I came across one of my newer coworkers attempting to help a customer at the fish wall.
Which...I could tell at a glance it wasn't going well.
-turns out coworker wasn't feeling well--
But as I approached I heard the customer say "I've done this before, it's okay, I just want one small goldfish."
And my coworker being the good new coworker they are was like "but the goldfish need a 29 gallon tank" -which is true when they're full grown, but as babies they can temporarily go into smaller tanks.
And I could tell from the customer's tone of voice that they were heading towards being irritated.
So I volunteered to step in and take over so that a) my coworker could go sit down because they weren't feeling well and b) I could hopefully make the customer happy and satisfied with their purchase.
As they were wanting to buy a couple of plecos and a goldfish to put in a little two gallon tank.
Which is a bit small for three fish.
But the customer had stated before that they had done this multiple times before and the fish had been fine.
Which basically when a customer tells you "I've done this before it's been fine." You basically just shut your mouth because they're not going to listen to you anyways.
Turns out the customer keeps the goldfish for a while and then when they get bigger they move the fish over to their friend's larger tanks.
So yah. Seemed like an alright situation.
But I suggested buying one of the smaller goldfish as they'd probably work better than the bigger ones and the customer would be able to keep them in the tank longer.
Of course the customer had to point to like the sickly looking one. *shakes head*
-The goldfish have been having a problem with getting hook/anchorworms for whatever reason recently and the customer pointed to a goldfish that had one of those worms on it.
-After the customer left I caught that goldfish, removed the worm, and isolated it away off the floor so it could recover.
I managed to catch a similar color shade of goldfish that looked much healthier for the customer. So yay!
And convinced them to get our little otocinclus because they eat algae and stay small.
-The customer wanted one of the regular plecos that gets like 2feet. Ha. Not good for an itty bitty tank.
But yah.
Our interaction ended with me suggesting some algae crumbles for the customer to feed to the otos because they didn't have a ton of algae in their tank.
And...yah...I think I ended the interaction on a positive note so woot!
At least the customer seemed really happy when they left. ^^;;
Yay for saving the day I suppose. ^^;;
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Monday, December 2, 2019
The Cashier
There's a thing about working in the mornings.
I don't often interact with the night crew.
Like occasionally we'll overlap for a couple of hours.
But the people who work the evening shifts...I often don't get to know that well.
So my impressions of them are fleeting and I'll often hear complaints about things that have happened in the store with other coworkers and I'll just be like O_o??? Because I can't see it.
Though I do wonder if people change their behavior while I'm around.
Which is interesting...very interesting.
In any case.
We had this cashier.
Who from the words of one of my managers 'begged' to get a job.
And so like...we hired them right?
And it seemed alright at first.
It was easy to give them a little slack because they were new and still learning and didn't know everything yet.
But their personality to me was rather....loud?
Like the few times I interacted with this cashier they kinda came off as angry or just of low patience?
And there was more than once I would encounter them before their shift practically yelling into the phone.
And I couldn't tell if this cashier was just...like loud in general because I have had coworkers who just naturally speak loud, or if they were genuinely angry and yelling over the phone to someone.
In any case.
I've been hearing about....incidents. In the closing shifts.
Complaints.
Like the cashier getting upset when a piece of their personal property they left at work went missing.
-Like?? If you don't lock it up, expect it to go missing dear coworker, because people aren't all honest.
Or the cashier refusing to do tasks.
Getting into arguments with the closing managers.
And jumping down the throats of my coworkers for not doing something, or doing something like being on their phones....
When from what others tell me....this cashier would often be on their phone, would often have headphones in listening to music so it was difficult to get them to answer over the radio or understand them on the radios, and like...they never did anything.
"I'm the best and quickest out there!"
....when they are the slowest at getting tasks done.
*shakes head*
Apparently things came to a head over the weekend.
-I had it off, so I only became aware of the situation during today's shift.
Where the cashier asked that they be given the number of our head manager.
And like....the managers don't give out their personal phone numbers to coworkers.
For good reason. I don't think they want to be bugged with work related things when they're not at work.
Especially if it's a coworker on a warpath.
As they apparently were trying to get more hours to work and didn't like that the managers were all refusing them their request for more hours.
They had apparently been under the impression that the managers on duty were taking 'all the hours' and it was upsetting them.
Which is...silly.
Each week our work is given a certain amount of hours for the entire store.
So the managers have to sit down and like ensure that we have the coverage throughout the day in management, stocking, cashiering, and petcare.
And they have to do their best to not go over hours.
Because...idk why...but that's their goal.
Which means if they're already at max hours...even if a person is available to work longer, we still will send them home after their shift because we can't 'afford' to keep them on longer that day because we don't have the hours alotted to cover it.
Really the only leeway is if a coworker ends up sick and can't make their shift, or the DM decides to give us more hours to help things out.
But if you work more hours one day...often the managers will have you cut those hours a different day to make sure you don't get overtime and don't go over your scheduled hours.
In any case.
Apparently this coworker threw a legit tantrum right there at the register that the managers on duty wouldn't let them have access to a different manager's phone number.
And wouldn't listen when the managers on duty were like "these managers told you that there were no more hours you can't get any more hours."
But they were yelling and making a scene at the register. Basically saying "I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying here! I'm doing my job! And I'm doing it good!"
-In the time it takes this cashier to ring up one person we can ring up like three other customers at a different register.
But the cashier was causing enough trouble that they had to open a second register and move all the customers over there.
And despite the managers on duty's best efforts....
The cashier refused to go home.
Until they called one of the higher up managers on the phone and managed to convince the cashier to go into an office where they, the manager, and the manager on the phone had a very long...'animated' conversation which resulted in the manager on the phone telling the cashier that they needed to leave the building.
*shakes head*
Like.
Yikes.
I've had crazy coworkers before.
But this one may just take the cake.
-Sarnic Dirchi
I don't often interact with the night crew.
Like occasionally we'll overlap for a couple of hours.
But the people who work the evening shifts...I often don't get to know that well.
So my impressions of them are fleeting and I'll often hear complaints about things that have happened in the store with other coworkers and I'll just be like O_o??? Because I can't see it.
Though I do wonder if people change their behavior while I'm around.
Which is interesting...very interesting.
In any case.
We had this cashier.
Who from the words of one of my managers 'begged' to get a job.
And so like...we hired them right?
And it seemed alright at first.
It was easy to give them a little slack because they were new and still learning and didn't know everything yet.
But their personality to me was rather....loud?
Like the few times I interacted with this cashier they kinda came off as angry or just of low patience?
And there was more than once I would encounter them before their shift practically yelling into the phone.
And I couldn't tell if this cashier was just...like loud in general because I have had coworkers who just naturally speak loud, or if they were genuinely angry and yelling over the phone to someone.
In any case.
I've been hearing about....incidents. In the closing shifts.
Complaints.
Like the cashier getting upset when a piece of their personal property they left at work went missing.
-Like?? If you don't lock it up, expect it to go missing dear coworker, because people aren't all honest.
Or the cashier refusing to do tasks.
Getting into arguments with the closing managers.
And jumping down the throats of my coworkers for not doing something, or doing something like being on their phones....
When from what others tell me....this cashier would often be on their phone, would often have headphones in listening to music so it was difficult to get them to answer over the radio or understand them on the radios, and like...they never did anything.
"I'm the best and quickest out there!"
....when they are the slowest at getting tasks done.
*shakes head*
Apparently things came to a head over the weekend.
-I had it off, so I only became aware of the situation during today's shift.
Where the cashier asked that they be given the number of our head manager.
And like....the managers don't give out their personal phone numbers to coworkers.
For good reason. I don't think they want to be bugged with work related things when they're not at work.
Especially if it's a coworker on a warpath.
As they apparently were trying to get more hours to work and didn't like that the managers were all refusing them their request for more hours.
They had apparently been under the impression that the managers on duty were taking 'all the hours' and it was upsetting them.
Which is...silly.
Each week our work is given a certain amount of hours for the entire store.
So the managers have to sit down and like ensure that we have the coverage throughout the day in management, stocking, cashiering, and petcare.
And they have to do their best to not go over hours.
Because...idk why...but that's their goal.
Which means if they're already at max hours...even if a person is available to work longer, we still will send them home after their shift because we can't 'afford' to keep them on longer that day because we don't have the hours alotted to cover it.
Really the only leeway is if a coworker ends up sick and can't make their shift, or the DM decides to give us more hours to help things out.
But if you work more hours one day...often the managers will have you cut those hours a different day to make sure you don't get overtime and don't go over your scheduled hours.
In any case.
Apparently this coworker threw a legit tantrum right there at the register that the managers on duty wouldn't let them have access to a different manager's phone number.
And wouldn't listen when the managers on duty were like "these managers told you that there were no more hours you can't get any more hours."
But they were yelling and making a scene at the register. Basically saying "I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying here! I'm doing my job! And I'm doing it good!"
-In the time it takes this cashier to ring up one person we can ring up like three other customers at a different register.
But the cashier was causing enough trouble that they had to open a second register and move all the customers over there.
And despite the managers on duty's best efforts....
The cashier refused to go home.
Until they called one of the higher up managers on the phone and managed to convince the cashier to go into an office where they, the manager, and the manager on the phone had a very long...'animated' conversation which resulted in the manager on the phone telling the cashier that they needed to leave the building.
*shakes head*
Like.
Yikes.
I've had crazy coworkers before.
But this one may just take the cake.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, November 29, 2019
Name?
So I had a customer who had questions about the birds and such.
And while I was helping them they were like "Oh! You're Sarnic! My son is {name}.
And it threw me off....because like....the customer was the only person in the aisle.
So I wondered if their son was nearby and the two were shopping together.
But I wasn't sure why the customer felt the need to tell me their son's name.
Like....did someone talk me up and they wanted to introduce their son to me and like...try to set us up??
It was just such a nonsequir that I kinda went "Oh cool!" and went back to trying to help the customer with their bird questions.
Only to realize hours later.
-Which I was tired. So it makes sense why it took me so long to piece the puzzle together.
But the customer had told me the name of their son because their son works for us. Their son is my coworker.
Gah.
Can't believe it took me forever to piece it together.
It was probably the phrasing in how they said that so and so was their son.
but yah.
Hopefully I didn't make too big of a fool of myself. ^^;;
Heh.
-Sarnic Dirchi
And while I was helping them they were like "Oh! You're Sarnic! My son is {name}.
And it threw me off....because like....the customer was the only person in the aisle.
So I wondered if their son was nearby and the two were shopping together.
But I wasn't sure why the customer felt the need to tell me their son's name.
Like....did someone talk me up and they wanted to introduce their son to me and like...try to set us up??
It was just such a nonsequir that I kinda went "Oh cool!" and went back to trying to help the customer with their bird questions.
Only to realize hours later.
-Which I was tired. So it makes sense why it took me so long to piece the puzzle together.
But the customer had told me the name of their son because their son works for us. Their son is my coworker.
Gah.
Can't believe it took me forever to piece it together.
It was probably the phrasing in how they said that so and so was their son.
but yah.
Hopefully I didn't make too big of a fool of myself. ^^;;
Heh.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Sale?!
Customers don't know how to read.
It's a known fact.
They can stare straight at a sign and totally misunderstand it or not comprehend what it says.
Like they see "Buy" and "Get" and automatically assume that it's "buy one get one free."
Nope it's something like "Buy 2 get 1 free." Or "Buy one get one half off."
In any case.
The customers always seem to get huffy over the fact that what they thought the sign said isn't what it actually said.
But like.
Read the sign?
Actually read it?
Nope.
Customers can't do it.
In any case.
Today the managers wanted us to put up our black friday prices.
That way we wouldn't be scrambling to put them up Friday morning before the potential mob comes in.
Which in past years we have put the pricing up.
But usually it's been in the afternoon. Towards closing time that they do that.
You know.
Less chance for customer misunderstanding.
But no.
The manager was confident it would be just fine to put the stickers up this morning for the black friday pricing.
After all.
the tags are BLACK they have "ONE DAY ONLY!" written on them.
surely the customers will realize that's not the actual sale going on and they have to wait until Friday to get the sale they see.
Unsurprisingly.
Customers didn't realize that.
Because they don't read.
Ever.
They don't read the tags.
They just see a tag and go 'oh it's a sale!"
There were so many customers we had to let down.
so many customers who got upset that the prices weren't what they thought they were yet.
Like...gah.
I'm glad I only had to deal with it for a few hours.
But seriously.
It was a mistake to put those price tags up first thing this morning. *shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
It's a known fact.
They can stare straight at a sign and totally misunderstand it or not comprehend what it says.
Like they see "Buy" and "Get" and automatically assume that it's "buy one get one free."
Nope it's something like "Buy 2 get 1 free." Or "Buy one get one half off."
In any case.
The customers always seem to get huffy over the fact that what they thought the sign said isn't what it actually said.
But like.
Read the sign?
Actually read it?
Nope.
Customers can't do it.
In any case.
Today the managers wanted us to put up our black friday prices.
That way we wouldn't be scrambling to put them up Friday morning before the potential mob comes in.
Which in past years we have put the pricing up.
But usually it's been in the afternoon. Towards closing time that they do that.
You know.
Less chance for customer misunderstanding.
But no.
The manager was confident it would be just fine to put the stickers up this morning for the black friday pricing.
After all.
the tags are BLACK they have "ONE DAY ONLY!" written on them.
surely the customers will realize that's not the actual sale going on and they have to wait until Friday to get the sale they see.
Unsurprisingly.
Customers didn't realize that.
Because they don't read.
Ever.
They don't read the tags.
They just see a tag and go 'oh it's a sale!"
There were so many customers we had to let down.
so many customers who got upset that the prices weren't what they thought they were yet.
Like...gah.
I'm glad I only had to deal with it for a few hours.
But seriously.
It was a mistake to put those price tags up first thing this morning. *shakes head*
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Reflection?
So a little bit ago, we moved our aquatic turtles over to the fish wall just so that they could have access to fresher water than we could provide in their old tank.
But to ensure that no one would just walk up and grab them out of their tanks, we placed them on the top row on the fish wall.
Plus, the tanks on top are also bigger than the ones below them, so the turtles will have enough room to swim about and such.
The fun thing about the tanks on the top row.
Is that you can look up at the surface of the water, and if the waters aren't too turbulent, you can see a reflection of what's at the bottom of the tank.
Which makes it easy to see, especially when feeding fish, if there are fish hanging out near the bottom of the tank without having to grab a ladder to check.
In any case.
One of our turtles was hanging out near the top of the tank today.
And so if you looked at the surface, it looked like there were two turtles nose to nose with one upside down because one of those 'turtles' was the reflection of the real one.
In any case.
I had a customer come into the store today with a bunch of kids.
And they were looking at the turtles.
And noticed this reflection.
But it took them a good five minutes or so to decide that the reflection of the turtle was actually a reflection.
Aloud they were like "Oh no it's two turtles, no wait I think it's a reflection...but it could be an upside down turtle...but if it's upside down does that mean it's dead? No..it has to be a reflection. Yah! It's just a reflection of the other turtle!"
*shakes head*
Like I can get how it can throw people off. Sometimes I get thrown off by seeing the reflection as well.
But not like that. *shakes head*
At least they figured out the true answer soon enough. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
But to ensure that no one would just walk up and grab them out of their tanks, we placed them on the top row on the fish wall.
Plus, the tanks on top are also bigger than the ones below them, so the turtles will have enough room to swim about and such.
The fun thing about the tanks on the top row.
Is that you can look up at the surface of the water, and if the waters aren't too turbulent, you can see a reflection of what's at the bottom of the tank.
Which makes it easy to see, especially when feeding fish, if there are fish hanging out near the bottom of the tank without having to grab a ladder to check.
In any case.
One of our turtles was hanging out near the top of the tank today.
And so if you looked at the surface, it looked like there were two turtles nose to nose with one upside down because one of those 'turtles' was the reflection of the real one.
In any case.
I had a customer come into the store today with a bunch of kids.
And they were looking at the turtles.
And noticed this reflection.
But it took them a good five minutes or so to decide that the reflection of the turtle was actually a reflection.
Aloud they were like "Oh no it's two turtles, no wait I think it's a reflection...but it could be an upside down turtle...but if it's upside down does that mean it's dead? No..it has to be a reflection. Yah! It's just a reflection of the other turtle!"
*shakes head*
Like I can get how it can throw people off. Sometimes I get thrown off by seeing the reflection as well.
But not like that. *shakes head*
At least they figured out the true answer soon enough. :)
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, November 25, 2019
Holding the Hamster
I helped a mother with two little boys today.
Because her oldest -who was probably around four or five years old, wanted to hold a hamster.
So I got the hamster out and after letting both boys pet it for a bit.
But that wasn't enough for the oldest.
So with a little trepidation, as hamsters can be slightly unpredictable and are more likely to bite.
I carefully let him hold it.
And it went well!
No biting. The boy enjoyed it.
But then the mom was like "Do you want to hold the hamster to." To the younger brother who was probably like two years old or younger.
And he was like "Yes!"
But then like two seconds after I let him hold it...he freaked out.
I think the claws felt weird to him or something.
But yah, he pushed the hamster off, screaming, and shied away from it.
Thankfully I was able to rescue the hamster quickly enough and get him back into his temporary container.
But the kid wasn't having it.
He wanted it back in the cage.
So I helpfully put the hamster back in the cage.
And the little boy was like "CLOSE IT!"
So I closed it.
He calmed down after that.
Poor kid.
I don't think he liked the hamster much.
But his older brother still wanted one after everything.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because her oldest -who was probably around four or five years old, wanted to hold a hamster.
So I got the hamster out and after letting both boys pet it for a bit.
But that wasn't enough for the oldest.
So with a little trepidation, as hamsters can be slightly unpredictable and are more likely to bite.
I carefully let him hold it.
And it went well!
No biting. The boy enjoyed it.
But then the mom was like "Do you want to hold the hamster to." To the younger brother who was probably like two years old or younger.
And he was like "Yes!"
But then like two seconds after I let him hold it...he freaked out.
I think the claws felt weird to him or something.
But yah, he pushed the hamster off, screaming, and shied away from it.
Thankfully I was able to rescue the hamster quickly enough and get him back into his temporary container.
But the kid wasn't having it.
He wanted it back in the cage.
So I helpfully put the hamster back in the cage.
And the little boy was like "CLOSE IT!"
So I closed it.
He calmed down after that.
Poor kid.
I don't think he liked the hamster much.
But his older brother still wanted one after everything.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Make Him Better
I had a customer come into the store looking for a solution to help him heal his poor sick betta fish.
Only the products he was looking for were ones that we didn't carry in the store.
While the original issue of the betta having fraying fins would be one that we could have fixed....
He was stating that the betta was also laying on its side.
And like....
He showed me the video of what the betta looked like....
And honestly....once I've seen fish looking and acting like the fish in the video....
It usually ends up...well dying.
*exhales*
The customer was adamant that he wanted his fish to recover.
So I showed him some potential solutions.
But I only carry the solutions in larger bottles.
And the dude wasn't quite willing to spend the money on the larger bottles for a solution that might not work.
As I was emphasizing that the solutions might not cure the betta.
As it's hard to know for sure what the issue is.
He ended up leaving without buying anything.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go out trying to find some other solution to help his betta.
I hope he succeeds, but at the same time....with how he described the betta...I don't know if it will be able to recover.
-Sarnic Dirchi
Only the products he was looking for were ones that we didn't carry in the store.
While the original issue of the betta having fraying fins would be one that we could have fixed....
He was stating that the betta was also laying on its side.
And like....
He showed me the video of what the betta looked like....
And honestly....once I've seen fish looking and acting like the fish in the video....
It usually ends up...well dying.
*exhales*
The customer was adamant that he wanted his fish to recover.
So I showed him some potential solutions.
But I only carry the solutions in larger bottles.
And the dude wasn't quite willing to spend the money on the larger bottles for a solution that might not work.
As I was emphasizing that the solutions might not cure the betta.
As it's hard to know for sure what the issue is.
He ended up leaving without buying anything.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go out trying to find some other solution to help his betta.
I hope he succeeds, but at the same time....with how he described the betta...I don't know if it will be able to recover.
-Sarnic Dirchi
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