopted, and the granddaughter is happy with her new pet. :)
Guess we'll see when I get back to work....I'm guessing it all worked out.
I just hate it when I don't know the ending of certain stories.
*sighs*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, August 27, 2015
MLAARE -How Black Is the Cat?
I got a call from a customer today.
Asking if we had any black cats up for adoption.
I told them that yes, we had one black cat.
A long haired female, about a year old, with all her vaccinations, rabies, been fixed, as well as microchipped.
I don't know how much of what I was saying to the customer over the phone was making sense. As they would ask me questions to things I had already answered them about.
Perhaps they were double checking to make sure they heard everything correctly.
I established everything with them. Said we could have the cat available until an hour after the store opened tomorrow.
And hung up.
Only to get a call like two minutes later with an odd question.
"How Black is the Cat?"
O.o
Uh... black?
"But how black?"
So I said she was black, a darker black, but with some lighter greyish tones.
But how much of the cat was black? If she was lighter on the stomach, that was alright. The customer was mostly concerned that the head and back of the body were black.
I told them it was black,
But they kept questioning me, and I was in the middle of trying to help the other customers.
So I told them, that if they could wait like 10 minutes I would send them a picture of the cat. So then they could see for themself how 'black' the cat was.
I took a few pictures.
But the kitty was being stubborn so it was hard to get a good picture.
I sent the best one I had to them.
Via my phone since the work phone doesn't have picture capability -though that would be cool to have. It would solve so many problems. When customers call with questions expect answers that can only be answered if seen in person.
Its true that many people don't have picture texting still, but it could help with this sort of situation.
In any case I sent the one picture.
And the customer called me back a few hours later on my phone.
To ask me about the 'grey cat' I'd sent a picture of.
*shakes head*
They weren't even sure where the number was sending the picture from. Though I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who said I'd send a picture of the 'black' cat. And in the message I even said "Hey this is the cat from Starsmet." Just to double check.
But they were so confused about it.
The cat was grey in the picture.
No. Its black.
It is black.
But the lighting from the room/phone camera made the cat look more grey.
I told the customer that I had another picture of the same cat that made her look darker, it was just taken while the cat was behind bars. Still it showed the cat as black.
And so I sent the picture....
And didn't hear back from them.
So we'll see.
If the customers make the 2 hour journey to come see the cat tomorrow.
-That's why I offered to send a picture, because they were 2 hours away.
I'm half hoping that they don't show up.
Because really, if they were difficult to work with on the phone.
They're going to be difficult in person.
Especially if the cat isn't as black as they want it to be.
Then they'll get angry about driving all the way there to not get the cat...
Yah, we'll see.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Asking if we had any black cats up for adoption.
I told them that yes, we had one black cat.
A long haired female, about a year old, with all her vaccinations, rabies, been fixed, as well as microchipped.
I don't know how much of what I was saying to the customer over the phone was making sense. As they would ask me questions to things I had already answered them about.
Perhaps they were double checking to make sure they heard everything correctly.
I established everything with them. Said we could have the cat available until an hour after the store opened tomorrow.
And hung up.
Only to get a call like two minutes later with an odd question.
"How Black is the Cat?"
O.o
Uh... black?
"But how black?"
So I said she was black, a darker black, but with some lighter greyish tones.
But how much of the cat was black? If she was lighter on the stomach, that was alright. The customer was mostly concerned that the head and back of the body were black.
I told them it was black,
But they kept questioning me, and I was in the middle of trying to help the other customers.
So I told them, that if they could wait like 10 minutes I would send them a picture of the cat. So then they could see for themself how 'black' the cat was.
I took a few pictures.
But the kitty was being stubborn so it was hard to get a good picture.
I sent the best one I had to them.
Via my phone since the work phone doesn't have picture capability -though that would be cool to have. It would solve so many problems. When customers call with questions expect answers that can only be answered if seen in person.
Its true that many people don't have picture texting still, but it could help with this sort of situation.
In any case I sent the one picture.
And the customer called me back a few hours later on my phone.
To ask me about the 'grey cat' I'd sent a picture of.
*shakes head*
They weren't even sure where the number was sending the picture from. Though I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who said I'd send a picture of the 'black' cat. And in the message I even said "Hey this is the cat from Starsmet." Just to double check.
But they were so confused about it.
The cat was grey in the picture.
No. Its black.
It is black.
But the lighting from the room/phone camera made the cat look more grey.
I told the customer that I had another picture of the same cat that made her look darker, it was just taken while the cat was behind bars. Still it showed the cat as black.
And so I sent the picture....
And didn't hear back from them.
So we'll see.
If the customers make the 2 hour journey to come see the cat tomorrow.
-That's why I offered to send a picture, because they were 2 hours away.
I'm half hoping that they don't show up.
Because really, if they were difficult to work with on the phone.
They're going to be difficult in person.
Especially if the cat isn't as black as they want it to be.
Then they'll get angry about driving all the way there to not get the cat...
Yah, we'll see.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
MLAARE -Once a Week
You can tell the panicked customers.
The ones who are in over their heads.
Who have no idea what they're getting into to.
The ones who have trouble listening.
Even more trouble comprehending.
All that is needed. All that is required to care for the pet they picked up.
The customer today,
Had picked up a couple of Horny Toad lizards out in the desert.
And surprise surprise.
One of them had ended up having babies.
Which meant more lizards to take care of.
The woman came in wanting to know what she needed to take care of them.
So I told her.
And in the midst of our conversation.
While I was telling her what types of bugs the horny toads could eat.
I was telling her that she could feed the lizards crickets once a week.
And mealworms the rest of the time
-Because she lived far from a pet store. And mealworms are more hardy than crickets that can die for any reason whatsoever.
And the woman was like "Wait...I need to feed them crickets everyday for a week?"
Uh...
No..
That wasn't what I said at all. O.o
I said Once a week.
As in you feed them crickets one time that week, and mealworms the other 6 days.
I thought that was clear.
But the concept somehow got misunderstood.
Thankfully it was cleared up.
Hopefully she does well with taking care of her new pets.
-Sarnic Dirchi
The ones who are in over their heads.
Who have no idea what they're getting into to.
The ones who have trouble listening.
Even more trouble comprehending.
All that is needed. All that is required to care for the pet they picked up.
The customer today,
Had picked up a couple of Horny Toad lizards out in the desert.
And surprise surprise.
One of them had ended up having babies.
Which meant more lizards to take care of.
The woman came in wanting to know what she needed to take care of them.
So I told her.
And in the midst of our conversation.
While I was telling her what types of bugs the horny toads could eat.
I was telling her that she could feed the lizards crickets once a week.
And mealworms the rest of the time
-Because she lived far from a pet store. And mealworms are more hardy than crickets that can die for any reason whatsoever.
And the woman was like "Wait...I need to feed them crickets everyday for a week?"
Uh...
No..
That wasn't what I said at all. O.o
I said Once a week.
As in you feed them crickets one time that week, and mealworms the other 6 days.
I thought that was clear.
But the concept somehow got misunderstood.
Thankfully it was cleared up.
Hopefully she does well with taking care of her new pets.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
MLAARE -Lost Lizard
We lost our Chinese Water Dragon today.
Well actually yesterday.
Maybe the day before...
Its hard to say.
I do know that yesterday that when I tried to show a customer him...
He wasn't in the cage.
:S: Not good. Maybe he got sold...and someone forgot to put an empty sign in the cage?
But when I checked our inventory...he was still showing up as still there.
And there was this hole...in the cage.
:S Had he somehow gotten out?
Yes.
Yes he had.
Today I finally got the opportunity to pull the cage out of its setting,
And there behind it.
Was him.
Who knew how many days he'd been there.
But at least we found him!
Now....to remember to tape up that hole before he disappears again....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Well actually yesterday.
Maybe the day before...
Its hard to say.
I do know that yesterday that when I tried to show a customer him...
He wasn't in the cage.
:S: Not good. Maybe he got sold...and someone forgot to put an empty sign in the cage?
But when I checked our inventory...he was still showing up as still there.
And there was this hole...in the cage.
:S Had he somehow gotten out?
Yes.
Yes he had.
Today I finally got the opportunity to pull the cage out of its setting,
And there behind it.
Was him.
Who knew how many days he'd been there.
But at least we found him!
Now....to remember to tape up that hole before he disappears again....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, August 24, 2015
MLAARE -Stay. No I mean it. Stay!
Its frustrating sometimes when customers can't follow simple directions.
You'd think "Stay here." Would be easy to understand.
But its not.
The customer doesn't stay.
They wander.
They leave.
They make me go through a lot of effort sometimes for nothing because they can't wait for me to search out the answer, and then make me search them out when I do find the answer.
Today for example.
I had a gentleman come up to me asking if we were getting rid of one of our brands of dog food.
O.o Uh... No?
Considering that it the brand he was talking about was the store's own brand (meaning we are the only store to carry that food.) It was highly unlikely that we'd be getting rid of it.
But he wanted to know if we were.
Because the food he wanted wasn't on the shelf in the larger bag.
And he could only find one bag of the smaller bag.
Well...sir, we aren't a conveyor belt.
We don't always have supplies on hand to pull out more if we run out on the shelves.
I told him so. That we probably hadn't yet gotten our truck in to stock up on the food yet. That it had just arrived and we wouldn't be stocking until tomorrow.
But I told him I'd go double check in the back, if he'd wait here, and see if we happened to have any back there.
Usually the 'wait here.' is a code for "Quit bugging me for a minute so I can go find your product."
He apparently didn't understand the "I can search faster without you talking to me." concept.
Because he followed me right into the back of the store.
Right into our back room area, where customers aren't allowed.
And I told him "You can't be back here."
And he was like O.o "Why?"
Because it's an employee's area only sir! We have food and boxes and pallets and stuff all over the place because its a storage room. Even though there is no door there, customers know not to go back there!! Why can't you understand that!
"Because it can be dangerous back here sir." I said as I clambered all over everything.
Honestly. It can be and we really rather would not get sued by your carelessness in an area you're not supposed to be in.
Frankly I find it irritating sometimes when the customer doesn't trust me to be able to find something without them right there breathing down my neck.
Ugh!
Don't follow me unless I say to follow me! If I say wait here. I really do mean wait here.
I thought this gentleman had just moved out of the non customer area.
But when I came out with another bag of dog food (the smaller size as we didn't have the larger.)
He wasn't there.
I had to search the entire store to find him....up at the checkout stand.
What. You couldn't wait for me to answer your question befor eyou decided to leave?!?
Ugh.
So frustrating when the customer doesn't stay put.
It's not always easy to find them again, especially if you weren't paying attention towho you were talking to. >.<
Thankfully we got it sorted out.
Found out that the supplier is having trouble sending us food...but otherwise, we will be getting more of that brand in. No need to panic and switch to a different brand.... *sighs*
Customers.
They should take obedience classes....
-Sarnic Dirchi
You'd think "Stay here." Would be easy to understand.
But its not.
The customer doesn't stay.
They wander.
They leave.
They make me go through a lot of effort sometimes for nothing because they can't wait for me to search out the answer, and then make me search them out when I do find the answer.
Today for example.
I had a gentleman come up to me asking if we were getting rid of one of our brands of dog food.
O.o Uh... No?
Considering that it the brand he was talking about was the store's own brand (meaning we are the only store to carry that food.) It was highly unlikely that we'd be getting rid of it.
But he wanted to know if we were.
Because the food he wanted wasn't on the shelf in the larger bag.
And he could only find one bag of the smaller bag.
Well...sir, we aren't a conveyor belt.
We don't always have supplies on hand to pull out more if we run out on the shelves.
I told him so. That we probably hadn't yet gotten our truck in to stock up on the food yet. That it had just arrived and we wouldn't be stocking until tomorrow.
But I told him I'd go double check in the back, if he'd wait here, and see if we happened to have any back there.
Usually the 'wait here.' is a code for "Quit bugging me for a minute so I can go find your product."
He apparently didn't understand the "I can search faster without you talking to me." concept.
Because he followed me right into the back of the store.
Right into our back room area, where customers aren't allowed.
And I told him "You can't be back here."
And he was like O.o "Why?"
Because it's an employee's area only sir! We have food and boxes and pallets and stuff all over the place because its a storage room. Even though there is no door there, customers know not to go back there!! Why can't you understand that!
"Because it can be dangerous back here sir." I said as I clambered all over everything.
Honestly. It can be and we really rather would not get sued by your carelessness in an area you're not supposed to be in.
Frankly I find it irritating sometimes when the customer doesn't trust me to be able to find something without them right there breathing down my neck.
Ugh!
Don't follow me unless I say to follow me! If I say wait here. I really do mean wait here.
I thought this gentleman had just moved out of the non customer area.
But when I came out with another bag of dog food (the smaller size as we didn't have the larger.)
He wasn't there.
I had to search the entire store to find him....up at the checkout stand.
What. You couldn't wait for me to answer your question befor eyou decided to leave?!?
Ugh.
So frustrating when the customer doesn't stay put.
It's not always easy to find them again, especially if you weren't paying attention towho you were talking to. >.<
Thankfully we got it sorted out.
Found out that the supplier is having trouble sending us food...but otherwise, we will be getting more of that brand in. No need to panic and switch to a different brand.... *sighs*
Customers.
They should take obedience classes....
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, August 22, 2015
MLAARE -Scrub a Dub Dub
It was one of those weeks,
Where the days were hectic.
Things weren't getting done.
Like scrubbing of the fishtanks.
We'd neglected them the past few days.
Because opening would take too long, then the day would get busy with customers, and the night people had other tasks they needed to focus on.
So... the tanks were getting cleaned.
That was....bad.
Because we had our DM coming into the store the next day.
And if our fish tanks looked like a disaster...
That wouldn't reflect well on anyone.
So. The main motive of my day.
Was to get those tanks cleaned.
And thankfully.
The day happened to be dead.
Hardly any customers came into the store.
So I was able to clean nearly a hundred tanks in a couple of hours with only a couple interruptions.
And in the end.
The tanks were clean!
Yah!
^^
Though my arm ached so hard the next day from all the scrubbing.
At least we're caught up now.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Where the days were hectic.
Things weren't getting done.
Like scrubbing of the fishtanks.
We'd neglected them the past few days.
Because opening would take too long, then the day would get busy with customers, and the night people had other tasks they needed to focus on.
So... the tanks were getting cleaned.
That was....bad.
Because we had our DM coming into the store the next day.
And if our fish tanks looked like a disaster...
That wouldn't reflect well on anyone.
So. The main motive of my day.
Was to get those tanks cleaned.
And thankfully.
The day happened to be dead.
Hardly any customers came into the store.
So I was able to clean nearly a hundred tanks in a couple of hours with only a couple interruptions.
And in the end.
The tanks were clean!
Yah!
^^
Though my arm ached so hard the next day from all the scrubbing.
At least we're caught up now.
-Sarnic Dirchi
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