MLAARE -Too Helpful

Sometimes....I wonder if I'm too helpful.
The need to please....getting in the way of things. 

Today...I think it was so.

We've been looking for people to hire....
And I had a friend from my hometown apply to get a job here. 
For when they move down here to go to school. 

I'd put my managers on notice that they might be applying.
And they told me today that my friend had.
Yay!!

And then I think I stuck my foot in my mouth.

Why?
Because they were going to call my friend today to set up an interview...for today if possible.
And I mentioned that it might be difficult for my friend to come down as they're still up in HomeTown. 

They were like. O.o Then why did your friend apply?!
And I told them.
That my friend was looking for a job for when they came down for school next month.
But they wouldn't be moving down for like three more weeks.
Because they can't get into their apartment before that point. 

And they were like "Oh...well we can't call them in for an interview yet, that's too far out." 
O.o 

Honestly...I think my friend would have been willing to come down for the interview and if they liked them, the hiring process and training. Make the commute if it meant they got the job. 

But now....my friend has been relegated to the 'waiting pile' 
To see if they still may need them in three weeks. 

*bangs head on desk.*
Ugh!
UUUGGGHHH!
I just had to go and open my mouth!
my friend could have had an interview today!
They could be hired today if it went well!!

and I had to open my mouth and tell them that they weren't available for another month! 

How was I supposed to know that that would be a problem? 
I honestly didn't see it as a problem. I mean. Drive down a couple of times for the interview(s) and Training and such and then don't schedule them until they move down.
It seems so simple.

But the managers apparently disagreed.

Uggggh!! 
I really hope that I didn't just ruin this opportunity for my friend.
I really hope so. 

Guess we'll have to wait and see.
And I'll be sitting here feeling guilty in the meantime..... 

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Short Staffed

Oh.
Next week is NOT going to be fun. 
Or the Week after. 
Maybe even the week after. 

Because,
We had a coworker quit. 
Unexpectedly.
In that its sudden. 
We knew they would possibly be leaving.
But with them quitting like this.
So quickly, and unexpectedly.

Its left us thin staffed. 

Thin enough.
That in order to be able to cover the hours we're open.
We can't come in as early before the store opens to do our morning tasks.

There are some days where we're scheduled to come in only an hour before the store opens. 
An hour. 

With all we have to do before work opens.
That is not enough.
Really its not enough.
Cleaning out the specific cages each day takes at minimum two hours. At Minimum. More often it takes 3 hours sometimes more depending on the circumstances.

And here we are....left with an hour to try and do cage cleanings and other tasks before we open.

It's not going to happen.

We're going to be left trying to do tasks that would have been done before the store opens while we're open.
Its going to be crazy.
Usually not many customers come in in the mornings.
So the stress won't be too bad. 

Of course, knowing that we're going to be short staffed and on a deadline we can't make...
The customers are going to be streaming in.
Its bound to happen.
I won't be surprised if I do.

Yah....this is going to be 'fun'
Until we can hire and train our new people. 
This is going to be 'fun.' 

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE --Tortoise Problems

*bangs head against wall* 
Ugh.
UGH!!
Coworkers. 

Co. Work. Ers. 
>.< 

Some days, they make things much more of a hassle then they should. 

So. 
Yesterday. 
I had a customer bring back in a Tortoise after having it for nearly two weeks. 
Why?
Apparently the Tortoise wasn't eating.
Hadn't eaten after the first couple of days. 
And apparently the customers had tried to feed him everything to make him eat. Done everything right, from what I could understand. 
Yet. The Tortoise wasn't eating.

Which meant something was wrong, obviously. 
So they returned the Tortoise.
I looked at him,
He was alert.
Active.
Trying to get out of my hands.

It didn't look like there was anything wrong with him.
I wouldn't know how he was eating until after a few days. Stress can get a tortoise off his food. So he may not eat for a few days, not a major issue with Tortoises, they can go a bit without food.  
But since there was nothing visibly wrong with him.
I put him back out on the floor. 

I didn't get a chance to see if he ate any of the food I offered him.
As this happened at the end of my shift. 

This morning. 
I came in.
To find the Tortoise not on the floor. 
No. 
He'd been isolated. 

Why?
Because. 

>.< 
Ugh. 
One of my coworkers, who instead of doing their job, decided to come stare at the animals. 
They tend to do that. Just wander over from their duties. And look at the animals, before coming to find me. Crying wolf more often than not. That something was wrong. When in fact. There is nothing wrong. 

>.<
Last week, they came to me claiming that our Milksnake had mites. Because there were dark spots on the white bands of the belly of the snake. 
But.
When I went over there. Checked out the snake.
And it was just coloring on the bottom.
Coworker was certain it was mites, until I showed them the snake. And they realized. All the white bands had those dark spots, and they were flush with the skin.
Coloring.
No problem. 

So. Frustrating.
Because this coworker isn't even in my department! I would be more understanding if they were around the snakes all the time instead of just looking at them through the glass. But they work in other areas. They just come to look. And think they're being helpful when in fact they're just pulling me away from my work to go look at something that isn't wrong at all. 

Today.
I came in to find that my coworker had again, been looking at the animals.
And they apparently claimed that they saw Parasites on the Tortoise. 
That in the feces there were little worms wiggling around.
So obviously, the Tortoise had to be sick, had to be isolated. 
The cage fully cleaned out. 

*sighs*
Well, I looked at the Tortoise AGAIN.
And he was fine.
No parasites on him.
Active as ever.

There is no feces in this cage to examine for parasites. 
So. 
I couldn't just put him back on the floor.
Because who knows.
The tortoise could have something wrong. 

Yet I'm irritated.
Because from what a manager said, basically all the coworkers now believe that this tortoise is sick when he for all appearances is fine! 
Ugh!
So my coworker isn't only causing a ruckus with the animals, but a ruckus in the store. And took time out of our day to clean out the cage.
Possibly for nothing.

Ugh
*bangs head against wall.* 
So. Tired. Of. This. Coworker crying wolf!

Now I have to wait and see if the Tortoise actually does have a parasite/worm problem in the feces. 
So.
Annoying.
If it proves to be true. Then great. This coworker actually found a problem.
If it doesn't.
All the more reason why I'm going to be more irritated with taking the Tortoise off the floor. 

-Sarnic Dirchi 

MLAARE -Loose Cat

There was another first for me at work today;

We had a cat get loose in the store.
A customer's cat.
Not one that was waiting for adoption.
But a cat that actually belonged to someone.

O.o
I mean people bring in their cats all the time, but none of them have gotten 'loose'
Because most of the time they're contained in a carrier, on a leash, or held in arms because they're small.

And this cat had been contained, in a carrier.

But for some reason, while the owner was waiting to go into grooming -I think they'd shown up early and were just wandering the store.
The customer had opened the carrier....Not sure why. But opened it they had.
And the cat had slipped out.
Escaped.
Disappearing underneath our steel shelves holding a ton of Dog Beds.

:S
That's a problem.
One. Because if the cat chose to climb up out of reach....it would be super difficult to get her.
Two. We have steel racks all around the store. There were a gazillion places for her to hide!

Basically, it was a nightmare in the making.
How to find a cat.
That was Black mind you. (so she could blend into the shadows really well.)
That disappeared out of sight. Wasn't making a sound.
While there were dogs in the store (on leashes) roaming about with their owners?

Honestly, I thought we'd have to wait until the store closed hours later, and lure the kitty out when all fell silent with some food and somehow trap it while everyone was gone.

Thankfully, that didn't happen.
I don't know what the owner would have done if that had to be the case, or what we would have done if the owner had left and we'd found the cat.

Who knows.

Basically any coworker that was free to help in the store went looking for the kitty.
But they weren't doing more than glancing about. Looking under things. As the owner wandered around the area calling out her name, and searching herself.
After all.
She could be anywhere.

But I wondered...if she would have gone so far away from where she slipped under the dog beds.
There were beds that had fallen between the steel shelves and the wall.
Maybe she'd stayed there.

I had no idea how terrified this cat had been when she'd escaped.
Had she been panicked by a dog?
Had she just wanted out of the carrier?

No idea.

But. I glanced at the space between wall and shelves.
And I was thin enough to slip in the crack there.
To look behind the shelves.

I mean the cat wouldn't just be sitting pretty in front of everything.
She'd be behind something.

I moved towards the first dog bed.
Nothing.
Moved to the next, moving it aside so I could search further.
And there she was.
The little black kitty.
Having made a little nest for herself between that bed and the wall.

I gently picked her up.
And thankfully she was calm, she wasn't scared out of her mind.
So I was able to easily maneuver the two of us out from the shelves, clambering over the dog beds on the bottom shelf to do so.
And returned her to her owner.

Yay for happy endings!

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Over Dramatic

I came into work this morning.
To find that one of my coworkers had left a note.

One that's a bit over dramatic really.
*shakes head*

It reads:
"Fancy Beardie has toe rot on left back foot. Toe will fall off on its own scaring small children and/or rot may spread if not amputated."

Really.
Really?
Scaring small children?
Highly doubtful.

I mean, if the whole limb was shriveled.
Yah.
It could be scary.

Possibly.
Though most children automatically think that most things that are 'disgusting/scary' are cool.

But this.
This note?
Totally over dramatic.

Yes, the toe will fall off on its own.
But I doubt it will spread.
I don't think its a serious thing to be amputated.
Its a Toe.

That will fall off on its own.
And rot...doesn't usually spread.
*shakes head*

Being over paranoid.

I looked at that Beardie's foot.
And if anything.
It looks like the foot got stuck underneath something. Pinned.
So yes.
It will fall off. Because toes do that if they're pinned and no blood flow is given to them.
Will the rot spread?
Most likely not.

That doesn't mean we're going to just ignore the problem.
We're going to monitor the Beardie.
Make sure that it actually isn't a major problem.

Better safe than sorry.

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Shifts

So, I sent a text to a manager at work;
To save me the trouble of having to talk to people on the phone.
Asking what my work schedule was for next week.

And I got the response back.
"You work these days starting at this same time."

Great.
I kinda figured that would be the case.
Doesn't hurt to double check, as the one time I don't is probably going to be the time when something changes.

But...they didn't answer my full question.
You see, I like to know the beginning AND the ending times of my shifts.
So I can have a better idea of when I'll be getting off and plan other events accordingly.

*sighs*

You don't know how stressful it is to not know when you're getting off.
How long am I going to be at work this day?
Five hours?
Eight?

I don't know.
I didn't press to know as I figured they'd be busy at work.
So now I have to wait for when I do go into work...
And then see when I get off work for my work week.

....I hate waiting.

-Sarnic Dirchi

MLAARE -Pin Pads

I was met with a different sight when I came into my store this morning.
There was a woman I'd never seen before.
Messing around with our Pin Pads on the registers.

What was she doing?

Replacing them.

O.o

We were getting NEW Pin Pads.

NEW!!

O.O
...Honestly I feel like we got new ones soon after I was hired...or else they just changed the procedure on it....there was a change with it at some point.

But no.
These ones.
Are New.

They're so sleek and shiny.
And different from our old Pin Pad devices.

Our old ones were fully touch screen.

These ones, return to the key pad, but the touch screen is just as big.
Its brighter. Easier to read.
So cool!!

And it seems so much faster.
The information that is trying to be conveyed, much more understandable for customers.

Really.
I'm impressed. ^^

I wasn't expecting to get these new Pin Pads, but I'm happy we did. :D

-Sarnic Dirchi