Mices?

I was helping a young family look at our Small Pets today.
The various hamsters and Guinea Pigs mostly. Helping them to figure out which pet would be best for their children.
-I suggested Guinea Pig-

In any case, while in the course of that Conversation I brought up that we only carry males of the various rodents to prevent breeding from happening within the store.

Which didn't really effect the family much,
but when I was done with them and moved on to the next customer, they were like "Yah...I overheard your conversation about only carrying males and I was actually looking for Female mice. 

Ah.
Yah. No. Our sister store further north of us carries females.
But my store only ever gets the males in.

So I offered to call our Sister Store to see if they had any female mice available, that way the customer wouldn't be driving all the way up there only to find they didn't have any.

Sister-Store said that they had two or three mice.
So I asked them if they could do a brief hold on them so the customer could come up and grab them.
They were very very very very very reluctant to do so despite my assurances that the customer was literally on their way right then so it wouldn't be longer than maybe half an hour.

They finally acquiesced and so I sent the customer out the door.

I didn't think much more on it, besides the 'I hope they get their mice.' sort of thoughts.

Until the end of my shift.
When another customer came into the store wanting to look at our mice.
So I showed them the ones we had, double checking to make sure they wanted them as pets instead of as feeders -as I had a different gentleman come in looking for pinkies as feeders earlier-- and after showing the customer the mice, mentioned that they were male.

Which...nope. They too were apparently looking to get a couple of female mice.
And they'd already been to the Sister-Store only to find they were out of mice (so proving that the earlier customer had managed to get their mice) 

I ended up directing them to our competitor down the street as I think they carried both genders, and if not our competitor then there was a local petstore a stone's throw away that might also have the female mice they were looking for.

*fingers crossed* that they found them as my Sister-Store probably won't get more mice in until next weekend.

But still...it's interesting that after like...not having anyone interested in the mice for the past little bit...suddenly two different customers come in on the same day looking for the same gender of mice in the same number. *shakes head* So weird how those coincidences happen.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tank Size

Had a Father/Daughter duo come into the store looking to get a fish for the Daughter.

And she was set on getting one of our fancy goldfish.

But the problem was...they'd grabbed a little 2.5 gallon tank...just the tank. No filter.
And wanted to put the goldfish in the tank.

Which would have meant that they needed to do a water change every couple of days to keep the water clean enough for the goldfish.
But the daughter was unconvinced about getting a beta fish which would have done better in that size of tank.

Surprisingly though, the Father inquired how much it would cost to get a bigger tank.
So I led them to the 10 gallon tanks to show them the ones that would be better and only like $10 more and come with a filter and lights and such.

So they ended up getting that tank instead!
Woot!

Yay for helping the goldfish to be able to survive a little longer. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Voice

I know it's not really their fault.
But I have a coworker who has the unfortunate knack for getting on my nerves within like five minutes of coming on shift.....
When they're on register.

Because when you're the Cashier, you can't really leave the area of the register because customers can appear at any random moment. 

But this coworker...has taken to 'directing traffic' to make sure customers are receiving help.
Which is nice.
But at the same time really super annoying because it feels like every five minutes this coworker is calling for someone to check on people going this way and that way and this other way while also asking for help in searching for products to see if we have more or doing a price check and *exhales* It gets super annoying.

Especially if I'm the only one on the floor because the managers are busy elsewhere.
And it's really really REALLY hard to get my own opening tasks completed in a timely manner because my coworker would call for backup or a price check or inform me there were people needing help--who didn't actually need help and Yah. 

>_< It was super irritating.

*exhales*
It's gotten to the point that whenever I hear their voice over the radios. I just get irrationally annoyed.
*shakes head*
But it's more when they're on register.

Probably because they talk a lot more while on register.
When they're out wandering the floor, their voices come over the radios a lot less often.
Which is great for me because getting called away from my own tasks every five minutes is sooooo frustrating. 

So yah.
*exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi

Smalls Anyone?

It was the strangest phenomenon today at work.

Because our Small Goldfish was rather low. Like under a hundred. 

But thankfully, our shipment came in today.
1200 small goldfish.

And like, I hadn't needed to fish out any goldfish before that point. Barely anyone had needed me at the fish wall.

But then basically a minute after I'd placed the last of the goldfish in, this customer who had been hovering nearby but had indicated earlier that they didn't need help was like "What's the difference between these two tanks?" they asked gesturing between our Large and Small goldfish.

To which I responded "Size." 

And they were like "Okay I'll have three of the smalls." 
Which I easily fished out.

But then like five minutes later. 
ANOTHER customer wanted goldfish.

Four this time.

And then like 10 minutes later.
Yet another customer needed goldfish. This time a hundred of the smalls. 

*shakes head*

It was like the people had a sixth sense of "Oh hey, there's now small goldfish at Starsmet! I need to buy some now!"

So weird how it happens in waves like that.

But at least it was only those three people who needed them today.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fix It

Had one of the Vet people stop me this morning as they were standing near the bathroom and I was passing by.
They stopped me to complain that the papertowel dispenser in the guy's bathroom hadn't been working for a while, like a couple of weeks, and the vet person had had enough of it.
Stating that "All you need to do is feed the paper towels through the machine and it will work! I would do it myself but I don't have a key."

Which was correct, when I got a manager it was an easy fix as they had the key to fix it. 

But what has me confused....is why this person thought that I was the one who could solve the issue.
For one. I'm a GIRL. Therefore I have no reason whatsoever to end up in the BOYS restroom so I would have no idea that something was broken in that bathroom. 
And for two. I'm NOT the janitor. So I'm not the one to do any of the cleaning in the bathrooms. *shakes head*

Honestly I wonder if it's just timing.
I just happen to be nearby when various personnel from the Vet find an issue in the bathroom. 
Though I feel like they've also sought me out specifically to tell me issues as well....

Maybe it's because I've been there the longest, so I'm the most easily recognizable? *shrugs* No idea. 

But I do wish that they would just seek out the manager when such issues arise. *exhales*

-Sarnic Dirchi

The KingSnake

-_- So this morning I came in to a note stating that our KingSnake was on hold until this morning for a customer.
Which was irritating because we don't put our animals on hold for customers.
There's too much of a chance of miscommunication happening, or something happening to the animal, or like the customer never coming back....
So yah. We don't put animals on hold.

But apparently the animal was put on hold because the snake had come in on Thursday and the customer wanted to buy it Friday but my coworker thought it would be better to let the snake stay in the store for another day so it wouldn't stress out....*exhales* Which honestly. I doubt the snake would have had issues if it had been sold yesterday. We've sold plenty of animals the same day they're put out on the floor and it doesn't usually cause problems. 

In any case.
The morning came and went.
And guess what?
No customer showed up to purchase the King Snake.

But then, while I was on lunch.
The customer showed up.
Which was after NOON.
Hardly first thing in the morning like the customer originally promised. 

-This is also why we don't put animals on hold because customers don't usually show up when they say they will.

In any case.
My coworkers were helping the customer to get their snake.
And...were having issues.

And upon coming back from break I immediately knew why.

Because this customer is one that I've dealt with like a dozen times before.
And they are always....chaotic.
Some times it's simple.
Othertimes it's...crazy.

This particular customer has bought a ton of lizards and frogs from us. Mostly Anoles, Long-Tailed Lizards, and Green Tree frogs.
And apparently snakes as the customer thought that I'd helped them purchase a few as well...though I don't really recall that.

In any case.
I don't like this customer.
Because they're always asking very particular and difficult questions, almost always saying that 'they're in a hurry', but are almost always in the store for a good hour or so, constantly coming up to you with more questions that aren't always answerable. And like....when they finally go up to the register to checkout they end up leaving it at least three times to go ask more questions before they actually purchase things.
The customer is chaotic. 
And I hate dealing with them because I don't like their energy. There's something 'off' about them and I don't like being around them.

Today the customer was causing issues because they wanted to buy the kingsnake.
but also buy goldfish to feed the kingsnake despite us telling the customer that kingsnakes don't usually eat fish. 
Customer remained unconvinced and at one point while my coworker was bagging up the goldfish and asking questions to make sure the goldfish were bagged properly...told my coworker to 'do their stupid job' or some similar statement.

They also tried to walk into the backroom behind the fishwall when my coworkers retreated there to get the container to carry the snake in.
To which the coworker threw a fit because they 'had a container' they were 'buying a tank.'

And it took a minute to understand that the tank the customer was buying to move their anoles into was what they wanted the snake transferred in because they believed that the snake would be more stressed out in the container than in a larger tank.

So it was going to be ring around the rosie when they got home.

In any case.
We managed to get it sorted, have the customer buy the tank and the snake first and then have them get the tank 'set up' for the snake before we moved the snake into the tank. 

*exhales* But the customer didn't leave right after putting the snake in the tank.
No they hung out for whatever reason for a while by the registers before finally finally leaving the store.

Which the whole store basically celebrated when they finally walked out because GAH. That customer is so chaotic and difficult to work with. XP 

I honestly hope they don't come back anytime soon.
but with my luck they'll be back within the week for another pet or some issue. *exhales* 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Snakes

It's amusing to see my manager freak out whenever we get reptiles in.
As he doesn't like snakes.
At all.

And would happily be no where near them.

So he was less than pleased to see that we got in three snakes today.

But he was a good sport when I showed him the different varieties we got in.
So yay manager for tolerating the snakes lol. 

-Sarnic Dirchi