Together or Not?

It was the end of my shift. 
I should have been off.

But as is all too common.

We got a rush right then.

I  turned from helping one customer get fish, to find another gentleman waiting for fish. He wanted six skirt tetras. 
To start.

So I fished them out.

Turned to ask him what other fish he wanted.

Only to have a woman point out a pleco that she wanted me to fish out.

I thought they were together the older gentleman and the woman.

But then, my coworker came to help back me up as I was trying to leave the department so I could go clock out as I was off at that point.

Only for my coworker to continue with helping the gentleman catch some other fish while the woman continued to tell me other fish she wanted.

So I had this moment where I was like....Did I accidentally switch from one customer to a different. Were these people not together as part of the same group?

I'm not sure.
I mean both were sticking around the fish wall.

So they were acting like they were family.
Yet....
I don't know.

I left before they were finished catching fish for the gentleman as I had finished catching the fish for the woman. 

*exhales*
I just wanted to go home by that point lol.
Clocking out nearly 20 minutes late. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Chatting

I had a couple come into the store today to return a dead pleco.
As it was the second one that had died on them and they wanted to know why.
So they brought in a sample of water to do a water test.

And in the course of testing their water, I got to talking to them.
Asking how old the tank was, how big it was, how often they were feeding and such.

As a lot of issues arise from a tank being too new (this one was a month old) being fed too much (this one was being fed twice a day) and often too small. (this one was fine.) But they were doing weekly water changes....which I'd heard was recommended for new tanks, though I still stress doing a once a month water change instead. But suggested that changing the water too much could also affect the fish and stress them out. 

And it was...idk 'fun' isn't the right word. But it was fun to share my knowledge with these people. Just being able to talk to them and explain how to take care of their fish and such and offer suggestions on how to fix their problems. Plus I ended up showing off my own fish tank in the process. ^^;; 

Lol. Idk.

I just....I like teaching people when I can tell they actually want to learn. I like giving knowledge away. I like trying to help people to succeed.

So it's nice to have a conversation that's rewarding on both sides. I get to share information and hopefully the customers can get their tank back in order. ^^;; 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Hay Hay Hay

I had a customer come to me demanding that I help her find Alfalfa hay.
Which...usually customers need Timothy hay...
But no she needed Alfalfa hay because her rabbit would DIE if it didn't have that SPECIFIC hay because it was a SENSITIVE rabbit that would die if you feed it the wrong thing and she was in a HURRY to get the HAY and needed the ALFALFA HAY now! 

O_o honestly...I didn't think dwarf rabbits had special needs....but apparently that specific type of dwarf rabbit did. 

But the customer gave off such a spastic energy. 
Like....she had this "I'm in a HURRY GO FASTER" sort of thing....yet she kept asking questions, wanting answers but wanting them FAST because she was in a HURRY. And.... *shakes head* 

I was glad to finish checking her out at the register because honestly, I don't need that sort of franticness in my life.

Hopefully the rabbit likes the hay. 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Scared

I had a family come into the store today to return a hamster.
Which looking at the paperwork they'd had it like a week already.

But thankfully, the hamster was still alive. 

Still. I'm always curious why people decide to return animals. 
Plus. I have to ascertain that there is no issue with the animal so I can decide how soon we'll be able to bring it back onto the floor.

So when I asked them why they were returning the hamster.
The guy and girl shared a look before the guy said. "It scared the baby." 

O.o 

I admit...that's not one I've heard.
I mean. I've had animals returned because children have been afraid of them yes.
But it's usually the 2-8 year olds.
A baby....I wouldn't have thought hamsters could scare babies.
Mostly because I couldn't see any reason why a hamster would be allowed near a baby... *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Online Phone Calls

I got a phonecall from our...online store today at work.
Which was weird...I didn't realize there were people who like...worked for the online store?
I mean it's weird to hear "Hi, I'm from _____.com and there is a customer on the line who has a question about a product/service. Would you be able to answer it?" 

O.o
Sure?
Like....what were they wanting?

So the person put me briefly on hold so that they could transfer to call over to me. 

And this guy comes on the line.
Saying that he's been doing his research and such online and saw this sale going on for neutering dogs and he wanted to see how much it would cost at the store. 

O.o Which...I'm not sure what site he was looking at....
But my store doesn't....do sales....on that sort of thing?
Like we do have a Vet within the store, but they're entirely separate from the petstore aspect. Have their own name and business and such.
So like...I didn't think they would do sales on that sort of thing.

But I told the customer I would check the price of neutering at the vet's for them and put them on hold.

Though before I did, I did double check how old the dog was....as I remembered there being a difference in price (cus I've asked this sort of question before) if the dog was older or younger. 

The customer said the dog was about 2 years old.

So with that information I went over to ask the person at the desk the price.

The answer? $350 
*whistles* Yeesh. 

Considering the customer had said there was a 'sale' going on....
I doubted he'd be happy to hear this answer.

He wasn't. 

He was like THREE FIFTY! BUT THE RESEARCH I DID SAID IT WAS ONLY LIKE $200!!!

Honestly...I was wondering if he was even looking at the correct site. 
But in any case. I explained to him that the price of the neutering changes depending on how old the dog was. Which was why I asked the age of his dog. Since he was 2 years old instead of like a puppy. The price was different.

Which helped to calm him down a bit. Because he was like "Oh, so if my dog was a puppy it would cost less?" 

My answer was yes.
Pretty sure it was yes....I think it's cheaper to get them fixed when they're younger, but honestly I'm not positive on that. It's been a year or so since I've had to ask prices. 

But yah....it was an odd phone call. 
Hopefully I ended it on a good note for the customer....hopefully he finds a 'good deal' to get his dog fixed. 

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Stuck

My coworker kept getting stuck at the cats today.
Because we had a couple of different customers who wanted to hold/play with the kitties...but not really adopt them.

Which on less busy days...isn't that big of a deal. 

But when my coworker is spending like 30 minutes with the cats and the customers wanting to just play with them....On a Saturday....

It becomes more of a problem.

Especially when it happens twice in a row.

Apparently...my coworker wasn't quite sure how to ….disengage. 

Which I get.
It's not always easy to break away from a customer. 

And not every situation will have the same answer as to how to break away.

Thankfully it wasn't so crazy today that I couldn't handle the department while my coworker was stuck.
But hopefully in future moments it will be a little less difficult for them to breakaway.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Free Water Test

I had three guys come into the store today. College aged. Who were looking to get fish for their tank -I don't know if they ever did get fish....if they did my coworker helped them out.

But one of the guys...idk. He was acting off.
Well they kinda all were as college boys do.
But he was acting off in the sort of "I'm not sure you're processing the world right now." sort of way.

...Maybe he was an alien in disguise.

Or maybe he was just trying to be funny.
Who knows.

But like he pointed to a floating leaf in one of our tanks. (as there were live plants in that tank and one of the leaves had fallen off and was floating around) and was like "Look at this fish!"
To which one of his buddies was like "...That's a leaf."
"Oh...."

And then later....
He had a question about the free water testing that we do in the store.
Which the free water testing is a thing where you bring us a sample of your tank water and we can tell you if you're tank is in a state where you can add fish or not. 

But the dude was like "What is this free water testing and can I have some?"
As in..."Where is this water I can taste test." 

:S.....
Again. Not sure if he was teasing or not.
But I explained to him it was a test that we would do on his fish tank water for free.
And needed to clarify that we don't give out samples of our tank water to drink. 
:S Honestly, I don't think you'd want to drink fish tank water.....

But yah. It was a bit of an odd encounter today. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi