A Hole In Information

So I think I read about this happening on a Target Retales Blog.
Where a customer couldn't get their card to work, because they'd punched a hole through the chip in their card because they didn't want the chip.

Well...I thought it was weird. But didn't think anything more of it.

Until I dealt with a customer.
On the register.

She pulled out her card
And to my surprise...she had punched a hole through the chip in her credit card.
Because she didn't want the chip you see.

But when she placed her card into the reader....
Unsurprisingly, since it requested the Chip....
And couldn't read the chip.
Her card wasn't working.

*shakes head*

We just updated our registers to actually have the chip reader, so there's still a bit of a learning curve when it comes to knowing what our registers now can and can't do.

And unfortunately...
If the credit card registers as a chip.
The register is going to demand that you insert the chip into the reader.
It won't let you slide your card.
Nor can I key in the credit card into the machine.

Again and again, she tried to get the card to work.
To no avail.
Because she'd punched a hole in the chip.
*exhales*

After like twelve times.
The machine finally accepted that it would get no information from her card via a chip,
And so finally allowed her to slide her card.

But seriously.
*shakes head*
The whole transaction would have gone much smoother....
If she hadn't put a hole in her chip in the first place...

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Doors

I was just returning from the back of the store when I noticed that there was a customer standing at our doors.

Since it was still early morning, we hadn't yet switched the doors to automatically open when a customer approaches.

Usually we do this when our groomers show up and glancing at my watch, it showed that it was basically the time to open the doors.

It was rather amusing to see the customer standing there, kinda confused, probably wondering why the doors hadn't automatically opened for her.

-Which is why we have a doorbell for customers to ring, so they don't have to stand out in the cold wondering why they can't get in. They can just ring it and we'd know someone was waiting.

I don't know how long she'd been standing there.

but since I'd seen her, and it was basically time to open the doors, and since she had a dog with her, I figured that I might as well let her in.

And that's when it happened.

As I was approaching the doors.

I saw that her attention was on her dog.

Who'd just lifted his leg.

And started to pee on our front doors.

>.< While the customer just stared. And did nothing.

Okay....she may have said a command, but she didn't try and jerk the dog away or anything.

And I found that interesting. Like...why? Why would you allow your dog to mark his territory on our front doors? Those doors where basically every single dog will have to pass through and then feel the need to mark as well? You just caused us all this extra work....

Because you couldn't control your dog.

*shakes head*

I don't understand customers some days.

I really don't.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Do You Know The Number?

It boggles my mind how people can send others into the store to grab something for them...without giving them details on what they're supposed to be getting.

It's like they don't realize that there's more than one item that a person can choose from.
"Go get the Dog food in the green bag."
Surprise, there's like six different brands of dog food that have green bags.

*shakes head*

In any case.
Today I had a customer come in and she needed crickets.
Which I respond with the usual 'what size and how many' question.

Surprisingly the customer knew the size.
She needed small crickets.

But the quantity?

She gave this wide clueless look and asked me "I dunno, how many should I get?"

....Well considering you told me that you needed small crickets....and nothing else....

I have no clue how many you need lady. *exhales*
I'm not omniscient. I don't automatically know how many people will need.
Because it really depends on the animal involved.

A spider? People get anywhere from 1-15.
Frogs and Anoles? under 24.
Leopard Geckos? 24-40
Bearded Dragons? 40-100

Seriously, it could have been any number.
Not all reptiles eat the same amount of crickets nor the same size of crickets.

So, after more questions.
I found out her daughter has two leopard geckos.
Okay. so around 24-40 for them each.

The woman ended up deciding on 60.

-After starting with forty and deciding she needed more.

I'm glad I was able to help her out.
I just wish some people would think before they send others to get their stuff for them.
Because the more details the better.

I mean, I'm fine playing detective. But it makes it easier for all of us all around to just tell me straight out what is needed.

-Sarnic Dirchi

No Eggs

There's this odd woman who comes in.
She's a grandmother age sort of person, with one of those unique personalities and needs.

I see her every now and then, and interact with her at those times because she came to us...what? Two years ago now? Its been a long while. With the request that we save any bird eggs that may appear in our cages.
-As we don't breed in the store, so any eggs we find we get rid of.
But this woman, likes to collect the eggs, dry them, and then donate them to places.

So for the past little while we've been doing just that.
Saving the finch and canary eggs we find in the cages for her.

She came in tonight.
Looking for those eggs.
*shakes head*
Which was a bit weird because I swear she'd just come in like four days ago to get the eggs. Apparently it's been a week or two in reality. (time in the store moves weirdly)
But she was surprised that I didn't have any more eggs for her.
Surprised that the birds had stopped laying the eggs.

*shrugs*
They go through phases.
It just depends on the dynamic of the birds within the cage, and probably their age as well.
Sometimes the birds lay eggs like crazy.
And other times...nothing.

But the woman came in halfway expecting there to be a ton of eggs again.
-As she hadn't come in for a while to get them so we had had a lot of them waiting for her.

Sadly, I was unable to give her any today.

And I continued to disappoint her.
Because she kept wanting things in the store....that we don't sell.
Like our cardboard cut outs of puppy dogs on top of some of our displays. Or the stuffed animals we have in certain areas of the stone to help customers see how product (like clothes/harnesses/collars) go on the dogs/cats.

Dealing with that sort of conversation....
She now kinda strikes me as a hoarder.
Wanting everything in case it can come in handy later on.

Still. At least she's not too difficult to deal with. :)
I'm just sad I didn't have more eggs to give her so her trip to the store would be worth it.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Update: We had an amazing day full of cat adoptions. Enough kitties found a forever home that we were able to once more place just one cat in a cage. ^^ Yay.

Cat Fight

*rubs temples*

What a nightmare.

So.
In our store we have a space set up where our adoption partners can bring in cats so they can find a forever home.

Because we have a limited amount of cages, we tend to switch between our two groups every month.
So Group A gets the cages for a month then they take the cats out and Group B will bring in their cats for a month before the cycle repeats.

However...
It's not an easy process.
For one. Group A and B are like Cats and Dogs to each other.
They don't like each other.
At all.

Especially since Group A often has trouble pulling their cats out of the store on time so Group B can bring in their cats on time.
And Group B's leader...well...the leader can be quite....angry.
Honestly, I don't like dealing with Group B's leader. They've gotten more and more difficult to work with. Mostly because they're not understanding and keep putting down the other group....

All in all its a headache to deal with them everytime we do the switch.

Honestly, it would be easier if they would just share the space and each take half the cages.
But Group B is all against that because they don't want 'their cats getting our cats sick." yadda yadda.

And tonight...
Tonight the headache continued.
*shakes head*

We were supposed to have Group A pull out their cats tonight so that Group B could bring in theirs.
BUT.
Group A in their hurry to drive 3 hours to get to us, and bring dogs for a dog adoption day....
Forgot their cages.

We tried to contact Group B. (and by we I mean the manager)
But they didn't respond...
So Group A was given the okay to stay a bit longer. Until the next time their leader would make it up.

But then.
AFTER that group had left for the day.
Group B finally got back in contact with us.
And they're unsurprisingly Furious that Group A is staying longer.
(as it happens basically every other time.)

As they have cats all ready to come to the store.
And now no where to place them.

....which I find odd. How can you have no place for the cats if you're in charge of the cats?
I mean they have to be fixed and vaccinated before they can come to our store...so where are they staying while that is taking place?
 *shakes head*

In any case.
somehow it ended up being...
That we needed to move All of Group A's cats into Half of the cages.
So that Group B could come in and try and put their cats in the other half left over.

Which would be simple.
If cats got along together.

But they don't.

We tried. And tried. And tried.
But the cats weren't having it.
We only managed to empty out two of the five cages we needed to empty. Y_Y ugh.
Because the other cats wouldn't play nice.

But with the adoption group coming.
We had to do something to provide space.

I'm not quite sure what ended up happening as I had to leave as the plan was coming together.
But I believe we're taking the dog crates that the adoptions use when they bring dogs in, and we're going to stick them on top of the cages we already have, and place some of Group A's cats in there.
Until Group A can come pick them up.

*exhales*
It's a headache.
For sure.

I don't know if we're even allowed to set up cages like that. But because of the circumstances....it's what we had to do.

I really hope we don't get into trouble for it.
*shakes head*

I really hope that we suddenly had six people come and want to adopt cats so we wouldn't have to worry about it.
That would be nice.

-Sarnic Dirchi

You Know My Name.

I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that customers want to remember my name.

I mean, it's obviously both.
Both a good thing and a bad thing for customers to know me.

Good because if they like me and are making an effort to remember me, then I must have been helpful to them in the right manner.

Bad...because if something goes wrong....they know exactly who to come to to complain. lol.

In many ways it's best to be just an anonymous figure that catches your fish or told you about tanks.
That way....if they come back...and don't remember you....then you can easily play dumb if something didn't work well.

*shakes head*

In any case.
Today I had an older gentleman -thin tall, white hair, bright blue eyes. Kinda reminds me of the guy who plays the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins...but older....

Yah this customer.
Needed help.
Finding new puppy pads for his dog.
Because the ones he bought "weren't working!" in his words.

After taking him away from the rush of customers up at the front of the store, to check out other puppy pads, I got more details from him.

Like the fact that his dog is six years old.
Why he now wants to use pads for the dog I have no idea.
But the dog that old isn't going to automatically know that he's supposed to go on a white thing placed on the floor. -Even if it is scented to attract dogs there.
Like...if the dog is used to going outside....he's going to want to go outside.
*shakes head*
But in any case, I recommended that the man try a spray that attracts dogs to areas where they can go.
As the pads themselves are basically all the same, just made by different companies with slight differences.

And he fixed me with his bright blue eyed stare.
Like he was memorizing my face.
Asked my name.

And basically gave off the general impression that if it didn't work he was going to come back and complain to me personally that it didn't work. :S
That...or come back to haunt me. Because seriously. That's how intimdating that stare was.

Thankfully I don't work tomorrow...so if it doesn't work, he won't be able to find me if he drops by....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Need More Heat

It's frustrating at points...when the managers change their mind on something.

You see,
For the past...I don't know, six months now?
We've been under a "don't order things for the store unless you absolutely need them, we're trying to save money" sort of regime.

Understandably it was because the 'end of the year' was coming up, and we were trying to stay 'on top' of whatever thingymajig we have to stay 'on top of' so that we ended the year on a high note instead of a low note.

I even know that my department has a monthly budget.
...That we routinely go over.
Because...well animals have to eat, and we have to keep their cages clean...so we're constantly ordering food and cleaning supplies.
*shakes head*

In any case.
One of the things we were on a 'order only if you need' thing...was our bulbs we use for the reptile cages.
We have three different kinds.
Daytime heat.
Nighttime heat.
and UVB light.

And with the first two....
We need to replace the bulbs every so often.
I honestly don't know how often....I should pay attention to that. But every 3-6 months....
As they burn out or break or whatever.

Usually it's not a problem because when a bulb breaks, I just go grab a replacement one.

Only.
Our extras ran out.
And it took the managers forever to order more...mostly because they kept forgetting....and in the meantime more and more bulbs kept going out.
*exhales*
When I was finally able to get the managers to order more....
I was told to only order exactly what I needed,
and when more lightbulbs would burn out...we'd order more then.

Now, me being used to having extras on hand....
Didn't like it much, but I complied.
Ordering just enough bulbs to cover what we needed to get all the heat lights working again.

Everything was good once that shipment came in.
But within the last week.
We've hit a bulb die off once more.
It started with one bulb which I dutifully noted to the manager to order just one more.

But then within the week...like 10 more went out. :S
But I'd only asked the manager to order one the week before.
So when I noticed how many were out now, I left a note to get more ordered....
But no one ordered them.

Thankfully though. :D
My manager decided to order 10 daytime heat bulbs instead of the one I requested.
(because if we have to pay shipping for the bulbs to get to us anyway might as well order a bunch and make it worth it.)
Which was great news!!
Because I had to use 5 of those 10 right away to replace the day time heat bulbs.
-Unfortunately the red ones are still out.

BUT!
The manager was now like "Okay! We need to order EXTRA bulbs."
Basically he wants us to have a handful of the different colors and wattages with us at all times.

Lol originally he wanted us to have 10 extra of each....
But unfortunately light bulbs cost $$$$$
And even though we now had $$ to spend.
We still have a budget...
So I cut back a bit on the number we ordered.
But still.
It was a lot of money.
:S
Basically....I just blew our quarter budget in one fell swoop. :S so hopefully what I've ordered will last us a bit. lol.
Though with this manager being adamant that we ensure the animals have their heat, I don't think I'll have to worry about us running out of lightbulbs again once this group comes in.

Here's to hoping. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi