I've been thinking about the Marshmallow test a lot this week.
You know the one where they sit a kid down at a table, place a marshmallow on a plate.
And tell the kid that if they wait for like...two minutes? Five minutes? and Don't eat the marshmallow during that timeframe, that they'll get a second marshmallow.
And it's like an example of patience and fighting between the want of having the marshmallow now, and holding off the desire to eat it so they can get a second marshmallow later.
I've been thinking about this test this week....mostly because it's amazing how many people would actually fail the test if it were to occur at work.
Because their desire to have something "Now" outweighs their potential reward for a better experience for later.
Mostly this deals with fish.
As we highly recommend that customers have their fish tanks set up for at least a day (the longer they wait the better) before buying any fish. And when they do come to buy fish then they should only buy a few at a time and not 'all' the fish that they want.
But there are some customers who can't wait.
You must buy the fish today despite our strong discouragement on how that won't work out well for the fish.
No it's the "My kid needs a fish today. I need the fish today. I live too far away I need the fish today."
Like...sure the kid may be happy to get a fish today....but will they still be happy when it dies the next day due to stress? I'm not so sure.
It's amazing how many customers just focus on the "Now." and not on the potential consequences of later.
But there's also something to be said about the people's patience levels.
Like we've had customers hang around the store for a couple of hours waiting to see our fish shipment once it's been fully placed on the floor, or waiting for their dog to be done with grooming.
They'll just...hang out. Hover.
It's crazy.
It's also crazy how short people's patience can be.
Like the number of times I've gone to the back of the store to search for a product for a customer only to come back up to the front and have the customer gone.
Like...you asked me to go look for something and couldn't wait four minutes for me to make the roundtrip?
We had a customer in the store today who wanted to talk to the dog trainer...
But they ended up only waiting around for a couple of minutes before leaving.
It's just....crazy.
Crazy to see which customers would pass the marshmallow test and which ones would fail.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 31, 2020
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Give Me The Training
Had quite the customer come into work today.
Which it's rather annoying to have to deal with a difficult customer first thing at the start of your shift.
It makes the whole day...that much harder.
Today we had a couple come into the store who were interested in buying a training class.
But not for them.
No the woman stated it was gonna be a gift.
For like a wedding?
Where the happy couple was gonna be getting a puppy sometime soon.
And the customer wanted to buy a training class to give to the couple so that they could train their puppy once they get it.
However.
There is a slight problem with this plan.
You can't just buy a nebulous training class and say "Oh sometime in the future I will come get dog training from you."
No.
You have to pick a specific date that you're starting the class.
Because the dog trainer only does specific types of classes during specific days.
It's not like you can say "Hey I bought a class six months ago and want to start next week on tuesday!"
Nope. There's set days to start specific classes. And specific classes only begin a few times a month.
(As you meet up once a week on a specific day at a specific time for an hour for six weeks to learn training from the dog trainer)
And having the students put down what day they're starting their 6 week training course helps the dog trainer knows exactly how many students they'll be training in the class and can prepare accordingly.
The customer didn't seem to understand that though.
They didn't get why we couldn't just sell them a training class.
And I'm pretty sure they were purposely trying to misunderstand the situation.
Because i'm pretty sure we were rather clear on the situation. That they needed to have a specific date in mind to sign up for.
Because the customer later admitted that they had worked for the company in our ops department like 4 years ago.
So they should have known that we have to have specific dates.
Then again, if you don't work IN the store it's highly doubtful that they knew that you had to have specific dates.
And if they did....they forgot that little tidbit.
No the only thing the customer could focus on was "Training used to be big with you guys."
Which yes. For a while the main focus in the store has been to sign people up for dog training classes.
However.
The customer forgot one little itsy bitsy tiny detail.
We're. In. The. Middle. Of. A. Pan. Dem. Ic.
Which means our usual method of doing things has changed.
With that is dog training itself.
It used to be that anyone working in the store could sign up a customer for classes.
But.
Because we have to social distance for the safety of customers.
That means we can't have as many students in a class as we used to.
Which means classes fill up far faster than before.
So it's switched to the Dog Trainer being the ONLY one allowed to sign people up for classes.
As they have record of who and where and how many people are in each class.
And therefore know when they have room and don't.
So we've resorted to giving customers slips of paper if the dog trainer isn't in to fill out so our trainer can contact them later about signing up for a class.
This information was also told to the customer.
But they didn't seem to want to understand that.
And they were getting rather belligerent.
Which is even more irritating because like, lady, you worked for the company. Don't get all pissy at us for following policy.
But they were like "Do you have a manager on duty?"
Because dealing with me and another coworker wasn't doing it for them apparently.
And like lady...if you worked for us...you know that we have a manager on duty. We can't run the store without a manager present. A manager is ALWAYS present here.
Luckily.
Our Dog Trainer had come into the store in the meantime.
So we were able to just pass the crazy customer over to them.
And have them work it out.
To where the customer could purchase their class, but like also have clarification that they were being signed up to start this class on a specific day. And if they needed to reschedule then they would need to have the recipient of the training package call and reschedule.
*exhales*
Yah. Definintely didn't like the customer.
Especially their willful misunderstanding and ignorance that policies can change over time and that things had to shift during a pandemic.
*shakes head*
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which it's rather annoying to have to deal with a difficult customer first thing at the start of your shift.
It makes the whole day...that much harder.
Today we had a couple come into the store who were interested in buying a training class.
But not for them.
No the woman stated it was gonna be a gift.
For like a wedding?
Where the happy couple was gonna be getting a puppy sometime soon.
And the customer wanted to buy a training class to give to the couple so that they could train their puppy once they get it.
However.
There is a slight problem with this plan.
You can't just buy a nebulous training class and say "Oh sometime in the future I will come get dog training from you."
No.
You have to pick a specific date that you're starting the class.
Because the dog trainer only does specific types of classes during specific days.
It's not like you can say "Hey I bought a class six months ago and want to start next week on tuesday!"
Nope. There's set days to start specific classes. And specific classes only begin a few times a month.
(As you meet up once a week on a specific day at a specific time for an hour for six weeks to learn training from the dog trainer)
And having the students put down what day they're starting their 6 week training course helps the dog trainer knows exactly how many students they'll be training in the class and can prepare accordingly.
The customer didn't seem to understand that though.
They didn't get why we couldn't just sell them a training class.
And I'm pretty sure they were purposely trying to misunderstand the situation.
Because i'm pretty sure we were rather clear on the situation. That they needed to have a specific date in mind to sign up for.
Because the customer later admitted that they had worked for the company in our ops department like 4 years ago.
So they should have known that we have to have specific dates.
Then again, if you don't work IN the store it's highly doubtful that they knew that you had to have specific dates.
And if they did....they forgot that little tidbit.
No the only thing the customer could focus on was "Training used to be big with you guys."
Which yes. For a while the main focus in the store has been to sign people up for dog training classes.
However.
The customer forgot one little itsy bitsy tiny detail.
We're. In. The. Middle. Of. A. Pan. Dem. Ic.
Which means our usual method of doing things has changed.
With that is dog training itself.
It used to be that anyone working in the store could sign up a customer for classes.
But.
Because we have to social distance for the safety of customers.
That means we can't have as many students in a class as we used to.
Which means classes fill up far faster than before.
So it's switched to the Dog Trainer being the ONLY one allowed to sign people up for classes.
As they have record of who and where and how many people are in each class.
And therefore know when they have room and don't.
So we've resorted to giving customers slips of paper if the dog trainer isn't in to fill out so our trainer can contact them later about signing up for a class.
This information was also told to the customer.
But they didn't seem to want to understand that.
And they were getting rather belligerent.
Which is even more irritating because like, lady, you worked for the company. Don't get all pissy at us for following policy.
But they were like "Do you have a manager on duty?"
Because dealing with me and another coworker wasn't doing it for them apparently.
And like lady...if you worked for us...you know that we have a manager on duty. We can't run the store without a manager present. A manager is ALWAYS present here.
Luckily.
Our Dog Trainer had come into the store in the meantime.
So we were able to just pass the crazy customer over to them.
And have them work it out.
To where the customer could purchase their class, but like also have clarification that they were being signed up to start this class on a specific day. And if they needed to reschedule then they would need to have the recipient of the training package call and reschedule.
*exhales*
Yah. Definintely didn't like the customer.
Especially their willful misunderstanding and ignorance that policies can change over time and that things had to shift during a pandemic.
*shakes head*
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Returning the Dead
We had a little boy and his father come into the store today.
To do a fish exchange because the boy's little catfish had died within our 14 day guarantee.
And they were wanting to get a new fish.
Which per our policy, you have to bring us the dead fish to prove that it's dead.
Like the actual body into the store.
Mostly to prevent people from taking advantage of us and trying to get new fish when their old fish are fine.
So the boy comes in with a baggy full of water and the dead fish within it to do the exchange.
And he was like "Okay, now you've seen him, I can take him home right?"
Because the boy apparently wanted to bury him in the backyard and have a little grave for him.
However...if customers return animals to us....even little fish....we have to keep the body per policy.
Again, it's to prevent people from trying to take advantage and get more fish.
But it was kinda heartbreaking to see how upset the boy was that he couldn't take the dead fish home.
Honestly, I probably could have just let him take the fish back.
But in the moment...as I get rather work focused...it was "I need to take the fish."
He wasn't having it.
And the father had to talk to the boy for a bit.
Before the boy finally decided to give us the dead fish so he could get a new one.
And it was....sad...when he asked me what I was gonna do with the fish.
Because like it was clear that he loved the poor fishy.
And wanted the body taken care of.
Which...with dead fish we don't have to do anything special with them.
Usually we place them in the trash can ---away from customer's eyes-- and move on.
But with the little boy I knew that wouldn't go over well.
So I told him that we would drain the water from the baggy, and then put the fishy in the freezer where a guy would then come and take the body away to properly take care of it.
-Which is what we do for other animals that are returned dead. There's a specific company that comes in to properly dispose of any dead animals in the store.
Which seemed to soothe him.
And I made sure to do exactly what I told the boy I would do.
Drain the water and place the little fish body in the freezer off the floor.
*exhales*
At least he seemed quite happy to get himself a new fishy after that point.
Hopefully it lives better than the first one did.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
To do a fish exchange because the boy's little catfish had died within our 14 day guarantee.
And they were wanting to get a new fish.
Which per our policy, you have to bring us the dead fish to prove that it's dead.
Like the actual body into the store.
Mostly to prevent people from taking advantage of us and trying to get new fish when their old fish are fine.
So the boy comes in with a baggy full of water and the dead fish within it to do the exchange.
And he was like "Okay, now you've seen him, I can take him home right?"
Because the boy apparently wanted to bury him in the backyard and have a little grave for him.
However...if customers return animals to us....even little fish....we have to keep the body per policy.
Again, it's to prevent people from trying to take advantage and get more fish.
But it was kinda heartbreaking to see how upset the boy was that he couldn't take the dead fish home.
Honestly, I probably could have just let him take the fish back.
But in the moment...as I get rather work focused...it was "I need to take the fish."
He wasn't having it.
And the father had to talk to the boy for a bit.
Before the boy finally decided to give us the dead fish so he could get a new one.
And it was....sad...when he asked me what I was gonna do with the fish.
Because like it was clear that he loved the poor fishy.
And wanted the body taken care of.
Which...with dead fish we don't have to do anything special with them.
Usually we place them in the trash can ---away from customer's eyes-- and move on.
But with the little boy I knew that wouldn't go over well.
So I told him that we would drain the water from the baggy, and then put the fishy in the freezer where a guy would then come and take the body away to properly take care of it.
-Which is what we do for other animals that are returned dead. There's a specific company that comes in to properly dispose of any dead animals in the store.
Which seemed to soothe him.
And I made sure to do exactly what I told the boy I would do.
Drain the water and place the little fish body in the freezer off the floor.
*exhales*
At least he seemed quite happy to get himself a new fishy after that point.
Hopefully it lives better than the first one did.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Last Minute Buyers
I'm hoping that this isn't going to be a trend this week.
But the odds aren't exactly in my favor considering that both yesterday and today I had a rush of people needing help in my department right when I'm trying to close it down for the day.
*exhales*
Today seemed to be even crazier.
Which is odd for a Tuesday.
Like.
Tuesdays are supposed to be the dead days.
And yet we had quite a rush of people during the 5pm hour.
Which halfway makes sense since a lot of people get off work then.
So I could see them needing to drop by real quick after work to pick up things.
And knowing how crazy yesterday was, I did most of the closing tasks early.
Basically as soon as that 5pm rush vanished.
Because if it was going to be crazy like yesterday, then a bunch of people would need help between 7-730 when the department closes at 730.
I was right.
And like.
Overall it could have been fine trying to help like six people by myself.
If they had had simple requests.
But nooooo.
Like half the customers i helped had to be complicated.
Where they didn't just want fish.
They wanted fish and a hamster.
Or fish and a bird.
Or fish, a bird, and a tortoise.
Which meant that I had to do a bunch of running back and forth and keeping track of which customers had come in which order so that I could help them.
And it's like. ticking down to 730.
And people are still coming.
Where one dude is like "Hey, I need you to test my water." but I'm still helping a different customer, but then I have to hunt down the water test guy just as another customer is like "I need a mouse" and I have to be like "one sec, I need to find the guy who needs his water tested."
but nooo.
It wasn't just a water test.
No the dude was expecting me to like help him basically set up his entire tank.
In the last four minutes before I was supposed to be clocking out.
And I still had three other people, including the mouse dude, to help.
But he was like "I don't know the size of my tank, but it's big. And I don't know what fish I want, but I want them to go well together. Do any of them need heat? Oh I don't have a heater.'
Well no heater means goldfish.
Which thankfully the dude picked out the fish he wanted really quick there.
But as I was bagging them up he was like "Oh, do I need air in my tank?"
To which I was like "do you have a filter?"
"I have a waterfall type thing?"
"That's a filter."
"Great, I need the cartridges for it."
Which gah. DUDE. I have FOUR other people now I need to help and you asking me a bunch of questions you should have known the answer to is NOT HELPING things. I have like two minutes to help people and it feels like you're purposely making a two minute interaction into a fifteen minute thing and I do. not. have. time. for that.
And he didn't even know what kind of filter he had for his tank.
Which meant I had to guide him to our filter section where he hemmed and hawed over which one he might have until he pointed to one and I could be like "Cool. It's this cartridge you need. Any more questions? No. Good. Have a good night." and rush over to try and help another customer.
It was sooooo frustrating.
People being super needy.
Right at 730.
And I need to be going.
But the people have been waiting for help for too long because the one customer had to take forever and it's just me in my department until another coworker could break away from backing up on the register to come help me finish helping the last of the customers over at the fish wall.
But of course it wasn't just fish that those last people wanted.
No it was fish and birds.
And then as I was turning out the lights a person was like "I want this guinea pig!"
Like it's 739 people.
The signs clearly say we close my department at 730.
Just.
GAH.
i'm tempted tomorrow to say that the department closes at 7pm just to give myself a half hour grace time to properly close things down.
Because having to deal with an onslaught of last minute shoppers is not fun.
Especially on a Tuesday.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
But the odds aren't exactly in my favor considering that both yesterday and today I had a rush of people needing help in my department right when I'm trying to close it down for the day.
*exhales*
Today seemed to be even crazier.
Which is odd for a Tuesday.
Like.
Tuesdays are supposed to be the dead days.
And yet we had quite a rush of people during the 5pm hour.
Which halfway makes sense since a lot of people get off work then.
So I could see them needing to drop by real quick after work to pick up things.
And knowing how crazy yesterday was, I did most of the closing tasks early.
Basically as soon as that 5pm rush vanished.
Because if it was going to be crazy like yesterday, then a bunch of people would need help between 7-730 when the department closes at 730.
I was right.
And like.
Overall it could have been fine trying to help like six people by myself.
If they had had simple requests.
But nooooo.
Like half the customers i helped had to be complicated.
Where they didn't just want fish.
They wanted fish and a hamster.
Or fish and a bird.
Or fish, a bird, and a tortoise.
Which meant that I had to do a bunch of running back and forth and keeping track of which customers had come in which order so that I could help them.
And it's like. ticking down to 730.
And people are still coming.
Where one dude is like "Hey, I need you to test my water." but I'm still helping a different customer, but then I have to hunt down the water test guy just as another customer is like "I need a mouse" and I have to be like "one sec, I need to find the guy who needs his water tested."
but nooo.
It wasn't just a water test.
No the dude was expecting me to like help him basically set up his entire tank.
In the last four minutes before I was supposed to be clocking out.
And I still had three other people, including the mouse dude, to help.
But he was like "I don't know the size of my tank, but it's big. And I don't know what fish I want, but I want them to go well together. Do any of them need heat? Oh I don't have a heater.'
Well no heater means goldfish.
Which thankfully the dude picked out the fish he wanted really quick there.
But as I was bagging them up he was like "Oh, do I need air in my tank?"
To which I was like "do you have a filter?"
"I have a waterfall type thing?"
"That's a filter."
"Great, I need the cartridges for it."
Which gah. DUDE. I have FOUR other people now I need to help and you asking me a bunch of questions you should have known the answer to is NOT HELPING things. I have like two minutes to help people and it feels like you're purposely making a two minute interaction into a fifteen minute thing and I do. not. have. time. for that.
And he didn't even know what kind of filter he had for his tank.
Which meant I had to guide him to our filter section where he hemmed and hawed over which one he might have until he pointed to one and I could be like "Cool. It's this cartridge you need. Any more questions? No. Good. Have a good night." and rush over to try and help another customer.
It was sooooo frustrating.
People being super needy.
Right at 730.
And I need to be going.
But the people have been waiting for help for too long because the one customer had to take forever and it's just me in my department until another coworker could break away from backing up on the register to come help me finish helping the last of the customers over at the fish wall.
But of course it wasn't just fish that those last people wanted.
No it was fish and birds.
And then as I was turning out the lights a person was like "I want this guinea pig!"
Like it's 739 people.
The signs clearly say we close my department at 730.
Just.
GAH.
i'm tempted tomorrow to say that the department closes at 7pm just to give myself a half hour grace time to properly close things down.
Because having to deal with an onslaught of last minute shoppers is not fun.
Especially on a Tuesday.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, July 27, 2020
Do. Not. Touch.
I had another one of those customers today.
Who made it appear like they were only going to get like two or three fish.
But then after every fish I caught, kept adding in more fish that they wanted.
Which again, is frustrating when I'm trying to help the customer as quickly as possible and they keep prolonging the process.
Like. I saw the customer looking at our small koi. And figured they wanted just some small koi.
But before pointing out any small koi the customer moved to our butterfly koi tank and told me the two fish that they wanted out of there.
So I caught those two fish.
And the customer was like "Okay, now I want these two fish in this tank." Which was the small koi tank.
So I figured that that would be the last of the fish.
But nope.
It wasn't a simple process at all.
Because the customer wanted a 'silver koi' that was in the tank.
But after I caught the one the customer had pointed to.
The customer was like "No! That's not the one I wanted!"
But I hadn't looked away from the fish and that was the only 'silver' koi in the tank.
But apparently the customer hadn't like the darker ridge that had 'appeared' on the back of the koi.
Which it really could have just been like a stress response, or the lighting in the tank made the darker ridge appear lighter...who knew.
But the customer was certain that wasn't the fish that they wanted.
Even though they couldn't find any other silver fish in the tank after I caught that one.
So they told me to put back the silver one and catch a different white koi.
Which was easy enough to do.
But then the customer wanted two of our medium sized koi as well.
And by this point I was thinking they were done.
Nope.
While I was grabbing bags to prepare to put the fish in, the customer proceeded to move the nets covering the containers on the fish --as the koi have been known to jump out so I cover the container with the net to prevent that from happening.
And then the customer, after lifting the net, proceeded to touch and lift up the container that the koi were in to look at them more closely.
*exhales*
Like in general I don't like having customer touch our stuff.
But even more so in a pandemic.
Like there's this general "Do Not Touch Things" Rule out there.
Because the virus can travel via touch contamination and such.
So like it's best to not touch things that you're not intending to keep and take home with you.
And those containers, are definitely not a 'take home' sort of container.
And I was like "For your safety, please don't touch that."
And the customer was like: "Okay." ...and proceeded to keep touching the nets and the containers holding their koi before deciding that they wanted yet another two butterfly koi.
Before AGAIN touching the containers and the nets.
Like.
Dearest Customer. I don't know where your grubby grimy little hands have been.
DO NOT TOUCH OUR STUFF.
So yah.
As soon as I was done bagging up the customer's fish I had to go sanitize both the nets and the containers so I could ensure my own safety with continuing to use them.
And yah...
It was just an irritating experience.
I mean, I get it.
People love to touch things.
This customer was quite happy to press their finger against the glass multiple times in order to point out which fish they wanted.
But like.
Don't.
Don't touch things.
Not at this time.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Who made it appear like they were only going to get like two or three fish.
But then after every fish I caught, kept adding in more fish that they wanted.
Which again, is frustrating when I'm trying to help the customer as quickly as possible and they keep prolonging the process.
Like. I saw the customer looking at our small koi. And figured they wanted just some small koi.
But before pointing out any small koi the customer moved to our butterfly koi tank and told me the two fish that they wanted out of there.
So I caught those two fish.
And the customer was like "Okay, now I want these two fish in this tank." Which was the small koi tank.
So I figured that that would be the last of the fish.
But nope.
It wasn't a simple process at all.
Because the customer wanted a 'silver koi' that was in the tank.
But after I caught the one the customer had pointed to.
The customer was like "No! That's not the one I wanted!"
But I hadn't looked away from the fish and that was the only 'silver' koi in the tank.
But apparently the customer hadn't like the darker ridge that had 'appeared' on the back of the koi.
Which it really could have just been like a stress response, or the lighting in the tank made the darker ridge appear lighter...who knew.
But the customer was certain that wasn't the fish that they wanted.
Even though they couldn't find any other silver fish in the tank after I caught that one.
So they told me to put back the silver one and catch a different white koi.
Which was easy enough to do.
But then the customer wanted two of our medium sized koi as well.
And by this point I was thinking they were done.
Nope.
While I was grabbing bags to prepare to put the fish in, the customer proceeded to move the nets covering the containers on the fish --as the koi have been known to jump out so I cover the container with the net to prevent that from happening.
And then the customer, after lifting the net, proceeded to touch and lift up the container that the koi were in to look at them more closely.
*exhales*
Like in general I don't like having customer touch our stuff.
But even more so in a pandemic.
Like there's this general "Do Not Touch Things" Rule out there.
Because the virus can travel via touch contamination and such.
So like it's best to not touch things that you're not intending to keep and take home with you.
And those containers, are definitely not a 'take home' sort of container.
And I was like "For your safety, please don't touch that."
And the customer was like: "Okay." ...and proceeded to keep touching the nets and the containers holding their koi before deciding that they wanted yet another two butterfly koi.
Before AGAIN touching the containers and the nets.
Like.
Dearest Customer. I don't know where your grubby grimy little hands have been.
DO NOT TOUCH OUR STUFF.
So yah.
As soon as I was done bagging up the customer's fish I had to go sanitize both the nets and the containers so I could ensure my own safety with continuing to use them.
And yah...
It was just an irritating experience.
I mean, I get it.
People love to touch things.
This customer was quite happy to press their finger against the glass multiple times in order to point out which fish they wanted.
But like.
Don't.
Don't touch things.
Not at this time.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Back to Church
My roomies and I went back to church for the first time today.
First time since March.
As my stake..ward? Has been a bit slower on the uptake when it comes to holding church again.
Like I think my Daddoo's ward started meeting back in May? Maybe even the end of April. Who knows.
So it's kinda crazy that it's near the end of July and I'm going back to church for the first time.
I mean, technically it could have been last week....but in order to keep social distancing standards our ward needed to be divided into two groups. And my group was picked to meet this week instead of last week.
I think my roomies and I were both feeling a bit of trepidation about going back.
Because like...we weren't sure what to expect. How this was all going to go.
But overall, it went well going back to church.
Everyone wore masks.
Most everyone social distanced.
...Though there were a couple of people who apparently didn't realize that social distancing extends both forward and back and not just side to side.
Because they decided to sit in the row right behind me and my roomies.
And sat literally right behind us.
Like...guys...that's not six feet.
And that row was blocked off as a 'do not sit' zone.
*exhales*
So that was kinda tense.
Like we were only meeting for 45 minutes. And they were wearing masks. So I tried to just let it go.
And tried to not get tense from feeling them being right behind me.
*exhales*
But otherwise the service went well.
We didn't sing any songs. The pianist would play the hymns, but we'd just read them silently on our phones.
And the sacrament was passed where they put a piece of bread into individual cups. And had a second tray where you'd place the trash in.
They also had more of a distance between the cups and such for both the bread and the water to keep you from touching other cups.
So all in all they were really careful to make sure things stayed clean.
And the meeting was short. Just one speaker after the sacrament.
And overall....
Besides the people sitting right behind us.
It was a rather positive experience.
I'm glad that precautions are being taken to keep us safe.
Though next time I go in a couple of weeks, I may have the roomies and I sit somewhere where we can ensure that no one can accidentally break the social distancing and sit behind us.
Still.
It was nice to meet up. Albeit briefly. And feel the spirit and such.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
First time since March.
As my stake..ward? Has been a bit slower on the uptake when it comes to holding church again.
Like I think my Daddoo's ward started meeting back in May? Maybe even the end of April. Who knows.
So it's kinda crazy that it's near the end of July and I'm going back to church for the first time.
I mean, technically it could have been last week....but in order to keep social distancing standards our ward needed to be divided into two groups. And my group was picked to meet this week instead of last week.
I think my roomies and I were both feeling a bit of trepidation about going back.
Because like...we weren't sure what to expect. How this was all going to go.
But overall, it went well going back to church.
Everyone wore masks.
Most everyone social distanced.
...Though there were a couple of people who apparently didn't realize that social distancing extends both forward and back and not just side to side.
Because they decided to sit in the row right behind me and my roomies.
And sat literally right behind us.
Like...guys...that's not six feet.
And that row was blocked off as a 'do not sit' zone.
*exhales*
So that was kinda tense.
Like we were only meeting for 45 minutes. And they were wearing masks. So I tried to just let it go.
And tried to not get tense from feeling them being right behind me.
*exhales*
But otherwise the service went well.
We didn't sing any songs. The pianist would play the hymns, but we'd just read them silently on our phones.
And the sacrament was passed where they put a piece of bread into individual cups. And had a second tray where you'd place the trash in.
They also had more of a distance between the cups and such for both the bread and the water to keep you from touching other cups.
So all in all they were really careful to make sure things stayed clean.
And the meeting was short. Just one speaker after the sacrament.
And overall....
Besides the people sitting right behind us.
It was a rather positive experience.
I'm glad that precautions are being taken to keep us safe.
Though next time I go in a couple of weeks, I may have the roomies and I sit somewhere where we can ensure that no one can accidentally break the social distancing and sit behind us.
Still.
It was nice to meet up. Albeit briefly. And feel the spirit and such.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Decide.
There are some days at work where customers are...needier than others.
Today.
Today was one of those 'everyone is needy' days.
The days where you have multiple customers in a row who want you to basically hold their hand the entire time they're shopping for their pet because they want to make sure that every little choice they make is the correct choice and that they're getting the best things for their pets (or in some people's cases, the cheapest things for their pet because they don't want to spend a ton of money on getting things for the pet so force you to go looking through the entire store for 'better deals' so that they can save more money. Gah.)
But like.
I had that multiple times in a row today.
Mostly with customers needing help setting up tanks for their reptiles.
Or their tanks for their fish.
And they wanted to make sure that the food was right, the tank was right, the decor was right, the pet they picked out was right.
And some were even like "Decide for me!"
Like...no? You decorate your tank how you want it decorated. You pick out your fish. Because what I think is pretty and aesthetically pleasing you may not.
So yah.
It was a lot of hand holding today.
But also a lot of customers who needlessly prolonged their interactions with me because they ended up being picky/indecisive with their fish.
Which with each customer interaction I tend to bank on having to use a certain amount of energy based on how I feel like the interaction will go.
So if I think the customer will just be getting three types of fish, I plan to expend the energy needed to catch those three types of fish, bag them up, and hand them to the customer.
But I really don't like those people who end up changing their mind.
Or pick one fish and then take forever to decide on their next set of fish.
Or keep adding onto their fish list of what they want me to catch.
Like.
It gets me annoyed really quick because this five minute interaction is now turning into a twenty minute interaction and I have people waiting to be helped now when I didn't before because customers had to look at every single fish tank every single time they were trying to decide on their next set of fish.
I had a father son duo who did that.
Said they wanted fish.
But weren't as ready as they thought they were when I was there to help them.
And so were like "Okay you grab those algae eaters while we decide on the rest."
Which is amusing. Because people don't expect me to be able to catch fish quickly.
Which most of the time I can.
Especially when I'm in a hurry and trying to keep interactions to a minimum so I can move onto the next customer.
So when I caught the fish within like two seconds they were not prepared for that.
And I could basically see their brains short circuit as they scrambled to decide which fish they actually wanted next because they realized I was waiting on them and they weren't waiting on me.
But there was also another customer who was like:
"I want these two fish. The biggest ones in there."
To which I caught them.
And then the customer was like "I want these fish here. Just three. Of the biggest."
Only for him to see another of the same fish in the tank so He was like "Four!"
Only to see another and be like "Five! I want all five of those fish!"
*exhales*
And then as I prepare to bag up the first set of fish I caught him, the customer was like "No, I can't have these in my tank. I don't want them."
Which I was fine putting those back, though I did wish he had decided that before I wrote on the bag. *exhales*
But he seemed content just to have the other five fish....
Until I had finished bagging them.
As he'd been looking at the tanks while I was bagging the five fish.
And decided he wanted two more fish.
Only to see as i was catching the two that there was a third one in the tank and so he wanted that one too.
BUT then as I was working to bag up those fish, he saw some more cichlids he wanted in the top tank.
And was like "Catch me that big one!"
Only to decide once I'd caught the bigger one that he wanted a second one from that same tank.
And by the end of the interaction was like "Dude. STOP LOOKING AT THE FREAKING FISH" because I had only planned to expend enough energy with this customer to bag up two bags of fish and the dude keep monopolizing my time by making me catch more fish for him when I had customers waiting.
Like dude.
DUDE.
Stop looking. STOP IT.
I was relieved when I finally managed to bag the rest of his fish before he decided he wanted even more.
*shakes head*
So yah.
Customers who are needy in various ways....when you're suffering from a migraine...on a busy Saturday.....
Is exhausting.
I don't mind them in small doses.
But when every customer decides they need to be difficult in some manner.
It gets hard to keep up the energy real quick.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Today.
Today was one of those 'everyone is needy' days.
The days where you have multiple customers in a row who want you to basically hold their hand the entire time they're shopping for their pet because they want to make sure that every little choice they make is the correct choice and that they're getting the best things for their pets (or in some people's cases, the cheapest things for their pet because they don't want to spend a ton of money on getting things for the pet so force you to go looking through the entire store for 'better deals' so that they can save more money. Gah.)
But like.
I had that multiple times in a row today.
Mostly with customers needing help setting up tanks for their reptiles.
Or their tanks for their fish.
And they wanted to make sure that the food was right, the tank was right, the decor was right, the pet they picked out was right.
And some were even like "Decide for me!"
Like...no? You decorate your tank how you want it decorated. You pick out your fish. Because what I think is pretty and aesthetically pleasing you may not.
So yah.
It was a lot of hand holding today.
But also a lot of customers who needlessly prolonged their interactions with me because they ended up being picky/indecisive with their fish.
Which with each customer interaction I tend to bank on having to use a certain amount of energy based on how I feel like the interaction will go.
So if I think the customer will just be getting three types of fish, I plan to expend the energy needed to catch those three types of fish, bag them up, and hand them to the customer.
But I really don't like those people who end up changing their mind.
Or pick one fish and then take forever to decide on their next set of fish.
Or keep adding onto their fish list of what they want me to catch.
Like.
It gets me annoyed really quick because this five minute interaction is now turning into a twenty minute interaction and I have people waiting to be helped now when I didn't before because customers had to look at every single fish tank every single time they were trying to decide on their next set of fish.
I had a father son duo who did that.
Said they wanted fish.
But weren't as ready as they thought they were when I was there to help them.
And so were like "Okay you grab those algae eaters while we decide on the rest."
Which is amusing. Because people don't expect me to be able to catch fish quickly.
Which most of the time I can.
Especially when I'm in a hurry and trying to keep interactions to a minimum so I can move onto the next customer.
So when I caught the fish within like two seconds they were not prepared for that.
And I could basically see their brains short circuit as they scrambled to decide which fish they actually wanted next because they realized I was waiting on them and they weren't waiting on me.
But there was also another customer who was like:
"I want these two fish. The biggest ones in there."
To which I caught them.
And then the customer was like "I want these fish here. Just three. Of the biggest."
Only for him to see another of the same fish in the tank so He was like "Four!"
Only to see another and be like "Five! I want all five of those fish!"
*exhales*
And then as I prepare to bag up the first set of fish I caught him, the customer was like "No, I can't have these in my tank. I don't want them."
Which I was fine putting those back, though I did wish he had decided that before I wrote on the bag. *exhales*
But he seemed content just to have the other five fish....
Until I had finished bagging them.
As he'd been looking at the tanks while I was bagging the five fish.
And decided he wanted two more fish.
Only to see as i was catching the two that there was a third one in the tank and so he wanted that one too.
BUT then as I was working to bag up those fish, he saw some more cichlids he wanted in the top tank.
And was like "Catch me that big one!"
Only to decide once I'd caught the bigger one that he wanted a second one from that same tank.
And by the end of the interaction was like "Dude. STOP LOOKING AT THE FREAKING FISH" because I had only planned to expend enough energy with this customer to bag up two bags of fish and the dude keep monopolizing my time by making me catch more fish for him when I had customers waiting.
Like dude.
DUDE.
Stop looking. STOP IT.
I was relieved when I finally managed to bag the rest of his fish before he decided he wanted even more.
*shakes head*
So yah.
Customers who are needy in various ways....when you're suffering from a migraine...on a busy Saturday.....
Is exhausting.
I don't mind them in small doses.
But when every customer decides they need to be difficult in some manner.
It gets hard to keep up the energy real quick.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 24, 2020
Can You Wait?
Our fish truck actually came into the store rather early today.
Which was impressive.
As the past little bit (beyond last week where it was a full day late) the trucks have been showing up in the late afternoon. Anytime between 3pm and like 7pm.
So I was rather happy that it was in the store before noon.
As it meant that I would have fish to sell people today.
But also it would give me something to do.
As Fridays at work I don't usually have much to do opening wise because we don't have any bedding changes and we're still really low on animals.
Granted, due to my migraine yesterday, I still had a bunch of Thursday's tasks that I needed to complete and had been planning to work on those while waiting for the fish truck to show up.
But with the fish shipment here actually on time.
It ended up taking precedence once I was done with the opening tasks.
And it was probably a good thing that the fish came early.
As even when I was trying to unbox all the fish and put the bags out into the tanks.
I had customers asking me if I had certain fish in stock.
And it was either a "Yes they're in this tank here."
Or a "Maybe? We might have some in our fish shipment....but i haven't got to those boxes yet."
And like there were some impatient people where they were like "Don't you know what's in the boxes? Don't you have an invoice saying all the fish?!"
Which yes.
I do.
But the manager had neglected to give it to me and I wasn't going to go spend ten minutes hunting it down so you'd know whether or not certain fish were in the shipment because the customer would still have to wait around for me to find the box with the said fish in it.
As the invoice wouldn't tell me which fish were in which box only that they would be in the shipment.
So I said it wasn't available and told them if they came back in half an hour to an hour.
I should have all the fish out onto the floor.
-If customers didn't decide they needed to be needy at least.
Because I can only move so quickly with unboxing the fish when I'm the only one in the department, it's a big fish shipment, and customers decide that they need help.
Thankfully.
I got it done pretty quickly.
Still not within that half hour mark.
But within an hour and a halfish.
And it's just like interesting to see how patient or impatient people can be.
I had multiple customers forgo waiting for the fish to come out and just pick fish that were already on the wall.
I had some hover nearby for a while while they were waiting for me to finish so they could see 'all the fish'.
And I had others who saw me in the middle of unboxing fish and decided to leave and then come back later to get the fish they wanted.
It's like the marshmallow test all over again.
Just to see which people are willing to wait for the potential reward.
And how many aren't and want fish now.
At least the fish came in good this week.
Well mostly good.
I had less dead this week compared to last.
So I actually had more fish to offer.
Though I didn't actually get to my Thursday Tasks just with how the day went.
So I suppose I'll have something to do to keep me busy tomorrow during that shift.
Since Saturday's are more customer focused days and less task oriented days.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Which was impressive.
As the past little bit (beyond last week where it was a full day late) the trucks have been showing up in the late afternoon. Anytime between 3pm and like 7pm.
So I was rather happy that it was in the store before noon.
As it meant that I would have fish to sell people today.
But also it would give me something to do.
As Fridays at work I don't usually have much to do opening wise because we don't have any bedding changes and we're still really low on animals.
Granted, due to my migraine yesterday, I still had a bunch of Thursday's tasks that I needed to complete and had been planning to work on those while waiting for the fish truck to show up.
But with the fish shipment here actually on time.
It ended up taking precedence once I was done with the opening tasks.
And it was probably a good thing that the fish came early.
As even when I was trying to unbox all the fish and put the bags out into the tanks.
I had customers asking me if I had certain fish in stock.
And it was either a "Yes they're in this tank here."
Or a "Maybe? We might have some in our fish shipment....but i haven't got to those boxes yet."
And like there were some impatient people where they were like "Don't you know what's in the boxes? Don't you have an invoice saying all the fish?!"
Which yes.
I do.
But the manager had neglected to give it to me and I wasn't going to go spend ten minutes hunting it down so you'd know whether or not certain fish were in the shipment because the customer would still have to wait around for me to find the box with the said fish in it.
As the invoice wouldn't tell me which fish were in which box only that they would be in the shipment.
So I said it wasn't available and told them if they came back in half an hour to an hour.
I should have all the fish out onto the floor.
-If customers didn't decide they needed to be needy at least.
Because I can only move so quickly with unboxing the fish when I'm the only one in the department, it's a big fish shipment, and customers decide that they need help.
Thankfully.
I got it done pretty quickly.
Still not within that half hour mark.
But within an hour and a halfish.
And it's just like interesting to see how patient or impatient people can be.
I had multiple customers forgo waiting for the fish to come out and just pick fish that were already on the wall.
I had some hover nearby for a while while they were waiting for me to finish so they could see 'all the fish'.
And I had others who saw me in the middle of unboxing fish and decided to leave and then come back later to get the fish they wanted.
It's like the marshmallow test all over again.
Just to see which people are willing to wait for the potential reward.
And how many aren't and want fish now.
At least the fish came in good this week.
Well mostly good.
I had less dead this week compared to last.
So I actually had more fish to offer.
Though I didn't actually get to my Thursday Tasks just with how the day went.
So I suppose I'll have something to do to keep me busy tomorrow during that shift.
Since Saturday's are more customer focused days and less task oriented days.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Small Irritations
I know I shouldn't let things get to me.
Especially when they're small things that I really don't have any control over.
And while they're frustrating things....
I really shouldn't let them get under my skin.
And yet that's kinda what happened today.
Like I know my coworkers mean well.
Where they're trying to help how they can.
But at the same time.
It just gets frustrating when I come in to multiple jobs that are half done.
And I then have to figure out where things were completed, where they weren't, and pick up on the task halfway through.
And I suppose it's frustrating because I've told coworkers more than once that really they don't have to do some tasks and I can just work on them when I come in for my shift....and they end up doing the tasks anyways.
Like I like that they're trying to make my job easier.
But it only works if the job gets completed before I come in.
As I hate picking up a cleaning task in the middle.
I hate having to figure out which half done job needs to be my first priority of the day.
And that happened today.
I came into work to discover that while my coworker had opened the back rooms.
They hadn't opened the floor.
While they'd swept out the crickets.
They hadn't bagged them.
They had started the bedding the change....but hadn't finished it.
And the main reason why these tasks didn't all get done.
Was because when the store opened, they ended up being the cashier.
Which means that they had to stay on the register.
Though they did attempt to continue doing things when there weren't customers around.
It was just....chaos that I came into today.
I didn't know where to start really.
Plus we had the added complication of reptiles coming in.
And a bug shipment coming in.
Which a different coworker tried to be helpful and put the bugs away for me.
Only they didn't know that we needed to date the various containers of bugs so we could keep track of when they came in and such.
So I had to pull all the containers back out and date them before putting them back away.
While also trying to juggle opening the floor and making sure all the animals were fed.
Trying to finish the other opening tasks like scrubbing tanks.
And bagging crickets.
Along with trying to finish the bird bedding change.
Which since it had been done on Sunday didn't necessarily need to be done today.
So I ended up only doing a quick change on one more bird cage after the one my coworker tried to clean.
And I ended up....not getting everything done.
Because these faint irritations at my coworkers...tense me out.
And triggered the faint headache I had woken up with this morning to become a full blown migraine that made it difficult to focus and do my tasks.
It ended up with me basically doing the bare basics...and then doing as quick of a basic close as I could to get out on time.
Because I was suffering.
Like stake in the skull pain stabbing me behind my eye.
I was trying to not stress about it.
The fact that I didn't get everything done.
I didn't complete the bird bedding change. -I needed to put some decor back in an empty cage.
I didn't finish the fish tank tasks. I still needed to gravel vacuum and put ornaments back and actually feed the fish.
But I didn't.
Cus I ran out of time.
Because I spent too much time trying to figure out where I needed to pick up.
Got a migraine.
And ended up just trying to survive my shift without dying because my head hurt.
It was...not a good day.
But I was trying to keep a more positive lookout on the tasks I didn't complete.
As it will give me something to do tomorrow since Friday's there's nothing complicated to do and who knows when our fish shipment will actually show up.
So yah....I can get the tasks that didn't get done done a different time....
But it would have been so much easier if I could have just focused on one task.
Like have my coworker open the back and the floor and let me focus on the bedding change.
Or just focus on and finish the bedding change before I came in and let me open the rest of the department.....
I mean...
It's not a new occurrence. It's been an issue since we first switched me to midday/evening shifts.
It's just one of those days where the fact that I have to pick up where others left off...just got under my skin.
Hopefully tomorrow is better.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Especially when they're small things that I really don't have any control over.
And while they're frustrating things....
I really shouldn't let them get under my skin.
And yet that's kinda what happened today.
Like I know my coworkers mean well.
Where they're trying to help how they can.
But at the same time.
It just gets frustrating when I come in to multiple jobs that are half done.
And I then have to figure out where things were completed, where they weren't, and pick up on the task halfway through.
And I suppose it's frustrating because I've told coworkers more than once that really they don't have to do some tasks and I can just work on them when I come in for my shift....and they end up doing the tasks anyways.
Like I like that they're trying to make my job easier.
But it only works if the job gets completed before I come in.
As I hate picking up a cleaning task in the middle.
I hate having to figure out which half done job needs to be my first priority of the day.
And that happened today.
I came into work to discover that while my coworker had opened the back rooms.
They hadn't opened the floor.
While they'd swept out the crickets.
They hadn't bagged them.
They had started the bedding the change....but hadn't finished it.
And the main reason why these tasks didn't all get done.
Was because when the store opened, they ended up being the cashier.
Which means that they had to stay on the register.
Though they did attempt to continue doing things when there weren't customers around.
It was just....chaos that I came into today.
I didn't know where to start really.
Plus we had the added complication of reptiles coming in.
And a bug shipment coming in.
Which a different coworker tried to be helpful and put the bugs away for me.
Only they didn't know that we needed to date the various containers of bugs so we could keep track of when they came in and such.
So I had to pull all the containers back out and date them before putting them back away.
While also trying to juggle opening the floor and making sure all the animals were fed.
Trying to finish the other opening tasks like scrubbing tanks.
And bagging crickets.
Along with trying to finish the bird bedding change.
Which since it had been done on Sunday didn't necessarily need to be done today.
So I ended up only doing a quick change on one more bird cage after the one my coworker tried to clean.
And I ended up....not getting everything done.
Because these faint irritations at my coworkers...tense me out.
And triggered the faint headache I had woken up with this morning to become a full blown migraine that made it difficult to focus and do my tasks.
It ended up with me basically doing the bare basics...and then doing as quick of a basic close as I could to get out on time.
Because I was suffering.
Like stake in the skull pain stabbing me behind my eye.
I was trying to not stress about it.
The fact that I didn't get everything done.
I didn't complete the bird bedding change. -I needed to put some decor back in an empty cage.
I didn't finish the fish tank tasks. I still needed to gravel vacuum and put ornaments back and actually feed the fish.
But I didn't.
Cus I ran out of time.
Because I spent too much time trying to figure out where I needed to pick up.
Got a migraine.
And ended up just trying to survive my shift without dying because my head hurt.
It was...not a good day.
But I was trying to keep a more positive lookout on the tasks I didn't complete.
As it will give me something to do tomorrow since Friday's there's nothing complicated to do and who knows when our fish shipment will actually show up.
So yah....I can get the tasks that didn't get done done a different time....
But it would have been so much easier if I could have just focused on one task.
Like have my coworker open the back and the floor and let me focus on the bedding change.
Or just focus on and finish the bedding change before I came in and let me open the rest of the department.....
I mean...
It's not a new occurrence. It's been an issue since we first switched me to midday/evening shifts.
It's just one of those days where the fact that I have to pick up where others left off...just got under my skin.
Hopefully tomorrow is better.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
No. Touching.
It's so interesting how humans just love to...well touch things.
Like.
I don't know if we're just genetically coded to have to touch everything in sight.
But it sure feels like it when I watch customer after customer after customer handle the exact same product in a row and then not buy it.
They have to feel it. Handle it. Turn it over. Pick it up. Poke it.
And like I get it.
You want to know what you're getting and humans 'look best' when they're looking with their fingers.
I've done it myself before I catch myself doing it.
We like to touch things.
But it does get frustrating in the middle of a pandemic just how much touching goes on.
Like I see at least twenty people if not more touch the exact same spot on the glass when they're pointing to a fish or an animal.
I see multiple people touch and pat the bandanas we had out as temporary masks for those who forgot them.
And it's frustrating.
Because we don't know where those people have been. What they've touched previous. How recently they'd washed their hands.
*exhales*
It will be nice when I don't have to worry about it anymore.
Where I can let people point and press their fingers against the glass without having to say 'please don't touch' or 'please stand behind the line.'
For now though.
It's just a constant phrase that I have to use.
To remind people that touching things isn't the best of ideas right now.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Like.
I don't know if we're just genetically coded to have to touch everything in sight.
But it sure feels like it when I watch customer after customer after customer handle the exact same product in a row and then not buy it.
They have to feel it. Handle it. Turn it over. Pick it up. Poke it.
And like I get it.
You want to know what you're getting and humans 'look best' when they're looking with their fingers.
I've done it myself before I catch myself doing it.
We like to touch things.
But it does get frustrating in the middle of a pandemic just how much touching goes on.
Like I see at least twenty people if not more touch the exact same spot on the glass when they're pointing to a fish or an animal.
I see multiple people touch and pat the bandanas we had out as temporary masks for those who forgot them.
And it's frustrating.
Because we don't know where those people have been. What they've touched previous. How recently they'd washed their hands.
*exhales*
It will be nice when I don't have to worry about it anymore.
Where I can let people point and press their fingers against the glass without having to say 'please don't touch' or 'please stand behind the line.'
For now though.
It's just a constant phrase that I have to use.
To remind people that touching things isn't the best of ideas right now.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Masks
I have to admit.
I was stressing a bit.
When I read the email from my work saying that starting on Monday we would be requiring the customers to wear masks within their stores.
I mean, I was expecting it.
Considering that Walmart and other major store brands had stated that they would be requiring masks this week.
I figured it would only be a matter of time before corporate would jump on board the mask wearing train and make it required within our stores.
Still.
It's stressful.
I mean, I've seen and read the news stories about how...well violent customers can get towards workers who ask them to wear masks.
And like...I wouldn't think the people here would get that violent.
But after having to work through a pandemic.
I'm more likely to believe that even here. People can get violent.
Just seeing how people react to us asking them to stand behind lines so that they don't touch the glass.
And how people reacted when we had to tell them we weren't accepting returns for two months.
Yah.
With all the discourse over wearing or not wearings masks.
I could only expect it to be bad at work.
And yet.
With all the big brand stores also requiring masks.
Perhaps that would prevent people from going off the rails crazy.
If everyone's requiring masks.
They can't get mad over our store requiring masks too.
*exhales*
But you never know until you face the situation.
So I was a bit leery about being at work today.
As it was my first day after the mask requirement.
So I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
Like how would we go about enforcing the mask rule now?
Thankfully.
Most people have gotten the memo.
And brought their own masks.
Those who forgot, took one we provided them without complaint.
I heard we had one upset customer yesterday.
But today we only had like one person get snippety at us.
So it was kinda a relief.
That people weren't getting all angry/violent/belligerent on us.
Hopefully it continues that way.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
I was stressing a bit.
When I read the email from my work saying that starting on Monday we would be requiring the customers to wear masks within their stores.
I mean, I was expecting it.
Considering that Walmart and other major store brands had stated that they would be requiring masks this week.
I figured it would only be a matter of time before corporate would jump on board the mask wearing train and make it required within our stores.
Still.
It's stressful.
I mean, I've seen and read the news stories about how...well violent customers can get towards workers who ask them to wear masks.
And like...I wouldn't think the people here would get that violent.
But after having to work through a pandemic.
I'm more likely to believe that even here. People can get violent.
Just seeing how people react to us asking them to stand behind lines so that they don't touch the glass.
And how people reacted when we had to tell them we weren't accepting returns for two months.
Yah.
With all the discourse over wearing or not wearings masks.
I could only expect it to be bad at work.
And yet.
With all the big brand stores also requiring masks.
Perhaps that would prevent people from going off the rails crazy.
If everyone's requiring masks.
They can't get mad over our store requiring masks too.
*exhales*
But you never know until you face the situation.
So I was a bit leery about being at work today.
As it was my first day after the mask requirement.
So I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
Like how would we go about enforcing the mask rule now?
Thankfully.
Most people have gotten the memo.
And brought their own masks.
Those who forgot, took one we provided them without complaint.
I heard we had one upset customer yesterday.
But today we only had like one person get snippety at us.
So it was kinda a relief.
That people weren't getting all angry/violent/belligerent on us.
Hopefully it continues that way.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Monday, July 20, 2020
Too Hot
It's no secret that Daddoo has always had a love for warmer weather.
He's always talked about moving further south where it stays warmer longer and seems to thrive when the temperatures increase.
And usually he likes to keep the house a bit warmer than I prefer.
Like let the house get up to 80 degrees and be fine with it.
When I usually like being in places slightly cooler.
This year....he's apparently been letting the house get much warmer than usual.
As he now has a finished basement, and in an effort to save on utilities, he's decided to switch between living upstairs and downstairs during the year.
Downstairs where it stays cooler in warmer weather so he can save on the AC.
Upstairs where it stays warmer when it's cooler weather so he can save on Heat.
And like.
It's a cool concept.
As a concept.
But apparently Daddoo has let the AC stay off and let the house get much much warmer than usual.
Like 85 degrees in the house warmer.
Which is waaaaay too hot for me.
When I was visiting last night, I found it difficult to remain comfortable sitting upstairs --and had to go turn on the AC to cool it down a bit because it was too hot for me to be able to focus.
Which Daddoo being the heat lover he is, didn't seem to mind that the upstairs was 85 degrees at midnight.
I mean, he'd be sleeping in the basement where it's cooler so it wouldn't really affect him.
However.
There has been something that's been affected by this sudden dramatic increase in temperature.
You see.
Daddoo has this nice 46 gallon fish tank.
Upstairs.
Upstairs where the temperatures have been getting in the high 80s and wouldn't surprise me if they reached 90s at some point.
And Daddoo was like "Yah, it's weird like I lost half my fish this past week and I don't know why."
A few questions on how warm he was keeping the house quickly showed the issue.
As the fish Daddoo kept in his tank are tropical fish.
And while they love warm water.
They don't like hot water.
Their preferred temperature range is to be between 72 and 82 degrees. With the best zone being between 76-78 degrees.
And while water can stay a bit cooler than the temperature in the house.
If the temperature in the house gets too high.
The water heats up as well.
And if it gets too hot.
The fish die.
*exhales*
So that was kinda frustrating. That Daddoo hadn't realized in his quest to keep the AC bill down that he was neglecting his fish.
After all, it's quite easy to get fish warmer.
It's not so easy to cool them down. They only sell heaters after all, they don't sell coolers.
(I mean I know they probably do for fish tanks but still)
Hopefully he'll try and keep the house just a tad cooler now that I told him not to let the house get above 82.
But we'll see.
Probably won't actively look to get him more fish until it starts cooling down again in any case.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
He's always talked about moving further south where it stays warmer longer and seems to thrive when the temperatures increase.
And usually he likes to keep the house a bit warmer than I prefer.
Like let the house get up to 80 degrees and be fine with it.
When I usually like being in places slightly cooler.
This year....he's apparently been letting the house get much warmer than usual.
As he now has a finished basement, and in an effort to save on utilities, he's decided to switch between living upstairs and downstairs during the year.
Downstairs where it stays cooler in warmer weather so he can save on the AC.
Upstairs where it stays warmer when it's cooler weather so he can save on Heat.
And like.
It's a cool concept.
As a concept.
But apparently Daddoo has let the AC stay off and let the house get much much warmer than usual.
Like 85 degrees in the house warmer.
Which is waaaaay too hot for me.
When I was visiting last night, I found it difficult to remain comfortable sitting upstairs --and had to go turn on the AC to cool it down a bit because it was too hot for me to be able to focus.
Which Daddoo being the heat lover he is, didn't seem to mind that the upstairs was 85 degrees at midnight.
I mean, he'd be sleeping in the basement where it's cooler so it wouldn't really affect him.
However.
There has been something that's been affected by this sudden dramatic increase in temperature.
You see.
Daddoo has this nice 46 gallon fish tank.
Upstairs.
Upstairs where the temperatures have been getting in the high 80s and wouldn't surprise me if they reached 90s at some point.
And Daddoo was like "Yah, it's weird like I lost half my fish this past week and I don't know why."
A few questions on how warm he was keeping the house quickly showed the issue.
As the fish Daddoo kept in his tank are tropical fish.
And while they love warm water.
They don't like hot water.
Their preferred temperature range is to be between 72 and 82 degrees. With the best zone being between 76-78 degrees.
And while water can stay a bit cooler than the temperature in the house.
If the temperature in the house gets too high.
The water heats up as well.
And if it gets too hot.
The fish die.
*exhales*
So that was kinda frustrating. That Daddoo hadn't realized in his quest to keep the AC bill down that he was neglecting his fish.
After all, it's quite easy to get fish warmer.
It's not so easy to cool them down. They only sell heaters after all, they don't sell coolers.
(I mean I know they probably do for fish tanks but still)
Hopefully he'll try and keep the house just a tad cooler now that I told him not to let the house get above 82.
But we'll see.
Probably won't actively look to get him more fish until it starts cooling down again in any case.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Stargazing
My family and I went up the mountain tonight to stargaze.
More specifically it was to go look and see if we could see the Comet NEOWISE as my brother had found it earlier in the week and it had reignited his dormant astronomy passion to the point where he resurrected the old telescope he and Dad built back when brother was in Elementary School so that we could have a clearer view of the comet than what we could see with the naked eye.
Which was a great idea.
Because from the pictures I'd seen online, I was expecting the comet to be this bright light in the sky that would be easily visible and easy to pick out.
Ha.
Not so much.
I mean, it probably does appear brighter in places with less light pollution and such.
But with the naked eye the comet kinda just looked like this glowy smudge. A haze in the sky that could possibly be a star...but at the same time not.
It was crazy how different it looked than what I expected.
And I'm grateful that brother had the telescope and the skills to find it in the night sky.
Because it definitely was cool to see it in a 'close up' view rather than just trying to find it in binoculars or just with the naked eye.
It's been a while since I've been 'high' up on the mountains.
I don't think I've been so high since our last vacation with Mother Dearest.
So that was kinda bitter sweet to see a similar view that I saw while we were staying up in that condo in the mountains.
But the comet itself?
Totally cool!
I'm glad the family and I were able to gather together to see it. :D
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
More specifically it was to go look and see if we could see the Comet NEOWISE as my brother had found it earlier in the week and it had reignited his dormant astronomy passion to the point where he resurrected the old telescope he and Dad built back when brother was in Elementary School so that we could have a clearer view of the comet than what we could see with the naked eye.
Which was a great idea.
Because from the pictures I'd seen online, I was expecting the comet to be this bright light in the sky that would be easily visible and easy to pick out.
Ha.
Not so much.
I mean, it probably does appear brighter in places with less light pollution and such.
But with the naked eye the comet kinda just looked like this glowy smudge. A haze in the sky that could possibly be a star...but at the same time not.
It was crazy how different it looked than what I expected.
And I'm grateful that brother had the telescope and the skills to find it in the night sky.
Because it definitely was cool to see it in a 'close up' view rather than just trying to find it in binoculars or just with the naked eye.
It's been a while since I've been 'high' up on the mountains.
I don't think I've been so high since our last vacation with Mother Dearest.
So that was kinda bitter sweet to see a similar view that I saw while we were staying up in that condo in the mountains.
But the comet itself?
Totally cool!
I'm glad the family and I were able to gather together to see it. :D
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Delayed Truck
Our fish truck was late.
Extremely late considering it should have come to us yesterday.
And like.
I've had our fish truck late before.
It once disappeared and was like...two days late?
Or even maybe just a single day late.
But it was late.
And the fish didn't do too well with that delay.
And like...earlier in the beginning of the pandemic, our fish truck came late enough in the day on Friday that the manager in charge decided it would be best to let the fish stay in their boxes over night and work the fish in the morning.
That didn't go too well either.
But today?
It was bad.
Like.
Having fish in their boxes for longer than planned usually means a lot of fish die.
After all...if the boxes get too hot or too cold or just have the temperatures change too quickly....we have fish die.
So having the fish show up a day later than expected.....
Like it left to come to us at 1130am yesterday.
It should have come to us sometime yesterday evening. Like around dinner time.
But it showed up around 9 am this morning.
And we have no idea why it was delayed. *shakes head*
But yah.
I figured it wouldn't be good news for the fish in the box.
Because again, who knows what happened in that time period.
430.
We had 430 dead fish in our shipment today.
Like it felt like every box had at least four bags of just completely dead fish.
Most of that number was ghost shrimp. (which yah isn't quite a fish but it came in on the fish shipment) as we must have had like 250 or so come in and like...only maybe 30 made it? :S :S Yeesh.
The other main contributor to the death toll were our guppies.
Lost basically every single bag.
I think we had like...three bags escape out of a good twelve or so bags.
So yah.
It wasn't pretty.
Definitely smelly.
Hopefully it doesn't happen again...but with the pandemic who knows.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Extremely late considering it should have come to us yesterday.
And like.
I've had our fish truck late before.
It once disappeared and was like...two days late?
Or even maybe just a single day late.
But it was late.
And the fish didn't do too well with that delay.
And like...earlier in the beginning of the pandemic, our fish truck came late enough in the day on Friday that the manager in charge decided it would be best to let the fish stay in their boxes over night and work the fish in the morning.
That didn't go too well either.
But today?
It was bad.
Like.
Having fish in their boxes for longer than planned usually means a lot of fish die.
After all...if the boxes get too hot or too cold or just have the temperatures change too quickly....we have fish die.
So having the fish show up a day later than expected.....
Like it left to come to us at 1130am yesterday.
It should have come to us sometime yesterday evening. Like around dinner time.
But it showed up around 9 am this morning.
And we have no idea why it was delayed. *shakes head*
But yah.
I figured it wouldn't be good news for the fish in the box.
Because again, who knows what happened in that time period.
430.
We had 430 dead fish in our shipment today.
Like it felt like every box had at least four bags of just completely dead fish.
Most of that number was ghost shrimp. (which yah isn't quite a fish but it came in on the fish shipment) as we must have had like 250 or so come in and like...only maybe 30 made it? :S :S Yeesh.
The other main contributor to the death toll were our guppies.
Lost basically every single bag.
I think we had like...three bags escape out of a good twelve or so bags.
So yah.
It wasn't pretty.
Definitely smelly.
Hopefully it doesn't happen again...but with the pandemic who knows.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Friday, July 17, 2020
Where'd You Leave It?
You gotta love that moment where you're like "Where is my package?!"
I mean.
Those moments tend to happen less often nowadays because you often receive a message to your phone saying your package has been delivered often accompanied by a picture of where the package was left.
But today.
I had that moment.
That "Where is my package?!" moment.
Because I'd received a notification that my package had been delivered. And in the notes it was like "It was handed directly to a resident."
So I was like "Cool! My roomie must have got it!"
So I shot her a text and was like "Hey! I meant to tell you earlier that I was expecting a package today, but thanks for grabbing it for me!"
And I thought that would be that.
That I would come home and have my package waiting inside.
Except.
Roomie texted me back "Uhm..I didn't grab anything because I'm not home right now."
O_o
Okay...that...that was concerning. As my other roomie should have still been at work at that point in time.
So if first roomie wasn't home....
Who did the mail guy hand my package to?
But maybe. Just maybe 2nd roomie had come home early from work and happened to be there right as the mail guy was delivering my package.
So I shot them a text.
Asking if they were home.
"No? I'm still at work." was the response.
:S :S :S :S
So both roomies are gone.
And yet 'someone had my package'
I could only suppose that either my package had been delivered to the wrong house and I would have to go package hunting when I got home from work if my roomies didn't find it first (as they would get home before me.)
Or else there had been a mis...filing? Of how the package was delivered and it would be waiting for me on the porch when one of us got home.
Well...
I was correct in that it was a misfiling.
The location I guessed my package would be found in was wrong.
No.
When 2nd roomie got home.
She discovered my package sitting in the driveway in front of the garage.
Which.
On occasion we've found our packages leaning up against the garage door as our front door isn't immediately visible from the street.
Which is a rather stupid place to leave the package because there's a chance people won't see the package before they back their cars out of the garage...and whelp bye bye package.
But at least it's like...leaning against something.
No, roomie found the package -along with another mis-delivered package for the neighbor across the way, sitting in the middle of the driveway.
Out in plain sight.
At least two feet away from the garage door.
Like.
Dude.
Seriously?!
Just leave the packages in the middle of the driveway where anyone could see it and come grab it or accidentally run over it.....
*exhales*
I do wonder what was going on in the person's head when the left the package there.
Like what's the story? Why the middle of the driveway? Why say you 'handed it to a resident?' I don't get it.
*shakes head*
At least I got my package (and roomie delivered the other package to the neighbor so they could get theirs too).
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
I mean.
Those moments tend to happen less often nowadays because you often receive a message to your phone saying your package has been delivered often accompanied by a picture of where the package was left.
But today.
I had that moment.
That "Where is my package?!" moment.
Because I'd received a notification that my package had been delivered. And in the notes it was like "It was handed directly to a resident."
So I was like "Cool! My roomie must have got it!"
So I shot her a text and was like "Hey! I meant to tell you earlier that I was expecting a package today, but thanks for grabbing it for me!"
And I thought that would be that.
That I would come home and have my package waiting inside.
Except.
Roomie texted me back "Uhm..I didn't grab anything because I'm not home right now."
O_o
Okay...that...that was concerning. As my other roomie should have still been at work at that point in time.
So if first roomie wasn't home....
Who did the mail guy hand my package to?
But maybe. Just maybe 2nd roomie had come home early from work and happened to be there right as the mail guy was delivering my package.
So I shot them a text.
Asking if they were home.
"No? I'm still at work." was the response.
:S :S :S :S
So both roomies are gone.
And yet 'someone had my package'
I could only suppose that either my package had been delivered to the wrong house and I would have to go package hunting when I got home from work if my roomies didn't find it first (as they would get home before me.)
Or else there had been a mis...filing? Of how the package was delivered and it would be waiting for me on the porch when one of us got home.
Well...
I was correct in that it was a misfiling.
The location I guessed my package would be found in was wrong.
No.
When 2nd roomie got home.
She discovered my package sitting in the driveway in front of the garage.
Which.
On occasion we've found our packages leaning up against the garage door as our front door isn't immediately visible from the street.
Which is a rather stupid place to leave the package because there's a chance people won't see the package before they back their cars out of the garage...and whelp bye bye package.
But at least it's like...leaning against something.
No, roomie found the package -along with another mis-delivered package for the neighbor across the way, sitting in the middle of the driveway.
Out in plain sight.
At least two feet away from the garage door.
Like.
Dude.
Seriously?!
Just leave the packages in the middle of the driveway where anyone could see it and come grab it or accidentally run over it.....
*exhales*
I do wonder what was going on in the person's head when the left the package there.
Like what's the story? Why the middle of the driveway? Why say you 'handed it to a resident?' I don't get it.
*shakes head*
At least I got my package (and roomie delivered the other package to the neighbor so they could get theirs too).
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Willfully Rebellious
I suppose there's good reason why I've been avoiding going to the grocery store.
Because I just get soo...angry isn't the word. But definitely irritated is up there at how willfully people ignore the 'one way' aisles that have been in the store for at least two months now it feels like.
Like the signs couldn't be any clearer of "Enter here" "Do Not Enter"
And yet, apparently people feel like they don't need to follow directions.
I even watched as one customer stopped at the end of an aisle. Looked down at the "Do Not Enter" sticker blatantly in front of their eyes.
And then continue INTO the aisle going the wrong way.
Just like. *exhales*
I can only imagine the struggle it's gonna be for the workers at the various grocery stores in the coming weeks with the new 'must wear a mask' mandate.
Like, from all the backlash I've been seeing on the newsfeed from just people in my city and my county from not liking mask mandates...I can only imagine the poor workers who will have to put up with angry and potentially violent customers who are asked to wear masks.
I also wonder how soon it will be before my own store ends up asking people to wear masks.
Like right now we have signs stating that 'masks are recommended'
But with how all the major big brand stores are jumping on the 'wear a mask' train now.
I can only imagine it's a matter of time.
It's gonna be interesting.
But yah.
There's a reason why I stock up on my work snack foods and avoid going to the store for a month at a time.
Because I have to deal with enough stupid people at my job.
I don't want to have to see and deal with more stupid people at other public places.
Like there was a survey done where, in my county, if you go to a place where there's at least fifty people (like grocery stores) then there's a 90% chance that someone within the store already has the virus.
Like :S :S :S yikes.
It's just...gah.
Frustrating.
That people are taking the 'wear a mask' mandate so personally.
Like. It's not about your 'rights'
It's about keeping people safe. It's about caring about other people.
In the end it boils down to "Do you care if another person dies or not?"
Because that's what wearing a mask helps to prevent.
It helps to prevent us from getting sick.
Social distancing is to help prevent us from getting sick.
And it's just so frustrating how many people just willfully ignore it and want life to be 'normal'
Life won't be normal.
At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if life doesn't return to a 'normal' standard until 2022 because people feel like they have to rebel against safety measures that aren't really that difficult to uphold.
I just...gah.
I wish the United States would just follow the examples of other countries who have succeeded in lowering the curve and getting rid of the pandemic in their borders.
Because it's completely stupid how politicized this has all become.
Gah.
Wish I could just hermit at home until 2022 and not have to deal with it.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because I just get soo...angry isn't the word. But definitely irritated is up there at how willfully people ignore the 'one way' aisles that have been in the store for at least two months now it feels like.
Like the signs couldn't be any clearer of "Enter here" "Do Not Enter"
And yet, apparently people feel like they don't need to follow directions.
I even watched as one customer stopped at the end of an aisle. Looked down at the "Do Not Enter" sticker blatantly in front of their eyes.
And then continue INTO the aisle going the wrong way.
Just like. *exhales*
I can only imagine the struggle it's gonna be for the workers at the various grocery stores in the coming weeks with the new 'must wear a mask' mandate.
Like, from all the backlash I've been seeing on the newsfeed from just people in my city and my county from not liking mask mandates...I can only imagine the poor workers who will have to put up with angry and potentially violent customers who are asked to wear masks.
I also wonder how soon it will be before my own store ends up asking people to wear masks.
Like right now we have signs stating that 'masks are recommended'
But with how all the major big brand stores are jumping on the 'wear a mask' train now.
I can only imagine it's a matter of time.
It's gonna be interesting.
But yah.
There's a reason why I stock up on my work snack foods and avoid going to the store for a month at a time.
Because I have to deal with enough stupid people at my job.
I don't want to have to see and deal with more stupid people at other public places.
Like there was a survey done where, in my county, if you go to a place where there's at least fifty people (like grocery stores) then there's a 90% chance that someone within the store already has the virus.
Like :S :S :S yikes.
It's just...gah.
Frustrating.
That people are taking the 'wear a mask' mandate so personally.
Like. It's not about your 'rights'
It's about keeping people safe. It's about caring about other people.
In the end it boils down to "Do you care if another person dies or not?"
Because that's what wearing a mask helps to prevent.
It helps to prevent us from getting sick.
Social distancing is to help prevent us from getting sick.
And it's just so frustrating how many people just willfully ignore it and want life to be 'normal'
Life won't be normal.
At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if life doesn't return to a 'normal' standard until 2022 because people feel like they have to rebel against safety measures that aren't really that difficult to uphold.
I just...gah.
I wish the United States would just follow the examples of other countries who have succeeded in lowering the curve and getting rid of the pandemic in their borders.
Because it's completely stupid how politicized this has all become.
Gah.
Wish I could just hermit at home until 2022 and not have to deal with it.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Missing You
It's been kinda an emotional sort of day.
Because it's Mother Dearest's Birthday.
And it just kinda hits harder. On special occasions.
To realize that your loved ones aren't around to celebrate with you.
Today wasn't easy.
Especially considering I had to work and such.
So it was quite the feat to hide my teary eyes from coworkers and customers.
Somehow I managed it.
But it was rough.
Like last year on Mother Dearest's Birthday, Kikay and I ventured out to Barnes and Noble and then to Arctic Circle together to remember her via books and getting a lime ricki as those were two things she loved.
But due to me working evening shifts.
My shift ended up taking up the entire day.
And due to Covid things closed earlier.
So I couldn't visit Barnes and Noble today because it was already closed by the time I got off work.
Thankfully Arctic Circle was still open.
So I could drop by there to get the lime ricki.
But earlier.
Before my shift at work started.
I decided to do something different to just like...honor her memory and such.
And Mother Dearest loved giving gifts to people.
It was one of her favorite things I think, to go on trips and bring back souvenirs and help out her kids whenever we needed a hand and such.
So I ended up going online and ordering a few gifts to send to my siblings and Daddoo.
Just something for them to look forward to getting in the next couple of days.
Hopefully they like them.
But yah.
It's not an easy day.
That's for sure.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Because it's Mother Dearest's Birthday.
And it just kinda hits harder. On special occasions.
To realize that your loved ones aren't around to celebrate with you.
Today wasn't easy.
Especially considering I had to work and such.
So it was quite the feat to hide my teary eyes from coworkers and customers.
Somehow I managed it.
But it was rough.
Like last year on Mother Dearest's Birthday, Kikay and I ventured out to Barnes and Noble and then to Arctic Circle together to remember her via books and getting a lime ricki as those were two things she loved.
But due to me working evening shifts.
My shift ended up taking up the entire day.
And due to Covid things closed earlier.
So I couldn't visit Barnes and Noble today because it was already closed by the time I got off work.
Thankfully Arctic Circle was still open.
So I could drop by there to get the lime ricki.
But earlier.
Before my shift at work started.
I decided to do something different to just like...honor her memory and such.
And Mother Dearest loved giving gifts to people.
It was one of her favorite things I think, to go on trips and bring back souvenirs and help out her kids whenever we needed a hand and such.
So I ended up going online and ordering a few gifts to send to my siblings and Daddoo.
Just something for them to look forward to getting in the next couple of days.
Hopefully they like them.
But yah.
It's not an easy day.
That's for sure.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Just. Let. Me. Go. On. Break.
It's amazing how different your work environment can feel when different people are working the same shift as you.
So yesterday was a rather 'rough' day for me.
Which considering I had to deal with quite the Karen of a customer at the very start of my shift.
It wasn't surprising at all that it was a struggle to keep the easy going relaxed attitude I was trying for at work.
Especially when my closing manager came on duty.
As this particular manager....tends to radiate their stress.
And like overall I've been good with closing with this manager.
There hasn't been any major issues.
Until yesterday.
When I was trying to take a simple fifteen minute break.
As since I was working an eight hour shift.
I knew I had two fifteens and a half hour lunch that I could take during that time.
And usually I like to take a fifteen 2 hours into my shift.
A lunch around the halfway mark.
And then maybe, depending on coverage and how crazy it is, take my last fifteen about an hour before I'm off.
However, due to the pandemic.
Things have been a little crazy.
And many of the managers have been focused on ensuring that the evening crew gets their lunches in before the morning crew leaves for the day.
Which means that they often want us taking our lunch breaks only a couple of hours into our shift.
Which I'm fine with.
I don't really care what order my breaks come in. I just want to be able to take them when I want to take them.
Yesterday though?
There was something off.
As like the manager seemed...more stressed than usual.
And I don't know if they were just overthinking things, or over complicating things, or just trying to stay focused on one task at a time.
But trying to go on break was like pulling teeth.
And it was like that from the very beginning.
As the manager came on duty around the two hour mark after I started my shift.
Which is usually the time I take my first break.
So I asked.
If I could take a break.
And the manager hemmed and hawed and requested I give them another ten minutes to get further along in the task they were doing before going on break.
I'm an easy going individual.
So I was like "Sure"
and we eventually decided that it would be best if I did my lunch first and then my two fifteens after that point.
Which after a bit more hemming and hawing because for some reason the manager apparently wasn't willing to multitask helping customers in the department with the task they were trying to complete....
I was able to go on my lunch.
And me.
When I take my breaks.
I try to take them when there's a lull in customers.
When the lines are down and the department is dead.
So around two hours or so after my lunch.
I requested to go take a fifteen.
As I wanted a small break from peopling as I didn't get the breakroom to myself for my lunch break as others were using the breakroom at the same time.
So I wanted to try and take a fifteen and hopefully get a few minutes alone.
But the manager was like "Oh let me finish this other task first." "Let me finish backing up the cashier first." "Let me send the cashier on lunch first and maybe we'll be able to get you your fifteen later."
Like yes. There was a rush the after work people.
But an hour passed.
Then two hours passed.
Then three hours passed.
And about each hour mark I again asked if I could go on a fifteen. Pointedly stating that I needed to sit down.
To which I think after the second time I requested my fifteen after my lunch break.
The manager was like "Oh, there's been a change in policy. You only get one fifteen and one lunch you don't get two fifteens and a lunch."
And I was like. No. I get two fifteens and a lunch.
As I was not aware of any 'policy' change. and IF there was a Policy change on how often and what types of breaks we could get then it should be CLEARLY posted where the coworkers can see it and communicated at the BEGINNING of the shift and not halfway through when I'm trying to take a fifteen minute break that I planned to have because I only have so much energy to deal with customers and I like some time to sit down and chill and recharge.
The manager was like "Oh, I asked the head manager and they said they weren't sure so we looked up policy and it had changed, I can see if I can get them to send me the form so you can see it."
I was like. Ha.
And I went to the work computer, looked up the policies on the corporate website on said computer, printed out the breakdown of what types of breaks we get. Highlighted them and presented it to the manager. So that they could see that since I was working an 8 hour shift. I could have 2 fifteens and a lunch if I so desired.
(Usually I only take one fifteen and a lunch but sometimes I really do need that second fifteen)
And like.
I'd only taken a lunch break at this point.
I could still use two other fifteens if I desired.
And I very much desired to have a fifteen.
But the manager was like "Well we don't have time for you to take one."
And by this point.
I was furious.
Like I know my rights. I know I get breaks and the manager was making me upset enough that i seriously considered walking out of the store then and there because I was not in the mood to be denied what breaks I rightfully deserved.
I didn't walk out.
I just went silent.
Silently fuming as i continued helping customers and trying to avoid getting the ache behind my eyes that was threatening to become a full blown migraine because the manager had tensed me out and stressed me out enough to form one. (I managed to avoid it in the end luckily)
And like the third or fourth time I requested to go sit down.
The manager was like "We're too busy, if you need to go behind the fish wall for ten minutes then you can, but you can't take a fifteen right now."
Like.
I was totally fine to go take a fifteen right then.
Everyone in my department had been helped.
The line for registers was down to three people.
I could have taken a fifteen then.
But noooo.
The manager couldn't seem to fathom the concept of trying to run the entire store on just them and the cashier.
*exhales*
Like I get it that it's hard. Only having two people on the floor is hard. I've done it. During a rush. It's not fun. So I could see where the manager was coming from.
But at the same time I just wanted to tell them to deal with it.
Like a fifteen minute break isn't the end of the world.
If there was no one to go to petcare customers are usually okay to wait to be helped.
And again. Fifteen minutes isn't that long.
Finally. The manager was like "Okay, once you finish closing down the department" (as we close my department early because we don't have the hours to keep it open all day) "you can go take a fifteen minute break. But after then you'll need to face the department before you leave."
Like...closing down the department....if I get everything done lickety split. Would give me half an hour before I'm off to take a fifteen minute break.
Which is against policy by the way.
You're not supposed to take a break so close to the end of your shift.
And by the time I was able to get things closed down and go take my fifteen there was like only 8 minutes left before I was off.
So yah.
It made me more furious.
Like.
I could have taken a fifteen minute break three hours earlier.
When it was slow.
Before the crazy work rush.
But the manager kept saying no. For various reasons.
And like.
I couldn't understand it.
Why now?
Why tonight?
There hasn't been issues with me taking breaks before.
Yet tonight and last Saturday there had been.
(Saturday I requested to take my second fifteen and was told "later" and later never happened.)
So yah.
It was a rough way to end my shift.
Furious. Tense. Stressed out. Exhausted.
All because the manager didn't think 'now was a good time'
So.
Today.
I spoke to the head manager.
Because I had no idea when or if the manager from the day before would talk to them. And if they did if what they learned would be communicated to me.
Because communication isn't a strong point between many of the managers.
So I requested to talk to the head manager.
So I could check and see if there was a policy change.
There wasn't.
Show the manager where to find the breakdown of breaks so they knew where to find it.
And explained just what went down yesterday and how I had to ask multiple times to have a fifteen before being granted one in the last half hour of my shift.
At the end of our talk I was feeling vindicated.
Because the head manager was on my side.
Because I have a right to take or not take the breaks offered to me.
And the fact that I was denied a break multiple times was not something my head manager liked to hear.
And they discussed possible options to help the other manager with their 'time management' so that we could ensure that everyone got their breaks when they wanted them.
So hopefully we'll be able to have things go smoother from here on out when I have to do closing with this manager again.
We'll see.
But tonight with a different manager it was like a night and day difference compared to last night.
As this manager was more chill.
And like. I took my lunch first to make it easier since there was more coverage earlier in my shift rather than later.
And then a couple of hours later when I saw an opening I asked if I could go on break.
And this manager was like "Oh yah sure, I gotcha covered."
So off I went to break.
And then I came back and continued working.
Then towards the end of my shift I asked for another break.
And the manager was like "oh yah that's chill."
And so I went off on my second fifteen.
And like the fact that there was no hemming and hawing. No "wait a bit and we'll see"
Was so gratifying.
Granted. It wasn't as crazy busy tonight as it got last night.
But still.
The store just felt like it was running so much smoother.
And I was able to handle talking to customers much easier because I could break away for a few minutes to recharge.
And like I was able to get everything I needed to get done done before I was off plus some extras.
And it was just so nice.
So nice to relax.
And not feel the stressed energy emanating from my other manager.
It was just a chill evening.
And I have to say I really liked that.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
So yesterday was a rather 'rough' day for me.
Which considering I had to deal with quite the Karen of a customer at the very start of my shift.
It wasn't surprising at all that it was a struggle to keep the easy going relaxed attitude I was trying for at work.
Especially when my closing manager came on duty.
As this particular manager....tends to radiate their stress.
And like overall I've been good with closing with this manager.
There hasn't been any major issues.
Until yesterday.
When I was trying to take a simple fifteen minute break.
As since I was working an eight hour shift.
I knew I had two fifteens and a half hour lunch that I could take during that time.
And usually I like to take a fifteen 2 hours into my shift.
A lunch around the halfway mark.
And then maybe, depending on coverage and how crazy it is, take my last fifteen about an hour before I'm off.
However, due to the pandemic.
Things have been a little crazy.
And many of the managers have been focused on ensuring that the evening crew gets their lunches in before the morning crew leaves for the day.
Which means that they often want us taking our lunch breaks only a couple of hours into our shift.
Which I'm fine with.
I don't really care what order my breaks come in. I just want to be able to take them when I want to take them.
Yesterday though?
There was something off.
As like the manager seemed...more stressed than usual.
And I don't know if they were just overthinking things, or over complicating things, or just trying to stay focused on one task at a time.
But trying to go on break was like pulling teeth.
And it was like that from the very beginning.
As the manager came on duty around the two hour mark after I started my shift.
Which is usually the time I take my first break.
So I asked.
If I could take a break.
And the manager hemmed and hawed and requested I give them another ten minutes to get further along in the task they were doing before going on break.
I'm an easy going individual.
So I was like "Sure"
and we eventually decided that it would be best if I did my lunch first and then my two fifteens after that point.
Which after a bit more hemming and hawing because for some reason the manager apparently wasn't willing to multitask helping customers in the department with the task they were trying to complete....
I was able to go on my lunch.
And me.
When I take my breaks.
I try to take them when there's a lull in customers.
When the lines are down and the department is dead.
So around two hours or so after my lunch.
I requested to go take a fifteen.
As I wanted a small break from peopling as I didn't get the breakroom to myself for my lunch break as others were using the breakroom at the same time.
So I wanted to try and take a fifteen and hopefully get a few minutes alone.
But the manager was like "Oh let me finish this other task first." "Let me finish backing up the cashier first." "Let me send the cashier on lunch first and maybe we'll be able to get you your fifteen later."
Like yes. There was a rush the after work people.
But an hour passed.
Then two hours passed.
Then three hours passed.
And about each hour mark I again asked if I could go on a fifteen. Pointedly stating that I needed to sit down.
To which I think after the second time I requested my fifteen after my lunch break.
The manager was like "Oh, there's been a change in policy. You only get one fifteen and one lunch you don't get two fifteens and a lunch."
And I was like. No. I get two fifteens and a lunch.
As I was not aware of any 'policy' change. and IF there was a Policy change on how often and what types of breaks we could get then it should be CLEARLY posted where the coworkers can see it and communicated at the BEGINNING of the shift and not halfway through when I'm trying to take a fifteen minute break that I planned to have because I only have so much energy to deal with customers and I like some time to sit down and chill and recharge.
The manager was like "Oh, I asked the head manager and they said they weren't sure so we looked up policy and it had changed, I can see if I can get them to send me the form so you can see it."
I was like. Ha.
And I went to the work computer, looked up the policies on the corporate website on said computer, printed out the breakdown of what types of breaks we get. Highlighted them and presented it to the manager. So that they could see that since I was working an 8 hour shift. I could have 2 fifteens and a lunch if I so desired.
(Usually I only take one fifteen and a lunch but sometimes I really do need that second fifteen)
And like.
I'd only taken a lunch break at this point.
I could still use two other fifteens if I desired.
And I very much desired to have a fifteen.
But the manager was like "Well we don't have time for you to take one."
And by this point.
I was furious.
Like I know my rights. I know I get breaks and the manager was making me upset enough that i seriously considered walking out of the store then and there because I was not in the mood to be denied what breaks I rightfully deserved.
I didn't walk out.
I just went silent.
Silently fuming as i continued helping customers and trying to avoid getting the ache behind my eyes that was threatening to become a full blown migraine because the manager had tensed me out and stressed me out enough to form one. (I managed to avoid it in the end luckily)
And like the third or fourth time I requested to go sit down.
The manager was like "We're too busy, if you need to go behind the fish wall for ten minutes then you can, but you can't take a fifteen right now."
Like.
I was totally fine to go take a fifteen right then.
Everyone in my department had been helped.
The line for registers was down to three people.
I could have taken a fifteen then.
But noooo.
The manager couldn't seem to fathom the concept of trying to run the entire store on just them and the cashier.
*exhales*
Like I get it that it's hard. Only having two people on the floor is hard. I've done it. During a rush. It's not fun. So I could see where the manager was coming from.
But at the same time I just wanted to tell them to deal with it.
Like a fifteen minute break isn't the end of the world.
If there was no one to go to petcare customers are usually okay to wait to be helped.
And again. Fifteen minutes isn't that long.
Finally. The manager was like "Okay, once you finish closing down the department" (as we close my department early because we don't have the hours to keep it open all day) "you can go take a fifteen minute break. But after then you'll need to face the department before you leave."
Like...closing down the department....if I get everything done lickety split. Would give me half an hour before I'm off to take a fifteen minute break.
Which is against policy by the way.
You're not supposed to take a break so close to the end of your shift.
And by the time I was able to get things closed down and go take my fifteen there was like only 8 minutes left before I was off.
So yah.
It made me more furious.
Like.
I could have taken a fifteen minute break three hours earlier.
When it was slow.
Before the crazy work rush.
But the manager kept saying no. For various reasons.
And like.
I couldn't understand it.
Why now?
Why tonight?
There hasn't been issues with me taking breaks before.
Yet tonight and last Saturday there had been.
(Saturday I requested to take my second fifteen and was told "later" and later never happened.)
So yah.
It was a rough way to end my shift.
Furious. Tense. Stressed out. Exhausted.
All because the manager didn't think 'now was a good time'
So.
Today.
I spoke to the head manager.
Because I had no idea when or if the manager from the day before would talk to them. And if they did if what they learned would be communicated to me.
Because communication isn't a strong point between many of the managers.
So I requested to talk to the head manager.
So I could check and see if there was a policy change.
There wasn't.
Show the manager where to find the breakdown of breaks so they knew where to find it.
And explained just what went down yesterday and how I had to ask multiple times to have a fifteen before being granted one in the last half hour of my shift.
At the end of our talk I was feeling vindicated.
Because the head manager was on my side.
Because I have a right to take or not take the breaks offered to me.
And the fact that I was denied a break multiple times was not something my head manager liked to hear.
And they discussed possible options to help the other manager with their 'time management' so that we could ensure that everyone got their breaks when they wanted them.
So hopefully we'll be able to have things go smoother from here on out when I have to do closing with this manager again.
We'll see.
But tonight with a different manager it was like a night and day difference compared to last night.
As this manager was more chill.
And like. I took my lunch first to make it easier since there was more coverage earlier in my shift rather than later.
And then a couple of hours later when I saw an opening I asked if I could go on break.
And this manager was like "Oh yah sure, I gotcha covered."
So off I went to break.
And then I came back and continued working.
Then towards the end of my shift I asked for another break.
And the manager was like "oh yah that's chill."
And so I went off on my second fifteen.
And like the fact that there was no hemming and hawing. No "wait a bit and we'll see"
Was so gratifying.
Granted. It wasn't as crazy busy tonight as it got last night.
But still.
The store just felt like it was running so much smoother.
And I was able to handle talking to customers much easier because I could break away for a few minutes to recharge.
And like I was able to get everything I needed to get done done before I was off plus some extras.
And it was just so nice.
So nice to relax.
And not feel the stressed energy emanating from my other manager.
It was just a chill evening.
And I have to say I really liked that.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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