Far Too Cold

 So Friday morning I was woken up early by one of my other managers because they were trying to coordinate changing the schedule around for today so that we would still have two people opening the store in the morning. And as I was originally scheduled to come in an hour before the store was set to open...they wanted to know if I could come in half an hour earlier than that so I could be the second person in the store with my other manager for the morning shift.

The reason for the change?

Well. We were supposed to get our supply truck in yesterday. 

Where we'd be getting in both product for the store...and our shipment of fish as well.

But when my managers checked the tracking system to see where the truck was and when it would be expected to show up at our store.

And it showed the truck was in New Mexico. 

I've never seen the truck in New Mexico when the tracking system is pulled up. 

Usually it's somewhere in Nevada as that's where one of our DC suppliers are. So that's where the truck usually picks up the shipments.

So basically. The truck hadn't even arrived to the DC yet to pick up our shipment. 

And while the expected arrival of the shipment would be for sometime today.

The estimated arrival was that it would actually arrive on Sunday.

A full Two Days late. 

RIP our fish shipment.
Especially considering we've had snow storms over the past couple of days. 
It wasn't looking good for our truck and the fish on it.

So my stocking manager decided to switch their shift around since they wouldn't be needed today as the truck wasn't expected until this afternoon or tomorrow morning. 

Hence the early morning text to see if I could come in slightly earlier today.

In any case.

Out truck actually made 'good' time today.

Arriving this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning.

So there was hope that our fish shipment would still be alright.

As the fish shipment has come in a day late before and been alright...I mean there were still higher amounts of fish death. But overall it comes in alright.

Not so today.

We knew there would be trouble when we opened the boxes as part of procedure for putting out the fish is to take at least four temperature readings of the inside of at least four boxes on different levels. That way we can keep track of how cold or hot the shipment is when it comes in.

And it's sad.

Because the shipment was one of the larger ones we've had in a while. We had 4 levels of boxes. FOUR. usually we have like two. 

And the readings we got of the boxes were between 46 degrees and 52 degrees. 

That is SUPER COLD.

Like usually the fish should be in the 70s. And during winter we may find them in the 60s. 

But to have the shipment in the 40s and 50s?

Not. Good.

It meant that the truck hadn't had a heated interior like they were supposed to for fish shipments. Or if it did...the heater hadn't been turned on or hadn't been able to reach the back of the truck where the fish were. 

*exhales* 

It's not a good sign. 
Especially when we started pulling the fish out of the boxes.
And basically every single bag had dead fish inside. 

There was a slight hope that maybe if we let the fish thaw out a bit that some will come back to life. 

And we did...we had 4 fish come back to life once they'd warmed up a little. 

But with such a cold shipment....

Most of the fish died.

Overall 800 fish froze to death.

Which is super high. 

Normally the amount of dead in a shipment is around a hundred (with most of the dead being dead ghost shrimp) 

So 800??

Yah no. Disaster there.

Which is so depressing. We finally get in a huge shipment of fish. One that we desperately needed...

And all the fish died because the truck was late for some unknown (possibly weather) related reason.

*exhales*

It's depressing.

Until you next find these words; 
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Wear It Already

 I don't know what it was about today. Like maybe an after effect of the full moon or something. 

But there were a ton of people coming into the store without their masks on. 

Like. Normally in an eight hour shift we have around a dozen or so people come in without their masks and then we have to tell them to wear one. 

But today. Like within an hour and a halfish? We a had at least twenty people walk in without masks in.

Like...just because the year is 2021 and no longer 2020 doesn't mean that suddenly the pandemic isn't a thing anymore.

It's just gotten so old. So. Old. To have people, a year later, still not wearing masks.

Like I get getting distracted and forgetting to put it on...but at the same time...it's been a year. Can you really forget after having to have to wear masks for so long? 

I suppose it's possible if people don't go out that often....

And like. I understand how at the beginning of the pandemic, when the virus was still new the reluctance to wear masks.

Like...I didn't actively start wearing masks until work provided me some to wear. 
And I was like "Oh, well if work is wanting us to wear masks then I'm gonna wear the mask." because then it seemed more real. If corporate was taking it seriously and taken the time (albeit slightly delayed) to give all their workers mask. There must be a good reason.

But it's been a year. 

How can people still blatantly ignore our "MASKS REQUIRED" signs. How can people still be so anti-mask that they're willing to pick fights with retail workers about policies?

I don't know.

And to have so many people in such a short period of time coming into the store without masks today....

It was irksome. Tiresome. Exhausting. 

None of us like having to approach people to ask them to wear a mask. Especially because we have no idea if the person simply 'forgot' or if they're gonna start yelling at us about 'their rights'

After a year.

It's sooo exhausting. Like you should know by now. You should care by now. It's been a year.

And retail workers are tired of having to deal with all the negativity and crappy customers who have revealed themselves in the middle of this pandemic.

So done with it all.

In different news. We had a third party come into the store today to finally install our Live Bug endcap!

Which is an endcap that's gonna replace our cricket podium (once the new cricket bins show up as that's the only part that hasn't yet arrived in the store) and it's kinda nice to have that set up and to have all our bugs in one location.

Especially because we now have a mini fridge on the endcap! Which means that we can place our various types of worms that need to be kept cool onto the floor.

And instead of having to constantly go behind the fish wall to grab these worms for customers, we can now direct them to the end cap and the customers can grab their own bugs. Woot!!

The slight downside is that the fridge is...well a mini fridge. 
Which means it only holds a limited quantity of the worms at a time.

So now we need to work to keep an eye on the product inside the fridge and make sure that it's constantly stocked for customers.

Plus...we're gonna be spending the next year or two or forever telling customers that the mealworms and such that they're looking for can now be grabbed from that endcap. 

Still. It's nice to have that finally set up. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A New Combination

 So it's been a good...six or seven years since I last needed to buy a lock for my locker at work.

My first lock having bitten the dust like a year or so into my job when I accidentally locked the keys to unlock the locker...in my locker and we had to cut the lock off so I could get into my locker.

Which lead me to buying a combination lock instead. That way I couldn't accidentally lock any keys in my locker and not access them lol.

And it's been a good lock to me.

Though for the past...probably two years now? It's gotten more crotchety and stubborn. 

Where some parts of the year seemed to affect it's gears more than others and when I'd do my combination I would often have to shake and tug and pull at my lock in order to get to open. 

Still.

It was usable. Despite my thoughts over the past couple years that I should go buy a new lock. It still worked. And as long as it worked I could handle the quirks my lock now had.

Until Tuesday.

Where the little dial thing to spin the combination...stopped working.

It got stuck really. And it probably could be fixed and I think I got it to work again once during the day...but like...it got stuck again.

Which thankfully it got stuck in place where it allowed me to just tug at it in my usual fashion so that I could open my locker.

But it felt like a ticking time bomb. Like what if it gets stuck on a different number and I can't spin the dial to get the right combination and then all my stuff is (once again) stuck in my locker with a lock that won't open holding it hostage?

So yesterday, on my day off, I ventured out to the store to a) buy some much needed food and b) find myself a new combination lock. 

And it's been so weird, having a brand new lock on my locker today.

It just...it works so easily. It opens so smoothly. It's throwing me off at how less of a hassle it's become to get into my locker. 

Though I am loving it. XD lol besides the fact that I keep accidentally doing the old combination for my old lock on it. 

It will probably only take another week or so before the new locker combination is ingrained into my muscle memory. 

But yah. After like 7 years. I finally have a new lock. So woot!

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Rotten Eggs

 It's always fun to get bombarded with problems as soon as I come into work. 

Today's situation was that my petcare people had noticed that the water in our fish wall was feeling cold.

And that the snails were acting like they were dead -though I figured they'd recover once the water warmed back up again.

I'd noticed that some of the tanks had been feeling cooler yesterday. 
But hadn't thought much about it as I'd been distracted with other tasks as well. 

Yet, if my coworkers were also noticing that the tanks were cold.

That either meant the filters hadn't been changed out recently. 

Or one of the heaters had kicked off. 

So once I got a chance to go check it out. 

I turned off the fish system so I could safely open our control panel and see if any of the switches had been triggered.

And found that 2 of our 3 heaters had kicked off. 

Meaning only 1 heater was working to try and heat our entire fish wall. 

But. 

Another switch had been flipped.

One of our 3 filter pumps...had been turned off. :S

Which. Not good to make the pumps work harder than necessary on such an old system. 

And it left me feeling rather guitly.

As our fish system has been indicating constantly that it was in the 'orange' meaning that something was wrong. 

But the last time I'd checked the control panel...nothing had been wrong.

However...it's been months since I last looked. 

Possibly a year. Who knows really. COVID makes time hazy. *exhales*

But the pump has been off for a while for sure. Months probably.

Because when I turned the system back on...a strong smell of rotten eggs permeated the area. 

Which meant that filter had been off for long enough for bacteria to fester. For something to rot. *exhales* 

So yah. That was fun dealing with first thing at work. 

But it's a lesson to be learned I suppose. 
To check and make sure that all the switches on the control panel are working whenever our system goes into the Orange instead of assuming that it was something I couldn't fix and just part of the quirk of the system. 

Now I just need to be careful to not become paranoid about it. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Worn Out

I ended up feeling a bit light headed at work today. 

Which is a rather odd feeling...because it wasn't like...actually light headed...but...I'd just spent like the last hour or so doing my best to scrub our feeder goldfish tanks. Which meant I was kneeling, with my arm stuck into the tank at an awkward angle, with my head tilted towards the tank---

And yah...I'm pretty sure I had been working tense and probably not breathing as deeply as I should have while I was focused on scrubbing...leading to the light headed feeling.

Like sure the mask may have been part of it.

But I'm also thinking I was just low on...energy? I hadn't drunk enough water or eaten enough food and my body was starting to complain by creating an ache in the back of my neck that was radiating upwards into my head like the beginning of a headache even though it felt neither like a headache or a light headed spell but a combination of both.

Thankfully, I was able to combat it by taking some pain pills to relax the muscles, eating some food, and taking a brief nap on the couch with a heat pack on my back to help relax me further.

But yah.

It was an odd feeling to encounter at work today.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

It Wasn't A Good Day

Today was not a good day.

It's probably not the worst day I've had at work.

But it definitely wasn't a good day.

I was hopeful, in the beginning, despite the fact that I was working the midday shift, that work wouldn't be too crazy....

Which it's hard to be hopeful when today was a Saturday. Notoriously the busiest day of the week.

And this month it's been hard to predict just how crazy the day would or would not be. Some Saturdays have been Christmasy busy. Others have been Summer slow.

But I wasn't too concerned because we had plenty of coverage.

And then....

Things went....well....downhill?

There were 8 of us this morning.

Three managers, two cashiers, two stockers, and one pet care.

Which was great because around 11 or so we were already pretty busy. And it was nice to have plenty of hands on hand to help out.

And then like 12:30 hit.

And I should have had my other two managers and my two stockers until 1:30. 

But suddenly.

They were all gone.

The stockers clocking out early because they hadn't taken lunches.

My other managers also decided to leave early...so that they wouldn't go into overtime. As they don't always take their lunches either.

Which I get.

I don't mind people leaving early.

But FOUR people at once? 

ON A SATURDAY that was gearing up to be crazy busy? Like right in the middle of a lunchtime rush?

Without telling me when I first came in so I could mentally prepare to be the only manager on duty for like 45 minutes until my closing manager came in.

But to be told that everyone was leaving right as they were all walking out the door?

Not. Helpful.

And not. Very. Nice. 

On a busy Saturday.

Like. No. We can't do that. That doesn't help. 

Like yes, I still had two cashiers and one petcare person. So I wasn't totally short staffed for the 45 minute period.

But I would have liked to have had that heats up to prepare.

Especially when I then had to figure how to do a carpet cleaner rental...as I've done like...maybe three before? In the past 8 years. *exhales* 

And then I had to juggle picking orders, taking out orders, helping customers, and...yah...it was stressful.

Even more so when my closing manager texted to say that they were gonna be late. 

Which meant my 45 minutes...had turned into a good hour and a halfish short of timeframe. 

Not. The best. For a Saturday.

And unfortunately right as my closing manager got into the store...there was an incident in grooming.

Where a dog apparently freaked out in his kennel while waiting for his owners to come...and ended up cutting his muzzle and hurting his paw.

Which meant we needed to take him immediately to the vet.

Which thankfully one of the groomers did do.

The sticky part of the situation was that the owner was already in the store getting ready to pay....so we had to stop him real quick before he paid and make sure that the dog was taken care of and such and see if he was still okay paying for the groom. Which he was.

The semi sticky part was that the vet was like "I can treat him but it might take a while because of such and such reasons, so he can stay here, or else the owner can take him to their vet."

*exhales*

That's not how we do things.

If the dog is in our care, we cover the problems that may arise. We don't make the customer pay for things that happen in our store. 

But to do that we need to keep the dog in our custody and keep it at our vet. 

Thankfully the customer was understanding and even remarked that the dog didn't like being cooped up so he didn't seem too surprised to hear that he had freaked out in the kennel.

Though like....if the owner knew the dog would get so anxious...he should have told us that. As the groomer later informed him that we offer Express Services. For those dogs that can't be cooped up in kennels. So that they're groomed quickly and fast and in as minimal of a stress environment as possible. 

And because we learned the dog was high stress in kennels the vet ended up seeing and caring for the wounds faster because they couldn't put him in a kennel to wait due to the anxiety of the dog.

But yah.

To have all these stressful events happening, before my shift is even halfway over....is well....stressful. It's hard. Especially when the store was busy for a good three hours straight and only slowed down when the sun went down and the dark cold stormy weather finally discouraged people from coming into the store instead of flocking to it. 

And to make an already tough day harder....at the end of my shift.

Right as I was getting off work and trying to detox.

I got a message from a friend that an acquaintance...one that I haven't actively interacted with in years...was feeling sad on social media. And my friend was commenting on it. And I was like "Yes. This person is usually sad."

And then the friend was like "What are YOU gonna do about it?"

Like....Excuse me?

What am I gonna do about it? 

I haven't spoken to this person in YEARS. The most interaction I do is I occasionally like a social media post. 

So I have no idea, beyond the fact that I had commented to said friend the evening before that I didn't like the acquaintance posting negative comments on my positive posts,what made my friend think that I needed to do anything. 

Like dude.

I've just had a rather bad day at work.

I just want to grab my fast food. Go home. And unwind. Chill. 

I literally spent 8 hours running around the store helping person after person after person after person.

And now this friend wants me to go help another person? One that I no longer know well or talk to? One that I know has other people already there to support them and help them. 

I don't have the energy for it.

Especially after a bad day at work.

And it irks me that this friend expected me to jump immediately to another person's aid.

Like...they didn't even ask how I was doing. They had no idea the day I'd just had. 

And it bugged me.

Like if you are so concerned about this acquaintance...then why don't you do something about it? Why come to me at all if you are the one who are concerned.

Because in the end. All it did was made me feel worse than I was already feeling. Because I wasn't helping the person. Because I didn't want to help another person today. I am physically, mentally, and emotionally drained after today. I don't have it in me to go be someone else's uplifting force. I need to focus on myself and recharging. Getting my own comfort. Finding my own happiness and zen.

And I just ended up feeling horrible for being like "They can handle it themselves." Because I just couldn't today. 

Definitely not the best way to end the day. At all.

*exhales* 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Negativity

 There's a frustration that roars within me.

When people look at a positive thing and decide. "No. I need to be negative here." 

Like I get it.

Everyone is different.

Events that can cheer one person up can depress another.

What one person likes another can hate. 

We're not clones of each other.  

I get it.

But still.

I don't understand the people who look at a positive thing and decide to inject their negativity onto it.

Like if you don't like it...fine. But that doesn't mean you need to interact with it if you don't like it.

Like...if I come across something I don't like. I ignore it. I scroll past. If the negativity becomes too frequent then I might mute or unfollow a person.

But I don't go onto people's posts unwarranted and say something negative.

What or who does that help?

What does it accomplish besides tainting the original uplifting sentiment and making the creator feel worse?

What's. The. Point?

If you hate a thing so much then go make your own post to complain about it. Go do it in your own space.

But don't inject your negativity onto other's happy places.

The world is already dark enough.

There's no need to make it darker. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Just Wear One

 As always. 

I remain confused at the anti-maskers.

Like it's been a year since we first heard of the virus.

It's been six months since my store required masks to be worn in the store.

It's been two months since my state mandated that masks be worn in public.

And yet.

We still have people walking into the store not wearing masks.

Like. I halfway get the people who forget. Especially the customers who are trying to wrangle a dog at the same time they're shopping. There's those slips of the mind where you forget the mask.

But then there's the people who blatantly ignore our signs.

And it is Blatant. Because we literally have SIX huge signs on the doors on podiums and basically plastered all over the place stating that masks are required to be worn. 

I also don't understand the people who come into the store without masks and grab one of the free ones we offer.

Like...after a year...surely you would have your own masks by now.

I mean I've ended up with a good dozen or so over the past year because I've bought some, had some given to me by family, and of course work has provided some for me to wear as well.

Yet....

People still come into the store without masks.

*exhales*

It's gotten old. So old.

Especially the people who are like "Well if I have to wear a mask then I won't be shopping here. Bye!" 

Like....we've had the mask requirement in place since JULY. 

We've had a state mask mandate in place since NOVEMBER.

If you don't want to wear a mask....there can't be many places left that you can go and not wear a mask.

*exhales*

Though I do hear that many places have signs saying "Masks Recommended" instead of Mask Required. 

Still. 

It's hard.

To have to deal with at least a dozen people every shift who aren't wearing masks.

To watch as the customer you bring a mask to to wear refuses it and walks out.

To have customers yell and scream at you because they feel their rights are being violated by us requiring masks....when we have every right to set policies for the safety of our workers and customers and enforce said policies. It's not discrimination when we still offer services....even if the curbside pick up isn't the service that the customer wants. 

But honestly.

It's been a year.

If you don't want to wear a mask...why not invest in a face shield? 
If you don't want to wear a mask... why not stick to curbside pick up? 

*exhales* 

It's been a year.

And there are far too many people still selfishly thinking about themselves and a mild inconvenience...instead of others....and their health and welfare.

I can only hope that with the new president, with the more pro science policies and mandates coming out....that we'll be able to get over the masks and be able to help each other to return to a more 'normal' world.

Until then....it still means a daily stressor of having to deal with the anti-maskers. *exhales*

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Inauguration

 Inauguration. 

It's not something that I've consciously been interested in. 

Like...I'm pretty sure I watched Obama's speech....the first time he was elected.

But after that point?

I had no interest in it. Had very little interest in politics and such.

But with the chaos and the crazy that has happened in the capitol the last couple of weeks....

There was no way I was gonna miss this event.

Mostly because I wanted to make sure that nothing would happen to Biden today. That he would be sworn into office and that all would go well.

So I was rather grateful to have today off so I could do so. 

Did I get anything else accomplished today?

Not really.

But that's okay. While there was slight stress leading up to the inauguration. 

There was such a sense of relief to have him sworn in.

To hear him speak.

To get the sense that something good has happened. That things can now change for the better. 

Hopefully things go well from here on out.

But only time will tell. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Delivered?

So in the age of the pandemic, our store, like many stores, went more fully into doing curbside pick up. Allowing customers to order online and then stay in their cars and we'll bring their stuff out to them. 

But as an expansion to that, we've also partnered with doordash? Like many other stores, to where the doordash people will come into the store on behalf of the customer and then will go take their order to their homes. 

It's had it's bumps along the way.

Namely the main issue being that sometimes the name on the order we received in the store...doesn't match the name of the person that doordash was given. 

Usually it's an easy enough issue to figure out. Normally we just ask to see what items are in the order, and then look for the product. And then usually we either compare the addresses listed or else doordash calls the customer to confirm that the name we have is a name that they also have even though it's not the name on doordash's list. 

So besides those slight hiccups. It usually goes off pretty well. 

Tonight was one of those exceptions. 

We had a doordash guy come into the store looking to pick up an order for Jane Doe.
Only we had no record of a Jane Doe placing an order. 

Which again, that's a common occurrence. We just have to then take a few more steps to see what products were ordered under Jane Doe's name and then see if any of the orders we do have match those same products listed. 

But for whatever reason when this doordash guy heard the 'we don't have any orders for Jane Doe here" he chose to just like...book it out of the store. He left before my coworker could even ask to see what items were in the order. 

And like there was the faint thought that crossed my mind that maybe they realized they were at the wrong store. As we do have people think they ordered from us but they ordered from our competitor or accidentally ordered from our sister store instead of our store....So maybe the dude did that--though that's not as common of an occurrence with doordash.

Flash forward another hour or so.

And I get a call where a customer says that they had placed an order for Jane Doe and they'd received a message from doordash that their order had been delivered...but their order never showed up.

To complicate the matter, this customer had ordered their stuff as a gift for a friend and so had placed the friend's name on the doordash and listed their address as the place to be delivered.

But the package had never showed up.

Which I quickly placed the pieces together as I recognized the name "Jane Doe" because I'd heard a bit about the encounter with the doordash guy involving that name over the radio. 

So I asked what the customers name was and they told me it was Mary Sue.

I check our ipad as I head up front, and sure enough we have a Mary Sue in our system and checking in our holding area we have an order on the shelf with the pick name of "Mary Sue" also with the 'delivery' indication on the paper which means that doordash should have picked it up.

So we had the customer's order here in the store....

And yet the doordash guy had said he'd delivered it. *shakes head* Dude probably just wanted the money with none of the effort. Or else he hit the wrong button when declining the order. Who knows.

In any case. I had to assure the customer that we had their order and had to inform them that they would have to contact DoorDash's customer service to figure out what had happened with the doordash half of things because we have no contact with them beyond allowing their workers/drivers to pick things up in the store.

Turns out that apparently DoorDash couldn't make contact with their driver either. Sooo not sure what's going on on that side of things.

But the customer ended up coming into the store to pick up their order so they could take it to their friend. And they mentioned that they were wanting doordash to refund their delivery fee since they never actually delivered the product. 

But they also wanted to know if this was a common occurrence to have this sort of thing happen.

Because the doordash guy made ZERO effort to contact the customer. They'd listed their phone number and everything in order to be contacted and the dude never did. 

And usually we do all that we can to make sure that the customer's order is picked up.

Like we check items. we check addresses. we call the customer to try and reach them.

But this dude gave neither the customer or us the chance to do so before leaving. 

So weird.

But I'm glad the customer was able to get their order. 

Hopefully their friend enjoyed the stuff!

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A New Merch Card

So.

I ended up on the register to help back up my cashier.

And the first customer I help is a guy who wants to buy two products -which looks like a dog ramp and dog stairs? I didn't actively look at the products- 

Which yah, easy peasy because that's what you're there at the register for, to help customers pay for items they want to purchase.

But then the dude wanted to use a merchandise card. Which again, not too complicated.

No, what ended up making the situation more complicated was that the guy apparently wanted to buy the two products, use the merchandise card, and then return both products and get the money back on a NEW merchandise card and not the same one he had been using before.

Why?

Because at some point. Someone -which I heard it was the cashier, but also heard it was the dude's wife--had peeled/scratched off the silver sticker hiding the security code on the merch card....and the customer didn't like that it had been revealed. He didn't want that information 'known' to the public.

Which O_o?? Okay? Like...we barely look at those little number sequences unless something is wrong with the card. And like...most people don't look at merch cards because most people keep gift/merch cards out of site in their wallets or purses. 

So like....I didn't understand why he was so set upon getting a brand new merchandise card.

--I also had no idea if he'd returned the items originally earlier...and then after wandering the store discovered the silver cover had been removed from that code area....or if this had happened a different day.

Regardless.

He wanted a new gift card.

And had apparently gotten super upset at a different manager who'd been trying to help him elsewhere in the store over it.

And had also been upset at his wife.

And had also apparently looked like he wanted to spit at our other cashier for...who knows why...taking too long at the register? 

Overall. Dude was an angry man if so much was getting him upset.

I wasn't in the mood to argue with him though over his paranoia and how the current merchandise card would be just fine. 

No, I did what he requested and let him buy the items with the merchandise card and then returned the products and placed them back on a different merchandise card that hadn't been 'messed with' and sent the dude on his merry way.

*shakes head*

Some customers have the oddest concepts. 

Like I get why he'd be concerned about the card being stolen as it was like $200 that was placed on that merchandise card.

but unless you're actively scanning said card through the registers at my job...it's not like it's gonna be worth anything. Like...I'm not even sure if it would work at our online store...though I haven't tested that theory yet. 

*shakes head* I don't get it. But whatever. At least I got through the transaction with minimal difficulties compared to my other managers and coworkers. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Chilling

It's rather nice to meet up with people that you like.

Especially when it gets me out of the 'home zone' of like the ten mile diameter most of my life has been spent in the past year.

To be able to drive somewhere further than fifteen minutes away was rather great.

Especially when it meant that I would be able to meet up with my family.

It was a nice break away from life.

And it was great company and awesome food made.

But the best part of the evening was when I decided to stretch out on the floor and my sister's doggies decided that that meant they needed to lay down right there with me.

lol.. I haven't had a dog in a good six years or so.

But ah. It was nice to the dogs basically dog pile me while I was sprawled out on the floor demanding atttention. lol the smallest pupper kept bringing me toys to throw and play fetch with, while the larger one rested his head on my chest and just chilled as I scratched his ears.

It was a nostalgic moment where I definitely missed having a cuddly creature to hold. 

So yah.

It was a good evening to get away and chill a bit.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Mostly Slow Day

I wasn't sure how this Saturday would go.

Because like...last Saturday at work? It was crazy busy. You couldn't get anything done whatsoever because there were so many people in the store. 

It felt like it was the weekend before Christmas with how many people came in to buy things.

But thankfully, this Saturday seemed to follow more of the normal 'after Christmas' trend. 

Where it was pretty much dead in the morning, and then it only started getting busier towards the afternoon. 

It was a relief in a way. To have it be slow. As it was one of those weeks where I've just been feeling the January blues. 

The disappointment that my goals for the year aren't taking shape in the way I hoped and I'm treading water as I figure out how to do things.

So to have work not go too crazy on me on the busiest day of the week was much appreciated.

However...I did discover some craziness happened while I was away from work.

As apparently yesterday it was announced that our District Manager...is no longer with the company. 

Which?????

Huh? What?!

This person has been working for the company for over a decade....and then they're suddenly not? *shakes head* It's suspicious. Highly suspicious since apparently the last word we heard from them was that they were having trouble accessing the computer system with their passwords and that we'd need to contact them by phone if there were any issues.

And then next we hear is that they're no longer with the company and that a DM from a different nearby area will be temporarily covering our area as well until a new DM for our region can be found. 

Like. O_o.

It's highly suspect.....and I hate that corporate is always super tight-lipped about why people leave. 

Like...did they quit? Were they fired? What did they do?! 

More than likely we'll never find out. Which is also irritating because like...how can you learn what not to do if you're not told what was done wrong to make it so that the person was 'no longer with the company?' 

So stressful. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

I Remember You

It's one of those moments when I realize that I've been dealing with far too many...well...bad customers....when my first reaction to having a customer be like "Oh, I remember you!"

Is to worry that the customer remembers me for a negative reason.

Which in retrospect is a silly worry to have.

As I do my best to keep my interactions with customers more positive and helpful than negative.

But with all the anti-maskers I've had to deal with over the past year....it's hard to know just how positive an impression I've left with them.

It didn't help that this particular customer I was helping to check out was one that had come into the store not wearing a mask...they ended up putting one on before I helped them out, though I'm not sure if they were asked by another coworker to put on a mask or if they remembered to grab one themselves.

In any case, them remembering me was rather...intimidating.

Like did they remember that I had asked them to wear a mask during a different visit? Were they gonna be mad at me?!

No such thing.

*shakes head*

Really, I'm pretty sure customers only remember me because I was really helpful to them....at least most customers are this way. And many probably only remember me from repeat encounters.

This customer....apparently I'd helped them before. In a good way.

They were very complimentary at the register.

Saying that I had a good personality. You know...the helpful customer service sort of personality that helps customers have a good time in the store. That I had a good energy and good attitude and such.

lol it was a relief that they remembered me for a positive thing. 

Though still quite nerve wracking to actually realize that customers do remember me past their initial experience in the store lol.

It's weird to be known.

So weird.

Hopefully though I can continue to leave a positive influence on most of the customers that come through our doors. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Get Thee Gone

I honestly don't see what people see in the President.

Like the dude literally incited a mob to go storm the capitol last week, which can be seen as a total act of terrorism....

And people are still falling all over themselves to support his side of the story.

Like guys...the Election was legit. 
Biden is gonna be our next president. 

This election was far more secure than the election that got the current guy elected and I think that one has been proved to have been meddled with.

And yet it's like everyone's brains have melted over the past four years and they forgot how elections work.

They forget that you can actually VOTE people OUT of office. 

And when the majority of people say they want the current guy out. The current guy leaves. No fuss. No threats. They hand over the reigns and call it a day.

And I don't get why so many people have been brainwashed to think otherwise.

And it's rather disheartening to see so many friends and family still firmly in this guy's corner when he has proven himself again and again to not be a good guy.

I mean...he just got impeached for the SECOND time today.

No other president has been impeached twice before.
No other president has tried to incite riots and mobs on the capitol because he lost.

Like the dude has acted like a petulant 2 year old throwing a tantrum rather than a well respected leader....

And yet there are still people who firmly believe he's the greatest thing ever. *rolls eyes*

It's upsetting to see how far and how many mental gymnastics people are willing to use to still see this guy as the 'good guy'

He's not.

And I'm glad he's leaving office. And I feel it's right that he gets impeached for his actions last week. 

Hopefully the Senate, whenever their turn comes up, actually has the guts this time to go through and finish the process. 

Guess we'll see.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Apparently I'm a Communist

 *Exhales*

Soo....I got threatened and called a communist today at work. 

Which is a first. Considering the entire pandemic....I'm honestly surprised I wasn't threatened earlier.

I mean...I've had people threaten lawsuits.

But this was like an actually physical threat. ...In a way. "You better watch out or---" was what I heard...though didn't hear the end of whatever that sentence was supposed to be. Nor did I actively hear these customers call me and my coworkers communists....guess I blocked that particular one out in the stress of the moment of trying to hold firm on our 'wear a mask' stance. 

It started when we had a family approach the fish wall. The parents and their two young kids. 

None of them wearing masks. 

And per usual I asked if the adults had masks that they could wear since masks are required in the store.

-Which honestly, it would be nice if the customers could Follow. Directions. For. Once. and READ the SIX signs we have on our doors and at the front of the store saying that MASKS ARE REQUIRED to be worn in the store.

But you know...cusotmers can't read.

So these anti-maskers walk in and ignore all those nice pretty signs and then proceed to get offended over us asking them to wear masks.

Like...it's a simple thing. Just like the "No Shirts No Shoes No Service" ideology, it's not that hard to also include Masks in that. No Mask. No Service.

Honestly...I do believe that if the mask stance hadn't become such a politicized issue then we wouldn't be having this problem with customers. 

It would be nice if people would actually listen to the medical experts.....

In any case.

The man's response to "Do you have a mask, as they are required to be worn in the store." was to say "Not today!" 

It was said in such a way to mean 'Oh you have a policy to require masks? Well that policy doesn't apply today. To us." 

Ha.  No. That's not how policies work. No exceptions.

So I do the usual spiel. "If you cannot wear a mask we do offer curbside service for you, but you are required per policy to wear a mask within the store." 

And as expected the customers did not like that.

They used the typical excuses. "We don't have to wear masks where we're from! The United States doesn't have a mask law!" 
Which...I don't know what rock you people have been living under the past couple of months, but my state has had a mask mandate in effect since November. Which means that all individuals need to be wearing masks within public buildings or risk being fined. 
Which is why we've gone more hardcore on enforcing people wearing masks in the store, because we do not want our business to be fined for anti-maskers refusing to wear masks inside. 
Beyond that...corporate has required all it's customers and workers to wear masks on the premises since like...August? Soooo unless you haven't been to our store recently...this isn't a new policy. 

And of course the customers were like "We don't have to wear masks anywhere else!" 

Which...again what rock have you been living under? Because the ENTIRE STATE should be enforcing the wearing of masks in public areas. 
Though I am aware that the more rural places tend to be more lax in such regards as they don't think it's that big of an issue in smaller populated areas. 
But like...my county has the 2nd highest rate of transmission. Last I checked 1 in 76 people have tested positive. And like my state just was ranked #4 in having a high transmission rate where 30% of the people getting tested are testing positive. 

So yah...when you're entering like the 2nd most populous county in the state....you better be wearing your mask. 

Of course...a coworker of mine pointed out later on that apparently my store is the only store to actively approach customers about wearing masks? So, if that's true, maybe that's why the customers think they can get away with not wearing masks anywhere? Who knows. 

In any case, I informed the customers of the State Mask Mandate. And then also went a step further and informed them that as a privately owned business we can set and enforce policies for the safety of our workers and our customers. 

Which the woman was like "If a woman can't have a say on whether or not she can have an abortion then you can't control whether or not we wear masks!" 

......seriously? 
Those are like...two completely different fields of discourse. They shouldn't equal each other or even apply to each other in any way. 

But yah. The customers in their mock outrage were like "We're never spending another dime in your stores again!"

Which fine. Whatever. Do you honestly think us workers care? No. We would much rather have your prissy self get far far away from us than have to deal with you potentially being a carrier of the virus and infecting us all. 

And my coworker who was next to me was like "We just work here." Like we have no say over policies and what we can and can't enforce.

The customers seemed to think otherwise though. They think us workers should take more proactive action and stand up against the mask mandate and such.

Like...lady...sir....you do realize that we want to KEEP our jobs right? If we were looking to get fired or let go then yah sure we could refuse to enforce the mandate.

but we kinda want to keep our jobs. And after a year of having to deal with the crap the anti-maskers have put us through along with the overall stress of the pandemic and wondering when we'll end up catching the virus because of how many people we have to interact with....our stance is a bit more "Wear the Mask" then not. 

You aren't making friends anywhere in the retail world by refusing to wear a mask. No. You're making enemies. Because you're publicly stating that you do not care about the health and welfare of anyone else but yourself. If you don't care about our safety? Why should we help you? If you don't care about our safety? Why would we want to deal with you?

So yah.

None of us at my job care if you never enter our stores again. We're perfectly happy to have one less customer to deal with. Especially if they're an anti-masker.

In any case. The customers decided to take their business elsewhere after insulting us a bit more -calling us communits because of our mask policy- and then leaving with the parting shot of 'you better watch out'

*exhales* Like...how pathetic do you have to be to threaten a RETAIL worker? Again. We don't control policy. We just work in the building. 

Yah.

It wasn't a fun day. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Fish Wall Reset

So for the new year, corporate decided that we should refresh our tanks on the fish wall.

...Since they're not giving us a new fish wall this year *exhales* the next best thing is to do a 'makeover' of sorts.

Said makeover being that we're getting rid of all our old decorations and gravel and replacing them with new decorations and gravel.

Though I suppose we're not yet actually getting rid of all the old ornaments. No, work wants us to put them all in boxes and place them on a pallet and store them away 'just in case' they want to use them later on. *exhales* Survey says that's not gonna happen, but yah....it's a matter of going through all the ornaments in the tanks and throwing away the broken ones and saving the 'good' ones for later.

In any case.

I'm kinda excited for the reset.

Because we're going to be dividing our fish wall into 7 different 'theme' sections that will showcase different gravel colors and different types of ornaments in the various tanks.

Which will be nice because it will be great to see a different color of rock on the wall besides the 'natural' as we're going to be using blues and multicolore and sand and the like. 

And then we'll actually have ornaments on the fish wall that are the ornaments we sell to customers as well. 

That way we won't constantly have customers asking us if we carry certain ornaments....when we haven't had the ornaments in our tanks for sell to customers in years...as they were all gotten rid of.

Though it was a bit of a process figuring out just how to divide up our tanks so that we could showcase each theme.

As we've added in 2 plant tanks and 2 turtle tanks...which means our fish wall isn't exactly to the planogram given to us.

And originally I was going to just have sections of 9 tanks (3 columns X 3 rows) until I realized that they wanted us to keep the themes in the 'same order' and that our 'glow fish' theme would not be in the 'glow fish tanks' if I kept it to the 3X3 plan. *shakes head*

But yah. My other manager and I spent most of today setting up the first handful of tanks. Which included pulling out all the ornaments and then scooping out all the gravel and then dumping in the new gravel and then finally gathering up the new ornaments and setting them in the tanks.

I do have to say that the new minimalistic theme is rather nice. Far nicer than I expected. 

It actually makes our more 'decorated' tanks look more...crowded...tacky?? They just don't look as nice. lol Which is only spurring me and my other manager to work faster to get all the tanks switched over to the new look.

The new look being one plant and one ornament decoration.

Already I think it's pretty nice. Only having 2 items in the tanks already is making it easier to catch the fish. XD lol. So that's been great. 

 

I can't wait to see how the entire wall looks. lol Though originally corporate was only planning on having us set 2 themes a week...it looks like we're on track to have the entire fishwall reset before the end of the week. So yay! :D 

Yay for new beginnings lol

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A New Show

 Off and on through the years, I've had people recommend me various anime's to watch.

One of them being Fruits Basket.

Though I'm sure most of them meant the 2001 version since I had heard of the show before the 2019 version came out.

In any case.

I was in the mood to watch something. 

And decided to 'bite the bullet' so to say and check out what Fruits Basket was like. 

As I saw a gif from the 2019 version that intrigued me enough to go find it.

Heh...I ended up binge watching the entire first season today.

I think my brain just needed a break from thinking.

And the dynamics between the characters is intriguing enough to keep me entertained...even if some of the character's voices drive me crazy. *shakes head*

But yah. It was a nice chill way to spend the day, especially considering the crazy I've had to deal with this past week. It was a good way to unwind. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Busy Busy

 Okay. 

Saturdays are busy days. 

That's a fact. 

But like...with the pandemic...Saturdays haven't been as busy...I mean they were rather crazy during December because it's Christmas and you're gonna have a bunch of people shopping anyways.

But after Christmas? It's expected to slow down again.

Especially for the second Saturday of the month. Like...it's January. Why are you all coming into the pet store to buy things?

In any case...I knew today was gonna be a 'bad' busy day when my very first customer of the day was a woman who wanted to get a fish tank and then I ended up spending a good 20 minutes helping said customer figure out what tank she wanted as well as getting her some fish. It became quite the process especially when she got it into her head that the tank she wanted was a different price than the one on the shelf and I had to show her the price of the tank she was getting was different and that the price she thought was the price of the tank was the price of the tank next to the tank she originally wanted. *exhales*

Yah. A process.

Follow that with a good 20 minutes of constant phone calls one right after the other....and yah. I knew it was going to be a bad busy day at work.

But like it was crazy busy.

Like Christmas rush sort of crazy busy.

We had 2 registers constantly going (because our 3rd was down) and the line was still reaching halfway down the store. 

We had customers waiting at the fish wall in a line there...and when they saw the line to check out...decided that they didn't want fish any more.

Like...you came shopping on a Saturday...of course there are gonna be lines.

But like....it was crazy how crazy it was.

I don't understand what it was about today that made everyone want to come out.

But I hope it was a fluke and that next Saturday isn't gonna be the same. *exhales*

Because dealing with tons of customers in the store on top of a pandemic is Not. Fun. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

More Anti-Maskers

 You'd think after basically a year...we wouldn't have to deal with anti-maskers at work anymore. 

And yet...even with the mask mandate in place since November...

We have to deal with antimaskers.

I had a family of four come into the store today.

Parents with their teenager children.

All not wearing masks.

And so I informed them that masks were required to be worn in the store.

And the kids and woman seemed alright with it.

But she was like "My husband can't wear a mask for medical reasons." 

Which is unfortunate because all customers who come into the store need to wear a mask. So if they cannot wear a mask then we do offer curbside pick up.

...Which gets tricky when the customer wants to buy fish because we don't do curbside pick up with live animals. (Besides Crickets) 

But like you can have other people come into the store and buy the animal for you.

Or if you can't wear a mask...you could always invest in like a face shield or something similar that protects your face but doesn't restrict your breathing.

In any case. Mother and two children vanished...I'm guessing to find the husband and inform him that he can't be in the store.

No idea where they ended up...but I ended up encountering the husband who was still maskless. 

And I had to have the same conversation with him.

"I have a medical condition which exempts me from the mask mandate." was his response.

Which no it doesn't. You need to wear a mask in the store. If you can't wear a mask then you can use curbside pick up instead.

And the customer got rather upset at me.

Saying that he was 'tired of being treated like a second class citizen." because he 'can't wear a mask' and he's 'tired of being stuck at home.'

*exhales.*

Like aren't we all dude?

Do you think I like having to go up to people and tell them to put on a freaking mask? No i don't. But some people insist on being children about it and that's why we're still dealing with the pandemic a year later. XP 

In any case. If the white male doesn't like being treated like a second class citizen...imagine how other people who are treated as such feel? And they get worse discrimination than being politely asked to wear a mask. 

*exhales*

But yah. It wasn't a fun encounter to have to deal with today. I hate dealing with the anti-maskers. They bring such dark energy to the place.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

What A Day

So today has been a....day. 

I should have known it would be a day just from the fact that I had trouble sleeping last night from yet another...not quite nightmare but not a good dream. 

But I figured it would be a rather mellow day otherwise. 

I only had one errand in mind.

To go grocery shopping in the morning and hopefully avoid any crazy crowds of people. 

However.

That plan got derailed, when a pick up truck, pulling a trailer, pulled up right next to me as I was taking the on ramp and began honking their horn at me. 

I figured they were just wanting to get past because they were in a hurry, and so I slowed down to let them have the right of way.

The pick up truck slowed down with me.

Still honking it's horn.

So I finally looked over and saw the driver signaling to me, making a sign that I recognized as them indicating that I had something wrong with a tire. That it may be flat.

Which was odd as I didn't feel anything wrong with my car as I was driving.

But I obligingly pulled over -which is hard on the curve of the entrance to the freeway.- and put on my hazards and cautiously got out of my car to see what was going on.

And sure enough, my back left tire...was not looking good.

It wasn't flat flat.

But it definitely wasn't holding it's proper tire shape. It liked like a slightly squished donut on the bottom.

Yet I'm guessing it probably looked bad enough if another driver was willing to get my attention to point it out. 

And if it was bad enough that the driver was working to get my attention before I got onto the freeway proper and reached freeway speeds...that it probably wasn't safe to actually get on the freeway at freeway speeds.

As it probably would have caused my tire to blow out or something. 

But that left me in a bit of a pickle because I was literally on the on ramp. 

I couldn't really just make a right hand turn and get back off. 

Unless I turned my car around or reversed or something...and that would risk me running into another car. 

So. 

I made the cautious decision to keep driving.

I kept my hazard lights on and kept to speed limits below 35 and stayed in the 'emergency' lane. 

-Not sure if it's called the emergency lane, but I stayed in that little section of freeway between the barrier and the solid white line.

As the next exit was only a mile away. So I stayed in the emergency lane for that nerve wracking mile until I could take that exit.

I was thinking about pulling off to the side there to better investigate the tire...but like...what was I gonna do? Try and replace the tire by myself? Ha. 

I figured it would be best to try and get to a tire store or a mechanic and have them look at my tire.

And if the tire was fine on slower speeds...that I would hopefully make it the couple of miles I needed to get to get to the tire store.

Thankfully, I found a closer location than expected as I remembered that Big O Tires had moved from it's old location to a new location...and that spot was right near where I was driving.

And I made it to their parking lot without further incident so woot!!

So I pull in and get out of my car and a gentleman was like "What's up?"

And I was like "There's something wrong with my tire, I was signaled as I was getting on the freeway that it was looking wrong and look" I point to the tire. "It has an issue." 

Thankfully it wasn't too long of a wait. Around half an hour for them to get to my car in the queue of cars and figure out what was going on with my tire.

Apparently a small piece of metal had punctured it. 

And the guys at Big O Tires were able to get it out and patch my tire so that it was good as new.

Surprisingly though...they didn't charge me for this service.

Maybe it fell under a warranty or something? As I think I got my tires from them last time I got my tires? 

Not sure. The dude was just like "Here's your keys. Here's what is wrong and how we fixed it. You're good to go." 

For which I was grateful.

Like I was prepared to pay for a new tire if needed.

But I'm happy that they just needed to patch it.

Though I'm probably going to be paranoid about said tire for a week or so to make sure that it doesn't end up flat again. 

Of course...

I end up getting home from that experience (and after getting food cus of course I still went grocery shopping) in time to see the coup happening over in DC.

*exhales*

It's just...it's similar to experiencing 9/11 again.

Like you're just glued to the news. Doomscrolling through social media, looking for updates, watching the violence and chaos unfold, and just...at a loss at how this could happen to your country. How people could think that doing such an act would be alright.

It's been an emotionally exhausting day. And my heart hurts for everything that happened. It's also angered. Fearful. Annoyed. Depressed. 

There's all the feelings about what I've seen, what I've heard. 

It's a day for the history books for sure. And only time will tell how the events of today will effect how we move forward from here.

I just hope that things move forward in a more positive light, and that the events of today aren't a sign of what people might attempt on the 20th. 

We'll have to see.

But it's been a day.

Quite a day.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Busy Busy

Tuesdays are usually slow days at work. 

But for whatever reason....it went crazy today. 

Like crazy rush of people needing help all at once in the midafternoon. Where I was trying to balance helping a very needy pet parent with doing manager duties, backing up cashier, answering the phone, taking out curbside pick ups, and trying to assist in petcare as well.

It was crazy.

And I think that in some ways it may be a response to the potential events that will be happening tomorrow with the counting of the electoral votes. 

I was rather grateful for the customer crazy to die down towards the evening as I hoped that the last little bit where I was by myself as the closing manager that things would go smoothly.

They didn't.

Because I had a worker call in a couple of hours before work closed to say that they had a family member test positive for the virus and therefore they needed to go get tested....which meant that I needed to inform the department that they worked in that this worker would be out for the next couple of days and I had to scramble to inform the proper people in corporate as well as make sure that there was coverage for that section tomorrow.

And it was annoying. 

Because I asked an individual who was still at work if they would be able to come in and cover said shift to help out the other person at that point and they initially agreed. 

Only apparently after they left work, they called the other person they were going to be working with and indicated their concerns about working tomorrow with them. As the position they're both in is commission based and the worker didn't want to take away any potential earnings from the person scheduled for tomorrow. 

So the worker of tomorrow called the store to talk to the manager -aka me- to see if we could get any non commission people into the store to cover the shift instead because again they didn't want their earnings to be taken away and didn't want the other person who is also commission to be there for 'nothing'

So I ended up having to text -as I was informed the two people I could contact don't respond to calls- a couple of part timers to see if they could come in for a short shift tomorrow...and then had to wait for a response. 

Thankfully one of the people responded despite the late hour so I was able to get that shift recovered.

But ahhhhh stress. So much stress for what was supposed to be a mellow evening.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where I'm From

It's a comment I've gotten more than a few times. From people who come into the store without masks.

It goes something along the lines of "Oh, we don't have to wear masks where I'm from."

Which 'where they're from' usually means somewhere south of my store's location.

As we do have customers come from up to 4 hours away to come see us. 

As the southern half of my state is rather void of pet stores. At least 'good' pet stores.

And the southern half of my state is far more rural than the northern half. 

Small communities of small populations that apparently have little to worry about when it comes to wearing masks.

Which I can see why they'd have less of a concern. They probably don't get many visitors and the visitors they do get probably are just passing through to get to some other location.

But like...we've had a STATE wide Mask Mandate in place since like...i don't know? November? Which indicates that all PUBLIC places need to require people to wear masks.

So it's rather irritating to hear that the southern half of my state seems to be ignoring this mandate.

It's even more annoying when the customer seems to think that just because they don't 'need' to wear masks where they're from...that that means that they're exempt from having to wear masks wherever they go as well.

Like.

How entitled and/or dumb do you have to be to think that?

If a store says "MASKS REQUIRED TO ENTER" at in at least SIX spots before you can walk three steps into the store....

That means that YOU have to wear a mask.

Like how can people ignore all those signs and then pretend to be dumb and go "oh I didn't realize."

Like how blind are you people? How entitledly selfish are you to think it's okay to go around without a mask when my county has the 2nd highest amount of cases in the state? When, last I checked, there's a chance that if you run into 76 people at least ONE of them has the virus? 

Do you think it's okay if you expose yourself unknowingly and then end up bringing the virus back to your small town?

It's just. So irritating.

Like I get that people get distracted at the wrong moment and forget to put on their masks. That's understandable. Especially when they're trying to wrangle an energetic new puppy or something.

But to claim that "Oh we don't wear them where I'm from." And then expect us to just let you wander around.

GAH. 

I don't like those people. LEARN TO READ. Learn to OBSERVE your surroundings, because me and my crew are so freaking tired of having to inform people that they are required to wear masks in the store.

XP Ugh.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

First Shift of 2021

 I should have figured that my first day of 2021 back to work would be...adventurous. 

Mostly in the sense that I totally had everything handled, but it felt like I was walking on a wire the entire time, just waiting for the thread to snap and for everything to go wrong. 

Of course...I feel like I tend to handle pressure (when the stress doesn't give me a headache) far better than other people...maybe because I'm used to constantly being stressed? Who knows.

In any case.

I came into work today to find my opening manager with their head in their arms in the office. 

Not the best of positions to find someone in. And normally indicates a "I'm not feeling well" sort of vibe.

That vibe proved right when my opening manager indicated that they weren't feeling well at all. They'd been fine when they woke up this morning, but the longer they'd been at work, the worse they felt.

With their symptoms being chills and feeling nauseous, as well as slight headache. 

I was like "Dude, Go Home." 

Since I too am a manager, my fellow manager would be able to go home and rest. 

As we need to have a manager present in the store at all times. 

Though with my next manager not due in for another couple of hours...

This meant that I would be the only person 'in charge' this morning so if something went wrong...I'd be the one to deal with it. :S

Yikes.

I mean, I've run the closing hours of the store by myself.

So opening hours aren't that different, especially when I know backup will be coming along soon enough.

However as my opening manager was leaving, my midday manager called and was like "Hey...I don't feel that great....but I'm still coming in! Just...I'm gonna be another hour or so later."

Checking in with them they their symptoms were only temporary...so yah. I didn't have to worry about them working sick.

And I'm grateful they came in as I'm sure my closing manager would have blown a gasket if they discovered this particular manager had called out.

So yay for the midday and closing managers being able to come in.

But that meant that I would be the only manager in the store until lunch time.

Which again, still stressful, but nothing I can't handle.

It's just not fun knowing that you're the one person everyone will need to come to if there's issues.

And considering I was supposed to be more PetCare today...I was pulling double duty of being the Petcare person and the manager until my next PetCare coworker could come in...at lunch time.

so yah. I did a bunch of running back and forth lol.

Add onto that that our Cashier wanted to leave early so that they could get to their second job because of a schedule conflict that had occurred earlier this week...

It was stressful.

Thankfully the cashier was willing to stay their entire shift if needed.

But we had enough closing people coming in for the evening shift, that i only really needed them to stick around until everyone else showed up.

And everyone else did show up.

So yay.

Lol still. It was a bit more of a stressful morning than I wanted to face. Especially for my first shift of 2021.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi