Edible

So there's a new cat food that we're carrying in our store called Applaws.

And with most new foods that we get into the store, we end up having a training video we watch on it. Just so we know a bit more about the brands coming into the store. The perks, and the 'special things' that the brands provide and such.

Applaws is a brand that specializes in limited ingredients.
Like so limited there's only 1-3 things listed. 

But the main thing I took away from this training thing.

Is the fact that Applaws can be eaten by people. 

O.o 

That's literally a first.

I mean, I know there's been people who have tried to eat dog/cat food over the years and such.

But this is the first time that I've heard a food say that it can be eaten by people. 

*shakes head*

Which. It just seems weird lol. 
Yet, the person in the video ate it right then and there. O.o 
Crazy.

But looking at the actual product in the store....I can see how it could be consumed by people too. Like. It's basically just pulled chicken or tuna....with maybe a vegetable added in. 

Crazy.
>.>

At least I know now that if I get stranded at work for a while....there's one food I can eat there without getting sick from it. lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Ammonia Test

Yesterday I had two guys come into work to get their water tested.
Because they'd noticed that they're goldfish were getting black spots on their bodies and were concerned.

Which yah...kinda concerning because I was pretty sure black spots appearing on fish usually means there's too much ammonia in the water.

And that's exactly what the water test revealed.
Their ammonia was sky high. :S In the "DANGER!!" Zone. 

So I recommended that they do a 50% water change and possibly add in some Ammo-Lock to detoxify the remaining ammonia, as well as possibly adding in some Beneficial Bacteria to their tank to also help break down the ammonia levels. 

And like....the guys ended up spending a long time in the store.
Much longer than I expected them to.
Because I figured they would just take the things I suggested and well....buy them and leave.
But no, I saw them looking at all the chemicals and the fish tanks and the filters and just talking to themselves....

Though I didn't get a chance to really speak with them again to check in because I was desperately trying to get the bedding change done yesterday before I got off work. 

But I figured they'd found what they needed and left.

And to my surprise, they came back into the store today. 
With another water test.

To which I was like...you were just in yesterday....
:S 
So I was desperately hoping that these guys would have a different and better result today than they had had yesterday.

Because I really don't like it when customers come into the store expecting there to have been an immediate change. Becomes sometimes there isn't. Sometimes it takes time for things to shift. 

So I was mentally preparing myself to give them the bad news that there wasn't much of a change when I tested their water again.

But surprisingly, and excitingly.
There was a major difference!

The ammonia levels had dropped drastically, nearly to the safe levels. 
And all the other slight issues from yesterday were nonexistent today.

And it was just such a cool moment.
To tell them this news, and see their faces light up.
Because it had worked!
Spending money on things had helped!

lol 
^^;;
So yah, we were both rather giddy over the results.
Glad that they had improved and such. 
^^;;

A good moment, that's for sure. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Big Bag Please

Customers are weird.
Like I get when they want to be extra careful and ensure that the animal lives....
But sometimes they can go...like a bit overboard with it?

So.
I had a family come into the store.
Parents and a Daughter....possibly more siblings as well.
Though I really only interacted with Mother and Daughter. 

And the mother had that "Can I talk to the manager" sort of attitude. The attitude of "If you don't give me exactly what I want I'm going to complain." 

While the daughter was more of a mild mannered and timid sort. 

But the Mom found me and was like "My daughter wants a fish! A Zebra Tetra!" 

....Which we don't carry Zebra Tetras....so I was like "Zebra Danio? Neon Tetra?" 
She's like "no, the fish with the vertical black stripes."

Oh. The Black Skirt Tetras. 

*shakes head* 

So I was like "How many do you want?"

The daughter quietly said "Two." 

So I got on the ladder to grab two Black Skirts....
And had just scooped in two into my net.

When the mother was like: "NO! She had one in mind that she wanted!" 

....okay why didn't you say so in the first place?
I looked to the daughter, who quietly said that she wanted darker ones that were of similar size.

Ooohkay...not too hard to do. *shakes head* 

So I grab the fish, and go to grab a bag and ask my usual question of "Do you live under an hour or over an hour away?"
Because my smallest bag is good for an hour and a half, and I have customers who come from up to 4 hours away to come get fish. (Because our location is the closest to them.)

The mother stated that the drive was an hour.
Which okay, small bag it is then.

But then she asked for me to "Do something special" to ensure that the fish live that long.
But like....we don't? We don't do anything to the fish. If the drive home is longer we put them in larger bags so that there's more air in the bag.

So upon hearing that she was like "Okay I'll take the largest bag then!" 

Which I literally gave her the O.o look of confusion and blankly told her "That's good for 3 hours, but your drive is only an hour. The small bag is good for an hour and a half" 

But No. "I live in Central!" she said.
Which I took to mean that she meant that she lived in the central part of the state....
Which if you hadn't just told me was an HOUR away would have made more sense to be concerned.
As again, I have people drive for 3-4 hours to come to our store to get fish. 

But it was a freaking HOUR
and you said you were going STRAIGHT HOME

Why do you need the biggest bag possible to take home two fish??

*exhales*
I gave her the big bag anyways. Because you know, 'make the customer happy'

But I still think it was a bit extreme.
There was no reason to get such a big bag for those little fish....

-Sarnic Dirchi

And Another One's Gone

It was the weirdest thing at work today....

Which considering it's a holiday isn't weird at all because weird things often happen on holidays.

But we had eight zebra finches in our back room.

They'd just come in a few days ago,
So per policy we keep them off the floor for a bit to observe them and make sure they're healthy before we bring them out onto the floor to sell.

And like....they were fine when I last saw them on Saturday....
But when I came into work today....

Two of the eight zebra finches were dead on the bottom of the cage.
O.o
Which?
WHAT?!?!

Like I can get there maybe being one....like one not getting enough food or something....
But two dead?

Something had gone wrong...
Though I had no idea what.

And as I looked closer in the cage, I noticed that a third one wasn't do so hot.
It was puffed up, sitting on the bottom of the cage with it's eyes clothes.
Barely even reacted when I picked it up.
Didn't even try to fly away.

So I took care of the dead birds,
Separated out the sick one so I could watch it easier.

And continued on with my task of cleaning out the cages in the back.

Only to come back a couple of hours later, glance in the zebra finch cage, and see another dead zebra finch on the floor.

Which brought the total of dead up to Four.
Because the bird I had isolated away from the others....also ended up dying a couple of hours after I had separated it from it's buddies.

And when I went to take care of the fourth deceased finch...
I noticed that two of the other four weren't looking too good either.

They were puffed up and lethargic....

So I did what I could for them.
Checked the temperature in the room and turned up the heat a bit as it was a little chilly.
Gave them fresh food and water

But.....

By the end of my shift....a fifth finch had passed.

Which left me with just three left alive....one puffy, the other two looking normal.

And it's just....crazy.

I've never had this happen before.
O.o
Like 5 birds all day in less than 24 hours? Three of them for sure within like three hours of each other?
It's crazy.
There's something wrong.
Either a disease they all had.
Or something they were given.
Or who knows....was it the temperature, the food, the water, the room, the birds themselves?
who knows.

I just Know it wasn't a fun day to work. *exhales*
Not fun at all.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Let's Play!

There was a little boy at the fish wall with his parents today.
Nothing really to remark on.
Kids come into the store all the time to look at fish. 

I wasn't helping the kid's parents at that moment though.
No, I was helping a woman and her daughter by catching them 40 small goldfish.

Easy enough to count out and such.
I have a method down.

Only the little boy was sitting right where I needed to catch fish.
He scooted over when I said I needed to be there.

And he was watching me catch the fish.
But it wasn't silently.
No. he was talking the entire time.
But not just regular kid babbling.
No it was game babble. 
"Let's Play! Let's Play!" he cried out in the "little kid show voice" that some games and children's shows do. "En Espanol. In English. Matching. Matching. Match the goldfish! Let's Play! Matching. In English."

Like...O.o It was like listening to a parrot kinda? Idk.
It was just weird how the boy could mimic the tone of the 'game' so well.
Like writing it out has no comparison to how it sounded.

It was distracting for sure.
lol. Made it difficult to count out the fish.

*shakes head* The odd things I encounter at work....

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Are You Trying To Say?

A customer called on the phone wanting to know information about our tank/stand combos. Particularly the size, shape and price. Which no big deal. Easy enough to answer, though I did have to repeat myself a couple of times because the customer wasn't totally understanding what I was saying. It happens. Phone conversations aren't always the clearest.

But then.

The customer had a question involving an item that goes in the tank. That item was something that had just come out a couple of years ago and was a newfangled device to help keep the tanks cleaner. It's something that goes on the bottom of the tank and has a tube and filters the water in a box and then puts clean water back out.

Which in the beginning sounded like an undergravel filter system. Which isn't new at all. That's totally old school.

But no. That's not what the customer wanted.

So I was like "are you looking for a filter?"

But no. The customer was looking for a thing that goes in the bottom of the tank -not an undergravel filter- that sucks at the gravel and cleans it and puts fresh water back in.

Which sounded like a gravel vacuum, which isn't a filter at all. But the gravel vacuums we had were ones that took water totally out of the tank and didn't put fresh water back in unless you were talking about the ones that connect to the sink.

But no. The customer didn't want one that connected to the sink. It was supposed to suck out the water, cleaning the gravel in the process, and filter it in a box and then put clean water back in.

Which sounded like a filter system. Specifically our canister filter systems where you have a box underneath the tank and then two tubes go into the tank. One to suck out the water, one to put it back in, but you still have to maintain them and they're more expensive and they don't clean the gravel.

Nope. The customer was adamant that what they were talking about was only like $20 two years ago when they first saw it. That it cleans the gravel too.

So again, I tried to talk about the gravel vacuums.

But no. It wasn't that. The entire thing was self contained. No water would ever need to leave the tank. It cleans the gravel and filters it and puts clean water back in.

Round and round we went in this conversation for like 15 minutes. With the customer increasingly getting louder on their side of the phone constantly saying NO! THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!!!! IT'S *proceeds to explain again*

To which I was like. "It sounds like you're trying to combine two things together the filter system and the gravel vacuum but that doesn't exist like that. It's one it the other."

But no. It was a new device. It was out two years ago, etc.

The customer was finally like "Let me talk to someone else." Because obviously I wasn't getting what this customer wanted and they were sure that someone else would understand them better.

So I put them on hold and went to the manager and was like "After you busy? Because there is a customer on the line that is being difficult and they want to talk to someone else" and I did my best to explain the situation but after playing Ring around the Rosie, I was more than upset. So. Very. Frustrated. Frustrated enough that I was shaking and close to tears and barely able to speak clearly because I had no idea what the customer was trying to find and it felt like they were going to stay on the line forever until the answer was found.

All my manager got in the phone and had a similar circular conversation with the customer until he figured out what they were after.

......It was our battery powered gravel vacuum.

One that's handheld that has a little filter system within it to gather the gunk while the water is being filtered through it. (Which is $60 btw not $20) which after hearing that. Yah that makes sense.

*Exhales* It was mostly a case of the customer not explaining themselves well because with how they were describing the device the manager shredded it sounded more like a filter system and not the gravel vacuum. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Fish

I had a guy come into work today.
Looking to potentially get a couple of fish for his apartment.
-Though he needed to check in with his roommates first on if they would want to have a fish or not.

But he was looking to see if we had any blue or black fish.
Because the theme of their apartment was blue and black.
And he thought it would be cool to have a small bowl with black sand and a blue fish.
And another one with blue rocks and a black fish in it. 

So I pointed him towards the bettas.
As they do the best in the bowls. 
And showed him all the blue ones.
As they're one of the more common shades we get in.
Though we don't usually get in fully black bettas....they tend to be mixed with other colors and such. And unfortunately, I didn't have any in the store at this time.

But I talked to him about care, about the benefits of getting a small tank over a bowl, and just answered all his questions about the bettas and such.

And left him to browse while I went to help other customers and do other tasks and such.
Saw him talking on the phone.
And later saw him with another guy -turns out it was one of his other roommates.

And they were discussing the pros and cons of getting bowls or tanks and choosing bettas and deciding what fish they liked best, and which decorations to put in the tank and such.
Which meant they were often coming up to me and asking questions and such. ^^;; lol. 

lol they ended up upgrading to a 3.5 gallon tank last minute. So that's going to be fun for them.

But yah, kinda fun and interesting to help them out. Teach them and show them things and such. 

Hopefully they have a good time with their new pet. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi