OverStocked

Whelp.
The Holiday season has officially started.
Because that's when I get overloaded with animals that I have to find room for in the store. 
*exhales*
It can be quite the task to juggle that all.
But somehow I make it work.

Yet, it's going to be an interesting few days before Black Friday.
Because I'm in that rock and a hard place of wanting to sell more animals before Black Friday so I can empty out the back rooms.
But also needing to make sure we actually have animals to sell on Black Friday so I don't have to keep telling customers that "there aren't anymore." 

Still....
I kinda wish that the shippers would look at our inventory a little more closely before they send us animals.

Because having 45 guinea pigs in the store is rather extreme. 

*exhales* 
Especially when I can usually only have 6 out on the floor at a time. *shakes head*
So right now...
I'm really hoping that we can sell a few guinea pigs before Black Friday because we really need to decrowd the space in back.
Because 45 guinea pigs eat a ton, and make a huge mess. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Gravel Decisions

There are days where there are customers that just....automatically drive you crazy.
Because they have this desperate insatiable hunger to be told what is right. To be told that the thing they researched on the internet is definitely the correct thing.

And it gets....rather draining. To try and validate that customer when they expect you to know everything...and you don't.

*exhales*

I had one of those customers today.
It was a woman who wanted to get a tank set up that had live plants in it, but she also wanted to put in betta fish so she could breed them.

And she was like "I need this special rock for the plants to survive in, but I also need sand and gravel." 

Which....I didn't quite see why she needed the three different soils.
Usually for our aquatic plants I just recommend the gravel that has nutrients in it and is meant specifically for plants to grow in.

But this woman wasn't hearing it.
She needed Sand.
She needed good rock.

And she wasn't going to hear anything different.
But wasn't listening when I offered suggestions.

Why?
Because she had this book.
That she'd picked up from a book store.

That detailed with setting up fishtanks for aquatic plants to survive in. 
And she wanted to follow it exactly.

Only her hang up was that the book didn't detail tank set ups for bettas.

And she wanted to make sure everything would be safe for the betta.

And it was getting to the point where I was like. "Lady. It's aquatic stuff. It's meant to be in the water. The bettas are meant to be in the water. Therefore the two should do well together."

*exhales*
I didn't.
Not exactly.
I basically just went. "Okay you need this, this, and this." and pointed to the rocks and gravel and sand that I thought would work best with what I saw in her book thingy.

Which basically was what she wanted.
She just wanted to be told direct things.
Didn't want to be given options.
Didn't want to make decisions.
She just wanted to be told.

So I told her.

Hopefully that tank works out well for her.

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Carry Out

So the call came over the radio today that a customer needed a flat cart to get a cat tree out to their car.

Which had me going O.o 
Because cat trees, despite being awkwardly shaped...aren't that hard to carry.
I'd think that they would be the same weight, if not less, as a bag of dog food. 

So I was confused as to why there would be a cart needed.
Therefore, I decided to go check out the situation,
Since I wasn't busy with customers at the moment.
To see if I would really need to hunt down our red cart.
(Because that thing can be notoriously difficult to find. It likes to hide.) 
And found an older gentleman and his wife, who were looking to get one of our taller cat trees.

Having carried such cat trees before. I was like. "Oh, you don't need a flat cart. I can just carry that for you."

To which the guy was like. "Well...then I'd feel like a weakling if you did that." 

Which honestly he shouldn't. I kinda figured he just had a bad back. As that's often the reason why people ask for assistance in the store. It's because they either aren't strong enough to lift the thing, or else have a physical injury that prevents them from lifting it.

So I took the cat tree up to the register.
And the customer was like. "...would you be able to carry it out to our car too?" 
To which I happily complied because I don't get to go outside often once I'm at work lol. So being able to see the sun (or the clouds) and just get some fresh air is nice.

So I helped the gentleman and his wife get their cat tree out to their car.
And was like "Have a good day! Drive safe!" and turned to walk away.
I heard him say something,
Glanced back, saw the gentleman rooting around in his car, figured he'd been talking to his wife, and continued walking, only to have the gentleman call out again. 
So I turned, saw him walking towards me. 
I walked back to him, wondering if he needed help with something else.
Until I saw the cash in his hand.
"Here." He said handing it to me.
"That's not necessary sir." I said, with some surprise. 
Because...I don't usually get tips.
Pretty sure we're supposed to decline accepting tips, because we're not working for tips.
But the guy was like "I insist. I feel bad that you carried it out for me." And again handed it to me. 

^^;;;
Guys.
I got tipped.
This is so weird.
lol. But so cool!! Like it's an extra thank you for helping out.
And ahhh.
It's nice. ^^ So nice. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Locksmith

Apparently I'm now the unofficial locksmith at work now. lol. 

So like three months ago? Really. It's been forever. 
Two of the locks to our small pet cages broke. 
They simply fell apart, and pieces got lost...and therefore became unfixable. 

Which meant that we had to order in new locks to replace the broken ones. 

And like I said....it took forever.
Those cages have been unlocked for months. 
Because for whatever reason, the parts take forever to come into the store. *shakes head*

However, today. They finally arrived.

The key locks. 

Which, I probably wouldn't have realized had come as quickly.
Except the managers were like: Hey, Sarnic. The locks came in to fix the cages. Could you fix them for us? 

Because guess who's been the one fixing the broken bird lock multiple times in the past month?
Me.

Because I actually have the patience, and the curiosity to try and figure out how the lock works and how to put it back together again in order to get it working.

And since the bird door lock has a pretty similar principle to the small pet cage key locks....
As well as the fact that I have put together the small pet cages locks before as well....

I obviously was the best person for the job to get the job done. lol. 

So that's what I did.
With some fiddling and some faddling.
And the search for like a mini wrench where I could loosen a piece of the lock so it wouldn't be crooked any further.

I fixed them!!! 

Woot.
Yay for me fixing locks. lol. 

>.>
<.<

I really hope they aren't broken when I come back into work tomorrow. >.> 

-Sarnic Dirchi

A WEEK?!?!

There was a customer on the phone today, with a southern accent with a simple enough question.

She wanted to know how long it would take the money show up in her account after she returned an item to our store yesterday. 
After double checking if she'd used a Debit or Credit card and finding out she used a Debit card.
I told her that it could be within a day, but could also take up to a week for the money to show up.

And it was like the woman hadn't even heard the first part where it could show back up in the account in a day.
No all she heard was "Up to a week." 
and for whatever reason, that sent her temper into full on volcano mode.

"UP TO A WEEK!? WHY I NEVER!" *shakes head* 
She was like "Everywhere else it's 2-3 days! Why in the world would it take up to a week for my money to come back?!" 

Which....she made it sound like she needed that money to show back up in her account NOW. 
Which left me confused...as usually with debit cards our policy is to give the money back in cash because of that very reason. That it takes a couple of days for the money to show back up in the account. Why she got it back on her card...not sure...but honestly...I couldn't see why she was freaking out. The money would be back in her account within the week. 

But she was still stuck on that "seven days" sort of week thing.
And was like. "You believe it's up to seven days?! Do you KNOW how long it takes?" 
To which I was mentally rolling my eyes at this woman. and I calmly interrupted her and said that I could double check with a manager to see for sure what the answer was.
Which I did.
And I returned to tell her that the manager had stated that it takes 3-5 days to show back up in the account, but could be up to a week if the return was done on a weekend. Because it's 3-5 business days.

And that seemed to calm her right down. As she hung up soon after.

*shakes head* 
Don't get it. 
Really don't get it.
Why did she get so upset?
Why was she checking the DAY AFTER she returned an item if she knew that other places took 2-3 days to put the money back in the account? *shakes head* 
I have no idea.

But instead of being annoyed by the encounter, I was more amused.
because really...it was a stupid reason to get upset.
And because her accent...I actually liked listening to it. So the fact that she was mad while it registered, didn't really bother me.
It was just well...funny to hear that southern bell accent trying to be mad. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Looking for Help

There was a woman and her son who came into the store pretty early this morning.
Probably just after opening really.
They'd come in to check out the fish tanks and such.
And the woman was like. "What sort of fish tank should we get." 
And after a few questions of my own, I directed her to the types of tanks that would suit what she and her son were interested in getting. 

And I continued to give her advice, information, and answer her questions.

To which she was like. "I've been in multiple pet stores." (she may have said 'been in here multiple times') "And I've never met someone as helpful as you have been."

She was rather grateful for that fact.
That I was willing to answer her questions, volunteer information....

Which always catches me off guard when customers are surprised at this.

Because like...that's why I'm here?
I'm here to answer your questions. 
I'm here to help you figure out where something is, what animal to get, how to take care of your pet.
That's why I was trained, that's why I'm in this particular department.
I'm here to help the customers find a pet to take home and to try and help them make caring for their new pet as easy as possible.

*shrugs*
At least I was able to give her a clearer picture of what she wants to get. :)  Yay. lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Emailed

Pretty close to after opening, I answer the phone to a customer who was calling all the way over from North Carolina. (which is on the opposite side of the country from my store) 

And she was calling because last night she received an email receipt from my store...and she'd never been to my store before. Wasn't even in the state. 
So she was like "Can you explain to me why I'm getting this email receipt about purchases that were made in your store with a card that isn't mine?" 

And yah.
I could explain it easily. 

You see, our store can Email receipts to customers instead of printing them out.
We just enter their email address into the computer and walla! Receipt is emailed to that email address.

The computer doesn't do anything further than that. It just sends a copy of the receipt to the email address. 

And because the card used on the receipt didn't match the cards of the lady in North Carolina.

I pretty much put it down to human error. 
The email address of the customer who had bought stuff from our store had been entered incorrectly, and therefore had sent a receipt to the woman instead of the customer. 

The woman was a bit disbelieving. She was like "But my email address is "firstnamelastname@gmail.com" and my name is not a normal name!! 

Well...apparently it is normal enough for someone to have a similar enough email address for us to input. 

In any case.
I reassured her that there was nothing to worry about.
And she should be fine.

And I wasn't going to think more about it.

Only, a few hours later....I got another call...
Well I took over the phone from my coworker who was slammed at the register, and encountered another customer....

With the same problem.
He'd received an email saying that $80 worth of doggie stuff had been purchased at the store....and he doesn't own a dog....nor has he been to our store.

And from my understanding, the guy had basically gone and cancelled all his cards and such. 
--I think he'd been having other issues with his cards (information taken maybe?) which was what prompted that measure.

But he was calling to find out what had happened and what could be done and yadda yadda.

So I had to give him basically the same spiel. That someone from our store had purchased something, and sent the receipt to his email instead of theirs because most likely their email had been put in incorrectly and so he'd received the email instead of them.

The catch...is that this particular customer had paid with a check.....so it wasn't as easy to tell that the payment hadn't been taken from his account.
But I told him another customer had called with a similar issue earlier, and that I was pretty confident that he hadn't had any money taken, and that he'd only received the email. That was it.
After all...we treat checks a lot like debit cards at my work, so once the check goes through, it's taken out of a person's account basically as quickly as if they'd used a debit card.

So I told him, since he hadn't seen any charges yet in his accounts, that he should be fine, but he could keep an eye on it just in case for a couple more days.

Pretty sure there's nothing wrong....
Beyond the wrong email addresses in our computer system that is....

-Sarnic Dirchi