An Overly Irritating Day

 You know those days where things just....go wrong? And people are awful?

Yah. Today is one of those days. 

So heads up. This is a rather long rant/vent post because. GAH. Today has been a day.

Like it's never fun to come into work and find chaos.

And come into chaos I did.

First it was just 'minor' things. Aka things I wasn't directly involved in.

Like my VP manager informed me that first, they called the people in charge of filling our new soda machine asking where our sodas are.

Because corporate has decided once again to sell sodas for customers to buy at the register.

Which is something we had had available when I first started working here like...almost 9 years ago. But they discontinued it pretty soon after I started. Like I think that little fridge at the front of the store was gone within the year. 

But now they've decided to try again.

And last week? I think it was last week? Time moves weird at work. They finally had the company come in and bring in their nice fancy branded fridge to place on the end of our middle register. 

And the dude who brought in the fridge said that he would contact the seller people who are supposed to bring in our sodas....only we hadn't seen anyone.

So VP manager decided to take it upon themself to call whoever they needed to call and basically said "Hey, are you guys going to give me sodas as we've had this fridge for a week now and if you're not going to bring us product I'm going to unplug this thing and move it so I can place other product we can sell here there instead." 

*shakes head* I don't know why they needed to be that dramatic about it, but it did get results. The sodas were delivered before I even entered the store. 

Which VP manager spent the next little while setting up the fridge and putting the product in it and such.

And *exhales*

VP manager has just been...antagonizing today. Forgetful. It's felt a bit like babysitting an eager puppy because they forgot their keys, they couldn't remember how to access certain things on the computers, had struggles with a few things on register.

Which on the one hand makes sense because they've been out for the past couple of months for medical issues and this is basically their first week back in the store since Aprilish. 

So yah remembering things is a thing.

But apparently they haven't forgotten how to call various people to get results.

As the second thing the VP manager did was reach out to our DM.

Why? Because our 3rd party cleaning crew tried to walk out on us this morning. Said they were quitting. Why? Because apparently they hadn't been PAID in WEEKS.

Which, because we're working through a third party, we don't pay the cleaning crew that comes in. That should be the company that they're working for that pays them.

And apparently it's not just this crew experiencing issues. It's multiple crews that have had this problem of not getting paid.

And VP manager wasn't going to stand for that. (which I agree that's so stupid of the 3rd party to do this.) 

So VP manager reached out to DM who reached out to the necessary people within corporate to have them reach out this third party we're contracted with to figure out what the heck is going on so that they can make sure all the cleaning crew are getting paid for the work they're doing within our stores.

So yah...we'll see what comes of that. And I wish we'd been informed earlier than the day the cleaning crew said they were walking out on the job. But hopefully the situation can be salvaged. 

Fast forward to me checking our emails because our Head Manager is out of town and I'm in charge of checking our "customer satisfaction' while they're out and answering any 'customer complaints' that may come through the surveys people are given to take.

And we had a 'recovery moment' that needed to happen. 

Which is dumb because yes the customer rated us a 6/10 on the survey but they said in the comments that the main reason they gave this score was because the product they need to buy has been consistently out of stock and they understand that it's a problem with manufacturing as multiple locations besides our store have also been out of stock of this mysterious item. Even the competition has been out of stock.

So like....there's literally nothing we can do for this customer because we can't magically poof the item they want back onto the shelf.

But I responded with an email. Said sorry for the inconvenience. Asked for further detail on which products the customer was looking for and promised that we'd double check our inventory to make sure our counts are accurate and we'll work to get the product in as soon as possible. 

*exhales*

And right as I finish answering that email, I get called over to our birds to help an old lady buy a couple of finches to take home.

As she loves listening to the sounds they make and such.

and like there were no red flags at all in this interaction.

But then the cashier called me up after the customer had checked out and informed me that one of the old lady's grandchildren had let it slip that apparently their grandma comes in every year to buy a couple of finches but then after a couple of months.....she lets them go. 

Aka. Releases them into the wild.

And I'm just like....beyond irritated to hear this news. Because while the finches aren't exactly tame...they're not wild birds. They have no knowledge of living outdoors. They've been raised by breeders. They weren't wild caught. 

So basically I just got told that this old lady basically sets the birds free to let nature kill them. 

And there's not much I can do since the customer had already left the store. Like if this is a yearly thing I could keep an eye out for next year when she comes in again to pull the same stupid stunt.

But at the same time...she may go to a different store. She might come in on a day or time where I'm not there. And who knows which workers of mine will still be here a year later....and there's no guarantee that whatever note I may leave would still be there a year later....

So yah that's frustrating. Gah. 

And then soon after that, around lunchtime.

I answer a phone call from our 'favorite' nightmare grooming customer that we've been dealing with for the past month or so. 

As a bit ago this lady came in to get her dog groomed with us. 

But grooming ended up refusing to groom the dog for a multitude of reasons. 
1. Dog was ancient. Like 14 years old. 
2. Dog was blind. 
3. Dog was severely matted because said dog hadn't been to a groomer since 2019. 

And with matted dogs you usually end up having to shave said dog to get the matts gone. 
Old dog skin is extremely fragile and it's easy to cut the dog by accident if the dog twitches at the wrong moment.  -I know because we had a flurry of incidents earlier in the year where old dogs were taken in and then they got caught because the skin was too thin and that was its own nightmare in of itself-

And like being blind? Definitely not a good idea to stress the dog out in an unfamiliar environment.

So for both the groomer's safety and the dog's safety the dog was refused. 

Of course customer got upset. Customer threw a fit. But we couldn't groom that dog in that condition.

*exhales*

Things went wrong when our Head Manager decided to give our DM a heads up about this. That we might be receiving a complaint from this customer about refusing to groom her dog. That way the DM could be aware about it and such.

*exhales*

Unfortunately our new DM is very much into the 'make the customer happy, recover the interaction' type of mode right now.

And told us to 'make it right' with the customer.

Like...what do you want us to do? We can't groom this dog because it's too high of a risk. Like the only way to get the dog groomed would be to knock it out (which we can't do) and shave it. 

Which Vet hospitals can do that. But we can't do that.

I don't know how it ended up with us offering to send the dog to a different place to get the groom and us covering the bill for the 'inconvenience' we caused the customer.

But that's what we've been trying to do since that point. Where we were trying to get the dog into the vet clinic inside our store and have it shaved there. 

The main reason given is that we felt bad for the dog. Like the dog hasn't been properly groomed in TWO YEARS. And we were seeking to help the poor thing feel better by giving him a hair cut. 

Even though the vet clinic wouldn't do as good of a job as a regular grooming salon at least the dog wouldn't be matted anymore.

EXCEPT it's been a struggle and a half to get said freaking dog dematted. 

Mostly because the owner doesn't speak English as a first language so there's been a fair bit of miscommunication happening. Like we call...she doesn't answer. We leave a message. She never gets back to us. We call again. Try to tell her the appointment. She doesn't answer. Doesn't respond. Then calls after the fact and wants to know why we aren't doing things....it's been a nightmare.

It doesn't help at all that there's a statewide grooming shortage where it's hard to find groomers who are available to take in dogs especially dogs with special needs (old/blind/matted is not a good combination) as it would take an experienced groomer to deal with it.

But like we finally got the dog scheduled and the owner to agree to come in to get the dog shaved at the vet office in our store. 

Only the dog never got shaved at the vet clinic. 

The customer had been assured the dog would be shaved by 3pm. 
By 4pm the clinic hadn't even started shaving the dog.
So frustrated, the customer came and took the dog back before the clinic could do anything.

Like lady. We're covering the cost of this freaking groom for your poor neglected dog. The least you could do is have patience and recognize that vet clinics can get busy with sudden emergencies and while your dog needs to be shaved it's not an emergency else you would have brought the dog in sooner than TWO YEARS after the his last groom. 

But noooo the customer refused to wait and was upset that things didn't happen as she was promised.

So our head manager had to again call around and see if there was anyone in the valley who could groom said dog. 

And they finally settled on a place where the appointment would be today. And that we would cover the cost of the groom at this place and such. I believe via phone payment.

And the lady called earlier this morning before I came in to ask where she was supposed to take her dog as apparently that 'hadn't been communicated to her.'

Though I'm pretty sure it had been if the freaking lady would just listen to her voicemails. *exhales*

So the manager on duty at the time managed to find the name of the place and let the customer know where she was supposed to go.

Only when the customer arrived at this place....the person there apparently had no idea what the situation was -even though it should have already all been worked out- and the person at this place was unwilling to groom the dog until they knew what the form of payment was.

Which again, I do wonder if the struggle was part of this lady having an accent with her english and there just being miscommunication.

But yah...the lady called again extremely frustrated that her dog had been denied once again. And I had to deal with her for a good twenty minutes ranting at me over the phone. Like she didn't want me to call the salon place to figure out what was going on.

No she wanted me to give her number to our head manager and have our head manager call her directly to figure this out because she's tired of being yanked around. (like lady we're tired of you causing us problems we would love to get you out of our hair and never hear from you again.) 

Like she's making all these demands on us and it's just left us all loathing her. Like we're only trying to groom the dog to help him feel better. But she's one of those people where if you give her an inch she tries to take the whole farm from you. Milk you for all you got and gah. I just hate people. 

If she'd just shut up her mouth and have patience we could have had her dog groomed at the clinic over a week ago. But noooooo.

And like. I told her that she wouldn't be able to reach our Head Manager as they're out of town on a much deserved vacation and won't be available until next week.

But she still insisted. "No give her my number, have her call." 

I was like "She's out of cell range currently in the mountains. We can't reach her."

Like lady, get your self centered head out of your butt for two seconds and think. Would YOU want to be called on YOUR vacation by an Angry Customer? 

NO. 

Neither do we. Neither does our head manager and I will NOT give you access to someone's personal phone number when they are on VACATION. 

*exhales*

The customer was like "I want to pick the salon I go to and then have you guys pay for it." 

Which after talking to the grooming manager and the VP manager they agreed that was fine.

At this point we just want her out of our hair. Want her to never darken our doorstep again. Like we all regret trying to help the poor dog out and definitely do not have good feelings towards our DM who got us into this nightmare of a mess by insisting that we try and 'make it right' well ha. It's just been one problem after another.

I am curious to see if this nightmare customer does manage to find someone to groom her dog. Because it took a while for us to even find the one she was supposed to have gone to today. 

*exhales* But yah. It was...irritating to listen to this lady. Like it's your own stupid fault that you neglected your dog and made it difficult on everyone's end. If you had just gone and gotten the dog properly groomed you wouldn't be dealing with this mess and we wouldn't be dealing with this mess.

But the problems didn't end there. Oh no.

It's just been a day of difficult customers. Because I ended up trying to help an older lady figure out how to install and activate the store app onto her phone.

As we have an app for the company where if you have an account with us you can get discounts online and such from said app. 

Like...I don't get where customers get the idea that we know how the app works. We never interact with said app unless we've installed it for our own use or we have customers use it to indicate they're here for storepick up. But setting up an account? Nope. Haven't had to do it.

But I did my best to help said customer.

But it felt more like the lady just wanted someone standing there to make sure that she did it right. She didn't need 'help help' in the least and anytime I tried to scroll through her phone to figure out what the net step was she'd get upset at me for 'ruining things' and 'doing this and that'

*exhales* It was a trial and a half to deal with her especially when trying to explain how the membership worked and how to book appointments....

Like I wasn't even halfway through my shift yet. And all this drama had already occurred. XP 

Add into that the fact that a customer discovered one of our toilets was clogged in the woman's bathroom and they pulled out a bunch of 'tags' from products in our store that a little thief tried to flush away -which didn't work because the tags were huge and cardboard- 

And yah....just...not a good day.

It ended with me helping the third person our VP manager had called today as VP manager noticed that the modem that controls like...all the electrical stuff in the store in it's little room was getting far too hot.

Which...that's nothing new. That room always gets too hot. Just like a few other rooms on that side of the building get too hot in the summer. 

But VP manager wasn't going to stand for it. He was concerned the modem might short circuit or such for being so hot and so called in a work order to get the AC looked at. 

So the fixit guy showed up like half an hour before I was off for the day (as thankfully I wasn't closing tonight because I would probably scream if that was the case)

And he was like "Do you know what's going on?" And I was like "Yep. VP manager was concerned about this room here being too hot."

And maybe I should have stopped there. But me being my helpful self I was like "This whole corner of the building consistently has problems cooling during the summer and heating during the winter."

And he was like ()_() WHAT?! That wasn't mentioned in the work order! Show me.

So I did. I showed him our New Arrivals room and our ISO room for animals. Where the temperature was showing beyond the parameters they should be set at (as the animals should be at 77 degrees and it was showing 79 and I've seen the room in the 80s before) also showed him the breakroom that was also hot as well as the area where the computer system was that the VP manager had been concerned about.

And the dude was just flabbergasted.

Like this is a recurring issue. But to my knowledge...no one has ever put in a work order to get this corner of the store fixed and he was just surprised about that. And was worried that this might be a bigger project than initially anticipating depending on what the cause of the system not properly cooling was.

Because if it was mechanical he could figure that out easily. But if it was like sensor related then it would be harder because that's all electronic and should be done with the sensor people instead of him.

So yah....I didn't meant to complicate things but I do think he appreciated me being up front and giving him far more detail on the issues we've been having here. 

Turns out that at least part of the issue was mechanical with the AC unit on the roof and my other manager informed me that most of the rooms were feeling a lot cooler now that he's fixed that.

So hopefully that will continue to be a good sign and the rooms won't feel like a sauna anymore. *fingers crossed*

It's definitely been a day though.

I really don't want to have to go back tomorrow to work another mid shift.

But hey....at least I'll be away from the store for the weekend so that's something. I just have to survive tomorrow.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Money Gone

 *exhales*

So...we had a guinea pig in the store that we noticed wasn't properly using one of it's back legs.

Upon taking him to the vet, we discovered that somehow at some point the leg had been dislocated.

And like...the guinea pig hadn't been in our store for longer than a week.

But it's hard to know if the dislocation happened before or after it arrived at our store.

But the vet was like "It's been dislocated for long enough that if we pop the leg back into place...it's likely it will just pop right back out again." 

Which...it's not fun to spend money to fix a problem that might not stay fixed.

Which left us the other options of a) amputating the leg, b) putting the guinea pig down. 

As we couldn't exactly leave the leg as is. Who knows how painful that would be to the guinea pig to continue having the leg dislocated and like...who knows what sort of infections and problems could result from that.

And we try and go the routes that would ensure the guinea pigs survival. Like unless it's deemed that the quality of life wouldn't be good if the animal was left alive...we pick the options that keeps the animal's life.

Which meant amputating the leg.

The slight drawback to that is that we have a...well budget on how much money we can spend. And if it's over a certain amount we need to get approval first before going ahead with any expensive procedures.

And this amputation was definitely expensive. 

But our DM -who happened to visit our store the same day we got the pricing for how much the amputation would cost- gave the go ahead to have the procedure happen. 

Said surgery happened today.

And the surgery went well. No complications whatsoever in that regards.

No....the problems started after they tried to wake the guinea pig back up.

Apparently green liquid started coming out of his nose after he woke back up. Indicating that he was dealing with some sort of infection.

And like after being 'woken' they ended up having to put the guinea pig on Oxygen to help him breathe because he was having trouble breathing on his own. 

And was having troubles moving on his own. 

The vet ended up calling us right before we were supposed to go pick him up to give us this news.

And like....he was concerned about his quality of life going forward. Because if they couldn't safely take him off the oxygen....that's not a good thing as our store doesn't have the capabilities to keep a guinea pig on oxygen ourselves.

So it was agreed to wait it out just a bit longer.

And, while my other manager wanted to go be the one to pick up the guinea pig...as they love to go run that errand and get out of the store for a bit.

I made the choice to be the one to go so I could go see what was happening with the guinea pig in person.

As I'm the one in the store with the most experience with the animals. And I didn't want to play a game of telephone with my other manager over the phone with deciding on the final course of action for the guinea pig.

So I went.

And ah. 

It was sad. Like if I hadn't been able to see the guinea pig breathing...he looked just like a stuffed animal. 

He was totally unresponsive. Wouldn't react to anything. Head flopping around, body flopping around.

The poor thing wasn't even blinking. He was just staring there wide eyed the entire time.

Like...it was like the base functions of the brain had turned back on after the guinea pig woke back up...but the higher motor skills and such hadn't restarted.

And it had been a good 3-4 hours after the surgery that I came to get him.

So to have no change after that long....it wasn't a good thing. 

Especially since again, we didn't have the capabilities to care for the guinea pig overnight like this. 

And with a guinea pig that unresponsive and floppy....that's never a good sign when I unfortunately encounter it at work. Usually the guinea pig doesn't last longer than a day if that's the case. 

So the decision was made to put the poor guinea pig down. 

Because there was no good way to ensure he'd have a good quality of life if he wasn't moving on his own at all beyond heart beating and lungs breathing. 

And like....people all around me were concerned about how I was reacting to this news. Like they expected me to be super upset about it.

But like....emotionally I wasn't that....idk connected? I've seen a lot of our animals pass away over the years. And while yes, some deaths hit me harder than others, it's not something that's going to leave me as a crying wreck most of the time. 

Like yes it's sad we had to put the guinea pig down. But I could recognize that in this case it would be better to let the animal go than to try and eek out his existence for longer. 

No...I was more frustrated that we had just spent $$$$ to get the leg amputated and try and save the guinea pig...to have to turn around and euthanize him because he didn't recover as expected after surgery.

Like....I do wish that the vet would be like "Oh sorry we couldn't save him, we'll waive the surgery fee for you."

Nope. Still had to pay for the surgery. Which I get. You gotta pay the people for their work and for the supplies used and such.

But it's a bitter pill to swallow. That we just basically threw money down the drain in an attempt to help the guinea pig....

*exhales*

So yah. Not the funnest way to end my day. 

But it's how life works sometimes. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Going Maskless part 2

 So to continue the trend of going maskless.

Today was my first day at work without wearing a mask now that I'm officially past the 2 week after the 2nd dose mark.

And like. I enjoy wearing my mask. It's nice to not have to worry about what my mouth is doing or how I'm appearing to strangers and such. 

But with the 100 degree weather we've been having throughout June...being able to take off the mask and not worry about 'overheating' has been nice.

And like....it hasn't felt that weird to be walking around work without the mask on.

It's definitely been weirder to see coworkers we hired when the mask mandate was still in place going without their masks for the first time as a bunch of them I've never seen without their masks on before. 

So that's weird getting used to seeing their whole faces and not just their eyes.

*shakes head*

But yah.

Overall....today went well without the mask on.

Probably because I've worked here without masks on for years....so like...it's kinda like returning to the old status quo in a way.

Though at the same time....I do miss wearing the mask. 

So yah...interesting. Rather interesting to be maskless at work. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Maskless

 I went to church for the first time in over a year without a mask on today.

And like...it wasn't as weird as I was halfway expecting it to be. 

It felt like a normal day really...with the exception of me being on edge when another member of the ward sat down right next to me without the usual six foot bubble distance that we've been doing since August of last year. 

That probably stressed me out more than being without a mask. Like I know I'm vaccinated. I know my roomies are vaccinated.

But I have no idea how many people in my ward are actually vaccinated and how many just took of their masks because everyone else was.

So to have someone sitting right next to me that I don't know that well?

It's stressful. For sure.

It doesn't feel like we're quite to that stage of 'normal' yet to do that. *exhales*

But overall...it wasn't bad being back without a mask. Still slightly weird. Still gonna need to get used to it probably. 

But yah. It went well. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Loose Dog

"A dog just ran out of the store."

Was what I heard over the radio as I was helping out up towards the front.

Which...a dog running out of the store implies that said dog left without it's owner. Which means we have a dog loose in our parking lot.

And yet none of my coworkers seemed concerned. *exhales*

I mean, we were in the middle of a rush. Petcare was busy, registers were busy, online orders were busy.

But still.

A dog running out into the parking lot was definitely a thing that one should go 'check out.'

Because we're on the corner of a busy road.

Like six lanes of traffic busy road (3 lanes going one way, 3 lanes going the other way) 

And if the dog spooks and runs right out into that chaos?

Yah no. Not good. 

So I double checked to verify that I heard my cashier correctly when they said that a dog ran out of the store...and then went outside to see if I could see said doggie.

As apparently a guy -a random stranger- ran out of the store after the dog (things he was intending to buy in his hands, which thankfully he did go back inside and pay for said items lol) and was trying to convince her to not head towards the road.

I ended up getting the dog's attention with his help.

And she ended up wedging herself down underneath some random person's car in the parking lot.

Which not the best place to end up.

But at least she had a leash on still so we were able to grab the leash and get a hold of her.

The customer ended up going back inside to pay for his stuff after I got a hold of the leash and I did my best to try and coax her out from under the car.

But the poor thing was so terrified she wasn't going to move.

And like, this is a lab sort of dog.

So she weights a fair bit more than a tiny lapdog. 

And I was being cautious because a) I didn't know if she would try and bite me if I moved her too much and b) I didn't want the collar to slip off her neck if I pulled too hard on the leash.

After a few minutes the owner ended up coming out after her dog.

Which the poor lady had apparently fallen in the store....from what I gathered another dog had started barking and maybe startled this poor puppy, which the dog had only been adopted 4 days ago and had just gotten done with her bath at our salon, and the dog startled and pulled free from her owner, causing said owner to fall from the force of her pulling free and then darted outside.

Thankfully the owner seemed fine. She was just concerned about her dog.

But she definitely wasn't of the...well muscle strength, to pull her dog out from under the car at all.

She was desperately trying to reach her husband on the phone, but he was outside and not answer so she was trying to reach him by contacting the neighbors to go find him in the backyard....

But thankfully the gentleman who had helped me catch the dog in the first place came back out and saw us still with her and helped us pull her out from underneath the car. 

I ended up keeping a good grip on the back of her neck while he kept a hold of the leash and we carefully but quickly walked the dog to the owner's car.

The dog was sooo happy to get inside that car lol jumped right up without any hesistation.

And the owner was glad to get her new dog safely in the car as well.

So I'm glad it all ended up well for everyone.

But ah, it was sure a stressful moment there. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

InfoDumping

 It's a fine line to walk.

Between giving too little information...and giving far too much. 

And it's one of those things I struggle with.

Like how much explanation is too much explanation? How much do I say that's 'just enough' before I start unintentionally digging myself a hole in one shape or another?

So.

Our DM has been on our case recently about like...staying on top of our inventory when it comes to our crickets and feeder goldfish.

Because 'running out' of either food source for pet parents is a not good thing. 

And like...we can't always control what quantities we have.

Live animals can't just be made in a factory. They have to be bred. They have to grow. They have to survive all the various travel and weather and who knows what else experiences to make it to our store.

But today our DM sent out an email wanting to know details about our crickets.

Kinda the "Are your inventories up to date? Do you have the right numbers? Are you getting in more crickets this week? Are you experiencing higher dead because of the high temperatures? Are they including ice packs in the shipments?"

Which the last one I just...have to raise an eyebrow at because I don't recall ever seeing our crickets come in with ice packs.

Like yes, we get them in with heat packs all the time during the winter.

But during the summer? No. Never seen these hypothetical ice packs that should supposedly be included in the shipment.

I mean....there's not really a place to put said ice packs because unlike the winter where the boxed crickets are all placed in a bigger box.

The summer months has the crickets just in their regular box box with holes in it. You know...to let them breathe and not die in the heat that a big enclosed box could generate.

And like I wasn't even sure I should answer this email the DM sent.

I mean, I figured if they're asking "How are we doing?"

That they're expecting a response.

But how much of a response?

Like I don't want to accidentally dig myself a hole and either get myself in trouble or well...get myself in trouble.

But I also wanted to give the DM a general idea of how things are doing.

So I ended up sending an email that was basically like: 

"We ran out of Large Crickets Monday, and our usual Tuesday shipment didn't show up until Wednesday. And Wednesday we got in 3 different shipments of crickets, and while the overall dead was low we were still getting shorted crickets and no, none of the boxes had Ice packs."

Like...that's been the main issue for the past forever with the crickets.

Is that the company we're currently working with never gives us what they say they're giving us.

If they say there's 1500 crickets in the box, oftentimes there's only 500-800 crickets within.

Meaning that I'm shorted a good 700-1000 crickets that I could have really used for customers. 

And it's worse with the smalls. Like I will often get in boxes of "2000 crickets" that in reality have 200-500 crickets within. Shorting me a good 1500-1800 crickets.

So I gave the DM this info. Gave them the states of just how many crickets were expected and how many were shorted in each shipment.

And hoped that it would help them get a better idea of how things were going with our shipments and such.

And thankfully, the DM seemed to appreciate it as they sent an email back later in the day thanking me for the information and stating that they'll continue to 'beat the drum' on those crickets.

So yay for being helpful I suppose lol. ^^;;

Still stressful though. Because I want to be helpful...but I don't want to give too much needless information either....

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Renewal

 It was another one of those adulting tasks that I've been putting off.

I mean. I've known for months now that I need to get my Driver's License renewed.

And unfortunately, this time around, they were requiring me to actually physically go to the License place in order to renew my ID. 

*exhales* I would have preferred to have just done it online again. 
But I'm guessing they were assuming that I would want a more updated picture of what I look like or something.

In any case.

I put it off.

Like the procrastinator I am.

Though hey, at least I didn't wait until the day of my birthday to go do so. 

So at least I got my license renewed before it expired.

But gah. It was a bit of a process to get it.

Too many steps in a thing makes me want to do it less.

And like....it's easy enough to go online and look at the application and try and schedule an appointment.

But there is a slight issue with the renewal application.

In the little tiny fact that I needed to bring the physical copy to the building with me.

AKA print it out.

*exhales*

I haven't owned a printer in a good ten years or so.

Not since college.

I mean I never need to print anything out anymore. So why would I have a random printer in my house?

I wouldn't.

And so I was like "Whelp. This is too hard." And procrastinated it for another two weeks or so.

But I knew the deadline for my license to expire was quickly coming up.

Sooooo.

Today since I had to the day off of work, I bit the bullet and signed up for an appointment.

But I also had to get that stupid physical form filled out.

I nearly decided to take my chances and just show up at the place paperless and ask if they had copies there I could use.

I didn't.

I ended up emailing my application to my work's email as we most definitely have a printer there.

Originally I was going to just print out a blank form and fill it out later.

But then I realized you actually had to fill it out online and the print the filled out form. *exhales*

So yah.

Too many steps. Too many complications.

But I got the right form emailed.

And before my appointment I dropped by my work to print it out so I could take it with me.

And it's crazy....

How much you just...build up and put off doing something out of the 'normal' 

And that out of the ordinary thing that you think is going to be this huge hassle....

Takes like ten minutes.

Like seriously. I doubt I was in the building for a full ten minutes before I had my license renewed with picture taken and eye test done. 

*shakes head*

Crazy how fast those things can go.

But hey! I'm legal still so woot. XD

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Mask Wearing

 So with the relaxing of restrictions and mask wearing in my state, things have returned to basically an almost normal.

Where seeing people wearing masks is a less common occurrence. 

To the point where you probably get weird looks now for still wearing a mask rather than for not wearing one.

And like...at work, our policy is that you don't have to wear a mask if you're fully vaccinated.

Which since we can't really demand proof that customers are fully vaccinated, I feel like most individuals took that to mean "We don't have to wear masks anymore!" 

And like. Current store policy is that workers need to wear a mask until you're vaccinated. 

And each passing day fewer and fewer of us are wearing masks in work.

I'm one of those who is still wearing one. Because you're not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after the second dose is given.

And that two week period ends this Friday.

So for the next handful of days...I'm still wearing a mask.

Like at this point I don't always remember that I'm wearing it because it's become such a part of the work experience to have it on.

But today I had a doordasher dude.

As it's almost always a guy causing issues.

Come over to the cricket area to grab crickets for a customer's order.

And like...he took such offense that my store is still requiring us workers to wear masks if we're not vaccinated.

Like the dude doesn't even work for us. And he's getting all mad that masks are still required for the nonvaccinated workers.

*shakes head*

I don't get it. Like if I didn't want to wear my mask...I wouldn't be wearing a mask. We can't exactly ask everyone if they're vaccinated so we just have to assume that if you're not wearing a mask then you're vaccinated. But we can't just check in with you.

Though I bet that the doordasher dude isn't vaccinated. Just from how offended he was. Like I didn't even tell him anything about him needing to wear a mask if he's not vaccinated. I just said that workers needed to.

People are weird. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Skids

So I went up North today.

To do like...all the adulting things that I've been putting off.

Because I'm a procrastinator. 

And I'm rather anti-social when it comes to doing the 'uncommon' things.

Like send me to work every day and I'm fine.

Make me make an appointment to see various doctors and well...yah....it takes a lot of mental gearing myself up to convince myself to actually call the doctors and make the appointments and do the things and talk to the people and such.

*exhales*

I hate doing the uncommon things.

In any case.

It went well today. Despite the heat. 

I saw the people I wanted to see, even had enough time to visit my brother and my grandma and do all the errands up north.

But unfortunately....I did take long enough that I ended up hitting rush hour traffic on my way back home.

Which it's so stupid.

Why is rush hour even a thing still?

You'd think after having cars around for ages that we'd manage to create a system where you never have to worry about getting stuck in stop and go traffic where instead of going 70 on the freeway you're crawling along at 25 mph.

Like it doesn't make sense.

I mean it makes sense because people are dumb and do stupid things and cause and effect equates stupid people doing stupid things will mean that cars will be forced to slow or swerve or do whatever else they do and suddenly you're stuck in stop and go traffic and a journey that should take under an hour takes twice that amount of time all because you ended up driving at the wrong moment on the road.

*exhales*

In any case.

I was almost home.

Like maybe 15 minutes out from my exit.

And the traffic had finally let up enough that instead of going 25 or 45 mph cars were actually able to go the speed limit (and above) and it was great!

Because speed is my friend and I'm always happier to be going faster on the road rather than slower.

But...

I guess I ended up kinda zoning as I was driving.

Because the next thing I knew, I was rounding a bend in the freeway and instead of seeing lots of nice open area to keep driving fast on...

I was confronted with red lights in my lane.

Lots of red lights in all the lanes actually.

So I ended up hitting the brakes.

Only I wasn't slowing down fast enough and the car was coming closer as I misjudged that they were 'slowing' instead of actually like...'stopped.'

So I had to slam on the brakes a lot harder than I ever do.

Hard enough that I ended up locking the tires and skidding along the road like I was on ice instead of pavement and left a nice set of dark black lines on the road behind me along with a not so nice cloud of dark smoke in the air behind me.

Yay burnt rubber smell.

And like....I didn't hit anyone. So yay!

I managed to stay in my lane and avoid the car in front of me and all was good.

Besides my heart threatening to pound itself out of my chest and my limbs going all trembly because gah. That was intense.

Thankfully nothing more happened.

The road just got more black lines on it.

The cars behind me probably thought I was crazy. And probably didn't appreciate the smelly burnt smell I left in my wake.

But it's all good.

My tires are fine and such.

But yah....not a fun experience at all. :S

And another line on the list of why I hate rush hour traffic lol.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Who Owes Who?

I had a couple come into the store tonight. Looking for some assistance with a couple of purchases and returns that they had made.

*shakes head*

Like I'm happy to help with returns and such when needed....but I really don't like it when people try to make it complicated.

And this couple made it complicated.

Or I suppose only as complicated as it can be when it's hot and you've been working for a good 6 hours or so already running all over the store putting out other fires that have been springing up like grooming drama and tag machine engraving drama and helping customer after customer.

To be brought up with yet another 'fire' in a complicated return....was not something I was looking forward to.

As apparently the couple had gotten a dog.

Bought a bunch of stuff.

But also returned a bunch of stuff.

And apparently whoever did the returns....didn't look at the cost of the items the couple had returned that closly.

As they had noticed that they'd been overpaid for some things (as in the price of the item had increased since they bought it and so they were given more money back than they'd originally paid for it) but for other items they'd been given less money back because the items had gone down in price for sales or clearance in the meantime. 

And the couple just wanted to make sure that everything was 'fair' whether or not that meant they owed the store money or we owed them money. 

And like...I get that you want to make sure you get the right amount of money back.

But honestly....it felt like a problem that they probably could have calculated out and figured out themselves. 

As they had me go through multiple receipts showing where they were paid a dollar more here, a dollar less here, six dollars more there, ten dollars less here. Etc. 

And I had to write down the various prices like "okay we paid you a dollar more here. But gave you a dollar less here." 

And the entire time I was writing things down I was just trying to figure out how in the world I would get these people their money if it ended up being that I owed them money.

Because like...I couldn't just open the till and give them their money back as these returns were made eon a different day and I would need to make sure my till was accurate and such.

But the items had already been returned...so I wasn't sure if I could 'sell the item' and then 'return the item' and get the customers their money back....like I didn't know if that would work out that way.

Not to mention the nightmare of including sales tax and such into the returns. *exhales*

Thankfully.

When all was said and done. We ended up giving the customers like a couple of dollars more than what we accidentally took away from them in the returns.

So I was like "It's two dollars. That's close enough to not matter." 

Because there was no way I was going to go through and return and sell and do all this stuff to get the 'correct amounts' into the register when the customer ended up getting just like Two bucks more than they should have.

Corporate doesn't monitor the transactions that closely. They don't know when the wrong amount of money has been returned for a product. It's not that smart of a system.

So having the person get a couple of dollars extra back on their card? Yah no big deal.

Plus it saved me like fifteen minutes of trying to run it all through the register.

But yah... *exhales* It was complicated thinking that I definitely didn't want to be doing so close to the end of my shift. *shakes head*

I'm glad the couple wanted to be honest. But I do wish they would have realized that the receipts were in their favor before coming all the way to the store and that two bucks doesn't matter that much in the end.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Small Burn

 So there was a fire near my house today.

Thankfully it didn't occur on the hill right behind my home as I'm sure my roommate would have gone into hysterics if that were the case.

But still. It was a fire that was a lot closer than previous fires had been in the last couple of years. 

*exhales*

It seems like there's always a fire burning near us, but then again my state is apparently in a very deep deep drought. Like the entire state is in RED when it comes to drought conditions. We're dry. So dry that while I love fireworks...I am rather leery of them being set off this year for the holiday because I can only imagine the entire state going up in smoke if that were the case.

In any case.

This fire happened by the park near my home.

Like a ten or so minute walk from my place. Probably a two minute drive.

No idea what caused it. But it burned up a good portion of....idk "no mans land' that was near the park. Just like an empty field with tall trees area that wasn't park but isn't quite 'wilderness' since there are houses and businesses and such all around.

Thankfully the fire crews were able to get the flames under control and gone in about an hour. So it wasn't a huge fire. Didn't lose any homes or anything like that...though I think there were some 'junk' things that were damaged? As well as a few trees and all the grass.

I couldn't really get a good look as I drove by because off all the flashing lights from the emergency vehicles blocking the view.

But still.

I'm glad that they got the fire out quickly.

Hopefully that's the only fire that burns near my home this year.

But with the drought conditions....time will only tell.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Bark Bark Bark

 Dog Training classes are probably one of my least favorite aspects of the store.

I mean, most of the time it's fine. You barely realize that classes are being held.

But on occasion you get that 'one' class where there's a yappy dog that won't shut up and barks its head off the entire time. 

And like...in a big open store, with no walls to dilute the sound. A barking dog, specifically one that can bark at such a tone that it echoes throughout the store like crazy...is not fun to deal with.

Not for an hour straight. Which is how long the classes are.

Luckily...if there are yappy dogs...they don't always bark the entire time. Nor do they stay in the class for long if they keep barking throughout the entire class.

Because it's kinda hard to teach if the pet parents can't hear what the trainer is saying over the yapping of the dog.

Which like...I don't understand why a person would just let their dog bark the entire time. I would think they would try to silence their dog. Either by holding it's mouth shut, or taking the dog out to calm him down...something to get the dog to be quiet. 

*shakes head*

Today....it was bad.

A class of 5 people with their dogs was held today. 

One dog was immediately transferred to a different class because it was a tiny dog and the other four dogs were larger and said tiny dog was trembling the entire time. So yah no....not a good way to train if the dog is constantly scared.

But the other 4 dogs?

Yah. There was one dog that kept barking and would set off all the other dogs to keep barking. 

And it was like nonstop barking too. 

Barely a minute of quiet before it would start up again.

*exhales*

And like...one more dog was transferred into a different training class because of an aggression issue towards the trainer and they figured one on one would work better.

Which leaves 3 dogs in this class.

Three dogs that liked to bark. 

And three owners who refuse to try and come to a different class. Who insist that they want to stay at this time and date. 

*shakes head*

Soooo it looks like for the next six weeks...I'm going to be subjected to an hour of barking....*exhales* Hopefully as classes go on the dogs will settle...but who knows for sure.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Back to Work

 Going back to work after feeling...off all weekend was...well...it was a thing.

Like I had the benefit of working a closing shift so like...I could spend every moment in the morning before my shift either in bed or in the shower trying to make myself feel better so that I could go to work.

But going to work when you don't feel quite...normal...and your paranoia levels are a bit higher because you don't feel 'normal' and you're worried that there's something really really wrong....yah it's a bit of a trip.

*shakes head*

Like work itself was fine.

But my limbs were still feeling that tinglyness that they've been feeling all weekend.

And I was hoping that going to work and walking around and doing things would help my muscles relax in a way to get the tingliness to stop.

And yah....that was mixed success.

Because work comes with its own stressors. Because customers can just be...well stressful.

But at least I survived my first day back after getting the second dose...

Even though I'm so exhausted I probably could fall asleep right here and now.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

More Effects

 In many ways I'm feeling much better from the 2nd Dose.

LIke...I'm sore...but that could be from tense muscles related to cramp related tension.

But the major side effect I'm feeling today is like...tingling limbs.

Like I've had my muscles get so tense in my back that my arms start tingling until I can get them to relax.

It's really weird to feel that happen to my arms and my legs and even feel some tingling in my face as well.

Which doesn't help my paranoia levels at all as they tend to be slightly higher when I'm dealing with cramps too on top of all the vaccine painfilled fun. 

So yah.

Feeling a bit more tired as well...but it's mostly the tingly limbs today that are bugging me.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Effects

 In many retrospects...I've had worse migraines than some of these symptoms I'm experiencing.

At the same time. The side effects of the vaccine aren't as fun this time around compared to the first dose. But that's to be expected I suppose.

I'm grateful to have the weekend off to recover because I have no idea how I would be attempting to work at all if I had to go into work today.

And it's hard to know which symptoms are related to what....

As like...I'm currently experiencing

-Slight inflammation in my toe from a potential ingrown nail.
-Cramps
-and then the Vaccine side effects.

Regardless.

It wasn't a good night for me.

I spent most of it on the couch when I wasn't dying in the shower trying to get my muscles to relax as my muscles were tense.

The ache behind my eyes has persisted a bit.

I've been dealing with shivers...which probably means it's a fever of some sort that I got last night. Though considering I've had migraines bad enough to cause my body to tremble...I don't know if it was actually a fever.

I ended up throwing up a couple of times.

Which not fun. Never fun that. 

But mostly I've just spent the day sleeping off and on listening to various movies and shows that I've put on. 

Don't really have the energy to do much else. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Second Dose

I got my Second Dose of the Covid Vaccine today. 

Moderna.

And like...while I'm looking forward to being able to go maskless in a couple weeks once I'm considered to be 'fully vaccinated' I'm so not looking forward to any potential side effects from the second dose.

Currently experiencing super pain in the arm. Far more tender than the first dose for sure.

Also can feel an ache behind my eyes. Like that tired ache of a preheadache from being super tired and needing sleep but still being awake enough to stay awake.

*exhales*

We'll see how this is gonna go. But so far the signs don't point to me having a good time for the next couple of days.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Best Soda

 So Monday I made this amazing discovery.

Walmart is carrying my Favorite Mountain Dew!

Baja Blast.

-Okay White Out is my other favorite. 

But BAJA BLAST!

Like the soda you can only ever find at taco bell.

And here it is. Being sold at Walmart!!!

So of course I ended up picking up like 4 cases of the stuff.

And felt like a hoarder doing so lol. Though honestly, like only one of those cases ended up being for me.

As two went to my sister and one went to work to share with my fellow managers...and then the last one was to stay home for my and my roomies personal enjoyment. 

And my managers were super excited to see that Baja Blast was in the store. As was one of my cousins.

Only...when my manager tried to get some of the soda on Tuesday...they had already sold out. :( And who knew when more baja blast would be restocked.

So today, on a whim, because I was off earlier as I wasn't working a closing shift.

I decided to drop by walmart for the second time this week. Just to see if they'd restocked the soda.

And they had!

lol So this time I ended up grabbing six cases of the drink.

Which yes. Made me feel like even more of a hoarder.

Though one case was going to a manager, another cases was going to a different manager, and two cases were going to one of my cousins who requested that I get them some and I decided on a whim to actually fulfill their request as I would be heading up in their direction next week so I could drop it off to them.

And like...I probably could have gotten away with feeling less like a hoarder trucking around the store with six cases of soda....

If it weren't for the fact that I happened to grab the nosiest cart ever.

Like I'm pretty sure the entire store could hear me rattling around the building as I went all the way to the back of the store to grab the soda and then come all the way back to the front.

*exhales* Note to self. Next time I grab a ton of the same product...grab a quieter cart so I'm less noticeable.

Ah well.

At least I got my Baja Blast. XD lol. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where's The Order?

 So with the pandemic we started doing curbside pickups right?

Where customers can order product online, we pick their order, and then they come to the store and call us to say they're waiting outside and then we bring their order out to them right?

Right.

And like...the curbside thing isn't without it's glitches.

Though most of them are customer errors.

Like people showing up before the order has even showed up in our system or been picked.

Or like...them showing up to the wrong store. As we've had people accidentally order from our sister store and come to us...but we've also had multiple instances of people from our competition coming to our store for their orders not realizing that they're at the wrong pet store...as our names are rather similar to each other. 

But today's situation was...rather unique when it came to curbside pick ups.

Like. 

I had a customer call saying they were here for their order.

And so I asked their name and they gave it and I checked the Ipad....to not see their name there. 

Which that's not a good sign if the name isn't there.

So I double checked with them. "When did you place the order?"

"3 hours ago."

Which okay. That should be within the time frame of it showing up in our system so we should have picked it if it came in.

But their name wasn't there.

"and your'e at the right location?"

"Yes."

"It's not under a different name?"

"No. This name should be the name."

At this point I should have asked what the order was and seen if it was in our curbside area as that probably would have been faster.

But I didn't think that way. *shakes head*

No, I was like "Okay, let me have your order number and I'll see if I can look it up in our computer and see what's going on."

So the customer gives me their order number.

I look it up.

And the order number that pulls up....shows that the order has already been picked up...waaaay back on the 31st of May.

It's the 9th of June. 

But the customer insists that no, they ordered their order today. That this is the number they were given today for their order number. 

But like...the computer is only pulling up the one order for May. 

*shakes head*

After a bit of 'ring around the rosie' in conversation I finally was like "Okay, I see on the 31st order it was frozen food, is this current order frozen food as well?" 

To which they said yes.

So I went and checked the freezer and low and behold....the order is there waiting.

*shakes head*

I don't know if it accidentally got pushed through early or what.

But it's so weird that this order was waiting in the fridge for the customer to pick up....but there was no sign whatsoever on the ipad or in the computer system of said order having been placed or picked for today. 

So weird.

Haven't had that before.

But at least the customer got their stuff.

So there's that.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Transfer Over

 The fun thing about working retail is you get first hand witnesses to how...well...clever customers try to be when it comes to buying things. 

Like today.

I had a customer call the store...I think they were local? But they told me that they'd been trying to buy a certain dog crate from one of our sister stores all the way over in Maryland...which is like...all the way across the country from my store. Thousands upon Thousands of miles away.

And unfortunately for them, the location in Maryland they were trying to purchase said crate from...wouldn't let them buy a crate online from that store to pick up there.

They were out of stock.

So the customer, who I'm guessing lives near us, called our store wanting to know if it would be possible for them to come into the store and buy the crate in our store...and then transfer the transaction over to the Maryland location so that the person in that state they were buying the crate for would be able to pick up the crate there. 

...

....

...

Like...it's clever, I admit. To think that that might work.

But unfortunately for the customer, we can't exactly transfer purchases from one store to another.

Like...I know a bit ago...though it's been two or three years since...we could transfer product from one of our sister stores in state from our store to their store.

But that entailed either them driving the product physically to our store, or us going to their store and picking up said product and bringing it back down to our location.

And there was no way that anyone would be willing to make a week long drive to and from our store to the Maryland location to transfer the crate there. *shakes head*

And like...we can't transfer a purchase in our store to another store. It doesn't work like that. If you buy the product in our store it shows that it's purchased in our store and said product in our store becomes one less in our inventory.

But if Maryland has no crates....buying the crate here in my state isn't going to magically make the crate appear over in maryland if we 'transfer' the purchase over there.

Honestly it would probably be cheaper and faster to just buy the crate here and ship it to the person in Maryland.

Or else wait for whenever the replenishment trucks show up to the store in Maryland and hope that you can get the crate ordered before people in said store buy them all up. 

But yah...weird times. *shakes head* Clever of the customer to try that way...but it doesn't work like that.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

An Eye Appointment

 You know...when it comes to the Eye Doctor...I can't recall ever having to wait longer than like...maybe a month to get in to see mine for an eye appointment.

Like. Often times I feel like they could see me within the week or two. 

And yet...apparently the pandemic has changed things in that regards too...

Like....last time I went to the eye doctor was like...right around the beginning of the pandemic. So February or Marchish of last year?

And I haven't needed to go back since then because I ordered a year's supply of contacts...and I had had a six month supply on top of that.

So it wasn't that big of a deal that I didn't go back to the eye doctor at the beginning of this year for a check up.

Because I still had plenty of contacts. So I wasn't worried.

Plus I've been leery about going...well anywhere besides work, family, and the grocery store.

So while I've known I'd need to go back to the Eye Doctor at some point.

It wasn't a priority.

And it was hard to plan a visit anyways...with how inconsistent my schedule has been in regards to my days off. I couldn't call and be like "Oh yah I always have 'x' day off so just schedule me the first available 'x' day." 

Nope. 

Still. I was confident in my ability to get into the Eye Doctor sooner rather than later.

And this time, I had enough advance notice of what next week's schedule was going to be like that I finally mad the call to the Eye Doctor.

Plus like... I'm down to my last pair of contacts. So I need to go visit.

As the Eye Doctor usually likes to see his patients before approving ordering more contacts.

You know. To make sure that my vision has stayed consistent for the year and didn't need any tweaking.

So I knew I would have to schedule an appointment in order to get more contacts.

However.

When I called and asked if there were any openings for next week.

The receptionist informed me that they were booked out until September.

September!

Like Three months out.

I can't remember that ever occuring with the eye doctor. *shakes head* A normal doctor sure. A dentist? Definitely. 

But The Eye Doctor?

Not being able to see me until September? :S

That's....not good. 

Not good when I'm down to my last pair of contacts and need to order more.

So I was like "Hey...here's the situation, I need more contacts like...now. My vision has stayed stable all  year, I haven't noticed any major changes, can I please just order more this time without having to see him?"

Of course the receiptionst was like "Hmm...I'll have to go ask him and see what he says, I'll give you a call back."

I figured he'd say yes. Cus like...I can't exactly wait an extra three months to get more contacts. 

And I have no idea what my schedule will be like...so I can't exactly schedule an appointment that far in advance...I mean I could but that would mean requesting having that specific day off.

In an case.

It was a slightly stressful couple of hours spent at work waiting to get a call back.

It was a relief to finally get that call and get the confirmation that they could go ahead and order me new contacts and such. 

So yay! Bullet dodged. lol. 

Now I just need to figure out when I'll be heading up that direction so I can go pick them up when they come in. 

Of course...now the question is...when will I actually go in to see the Eye Doctor? 

Probably not anytime soon if the waiting list is already that far out. I'm guessing it's because of everything opening back up again. People are going out and doing the things they've been neglecting. 

Yah...gonna be interesting getting back to 'normal' and how long it takes to actually be more 'normal' again.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fledgling

 I found a little baby bird today. A fledgling.

It happened while I was taking out a curbside order for a customer who was waiting outside in their car.

And as I was crossing over the slight island dividing the curbside parking from the thoroughfare in front of the store.

I saw the little bird fluttering in the 'gutter' or at least the area next to the curb of the island since there's not really a gutter in that particular spot.

After giving the customer their order, I returned to the bird and confirmed that my first impression was correct. It was a baby bird and not just like a small finch.

I think the bird was a finch...but yah. It was a fledgling as it could flit about a bit and fly a little and perch. 

My first thought was to try and find the nest the bird may have come from.

But I couldn't see any, and after briefly taking the baby bird inside and googling things...they said that if it was a fledgling that you could just place the bird on a branch or something out of reach of dogs/cats animals on the ground and it should be fine.

Problem is...most of our trees are like...by roads or in the middle of our parking lot....

Still. I moved the bird to a quieter spot than the crazy area I found it in.

And placed the bird on a branch...it took like three tries because the bird kept flying back to the ground and landing in the grass...and like with how many dogs we have wandering around....not a good idea to leave the bird on the ground.

So yah. I returned the bird to a branch and made sure it was steadily placed before heading back inside. 

Hopefully the little bird does well.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

To the Rescue

 I went on a mini adventure today. 

Dashing off to the aid of my coworker who ended up stranded this morning because their car wouldn't start. 

They called like fifteen minutes before the store opened. Saying that their car wouldn't start.

Which was bad...because we already had two other people call out today.

But as they lived nearby....we figured it would be easier to go pick up said coworker so that they could make it into work.

I ended up being the one to volunteer to go grab them. 

So yah, ten minutes before we opened I went dashing off into the sunrise to my coworker's aid.

Lol we ended up being ten minutes late to work.

But being slightly late is waaaay better than having to call out for the day just because your car wasn't working. 

So yah. ^^;;

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Token of Appreciation

 So I ordered pizza tonight.

Mostly as a reward to myself for having to deal with a migraine and working closing shifts the past couple of days. 

Figured spoiling myself on my day off was in order lol.

And just like last time I ordered pizza, I left some treats outside with a note for the delivery person to take some as a gesture of appreciation. 

Though this time I was careful to just leave a single soda and like a goodie bag of treats along with the note.

That way the driver wouldn't take the entire tray again. ^^;;

And like....I've left the same note over and over.

To the point where it's gotten a bit...ragged. Water warped and such. 

So I didn't think anyone would take it. Most people end up leaving the piece of paper. 

But tonight's delivery person....ended up taking the note along with the treats and drink I left out.

*shakes head*

Lol not sure why they chose to do that. But if they want the physical note of gratitude...who am I to deny them? 

Hopefully they appreciated the treats. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Trying to Relax

 I woke up with a migraine this morning.

Which considering I woke up with a migraine yesterday as well....wasn't a good thing.

But compared to yesterday where I had a morning shift....today I had an evening shift.

Which meant that I could take the time to try and make the migraine go away before I went into work..

Since last night's migraine went away with a long hot bath, I ended up popping a couple of excedrin and taking another long bath to try and get my muscles to relax enough to make the migraine go away.

But.

This time, as a precaution. I also sent a text out to my fellow managers. Asking if it would be okay if I delayed coming into work by like a couple of hours.

Because if today's migraine was anything like yesterday's migraine...then going to work with it was only going to make me super miserable once more. 

And I was hoping that if I took the time to do all the things and make my body relax before work...that I wouldn't have to worry about the migraine.

Which ended up being a good call.

I ended up going into work like an hourish late. Which is earlier than what I was expecting.

But at least I had the migraine gone so it didn't bug me at all tonight at work.

Which was great. As working a closing shift on a migraine sucks. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi