Seriously?

I was helping a woman and her son today at the store.
As the son was picking out fish for their 20 gallon fish tank since they now didn't have any fish in it. 

Which was all fine and good.
Until he started picking out too many fish.

As you don't want to add in a ton of fish at once in into a fish tank because it can stress out your fish and cause them to die if chemicals in the water get too out of wack too quickly.

So I interrupted after the kid had picked out about 6 fish and was going for me by saying.

"I would recommend only getting around six fish this week since you have a twenty gallon tank. As adding too many fish at once can stress out your tank, so I'd say get six this week and then come back next week and grab six more fish. You probably don't want more than about twelve in the tank total." 

To which the mother considered for a second or two.
Before saying basically. "I'm going to risk it, because I have a long drive." 

Which, considering I have people come from 3 or 4 hours away to our store to come get fish....
Yah, I can totally understand not wanting to make that drive twice in a month. So I can see why they'd rather push their luck and get all the fish now, instead of waiting. 

So I was prepared to be sympathetic and give my understanding and such.

When the customer continued. "It takes me 35 minutes to get here." 

.......
Seriously? 
35 minutes is not that long of a drive.
Anything under an hour is not a long drive. 

Knowing that I have people come from 4 hours away to get fish....it's not that long of a drive. 

*shakes head*
But whatever.
I got her the fish her son wanted.
They ended up with like 15 fish.
So I really won't be surprised if at least half of them die....

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Difficult Customer

The store had barely been open for like half an hour when I encountered a rather....difficult customer to deal with.
I'd been chatting with one of our dog food reps, when this older woman, grey hair, and already with an attitude that screams "trouble" a mile away came up to me: 

Me: *walking past the dog food section when customer approaches*
Customer: Do you have *fancy medical terminology* here?
Me: O_o *stares at her dumbly waiting for more clues as to what she's actually looking for*
Customer: Should I go ask someone else?...
Me: *bristles* I can help you, but what is it your looking for?
Customer: I'm looking for *fancy medical terminology*
Me: .... What is it for?
Customer: It's stuff to help with hairballs for cats!
Me: *thinking* Well why didn't you say so in the first place? *Says* Yah we carry stuff for hairballs over here. I'm not sure if we have the particular one you're looking for but we can check.
Customer: *pulls product off the shelf* What can you tell me about this one?
Me: That it works for hairballs??
Customer: Does it contain calories?
Me: .... Anything you give the cat to eat would have calories in it.... But I don't know how many calories it contains no.

It was one of those encounters where I didn't like the woman right off the bat. The way she spoke to me just...made it seem like she thought I was just 'another dumb kid' who 'doesn't know anything' which is hardly true.

I know a lot. A lot more than most of my coworkers in the store. 

But that doesn't mean I know everything, and the cat section and dog sections of the store are my weaker areas because I don't often deal with things there. My department focuses on other animals. Not the cats and dogs. So my knowledge, is there....but if you ask the wrong question....I give what answers and suggestions I can. 

*exhales* 

So I helped her find her hairball thingy....and thought it was done. 

But no. No it wasn't. She then turned to me and told me:

Customer: My cat isn't drinking water. Do you have anything to convince her to do so?
Me: ... No, we don't carry anything like that... You could try using a fountain---
Customer: No, that won't work! We're on the road travelling. Guess I'll just have to mix in wet cat food into the water like I've already been doing. Where's your cat cans?
Me: *forgoes offering other suggestions* *points* All our cat food is over there. 

By this time, I kinda figured that I just need to get her to her cat can food and get her out of my hair. 

Really, I could have just pointed and walked away,

But I'm a good little helper and I wanted to make sure the customer was finding everything she needed. 

*exhales* 

Me: The cat food is behind the aisle of litter boxes
Customer: Oh! Maybe I should get another litter box. What's your cheapest one?
Me: *points to $4 litter box*
Customer: That's too small! Don't you have anything bigger or disposable?...
Me: *Points out both to the customer*
Customer: Those are so expensive!!
Me: Well the disposable ones come with cat litter already.
Customer: What kind of litter?
Me: Probably a clay based one. *Pulls down the pan to show customer*
Customer: But is this litter scented?
Me: Usually they label them if they're scented and I don't see one here.
Customer: They also usually say 'unscented' on the label too if it doesn't have a scent and that's not here either.
Me: *figuratively throws hangs up in the air* *thinking* Lady, what do you want from me!?

Honestly. I couldn't figure this lady out.

Because basically every suggestion I made was met with "no, that's not what I meant" or a response that left me feeling like I'd just wasted my time, or that she thought I was just a 'dumb' kid. which totally got my back up. >.< 

I was frustrated. 

And really really just wanted to leave.

But I'm also very stubborn.

So I eventually got the customer to the cat cans....only to encounter another problem.

Customer: Do you have any cans of cat food that are beef flavoring?
Me: I'm not sure. We can go check. What brand do you usually bu--
Customer: Oh, I don't care so long it's beef flavored. Do you know where those are?
Me: The food is divided by brand so it depends on the brand you're looking at....
Customer: I don't care.
Me: Well most of the time the flavors are chicken or salmon. I don't usually see beef in the cat section but we can see.
Customer: You guys don't carry beef flavored cat food anymore!?! *Making it sound like all cat food should be beef flavored*
Me: It's not a common one no. I don't recall seeing one but let me look. *Goes up and down aisle*
Customer: I can't believe you don't carry beef ones, I've always bought beef.
Me: Which brand do you usually bu--
Customer: It doesn't matter so long as it's beef.
Me: *thinking* Well if you'd just tell me the stupid brand you usually get then I could help you much faster by taking you to that brand instead of searching up and down every aisle for a can that's labeled beef.

Seriously!! This happened!!

Gah. 

Like I said.

Cat/Dog isn't my usual section in the store.

I don't pay attention to flavors or such when it comes to dog or cat food.

I can lead you to the brand, and then from there narrow down the search.

But do I know off the top of my head which brands of food carry which flavors?

No, no I don't.

Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with her after that point because she'd finally found everything she needed. 

Yaaaaaay.

Because by the end of this like twenty minute exchange I was totally ready to strangle her because she was being sooo unhelpful in helping me to figure out what she wanted because she was acting like I should know what she wanted even though she didn't really know what she wanted in the first place.

So. Very. Frustrating.

I was glad to see her leave. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Cold

It happens on occasion at work.
Where we have an animal die. 
Sometimes the cause is rather obvious like: The hamster killed the other hamster. 
Other times...it's less obvious. As one day they were fine and the next day....they weren't. 

Today was one of those 'why did you die?' sort of moments.

As I was opening one of our back rooms, checking animals and their food and water levels...
And I opened up a cage that had a single robo dwarf hamster in it, curled up in a ball.

Only...he didn't move. 
Y_Y a closer check showed that he was dead....
And I can't help but wonder, 
If he got a bit too cold?

I mean, I thought he was fine the last time I checked in on him at work. Alert, active, moving around.
So to see him not even two days later...lifeless.
It was a bit concerning. 

And I wonder...if its because the room that he was in is currently having troubles staying warm.
I come in and the room is in the low sixties when it should be in the seventies.
-The heater in the room broke, and we're working to get a replacement in. 

But...did it get too cold for that hamster? All the others were fine....
Or was it some other issue that we couldn't see....

Who knows....
I just know it was a rather depressing way to start my morning.

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Random Cage

The other morning I came into work, and during opening...I came upon the most unexpected object.

It was in our bird enclosure.
I opened up the door in order to access the tiny space where I can grab food and water out from the bird cages.
And discovered this random bird cage sitting on the floor within. 

It's pretty cool looking if I do say so myself.
Made of bamboo and wood and such.
Very delicate.

And definitely something we don't sell in the store.

So I had to wonder....
Why was it in our store, in our bird enclosure?

The obvious answer was that someone had returned a bird or two.
(They returned Zebra finches) 

But why would they have left the cage?
I mean...it was a very cool looking cage.
So why leave it?

Maybe it was on accident. 
And they were coming back for it?

In any case.

I didn't want it to get destroyed or anything.
-It's rather delicate. A parakeet would chew through it in ten seconds. 

So I pulled it out and set it in the back.
Normally random things like this would probably get thrown away.
and I didn't want that.
It was a cool cage!

So I set it aside.
Left a note asking if my coworkers knew if the people who had the cage were coming back, and if not, to not throw away the cage, as I would take it.

what would I do with a bird cage?
No idea.
But I definitely didn't want it broken and destroyed.

So tonight.
I rescued it.
Because I got confirmation that the original owners weren't coming back for it.

Now that cage is home....
Dunno what I'll end up doing with it.
But at least it's not going to be destroyed in the dumpster.

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Fellow Noisemaker

Customers have some rather interesting philosophies when it comes to their pets.
Some of them are more accurate than others.

Today, I helped two grandmas with picking out a parakeet.

You see they wanted to get the parakeet to be a companion for their cockatiel that they already had. 

Which upon first hearing that I was worried that they were wanting to put both birds in the same cage...which is hardly a good idea.

But they were quick to reassure me that they were going to have the two birds in separate cages.
But next to each other.
That way the two birds could 'talk' to each other and keep each other company whenever the women needed to leave the house. 

As they felt that their cockatiel was getting lonely.

Which I thought was a sweet gesture.
Not sure how well it's going to work out,
But I was quite happy to help them out in picking up things they would need for the bird and catching the parakeet itself. 

Hopefully the cockatiel likes his new tiny companion. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Four Cent Difference

So this morning, just before we opened. Like just under 10 minutes before we opened for the day.
A customer came to the doors.
Which we had shut. 
Because we weren't open yet.
But he wanted in.
Why?
Because our sign said we were open. 
And he ignored the manager when he said "no, only grooming is open, the main store isn't open yet." 
Basically he was like "The store says your open! Therefore let me in." 
Not sure why the manager chose to let him in.
Probably because we were almost open anyways. 

In any case.
I saw this customer head towards the crickets. 
And so I made my way over there, only to find him trying to self bag his own crickets. 
>.< 
Not something we do here in the store.
So I offered to help him. 
And got him his 8 crickets that he needed. 

Only to have to help him at the register too....because we weren't open yet, therefore....there was no cashier standing there.

So we get to the register, 
but before I can ring him up.
He realizes that he's forgotten his wallet.

Which....how do you forget your wallet? O.o It's such an odd concept to me. How can you forget to take the thing that more than likely has your drivers license in it?? O.o 
(happens more than you would think.) 
Only he hadn't left his wallet in his car, he'd left it back home apparently.
So he was scrounging around his car searching for change.

And came back with 26 cents. 

Which is a far cry from enough money that he needed to buy crickets. As they were 15 cents each. 

So two would ring up to like 30 cents. 
But since he didn't have the money.
I rang him up for just one cricket. 
Which was 16 cents. (a penny in tax) 

So he paid for the one cricket.
I took the bag back to fish out the other seven crickets.
And gave him just the one. 

And thought that was that.....

Until a little bit later.
When my coworker -who had shown up by that point to be on register.

Told me that that customer was pissed off at me. 

O.o 
Which took me aback.
Why would he be mad at me?? I hadn't done anything?!?
My coworker thought the same thing. As they'd seen me interacting with the guy, and hadn't seen any thing that would warrant him being mad at me. I mean, I may not like people that can't comprehend store hours. But that doesn't mean I'm not nice to them. I still try to be helpful....so why in the world would he be mad?/

Well...
Apparently he was mad at me because I did my job properly.
He was mad at me because I didn't just take the 26 cents and let him have two crickets. 

He told my coworker that I should have had "a little bit of charity towards him." 
Which dude....it's your own idiotic fault you forgot your wallet. If you had remembered that you could have had all your crickets instead of just the one.
Besides, we're not running a charity here, it's a business. 
And you asking me to just take the 26 cents and ignore the other 4 cents is basically asking me permission to let you steal from the store.

*rolls eyes* 
Honestly, I know it's just a cricket. 
and 4 cents seems a bit silly to get worked up over. 
But with money one the line, I can't ring you up for two crickets and then short change the register. Because we have to count the cash within. And if it doesn't match up....there's trouble there. 
I wasn't going to make more work for my coworkers/managers to appease this angry man. 

Truthfully, I had, while I was unbagging the crickets to fish them back out again, considered just leaving two in there. But decided against it. 
Mostly because I didn't like the guy. After all, he'd come in before we were open. I don't like people that can't read our hours. Plus. He'd only paid for one. So one he was going to get.

I do wonder if he came back for more crickets....if he did...it was either after I'd left, or while I was elsewhere in the store. *shakes head*
Hopefully he learns to remember his wallet from this experience. Maybe even learn the hours on our doors...maybe....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Out of Reach

I'm not a tall person. 
But I have learned how to use my tip toes and reach to grab things that are normally out of easy reach for me. 

Which comes in handy when I have customers who need my help.
Who are shorter than me. 
Because then, sometimes I can reach the item that they can't reach themselves and help them get it.
And if we both can't get it....at least I know where some handy step stools are so I can actually reach this item.

Today though was one of those days where I was able to reach the item without the step stool. 

I was in the middle of helping another customer, 
Leading them to an aisle closer to the front of the store to help them find their product that they were looking for.
When I happened to notice another customer, an older woman, who was looking a little lost. 
I made a note of it, and after I finished helping the one customer....
Nearly I went back to my own department. 
But on a whim, I went back to check in on that customer looking lost in the dog food.

And it turns out she did need help.
Not because she was lost in looking for a product or anything.
No, it was because she couldn't reach the product she was needing to get, because she was a couple inches shorter than me, and needed someone to grab the product on the top shelf in the back.

Thankfully I had enough of a reach on my tip toes without needing to go find a ladder to grab the product for her. 

Yay for being able to help customers. ^^ 

-Sarnic Dirchi