Too Many Kitties

 So yesterday, while I was off, we had a customer come into the store wanting to adopt 4 or 5 of our cats/kittens at once.

Why? Because they had a large room in their basement that they wanted to turn into a 'cat' room and have a bunch of cats.

My manager on duty wasn't sure if they could adopt 5 cats out to the same customer and so contacted me to ask if that was okay.

I'd never experienced that situation either. I think at most I've had a customer adopt like 3 cats at once?

Most of the time people just want one or two. 

And I was slightly concerned about the potential for a hoarding situation...as like...cats can become more work the more of them you get. And if these people had never had cats before...going all in with 5 would be a bit of doozy.

So I told my other manager to limit the customer to just 2 cats for now while I contacted the adoption group to check in with them to see if more cats could be adopted at once or not.

As I figured the new pet parents could start with 2 cats and if they thought they could handle more than in a couple of weeks they could come get a couple more. As I do know people who have a bunch of cats. But not ones who've gotten them all at once.

In any case the adoption group eventually gave the okay for that many cats to be adopted at once so long as the customer seemed....well responsible. That there were no red flags or anything.

By that point the customer had placed 2 cats on hold to be grabbed tomorrow (today) and had left the store.

Today...

The customer came back in....I interacted with them briefly at the register but hadn't realized they were 'that' customer from yesterday.

But they came in and my Head Manager interacted with them.

And the customer was like "I think I'm only going to get one cat." 

Why?

Because apparently they had gone home yesterday and informed their spouse of their plan to adopt 2 cats. (Unknown if they said 2 cats or if they told the spouse the original plan to get 4 or 5 cats) and the spouse freaked out.

Like. Seriously Freaked Out.

Freaked Out so much that said spouse stormed out of their home last night...and hasn't been seen or heard from since.

And it was like...lunch time when the customer came back in with their kids to try and get the one cat. 

My head manager was like :S :S :S

Because seriously....are you actually planning to adopt a cat even after your spouse has vanished and you haven't been able to reach them? You really want to bring in an animal that your spouse doesn't actively want into the home when you haven't finished talking it over with them?

My Head Manager managed to convince the customer that they should finish talking it over with their spouse first before getting a kitty....so they ended up leaving without one.

But still.

Like....I don't understand the people who just like....do that. Where they go "Oh my spouse is gonna hate me if I get this animal but I really want it so I'm getting it anyways."

Like where's the respect for your spouse? Where's the compromise? Where's the working things out?

Especially with this customer.

Like your spouse left the house after you told them you wanted to get 2 cats and  yet you still think it's a good idea to try and get one? *shakes head*

I'll never understand people.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Dumb Callers

 I had to deal with the most...disturbing/uncomfortable phone call tonight.

Like one. It was semi-busy. So I'm running around trying to make sure everything is getting done and that no one is needing help.

And this girl calls.

And I give the standard spiel of "Thanks for calling Starsmet, my name is Sarnic, how can I help you and your pet today?" 

And the person was like "Oh hi! I have--wait you say your name is Sarnic? That's such a pretty name, I'd totally hit that."

....It took me a moment to process that.

And she was like "Oh, don't mind me I'm just horny right now, but please don't hang up on me, anyways I have a a question about my dog."

....At this point I can't quite tell if it's a prank call but the girl does sound rather high off her rocker. Like who in their right mind prank calls a store right before close? No one. Not unless they're drunk or on drugs. And I can hear a different girl laughing in the background too so it makes me think it's more of a prank though I'm trying to stay serious.

But she's like "So I have this dog that's really old, and I can't afford a vet or anything, but I want to give him a treat...a good thing...but he's not doing well and well...should I just shoot him?"

So yah. Totally a prank call because what dummy asks if shooting their dog is a good idea?

In any case. I'm like "That's not a good idea" because a) no dog deserves to be shot b) firing off guns within the city is illegal cus it could hurt someone and c) stop being an idiot. 

And the person on the phone is just playing dumb. And I'm like "I can give your number to the police if needed so they can go make sure that everything is okay."

and she and her friend just start screaming in my ear and the girl was like "Well I just shot my dog."

*rolls eyes*

Ah huh. I didn't hear any gunshots. And I ended up ending the conversation soon after that basically being "Unless you have a question involving the store that I can help you with I need to end the call now." 

But it just left a...bad taste in my mouth. 

Having to deal with that sort of situation.

I don't like people who prank call us. Especially if they try to make us believe they're being cruel to animals in the process.

But yah. Not something I want to have to deal with again.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spinning Lock

 So I had the same lock on my locker at work for like....a good 6 years before it ended up breaking enough that I couldn't use it anymore. 

And so I ended up buying like...the same lock with the same color at the store to replace it sometime during the pandemic.

Like...I don't think I've had the new lock on my locker for more than like...6 months yet. (though time has seriously lost its meaning at work) 

And it's rather common for me to drop my lock onto the ground -by accident. Because I knock it off when grabbing my stuff and such.

And today...I did just that. Had my lock hanging off the side, grabbed something and the lock plummeted to the ground. 

Didn't think anything of it.

Until it was time for me to go home.

And I go to my lock and try and open my locker.

Only to have the dial on the lock....keep spinning.

Like you could feel there was no resistance whatsoever within the mechanism indicating that the combination was being unlocked.

It just kept...spinning and spinning...and not opening. *exhales*

Like luckily...it wasn't a bad thing to have my locker remain well...,locked.

Because I had my phone on me and my phone is a wallet phone so I had my license and such with me so I could drive and buy things. 

Plus I've gotten in the habit of carrying a spar car key in my work pants just to make it easier for me to dart out the door and to the vet without having to grab my actual set of keys from my locker. 

So I had the ability to drive home and such. 

I mean...my purse was in my locker...but said purse didn't have anything "I need right now." in it. 

So I was like "Foo. I'll have someone get some bolt cutters and get my stuff on a different day."

So I sent my managers a general text asking for bolt cutters....

And second in command was quick to be like "Hey! I have those be right there!" 

So I just hung out for another 15 minutes until he could come in and open my locker for me.

So yay access to my purse! lol. But boo because broken lock.

Which meant another stop at the store which meant another new lock for my locker.

I chose a different color one this time. Same style. Just different color. 

Hopefully it lasts longer than this last lock did. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Rearranging

 You could say that I'm a creature of habit.

Where I like things to go a certain way and if they don't go a certain way and I'm not expecting a change...it can stress me out. 

So like...usually if I set things up a certain way...I'm not likely to change them if they end up working well.

And because I like having things 'stay the same'

....It kinda confuses me when I interact with people who are constantly changing.

I don't quite understand their need to constantly reorganize and move things around.

And I've had two roommates like that now.

Who love to reorganize and keep switching things up in their bedrooms.

One of my current roomies does this.

Where it seems like every three or four months she grows tired of how her room is set up and so spends a day reorganizing and shifting things around. The bed, the bookcases, the desk, the other random furniture. 

She moves them around. Trying to get them into the next 'sweet spot.'

And like...I guess it makes sense that changing up your room can change the feel and make you more energized and such. Make it feel like you're in a 'new place' and so you can accomplish new things and such.

In a way I can get it. Sometimes it's nice to have things move around and be in a different placement.

At the same time....I have waaaaaayyyy too many knickknacks in my room. Little rocks and statues and other odds and ends that I've collected....that trying to put everything in a new configuration would be like playing the long game of tetris. 

And I don't always have the energy to have to think that hard lol. 

So overall my room has stayed pretty much the same since I've moved in.

Little things have changed. Like updating my bedding, switching around some artwork. Moving a few rocks around. But overall...not much has changed.

Though with me writing this entire post...I am wondering if I should take the time to you know...reorganize. Move all my knickknacks into different spots. Change up the energy in my room a bit....

At the same time....*exhales* It would be a lot of work....that I'm not quite willing to do just yet.

Especially after watching my roomie spend most of today rearranging her room lol.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Achy Achy

 Okay.

I admit. 

I haven't really been eating the best the past few days.

Like...the heat just drains all the energy from me...including the energy to eat. 

I haven't really felt hungry. And so haven't really eaten much beyond like...slices of bread and crackers because I don't have the energy to do much more than that.

And maybe...maybe my body doesn't like that much.

Maybe it's demanding more nutrients and energy.

As for the past few days....my legs have been aching.

Like my left leg has been aching off and on for a good two or three weeks...maybe a month now.

Which I first attributed to the irritation/infection in my big toe from toenail issues that I finally got medication for.

But like...the pain has persisted.

And today both my legs were aching.

Kinda that sore ache where there's just too much....I think it's lactic? Lactic acid build up in the muscles. Where you've walked too much and moved your muscles too much and they demand relaxation.

Or maybe my body just doesn't have enough of the right nutrients that it needs and is taking them from the muscles in my legs.

Like it's not really pain I've felt much....but yet I think I remember a similar situation happening when I was a kid, back when I was refusing to eat food--I don't know why I wasn't eating back then, but I do remember I ended up having to go to the hospital/doctor? I remember the drive and sitting in the waiting room at least and then coming back home....

But the pain seems similar to that. Not quite growing pains...but similar.

And the paranoid part of me is like "Oh no! It's blood clots! They're going to get loose and kill me!" Cus you know that's been a worry in the back of my mind since I got the second dose of the vaccine. 

The other part of me is wondering if this is just this month's 'weird symptom' that's been occurring pretty regularly this past year where some part of me 'feels wrong/in pain' right before the cramps hit. And then everything is fine afterwards. 

Or maybe it's just stress. Maybe my muscles can't relax enough and are complaining.

Maybe I just need to get new shoes. Ones with better padding....

In any case.

It was getting worrisome today at work to feel my legs aching as usually working helps the pain to go away. 

So I was like "Okay, maybe I just need to eat more than I've been eating." 

So when I got home from work today I ordered myself a pizza. (got one for my roomies as well) and some breadstick bites. And a salad.

Because I probably need to have something 'green' in my diet.

In any case.

My legs still hurt.

Probably didn't help that I tried to massage out the pain. 

Probably doesn't help that the cramps also hit tonight.

So like....my lower half is just in pain in general.

But hopefully eating some 'real food' today will help. And thankfully I have leftovers for tomorrow. So hopefully I can increase a bit more of what I'm eating so that I can get more nutrients in my body and hopefully get my legs to stop aching.

Guess we'll see.

*fingers crossed*

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

One of Those Thursdays

 It's always a Thursday.

Like. If something is going to happen at work. It will happen on a Thursday.

Like most of the time it's just the fact that we end up getting in a ton of customers first thing in the morning. 

But today we had one of our Groomers call out sick. Which meant that me and my other manager had to scramble to a) cancel the groomer's dogs of the day and b) see if anyone could come in to help out in the salon.

As policy is that there needs to be two people in the salon at all times. You know to have a second pair of eyes/hands if needed. 

And with the groomer calling out...it meant that we had a gap where there would only be one person in the salon. So we needed to see if we could call someone else in to help cover.

Problem is...we're sooo short staffed in the salon. We've been losing a lot of groomers and haven't been able to train our bathers in grooming fast enough to replace them.

So like...we're super short staffed most days. And the groomers are booked out like a good two months now because we have so little availability because we've had to go to shorter hours because we don't have enough people to cover our full hours. *exhales*

So yah that was fun stress first thing this morning. My other manager ended up calling the customers who had dogs today that now need to be rescheduled. While I reached out to whoever I could to see if they could come in to help cover a portion of grooming....

I was unsuccessful so the individual who was supposed to be staying later ended up calling in their dogs early -and succeeding- so that they could get their dogs done faster.

And it was like....just as we were getting the stress of grooming figured out...

that our favorite troublesome grooming customer who's been a thorn in our sides decided to call to inform us that she'd managed to find a place to take her dog to get groomed she just needed to know how we were going to pay for it. 

And so I took down the name of the place and their number from the customer so I could call -after confirming with our head manager- them to see if they would do payments over the phone or if we'd need to bring our store card over to pay for this customer's dog to get groomed.

ONLY 

This place REFUSED to answer the phone.

Like no matter what option I pressed the stupid robo voice on the other side was like "Visit our website. Visit our website. Visit our website."

Like dude no, I don't want to visit your website I just need to talk to a person real quick and see if you take payments over the phone. XP 

Ugh. 

So I ended up calling the customer back and being like "Well I tried to reach the people but they wouldn't answer their phones so just let them know we'll pay over the phone and if they don't accept that we'll run over with our card and pay for you."

Like.

Hopefully tomorrow will mean the end to this never ending saga.

But I fear that the groomers are going to take one look at this customer's old blind matted dog and go "No we can't do this." and we'll have to go run around in circles once again. 

*fingers crossed* that it all goes well and we get it all paid for and get this troublesome ordeal finally overwith.

But we'll see.

In any case.

Yah, not a good way to spend the first two hours of my shift.

*shakes head* I'm surprised I didn't end up with a headache because of the stress.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Chilling

 I probably could have done a bunch of things today.

I mean. It's my day off.

I could have done shopping. Gone and grabbed new shoes. or some more grocery food or something.

But like. I just spent the 4th of July weekend 'doing things' 

And with all the driving I did....I had very little desire to leave the house.

So I took a 'vacation from my vacation' today and just relaxed at home. Spend it reading. It was nice. A good way to just...well...chill. lol.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Back At It

 It's always an interesting experiencing coming back to work after going on vacation because like...inevitably something has gone wrong or I need to fix something etc.

But surprisingly...today wasn't too bad. I mean. I did work a closing shift. So that wasn't fun. And like...we had customers in the store after we closed because they were stubborn and wanted to get fish at the last minute. *exhales* 

But despite the stress of trying to get us out of the store with all our closing tasks completed a decent time....

It was a rather mellow return to work.

Made slightly better when I discovered that I have tomorrow off. ^^;; Heh. For some reason I was thinking it was Friday. But nope. Wednesday is a day off for me to just chill. So woot!

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Boom Boom Bang!

It's no secret that I love fireworks.

It has to be one of my favorite aspects of having my Birthday the day after the 4th of July because that means I get to enjoy all the colored explosions in the sky!

It was a bit of a bittersweet moment though this year with fireworks.

Because my state is under extreme drought conditions currently. And there's been all this "Don't set off fireworks!" talk all over the place.

But like.

I wanted to do fireworks for my bithrday.

As I had to miss my favorite golf course fireworks above my Dad's house for the second year in a row because a) last year was the pandemic and everything was cancelled and b) this year they held the fireworks on the same day as the family reunion I was attending and there was no way I would be driving up and down from the reunion on the same day to try and see said fireworks because I did the up and down day trip last year and that was NOT fun. Major migraine. So No.

So instead. I asked that we continue the tradition we started last year of going over to my Sister's House and having KFC (as we always have KFC with the golf course fireworks) and then head down to the Marina to set off the fireworks over the lake as Sister Dearest lives a hop skip and a jump away from the lake. 

It helped my nerves a bit about setting off fireworks because I'd seen so many people setting them off across the valley last night.

And could see other people setting them off again tonight. 

So it was less of a worry that we'd get people coming over to glare at us for 'putting them in danger' if something went wrong.

Like. Hard for things to go wrong when my Brother and Brother-In-Law took the fireworks out onto the big rock pier far away from the grassy land. 

Plus we checked the maps and our chosen shoot off spot was in the "Green" for being okay to light off fireworks.

Still.

Our display was a little smaller this year. Each of us only gathering like around 6-8 aerials to shoot off each. 

-those things are PRICEY.

lol and it was a bit...:S :S :S because for whatever reason the bugs were out in FORCE tonight. 

Thankfully My roomie Ash -who joined in with me and my siblings and their spouses- had the foresight to bring a little citranilla torch thingy that we could light to drive all the bugs away so us girls could enjoy the fireworks from the sky while the boys set them off on the rock pier. 

It was an amazing night and I really enjoyed seeing the fireworks. Spending time with my siblings.

It was great.

A great way to spend a birthday.

;) Plus we didn't light the mountain on fire so woot! XD lol. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Returning Home

 So before I drove up to my Mom's Family Reunion, I ended up having to drop by my Grandma Dirchi's home (Dad's Mom) to switch out cars.

Because there was no way I was taking my old car into a different state. It's a good little commuter car. The best city car there is. But it's rather gutless on the hills...and has it's...well...quirks.

In any case. I got permission from my Dad to borrow his nicer newer car to take up to the Family Reunion. -Yay for speed! And being able to accelerate on all those hills lol- 

But there was a slight complication in that he'd decided to leave that particular car with my Grandma (his Mom) while he was out of town as she had this nice empty garage for him to store the car in.

But that meant that I would need to drop by Grandma's twice. To a) pick up the car and drop off mine and then b) drop off the car and pick up mine. 

And while I was visiting with Grandma before heading North, she mentioned that she was going to hold a little CheeseCake and Ice Cream party on Sunday evening. 

Kinda an unofficial birthday party for me, but also an official family gathering as some of my cousins and Aunts/Uncles on my Dad's side would also be in attendance as one of my Uncles from out of state was also in town this weekend. Which I haven't seen this particular Uncle in a while. So it was good to visit with him lol.

But it meant that I couldn't stay up North for too long if I wanted to make it back down to Hometown in time to get cake and ice cream.

Still.

I made it down to Hometown just fine.

And got to see my siblings and extended family for a couple of hours and enjoy some nice cool ice cream (as I don't like cheesecake) before switching out the cars and finally making it back home.

It was fun.

I kinda miss all the family gatherings we used to do when I was a kid.

We got together much more often with my Dad's side when all of kids were younger and our cousins were younger.

But with growing up and getting married and such.....the family gatherings got less and less common.

So I don't see my cousins on either side of my family all that often. Like maybe once a year if I'm lucky.

So it was nice. Nice that I was able to see some of the extended family on both sides of my family this weekend. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Busy Day

So. For the first time I attended a Family Reunion by myself. 

Which is kinda weird to think about. Knowing that my parents, that my siblings couldn't go. That I would be the only one representing.

It actually wasn't as weird as I was thinking it would be.

Probably because I was with family, even if it was extended family. 

And I've always been a bit more social than my siblings. Probably thanks to all the years of customer service I've put in. But I also have just a fascination about finding out what people have been up to.

A craving for knowledge I suppose. Where I want to learn from others and have others learn from me.

Which yah, involves a lot of small talk. But it's nice to interact with cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in years. To find out what's going on and such

And like....I kinda wished I had more time with them.

As my Mom's side of the family...doesn't always end up being that talkative up front. Usually it's towards the end of the visit that they end up relaxing enough to open up and chat.

So I often feel like I didn't have enough time with them.

Especially today where I didn't interact with my cousins as much as I had last year. Because I needed to 'represent' my Mom/Dad in the family meeting that my Aunts/Uncles hold at the reunion every year. So I needed to participate in that instead.

Which that was interesting. Different. I halfway wished I could have been with my cousins instead lol.

But yah....

It was a busy day.

As last minute one of my Aunts had changed plans on us.

As we were planning to go see the Bar J. Wranglers yesterday. As it's their last year performing and I wanted to experience their chuck wagon dinner and mini country concert one more time. But my Aunt asked if it would be okay if we switched to seeing them today instead of yesterday.

Which I hadn't made any plans at all beyond wanting to go see the Bar J. So like...I was good with either Friday or Saturday and figured Saturday would be even better because that meant a little less driving for me on Friday since I'd already been on the road for a good 4ish hours driving up to the reunion. 

I hadn't thought much more about the switch in plans...until we arrived at the Bar J.

And discovered that my Aunt had gotten wind that President Dallin H. Oaks would be present for Saturday's concert and she'd managed to pull a few strings to have us sit right next to him. Apparently she'd known President Oak's first wife in school. So they spent a good amount of time chatting and such.

I did have a little bit of conversation with Him and his Wife. Sister Oaks loved my hair ^^;; lol and also seemed rather impressed that I was a manager at a pet store -she was totally in love with a large white dog that was also present with a different patron for the Bar J. - and she commiserated my loss of my mother. 

President Oaks was a good kind man. Lol he always had a smile on his face and didn't hesitate to smile and shake hands with the dozen or so people that ended up approaching him to say hi and talk to him for a few minutes.

Lol He ended up being surprised at how old I was. He'd thought I was only like 16 years old...and didn't believe that I'm nearly twice that age. XD lol. He'd been in conversation with my uncle and had thought my uncle was 20ish years younger than he actually was. Apparently my mom's side of the family has good genetics for looking young. XD lol. 

It was fun. I enjoyed seeing one of the Apostles being more...well...human. Laughing at the antics of the singers on the stage and chatting and such. 

It was great. A fun memory to hold onto. Especially because when he was leaving he leaned over and was like "Bye 16 year old." 

*shakes head* Guess I'm 16 agian. XD lol an Apostle has decreed it. 

In any case. It was a great concert....less great drive home though as I had the 'fun' time of driving an unfamiliar road in the dark for like an hour and a half to get back to my hotel.

By myself.

Joy. 

Overall it wasn't a bad trip. It's easy to not freak out when you can't see that you're driving along the cliffside of a raging river through a winding canyon lol. 

But...like 10 minutes out from my hotel....I ended up passing a police car. 

Didn't think much of it. I saw the car on the side of the road before I passed it and made sure that I was driving the speed limit as I passed and continued on my merry way.

Only to notice a little bit later? Like maybe 3 or 4 minutes?

That there were these flashing lights a good mile down the road behind me.

I didn't think much of it beyond "Okay, I'll be a good driver and pull over to the side and let the police person pass by."

Even though they were still a good distance behind me. I pulled over to the side so they could pass and get to wherever they needed to get to.

.....

So it was kinda a shock that the police officer pulled up right behind me. 

*exhales* 

Lucky me. I wasn't being pulled over for speeding. 

Nope.

I was being pulled over -which yay me for figuring out I was being pulled over?? *shakes head* Or I guess yay me for being good and pulling over before the officer had to chase me down- in any case. I was being pulled over because my 'Tail lights were out."

Which. Huh? 

Because I had had no idea they were out. I mean my headlights were working just fine. So I had assumed the taillights were the same.

-I'd borrowed my Dad's car for my little road trip. So I'm not as familiar with all the ins and outs and quirks of said car. I only know that it goes fast and that I don't have to worry about it giving out like my poor little 20 year old tracker might. lol. As my car hasn't traveled further than like...Moab in a good decade. 

In any case.

I had the fun task of trying to a) find my license as I'd just gotten it renewed and so I had to find the paper one I'd stuck in my wallet to which the officer was like "What is this?" and I was like "I just got my license renewed as my old one expires on Monday so I haven't got my new one yet."

and b) The car insurance.

Which I found the one in my wallet....from 2015...for my car. Not my dad's car. *face palm* Go figure. I hadn't actually realized until after this entire encounter that I wouldn't have the insurance information for my Dad's car on me. Though 'lucky' me he does keep said information in the car.

Where in the car though? No idea. I mean this was happening at like 11:30pm at night. I had no idea how to work the interior lights in my Dad's car so I was doing a lot of things by phone light or by the officer's flash light.

I did manage to find my car insurance for my car again in my wallet...for 2019 which begs the question of...where is my 2020 insurance card? Where is my 2021 insurance card for my car? *shakes head* Need to track that down once my Dad is back in town as it would be with him....

In any case.

Could never find the car insurance.

But I did find c) the Vehicle Registration in the glove box of my dad's car. So yay for having 2 of the 3 things. 

I ended up having to call Daddoo though to find it. Which yay for him getting a 1am phone call since he's in a different time zone currently. *shakes head*

But yah. Discovered that apparently the taillights for my Dad's car don't automatically turn on when it gets dark.

Which that...is a completely stupid quirk to have. 

No you have to turn this dial on the lights level to turn on the tail lights. But you can't keep that dial turned to 'auto' noooo the car doesn't want them 'always on' so if you turn off the car you have to 'turn off the lights' or the car will throw a fit.

So completely stupid.

In any case.

When the officer returned with my license I told her that I'd figured out the tail lights and they should be working now.

And she was like "Are your feet on the brakes at all?" 

"Nope!" I lifted my feet to prove it.

So she said "Okay, let me go look and see." And so she looked to make sure that the tail lights were working.

They were.

So she was like "Okay! You're good to go!"

So yay. I managed to avoid getting a ticket or a warning or anything. *sigh of relief* 

I think she may have been just looking out for me? Maybe? Make sure that my lights worked?

Or maybe the officer was just bored. In any case. I made it home to the hotel without any further issue.

So yay.

*shakes head*

Such an adventurous day I've had.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Solo Time

 So. 

I've done 'solo' vacations before.

In the sense that I've traveled via airplane by myself before. Flying out to go visit family or friends. 

But for those particular vacations, I haven't really had to worry about transportation -friends/family had cars to drive or places to stay -stay in the person's house. 

This weekend though. 

Is my first "Solo" Vacation. 

While I am traveling to see family. This is the first time I've booked a hotel on my own. It's the first time I've driven myself to a destination out of state by myself. 

So that's been a bit of an adventure.

Traveling all by myself to a place hours away. Traveling out of state. 

*shakes head*

It's weird. To be doing this alone. 

At the same time.

So far I've really enjoyed it.

The peace and quiet in the hotel room.

The ability to just be by myself. To socialize on my terms. To not have to always be 'on' because I'm constantly around family/friends, but to just be...out in the world. Having my own mini adventures within this bigger adventure.

So yah. Even though it's a short little jaunt across state lines.

It's been a fun freeing experience so far.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

CurbSide Payment

So there's this customer, I didn't realize that he's a repeat troublemaker with us until after another manager was like "!!! Oh that guy! He keeps trying to do that and we keep telling him no." 

But I take over a phone call from my coworker because they weren't sure how to help this customer with his problem.

His problem?

He'd apparently had his wife order the dog food that they needed for their dog.

But apparently she'd ordered the wrong food. 

She had ordered just regular Nutro food when they actually needed to order the Nutra Ultra brand. 

-Which he was upset that we had too many brands of food that sound similar to each other and that this mistake shouldn't have happened in the first place if we just carried less varieties of food.

Like dude. Why not check with your wife first and see what she ordered before allowing it to be purchased, or why not return the food right away when you realized the mistake and not a couple of days later.

In any case. 

The guy had the wrong food and wanted to get the correct food.

After establishing that this was an error on their part and not ours -as at first he made it sound like we'd given him the wrong order (which has happened with other customers before). I told him that we could always exchange out the food. He just needed to bring the bag back with the receipt and then grab the correct bag and we could exchange it all out at the register.

But the customer didn't want to do it like that. 

Not exactly.

He wanted to pull up to the curb, sit in his car -because he can't walk that well- and have us come get the bag of food out of his car, take his card/cash from him, go get the correct bag of food, exchange it all at there register and use his card/cash for it and then bring the new bag of food out to him.

Which ha.

He made it sound like we do this every time he comes in.

We don't. That is against policy. We can't take people's money/cards from them outside and pay for them. Just like we don't take payments over the phone. 

-probably a risk of fraud happening is my guess- 

No, if the customer wants to get product from us they either have to a) But it online and do curbside pick up or have a 3rd party entity deliver it to their house, or b) come into the store and buy it themselves. 

But doing all the work for the customer in the parking lot? Nope. No can do.

Of course the dude wasn't happy about that. Because again he can't 'walk that well' and he started name dropping all these other stores (Ace Hardware, Lowes, etc) that do let him just pull up to the curb and do everything from his car.

I was like "That's nice of them, but it's against our policy to do it here." 

Because dude I'm so not getting fired for breaking policy just to make life easier for you.

*shakes head*

But I did try to help him out within the parameters I could help him. 

Since the dude said that ordering online wasn't working for him -as he'd tried to order the right food but it "Wasn't working" 

I said that I could grab the food he needed and bring the bag up to the register. I could also have a chair waiting for him to sit on at the register and have an associate grab the food out of his car for him and we could do the exchange at register and then help him back into his car.

-The main thing was he'd just need to be present for his card/cash to be handled. But like we could do everything else.

And the dude was like "I can't walk that far!" 

Like dude....you can't walk from your car that will supposedly be parked right by the front doors, into the store and to the registers that are literally  just inside the store? It's like what? Maybe a distance of 20 feet? You can't walk 20 feet from car to register? How do you get from your house to your car if you can't walk that far? Because I'm sure there's a bit of a walk there involved as well. *shakes head*

But the dude wasn't willing to 'walk that far.' Wasn't willing to order it online for pick up. Wasn't willing to ask his kids/wife for help doing the exchange since he couldn't do it himself.

No it was a good 12 minute conversation of him just trying to convince me to do what he wanted to do. 

*shakes head*

Nope. Can't do. I held firm on my end. 

And I ended up grabbing the bag of food, plus some specific treats he wanted for his dog, and brought them up to the register. While he was going to see if one of his kids could bring in the wrong bag of food and exchange it out for the right bag of food. 

Thankfully. The daughter of the customer was much nicer about the entire thing when she came in. It was a quick easy exchange. No issues there.

But gah.

I did not like the customer over the phone. Didn't like wasting my breath or my time trying to talk to him. *shakes head* Especially after I discovered that he's constantly trying to pull this stunt on us with doing payments from his car. 

*exhales*

He even had the gall to say we weren't 'doing enough' for people with disabilities and that we need to be more accommodating to people with special needs and such.

Which just like....dude. How entitled are you? How oblivious are you?

Like before the pandemic. Curbside pick up wasn't even a thing. Even In Store Pickup was barely a thing if not a thing either.

No. Before the pandemic you would have to come into the store and do your shopping.

But now thanks to the pandemic. Customers can shop online, Can have us pick their orders, can either have it delivered to their homes, or can have us bring the order out to their car.

We're doing more now that helps people with disabilities than we were doing before the pandemic. 

*shakes head* 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi