Just Ask the Question

 I'm sure most places that deal with customers deal with it. 

I'm sure I've even been 'one of those' customers who's done it.

But it's still really super annoying when customers feel like they have to tell an entire story to you before they can ask their question. 

Like I get it. They probably want to make sure they're setting up the situation properly. Making sure that the worker has all the (un)neccessary details that will help the customer get the results they want in the end.

But boy....is it freaking annoying.

Especially when I'm busy and I have tasks to do. I would much rather just answer your two second question with my own two second answer rather than listen to you blather on for 15 minutes with prequel details before you even get to the question.

Like seriously. 

The main one that comes to mind is the simple question of "Can I return food to your store?" 

I don't even mind the slightly more detailed "My [type of pet] doesn't like the food I bought. Can I return it?"

It's a quick answer too. "Yes, so long as half of the food is still unused in the bag and you bought it within the last 60 days and have the receipt you can bring it back and either get your money back or exchange it for a different food." 

Okay. Slightly longer answer. But honesty it's a quick answer all things considered.

I mean, I can't speak for all my associates, but we are quite used to people returning food for a variety of reasons. They bought the wrong one, their pet doesn't like it, it made their pet sick, it's too smelly, it's actually expired. Etc.

Just prove you bought it within 60 days and have half of it still in the container and walla. You're golden.

There's really no need to go into a super long explaination before getting to your question.

Like a couple days ago I had a customer call in regards to a cat food she bought. Just the fact that she brought up she bought a 'different flavor' of her usual food tells me that she's probably wanting to ask if she can bring the food back to us or not.

But this customer had to tell me that she usually feeds her cat the chicken flavor of this brand but she recently switched her cat to the salmon and cod (maybe it was just cod idr at this point) but she was reading online that cod is high in ....I think it was magnesium? And that she's worried it's causing issues for her cat but the cat was fine on the chicken before so she just probably isn't good with the cod---"

Like lady "ARe you wanting to return the food? Yes? Then cool. If you bought it within 60 days just bring it back with the receipt. I need half of it still in the bag. Okay? Okay cool."

I don't need the ten minute prequel story.

I really don't.

If it takes over a minute to explain your situation to get to your question you are giving me the wrong details. 

Honestly, if you would just ask your question then if I need more detail I will ask you for that detail. I don't need all this filler conversation when the store is chaotic and I'm trying to get fourteen different tasks done before the end of my shift and help customers at the same time.

Today I had the same sort of situation.

A customer came into the store and demanded to talk to a manager.

Unlucky me, I was the one free at the moment so I go up to see what the customer wants.

Customer has a container of food on the register which automatically tells me she wants to return it. Though the food isn't in its package it's in some different container. Which we usually don't accept but we've also been directed by corporate to "make the customer happy" so as long as we can prove you bought it in the store, I'll do the return I don't care.

But does she ask me "Hey can I return this? My dog is getting sick from it."

No.

She goes into this whole entire story where she bought food from us back at the beginning of the month, and usually she buys the same brand of rx food but she switches between buying it from Chewy and from us. 

Which okay. Sooooo???

But she came home from work like 5 days after buying her most recent bag of food from us to find that the dog has bloody stool.

Okay. Not a good sign. Does point me towards the fact that yah you probably want to return the food because you think it's the cause of the bloody stool.

Does she ask me at that point though? No.

Instead she pulls out her phone and shows me pictures of blood on the grass and maybe the poop mixed with said blood.

I don't know honestly. I was doing my best to not look at said pictures because it's not like there is anything I can do with said pictuers and it has nothing to do with trying to return the food.

But she keeps flipping through her phone showing more images though I'm only seeing them from the corner of my eye because I'm just staring at the customer waiting for her to get to the point as she explain that she took her dog to an emergency vet. She took it TWICE. 

Customer legit pulls out the invoices for said emergency vet and waves them in my face.

Like. Yes. I see you have proof of the visits. 

Still has nothing to do with the question I know you're wanting to ask.

But the customer continues to tell me all about the vet visits and the tests and how the vets could find nothing wrong with the organs that deal with blood. But her dog is bleeding all over the place.

She uses her phone to show me yet more crime scene worthy photos of pools of blood on the ground. 

Like lady. Still nothing i can do about your dog. WHY are you telling me and showing me this? Yes. poor thing. Yes I can see that you're thinking the food is causing this reaction. I'm skeptical myself. But I'm not going to say that to you, especially when said food has been used before and for a while by you.

In any case at some point I find a slight opening in her rant about what's been happening in her life and how she's dropped $1,000 at the vet to try and figure out what's wrong.

To ask her. "So are you wanting me to return the food?"

To which yes, another explaination later. She does. "Do you have a receipt?"

No. She doesn't. And yet another pointless explaination later I get that she has records of her visits in our system.

Which great. I can look that up. I just need to verify that the food you purchased is the size of food I think it is and that the container of food that isn't in its proper bag is the proper size for the size of bag you bought.

Yes? Yes. Great. 

I can do the return.

But honestly.

It was a good 20 minute conversation I had with this lady. Well she mostly monologued at me. But yah 20 minutes when I could have had her in and out the door in under 5 minutes.

*exhales*

And then she also is like "I'm sure the food is what caused this issue with my dog. What are we (aka I) going to do about it?"

Like lady. There is NOTHING I can do. 

She felt that the food wasn't properly processed.

I for a fact know that dog food especially prescription dog food has to go through a pretty stringent process with lots of checking and detailing and quality tests before its sold to the store. 

It's not like I make the food in house and have a nice little packaging facility behind the store where we create everything.

If you have a problem with the brand you'll need to contact the manufacturer because I just sell the stuff. It comes to us already packaged. That's it. 

And as far as I'm aware no other customer has had issues with this food. Coroporate hasn't sent down a recall. Therefore the manufacturer is also not aware of any issues with their food else they would issue a recall to fix the problem and help prevent further animals from getting sick.

But still. If they think the food is to blame. They need to call the manufacturer.

Plus if you've been feeding the dog the same rx food for a while....either it's a bad batch of food that you ended up with or else there is something else going on with your dog.

Like I get a bunch of tests were run at the emergency vet. But there's probably some other underyling issue that isn't as visible to see.

*exhales*

In any case.

I got her her money back for the food.

But it sure felt like pulling teeth getting to that point.

Why can't customers just ask the question first? Because in most cases we don't need to know more than what the question is in order to give you the answer you need.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

I'm Gonna Burnout I Know It

 I can forsee myself getting burnt out and/or overwhelmed in the next month or two. 

And unfortunately...I'm not quite sure how to avoid it. *exhales*

You see, I've been helping my sister recently. Making time to try and come over once a week or once every other week to help out as I can. Whether that's helping with chores, or errands or dinner, or feeding the baby, or just being a venting presence...I'm there to help out my sister. 

Which she's really appreciated. And I figured it was a pretty sustainable thing to do.

But.

Daddoo is vanishing for the next little bit on a cruise. And he's asked me to watch his cat in the meantime. And I was thinking. "Oh sure, I can drop by a couple times to check in." thinking that my Brother, who lives much closer to my Dad's place, would be able to do the main care of the kitty while D&D are out to play. 

Only Daddoo mentioned that my brother is...well busy. Which makes sense. Because a) he's working b) he's in school c) he's having to do some home repair after a pipe leakage and d) he's also preparing to have a baby later this spring.

So yah, it makes sense that he'd be a bit 'busy' to also drop by my Dad's place to make sure the kitty is having enough food, water, attention, and a litter box cleaning.

But that also means that I have to figure out time to drive up there to spend time with the cat and make sure he's cared for.

Obvious solution would be to drive up on my days off. Which are spread far enough apart that I would be able to come up at least twice a week and a few days apart to check in on the cat.

Only it's like an hour drive to my dad's place. And like its through a stressful part of the city -though I don't mind it most of the time- and like....what am I suposed to do up there while keeping the cat company?

Like yes, I'll be by myself (with the cat) and that will give me much needed introverted time that I don't currently get at my place because both my roomies work from home and rarely leave the house long enough or at the same time to enjoy having a place to myself.

It's just.... I'm not sure the stress of driving up is worth the alone time. *exhales*

Add into that the realization of "Oh yah, sounds like my brother is stressed out, maybe I should help out there." 

And I just.... I don't know if I can manage to help my sister, my dad, and my brother out all at the same time without burning myself out.

Like I love to help my family. But I also need my own days where I'm just doing things I want to do.

And it's hard to do things I want to do if I can only help my family on my days off and my days off are only twice a week and if i'm using up both days off to help the family just when am I going to be able to have a day to myself??? 

I'm not.

It doesn't help that I recognize I may need to make the drive north more often for the next little bit to first watch the cat, but also because Daddoo will be getting surgery soon and will probably want some 'care' after that point, and then my brother will be having his baby and I want to try and be as supportive to him with his first child as I've been with my sister and her first child. 

And yah....

PLUS.

I have a work friend who's been struggling recently and I found out that they're moving, so to try and help them and be supportive of them I volunteered to help them with the moving process. Which is going to happen in the next few weeks as well....and since my days off are already being taken up by having to go up to see my Dad's cat for the next little bit....

It means that I'll be helping my friend after work. Which means I won't have much time after work to chill out and recharge. So I'll probably get even more burnt out.

And it just....

I'm trying to not feel overwhelmed.

But I'm already feeling overwhelmed.

Because I want to help out and support everyone.

But at which point can I just take a step back and relax??

*exhales* I definitely need to look into taking a vacation soonish because if I don't let something 'drop' it's not going to end pretty. And since it's a new year and I have plenty of vacation time I need to use up. I should be taking a longer vaca from work sometime soon anyways.

I'll just have to plan it to occur where I won't be as obligated to help everyone. So I can actually just chill for a week and fully recharge myself.

But we'll see.

We'll see. *exhales*

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Trust

 It's kinda an amazing feeling to realize how much trust someone has in you.

Like, today I dropped by my sister's place to help her out, as she needed to drop off a car at a mechanic but needed someone to take her back home. 

Which overall wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except my sister also had her baby with her.

And since it's been cold outside, it was decided that I would have the baby in my car and I would follow my sister in her car to the mechanic. 

And it's...it's just kinda amazing? To realize how much trust my sister has in me, to let me take responsiblity of her baby and watch her as we drove. 

As I think this is the first time that anyone besides her and her husband have had the baby without one of them present.

And sure, my sister was in the car ahead of me so she was 'nearby' 

but still. It's a pretty cool feeling to know that this much trust has been placed in me and that I've passed muster in being able to watch my nibling for just a little while.

Just.

It's awesome.

I love it.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Litter Box?

 I had to help a well meaning, but totally clueless customer today.

I first encountered them near an oops station. 

Said "Oops" station is a place where customers can find baggies, papertowels, and a cleaning spray along with a convienent trash can so that if their animal happens to make a mess in the store the customer can clean it up. 

.... not that every customer is responsible enough for their pet to do so. But we do provide them throughout the store to help keep the store cleaner as the puppy dogs wander around with their pet parents. 

In any case.

I encountered this older customer by an oops station where they asked me, pointing to the bottle of cleaner on the oops station, if they could "buy this." 

Which... I get that customers think that /everything/ in the store is for sale.

But like. I didn't understand why the customer thought that this single bottle of stain & odor cleaner was something for sale. It's obviously on an oops station....

I had to tell them that "No, it's not for sale because it's already been used. We use it in the store to clean up messes." 

I told them that our cleaners we sell are on Aisle 14 and considering that the customer thought the single bottle was for sale....ended up leading them over to the aisle to make sure they actually found what they were looking for...only for me to quickly change direction because I double checked as I was walking the customer to 14 to see if they were looking for a stain and odor remover/cleaner for dogs or cats.

And the customer said Cats.

Which is in a different section of the store.

And while I was guiding the customer to these cleaners they were telling me just why exactly they needed to buy said cleaner.

It's because they're watching a cat for their neighbor. As said neighbor is pregnant and expecting to have her baby soon. So the customer thought that they could help relieve the neighbor's stress by taking over the care of the cat until after the baby was born. 

Only, said cat has been peeing all over the customers house.

Peeing on their beds. Their clothes. The cat also had jumped onto one of the other members of the house's lap...and peed directly on them. 

Which....if a cat is peeing where they're not supposed to....odds are that there's an issue with the litter box. More than likely that it hasn't been cleaned recently. As cats tend to not like to go in an overly used litter box. 

Still. My main focus was to show the customer the cleaners. 

and while they're deciding on that, they also mention that the cat is an outdoor cat. But they brought the cat into the house because it's been so cold and snowy outside.

Which okay. If it's a cat used to being outdoors then yah there's going to be some problems with it coming inside if it's never been inside before. 

And honestly, I don't think the customer has the first clue about taking care of a cat because apparently the cat "jumps on the kitchen table and just looks at me." when the customer yells at it to get down. 

In any case.

I find the opportunity, after the customer decides on their cleaners and I show them a toy, to ask them about their litter box. In a "How often do you clean the litter box?" sort of fashion. Because if it's been a week or so then totally that's why the kitty is peeing everywhere.

The customer's response? 

"I don't have a litter box." 

*blink blink* ummm WHY?

"Because the cat is an outdoor cat. It won't know how to use the litter box."

Which I call BS because cats are pretty intuitive like that. Show them a box to go in filled with litter and they will use that litter box. 

So I'm like. Okay. It's an outdoor cat. So obviously if they don't have a litter box inside the house that means they need to be letting the cat outside to go to the bathroom. So they may just need to increase how often they're doing that. 

I'm also halfway wondering as I'm talking to the customer if this is a cat that's been toliet trained so it should be just using the toliet.

No dice there. Customer never mentions it. 

In any case I ask how often they're letting the cat outside.

The answer?

"Oh, it's too cold out there. With the snow on the ground the cat won't go outside." 

... 

....

.....

......

.......

"And you don't have a litter box inside?" I double check.

"No." 

*exhales*

WELL THERE IS YOUR FREAKING PROBLEM RIGHT THERE!

Like....if you don't have a litter box for the cat to use while it's inside and you're not letting the cat go outside to go to the bathroom there, just WHERE Dear Customer, do you EXPECT the cat to GO TO THE BATHROOM?!

Like no wonder the kitty is peeing on the bed and the clothes and on people. The cat is trying to draw attention to the fact that it HAS NO WHERE TO USE THE BATHROOM.

I ended up convincing the customer to buy a litter box and some litter.

Though trying to figure out a good place to put said litter box was next to impossible because the cat 'runs everywhere. It's all over." So I was like "Put it in the room it's in the most and it will figure it out on its own."

Just...it's been a while since I've dealt with a customer with this bad of a case of missing common sense.

But this customer had no common sense whatsoever.

I hope the poor kitty can go back to the neighbor sooner rather than later because I don't think the customer quite knew what they were getting into when they volunteered to take over the care of said kitty.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Vet Visit

 So. 

Part of working at a pet store is caring for injured/sick animals. 

Which means vet visits.

And unfortunately 'exotic' vets ones that will see lizards, birds, and rodents. Are a rare sort of vet to have in the area. 

To the point where we now only have one vet local when we had at one point maybe 3 vets who could see them?

Which is annoying when it's a 30 minute round trip drive to drop off animals to the vet. Especially when corporate is pushing us to take animals to the vet ASAP. Either they see a vet within 3 days or they need to go back to the floor is the ultimatium.

Which when we don't have an actual exotic vet in the store and limited hours and limited staff...makes finding the time to go the vet rather difficult. 

And me, being the main manager in charge of the animals. It's often my duty to take the animals to the vet. Which I try to schedule appointments so that I can take them. Though occasionally a different manager has to take them in for me.

However.

A recent call to the exotic vet revealed that for whatever reason, the clinic we take animals to only does drop offs from the petstores (both mine and the competitors) on Wednesdays. 

So like we're suddenly limited to once a week where we can take animals to the vet, though I do know that the exotic vet is in other days...apparently those other days they're in are dedicated to surgerys on the animals, not check ups and 'figure out what's wrongisms'

Okay. Fine. Whatever. It wouldn't be a problem really.

Except.

Wednesdays are my normal day off.

It's been that way since I've become a manager. Because I usually close the store Tuesdays and I requested my day off be the next day so I wouldn't have to worry about doing Clopenings (closing the store then opening it again the next morning) 

Of course there's been exceptions to that. Occasionally my day off shifts due to vacations and scheduling complications and such.

But overall. Wednesdays I have the day off. 

So therefore it's rare for me to be able to take the animals to the vet that day because I'm not there.

Which means that the responsiblity of taking animals to the vet falls to my other managers.

Specifically. The two stocking managers. 

Because with how the days off work...both stocking managers are in in the morning. But we don't get another manager in until closer to lunch.

And the Vet....prefers us to drop off the animals in the mornings. Aka usually around 8am though sometimes they let us drop off as late as 11. But for the most part it's usually the 8-9am window that they tell us to drop the animal off at.

Which is annoying on one hand because they usually don't end up looking at our pets until closer to 2 or 3 pm. So like...why have us drop the animals of 6 hours earlier if they're just going to sit there and do nothing??

In any case.

I brought up this concern, the fact that wednesdays are the designated 'drop off' days for the vet, to the senior stocking manager.

To which they said they were fine with doing the drop offs. But they didn't want to do it every time. They wanted the other stocking manager too to contribute to the dropping off of pets. Aka have them both take turns in taking the animals to the vet.

Like, seems like a fair thing to want. So I figured it would be no big deal to request that of the other stocking manager.

Ha.

So. This morning. I discover one of our mice isn't doing too hot. So I call the vet and set up an appointment to drop it off on Wednesday since I already knew that was the only day they would recommend. Send a group text to the two stocking managers letting them know the details.

And then I go talk to the other stocking manager about the change up. Telling them that the vet is only seeing animals from our store on Wednesdays. Which means they or the senior manager would need to take the animals to the vet because I don't work wednesdays. And that senior manager is fine with it but doesn't want to do it every time so the other stocking manager needs to plan to drive to the vet every now and then.

I then asked if they had any questions. 

To which they said no.

So I figured it was all fine and dandy.

Until Head Manager comes over the radio wanting to double check when the mouse needed to be dropped off by. 

And I said that the vet said by 10am. 

And other stocking manager comes over the radio and is like "Can't we bring in the mid manager earlier so they can take the animal to the vet? Or have the vet let us take it in later?"

Which convincing the vet to let us do a later drop off time is like pulling teeth. It doesn't always turn out well.

And like....there's already TWO managers in the store Wednesday morning. BOTH stocking managers. So ergo ONE of them should be fine to take the animal to the vet.

And like if we bring in the mid manager earlier that would mean they would have to LEAVE earlier and we're required to have a mid manager. 

Because if the drop off time is before 10am that would mean the mid manager would have to show up by 930 am in order to get the animal and drive over to the vet before the deadline. Which if they're in at 930 that means they would have to leave around 5ish a full TWO HOURS earlier than expected.

Which would then put the closers in a bind because we usually rely on the mid manager to help cover the cashier and petcare lunches so that with the closing manager also present even if petcare or cashier goes on lunch we still have three people in the store. 

And since our closing shifts come in around 3pm....it would be silly to make them take a lunch within an hour of arriving to try and get them done before the 5ish pm deadline of the mid manager leaving.

In any case.

This whole conversatino of "can the mid manager bring the animals to the vet instead" happened because the other stocking manager texted the Head Manager (which why not go talk to them in person why text when you're both in the store) to complain about what I'd told them, and was wanting to know when SARNIC would start WORKING WEDNESDAY shifts so that SHE could take HER animals to the vet. 

...

...

...

Like dude. They're not MY animals. Yes, I am over the department and I'm in charge of making sure the animals are taken to the vet but they're not MY animals. They're the STORE animals. And  YOU as a fellow MANAGER are also RESPONSIBLE for taking animals to the vet as needed.

ANd like DUDE. I work a CLOSING SHIFT Tuesday nights. We already went over WHY there can't be a manager in earlier than ELEVEN on Wednesdays. Because WE. Do. Not. HAve. THe. Hours. To have an extra manager in at 9. 

Which means if I was to be the one to come in Wednesdays to take the animals to the vet that would require me to work a CLOPENING as I would be the morning petcare instead. Which I CANNOT do because I don't get off work until 930pm at the earliest and the petcare shift starts at SEVEN THIRTY AM. That's only a 10 hour difference. And I think we're supposed to have like a good 12 hours between shifts. Like maybe 10 hours is the minimum. But yah. I'm not sure. I've done clopenings before. But they're not fun and if I had to constantly do one every Tues/Wed I think the entire store would experience the wrath of a grumpy Sarnic. 

My head manager bascially rolled their eyes at the other stocking manager's whining because it's a stupid thing to be complaining about. Especially because there are multiple factors outside of my control and it's not like I'm planning *knock on wood* to have to take animals to the vet every Wednesday. Hopefully it will only be a once a month sort of thing. But we'll see. 

It's just annoying.

Because head manager is like "Dude, you signed up to be a manager. That means taking on duties outside of your main duties on occasion. That's part of the job." 

As this particular other stocking manager is very....single minded. Likes to sit in their little isolation stocking box and not help out in other aspects of the store if they can help it.

They prefer to focus entirely on stocking relating tasks. Counting inventory, putting product out on the shelves, organizing the back, unloading the truck etc.

Trying to get them to help out with anything else in the store -answering the phone, picking curbside orders, taking out orders, helping in petcare when I'm busy, etc....is like pulling teeth.

They just want to do stocking tasks. That's it.

Which if that's all they wanted to do they should have just stayed as a regular stocker and not as a stocking manager. 

*shakes head*

So yah.

I'm irritated.

So irritated at this other manager right now.

Thankfully, senior stocking manager said that they'd be able to take the animal to the vet Wednesday so I don't have to worry about it actually happening.

But that does mean 'next' time I need an animal to see the vet I'll probably have to ask and see if they will let us drop the animal off closer to 1130 if the other stocking manager is going to continue to whine about taking the animals to the vet. 

*exhales* I don't like complications. Especially stupid pointless ones. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Beginnings

 I suppose the benefit to losing most of my fish to whatever ick/finrot plague that occured....

Is that it gives me a chance to...i don't know....do a reset on my tank?

Like. With most of the fish gone. Especially with practically all of my more aggressive fish kicking the bucket...

It allows me to change up my tank. To bring back some fish that I haven't been able to put in due to aggression levels. 

It allows me to try out some schools again.

It allows me to play with colors and communities again.

Like...it might be fun. To just rebuild up my tank again. Start fresh. Start with a new community.

Though that won't be for another couple of weeks still.

I still have a couple of fish showing visible illness signs. And still have a few more days of treatment to go.

But at least I think a this point, I might only lose one or two more fish.

So once the treatment period is done.

And I've given the remaining fish time to recover and settle....

I can start looking into buying new fish at work.

Which coincidentally we'll have new fish sales starting towards the beginning of february. Soooo maybe there will actually be a good fish sale this time that I can take advantage of....

We'll see. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

You Gotta Pay Attention

 So. 

We have this tag machine at work.

Where you buy a dog/cat tag at the register, take the tag over to the machine, and it will engrave the tag for you.

And in theory. It should be super easy to use.

Because like. There's a touch screen. And that screen also shows video demonstrations of what you need to do for each mechanical step of the process.

It shows you how to scan the barcode to start the process. Tells you where to find the code (on the receipt) to use the machine. Takes you step by step through the process saying what you want on the tag, and then finally it shows you how to place the tag in the machine in order for the machine to engrave your tag.

And yet.

Customers struggle like no other to work it.

Seriously. All you have to do is watch the screen and follow the directions.

But I suppose, considering how much of a fit customers threw throughout the pandemic about us wanting them to stay behind tape lines on the ground and how they 'can't see the fish' from two feet away and how often customers can't read labels on products and can't see the prices of merchandise....

I suppose it really isn't that surprising that customers can't work a machine that gives you step by step instructions.

Honestly. All of Happy Valley probably needs to go see an eye doctor because they're all blind.

In any case.

Most of the time, the customers who need help at the machine are usually grandparent aged....or else don't often speak English as their first language. So I can't really fault them for asking for assistance. It makes sense at that point to do so and I usually don't mind it.

But the weirdest thing about the customers who end up requesting help....are the ones who claim that the tag machine didn't work. That they 'stuck the tag in' but the machine didn't engrave the tag. 

*exhales*

You want to know why 9 times out of 10 the tag didn't get engraved?

It's because in the video on the screen it's clearly shown that customers need to place the tag on a little peg. Said tiny peg will hold the tag in place while the machine clamps down and pulls it into the engraving portion to engrave it. 

And yet. 99% of the time. if a customer claims that the tag machine didn't engrave their tag....

It's because they didn't place the tag on the peg.

Nope. They instead just lift up the lid and toss the tag inside....where it falls to the bottom....where the machine usually drops the tag AFTER it's engraved and the customer can reach in like one of those 25cent candy machines and grab the tag out.

BUT if you don't place the tag on the peg? The machine can't pull the tag into the engraving portion. Just dropping it basically skips the engraving step. You'd think it would be clear that that doesn't work. To just drop it in. But nope.

We get at least 2 customers a week who have this issue. 

And they always go "OH." When I show them the all important step of placing the tag on the peg. And then follow up with "I thought we just dropped it in." 

*shakes head*

Maybe next time watch the video and follow the instructions? It's not that complicated. 

Seriously.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

IDK

 I honestly don't really know what to talk about.

Like I have thoughts.

But they don't really seem to be important 'need to share with people' thoughts.

They're just kinda like "journal" thoughts of "well this and this and this" happened today.

But most of it isn't really notable...or is common enough that I probably talked about it before.

Plus it doesn't help that I've had a near constant headache for what two weeks now? It feels like two weeks. It probably isn't that long. But the ache behind my right eye is more than likely due to stress of some sort judging by the tension in my shoulder. But at the same time I have to wonder if it's other factors as well.

*exhales*

Just typical with headaches anyways. Since they're recurring and never seem to go away for long.

But yah....

Not much really going on today. Nothing much that feels like it needs to be shared out on the public blogger space...

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

It Takes and It Takes and It Takes

 I knew it was a risk adding new fish into my tank.

Especially 10 at once.

But like....it had been a week and overall the fish had been fine.

Until I saw the ick.

Still. I wasn't too worried. Just do a bit of treatment and hopefully most of the fish would recover. Maybe I'd lose one or two. But that's expected whenever new fish are added to an established tank.

*exhales*

.... It's spiraled a bit out of control now.

Which is just....depressing.

I've lost at least a third of my tank. If not up to half of my fish. 

And it's likely I'll lose a few more.

Because treating the ick....well I guess it triggered other illnesses to hit as well? As it looks like I have some fin rot going on. Maybe some body fungal things? 

All I know is that there's been a lot of cloudy eyes and a lot of dead fish.

A lot. A lot. of Dead Fish.

Which is.....disheartening really. 

I had 4 bala sharks.

Lost them all.

Had 7 or 8 black neon tetras.

Lost them all.

Had 8 angelfish.

I'm down to two.

Had the new tiger barb die.

Lost both of my plecos.

Lost 2 of my 3 silver dollars

I think I've lost both of my feeder goldfish at this point. I know at least one is dead since I fished out the body today. Not sure if the other is still present.

Lost 1 of my red wag platys. the 2nd one will probably follow.

Lost at least 2 of my glo tetras. Possibly more.

I think I added in 6 black skirt tetras....not sure how many remain but I know at least 3 are now experiencing major fin rot after their bout of ick. 

Now it's just kinda .... a wait and see game.

To see who makes it through this death spiral. 

I finished the ick treatment. But immediately started on a melafix treatement since I had that available to see if it would help with the fin rot a bit....we'll see.

At this point....I have no idea who will make it.

Most of the glofish seem alright. My blue glo shark seems to be fine. My 3 remaining raspboras are okay. The 2 zebra danios are surviving. My red panda barbs....are iffy. They're active and still alive the remaining 4 of them but I saw at least one if not two covered in ick....so we'll see if they'll survive.

*exhales*

It's unfortunate. 

I knew it was a risk adding in fish.

But man, I did not think it would end up being this devastating to my tank.

At this point...it's just a wait and see game.

See who survives.

Get my tank health back up to snuff....

And then start over.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Shopping?

 You know what's interesting about going grocery shopping?

The fact that each person has their unique ways of going grocery shopping.

And like....you never really consider what other people buy....until you have to go shopping for them.

So.

I've gone food shopping for my sister a couple of times now. Just as a way to help support her and her family as they get used to having new little one in the house. 

Which usually involves my sister sending me a list of things she needs from the store.

And me going out to get it.

lol which it usually devolves into a LOT of texting back and forth between her and I.

Because what she usually buys....is not things I usually buy.

Mostly because we have different tastes but also like different family needs at this point.

And like I constantly have to remind myself when I'm shopping for her that I need to buy MORE than I think I should because like I'm used to shopping for me, myself, and I. And my sister...she has her whole family to shop for.

But like she doesn't quite think about the fact that she has a family to shop for? Because in her mind it's 'normal' to shop and buy so much food in so much quantities.

But for me?

Not so much.

So when I see "Bread" on the list....I'm like "Is that one loaf or two?" 

"Milk" Do I need 1 quart or 2 gallons? Do I need 1% or 2% or whole??

It's just interesting really.

To see what details my sister sticks on her list and which ones I have to ask for clarification for.

Like paper towels.

Do you need just one roll? Probably not since you're probably buying for the house hold but how long do paper towels last? Do you need a 2 pack a 4 pack a 6 pack an 8 pack a 24 pack?? 

lol

and despite me having to wander back and forth and take slightly longer in picking up the groceries as I figure out just what and where the food is my sister needs for her family....

I do have fun doing it.

It's fun to see what foods she needs. Fun to discover possibilities I hadn't considered before. 

It's just....different.

Time consuming for sure. But I'm glad I'm able to help her out a bit.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fending For Myself

One of the major frustrations I've been experiencing the past little bit....is the feeling that I'm not being supported. 

Mostly it's because I am independent enough that I tend to get things done on my own without need for help.

But when I do actually need help or at least some back up....it feels like I'm left hanging.

Which then spurs me into trying to do everything my self....because it just seems to be a never ending cycle of disappointment when I try to get others to help me and they're not able to.

Today....today felt like one of those days at work.

Because as soon as I got in my morning manager confronted me with the fact that our Mid Manager had called out today.

Which okay. Not ideal, but doable.

Except...usually on Tuesday mornings the Head manager is also in for morning meetings and such. Which usually means they end up staying in the store until at least 4 if not 5pm which would mean I'd have to take a really early lunch....but I would still get a break.

BUT today was one of the exception tuesdays. Because my Head Manager was required to be at a different store today and therefore wasn't at my store.

And with how early my morning manager came in today....they had to leave basically as soon as I arrived. 

*exhales*

They'd tried to help me out though. Tried to find more people who could come in tonight to work a shift so that I could get some lunches covered.

Because as it stood there would be just 3 of us in the store once the other manager left. 

And while we could still run lunches it never really turns out well when there's just 2 people in the store because chances are high that it will get crazy busy during that time that there's only 2 of us.

However. No one was answering. 

And as it stood, none of the other managers were able to come in to help me out either.

Which meant that I wouldn't be able to take a lunch today as we have to have a manager on the floor at all times. 

HOWEVER. I was able to contact my friend manager and they were able to come in just long enough to cover giving me a lunch break.

And I was able to reach out to our dog trainer and have them come in an hour earlier so that I could use them to help me cover the lunches for my petcare and my cashier. 

And thankfully, due to the stormy weather and the fact that it's a tuesday....the store ended up staying more quiet. Especially compared to yesterday's holiday crazy.

But it was quiet enough in the store even if I was constantly backup cashiering that it didn't feel stressful having me be the only manager for my entire shift.

Wasn't a fun experience though.

I don't do well with surprise stressors and getting no warning beforehand that I would be by myself today totally triggered a migraine to occur.

But at least I survived it and we got out on time. So yay me. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Retail Holiday

 You know, one thing that irked me a bit during the pandemic....

Was the fact that the "Essential Workers" didn't ever get a break.

Like people got to 'stay home' or 'work from home' but the 'essential businesses' where people 'needed' them....stayed open. Workers stayed working at the business. 

And like in the moment....I was grateful. Grateful to not lose my job. Grateful to have a source of income when I knew so many people lost their jobs.

But I am so exhausted. I know it's impossible to sell food from your home. Or sell pets and such from home.

But I really wished that we had a break like other people did during the pandemic.

And like sure....hours were shortened so stores weren't open as long.

But actually getting a break from work?

Not so much.

And it kinda just hit home today how much retail workers sacrifice to make other people happy.

Because for like 99% of holidays...retail sort of stores and food related places....stay open.

There's no holidays for those businesses.

Like the only days my work closes are Thanksgivng and Christmas. Which are 2 days of the year.

And sure, on the more major holidays we often 'close early'

But it's not the same as having an actual 'holiday'

And holidays seriously are the worst.

Because everyone else who gets the holiday off...often decide to come shoppinng on said day off. 

Which means a lot of pets being sold and a lot of customers in the store. 

And it was....sooo irritaitng to have to constantly be doing cat adoptions today. Like I spent probably half of my shift showing customers cats becuase they decided that they had to have a new family member today. 

*exhales*

It made me wish that we had "Retail" holidays.

Like actual holidays where all retail businesses closed.

If federal holidays can allow other businesses to take a day off.

Why can't we also have retai holidays too?

Like it wouldn't have to be that often really. Just do one Retail Holiday every quarter. Once every 4 months.

Pick a Monday or a Friday and just....have retail businesses close.

No food. No pets. No clothes shopping. No fast food.

.... I'm sure the world would riot actually if we did that. At least more of the crazy Americans would because they would be like "BUT I NEED MY NEW SWEATER NOW!!" 

Or the more important "I forgot to buy food for pet or myself and I NEED IT" 

It would probably have to be a rotating holiday for retail. Like it's a monday for Groceries. A friday for clothes stores. A Saturday for Animal stores so the whole economy doesn't vanish 4 times a year.

But yah.

I think us retail workers deserve our own 'holidays' where we're not required to be at work and can just chill.

Never gonna happen unfortunately. Not with any corporate businesses at least. They value earning money too much to risk giving their workers 4 retail holidays a year. 

*exhales*

Still. It would be nice.

Especially after having had to deal with customers on holidays for the last decade.

Worst days ever in the retail world. Honestly.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Am I Surprised? No.

 It isn't exactly surprising, but it is disappointing that I now have sick fish.

I mean, I added like 10 fish into my tank a little under a week ago. With two of them each being a good 14 inches long.

So I figured it would stress out my tank a bit. 

But it was still disappointing to go to my tank, turn on the light, and notice a bunch of white dots on the sharks and tetras.

Especially more so when a day later I could see some of those same white spots appearing on my angelfish. 

It's a stress indicator really. The ick spots. 

Which considering I added in 10 fish....yah that's stress alright.

I was hoping to avoid it. But I wasn't at all surprised to see them get sick.

Though honestly I was expecting the new fish to kinda just....die from the stress of being fished out of one tank, driven to the store to be given to me, then driven to my home and placed into a new tank with different fish....

I wouldn't have been surprised if some of them hadn't survived that trip.

Though so far they have.

Even if the new bala sharks still haven't obviously eaten anything in like the week I've had them. Ugh. They're going to starve if they don't start going after the food soon.

Still.

I'm hopeful that the treatment of my fish will go well. It's just a matter of following the directions on the bottle for the ick cure.

But we'll see how it goes.

For now hopefully my fish will recover and all will be well.

But again. We'll see. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Busy Busy Busy

 One thing I've never liked about working in retail is when the customers end up mobbing the store.

Like without fail we'll get a rush where we could totally have used an extra body or three and yet....we don't have the hours to schedule said extra body...or extra body ended up being able to come in leaving us slightly short staffed.

Most of the time the store, even one of my size, can do alright with just four people in it. 

A person in petcare. A person on register. And then like 2 extra people to wander the rest of the store and jump in to help as needed.

And like...we've made due often enough with just the three people. A manager, a petcare, a cashier.

But it still sucks.

Honestly, I get why corporate doesn't want to shell out more money to people who aren't 'busy' but I really wouldn't mind having people standing around if that meant that when the unexpected -yet also expected- rushes hit...we don't end up feeling like we're being pulled six directions at once.

Take 2:45pm today.

I had a cashier on register. I had the mid manager on register. I had the closing manager assisting with the sell of a skinny pig because me, also a manager -but scheduled to be the petcare person today- was off stuck in cat adoptions helping a couple adopt a cat. 

It's like 2:45. We have 15 minutes until THREE more workers show up. Two cashiers and one petcare. To replace our one cashier and me. 

And the store is a mad house.

Like everyone decided then and there that they needed to get in line right away.

So there's a line of a good 20 people it feels like even though we have 2 cashiers on registers.

And then the curbside pick up button goes off as somebody is in the store wanting to grab their online order.

And then the phone rings like six times.

I'm trying to do an adoption and am trying to multitask so I answer the phone to put it on hold only to have the phone immediately ring again and then I had 3 people in a row ask me questions in the store while I'm trying to do the adoption paperwork and get back to the person on the phone who was on hold --which that person only wanted to know when we were open tomorrow?? Like you couldn't have just GOOGLED that?? Google will tell you our hours and it's much faster than waiting for me to get back to you on the phone. *shakes head*

And I have no idea what's going on in petcare as I'm over on the opposite side of the store with the cats and the never ending customers who are also seeking help.

But my closing manager is doing at least one small pet sell but who knows if they helped other people as well.

But it was a good ten minutes before either of us could answer the cashier's call of "we need a 3rd cashier" 

Like there's 4 of us in the store and 2 of us are already on register and the other 2 are busy with customers.

And in typical fashion my Petcare person is late.

So even though I'm off at 3 and my petcare person is supposed to be in at 3 they don't show up until TWENTY MINUTES LATER. 

And like I've just finished the first cat adoption at 3 and am heading up front to try and decrease the line as a 3rd cashier until our two other cashiers show up to replace the one cashier already there who was off at 3 with me. BUT that cashier as they're leaving is like "Hey someone needs help at cats." So I get stuck adoptiong out A SECOND CAT and then after I'm done with that I have another person wanting to look at a THIRD cat -they put it on hold- and like *exhales* It's after 3pm. I want to go home. And there's NO SIGN of my petcare person.

So I finally break free at like 3:25ish. To finally hear that my petcare person is over in petcare.

So that means I'm free to leave.

But like.

It was just...irritating. Like why did a hundred people have to decide that 3pm was a great time to decend on the store?

Like we had 20 people in line 20 people at the fish wall and probably at least another 20 people wandering around the rest of th store.

And there were only 4 of us poor workers in the building.

When we probably could have used at least 3 more people.

If only they'd waited until after I'd left at 3 we would have had slightly more coverage.

But hey....we survived it in the end.

It's just...moments like this where I wish corporate wasn't so stingy and would give us more hours to be able to help the customers that they claim are so important to them. *shakes head*

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Turn the Page

 I picked up a book today.

Like an actual book book.

One with a hard cover and actual pages to turn.

Which shouldn't be as surprising considering how much I've been reading recently.

It's just...I've been focused so much on reading online stuff. Fanfics. Stories written in Fandoms that I enjoy.

Picking up a book book?

Haven't really had the energy to do so. To invest in a world that is unknown. That may or may not have an online presence to interact with once I'm done reading set book.

Though since the book I picked up was more along the lines of an autobiography...there's not really gonna be a fandom for that anyways lol.

But it was fun to spend a couple of hours just turning pages instead of scrolling. Reading someone else's thoughts. Memories. Experiences.

I mean, it was engaging enough that I already finished it. 

But yah.

It was different.

And mostly brought on because my main online reading site went down for multiple hours and I wanted to read something.

But yah.

fun little different thing to do today. Reading a physical book lol.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Different Interactions

 There's something rejuvenating about being around different people. 

Like, I've remarked before, maybe not online, but definitely to other people. That I tend to get annoyed with people at work if I work with them too many days in a row.

Like if I see the same 3 coworkers more than 3 days in a row....I tend to start getting annoyed by them. Like their little quirks become irritating and I just....get tired of having to interact with the same people and deal with the same people.

So when the opportunity arises to be around people I'm not normally around. It's rather nice.

Like today I was able to go see my Sister and we were able to go out for some sister bonding time. 

And it was great for the both of us. Because we both kinda needed to "get out" and "do something" that wasn't in the norm for us.

So going out to eat and just hanging out chatting.

It was nice.

Nice to be able to be around someone different and just take a break from the 'every day same old same old'

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

It's Gonna Change

It's funny....how as a person who doesn't really like change....that I ended up in a retail job where like....things change all the time. Since it's retail...we get quite the revolving door of workers coming and going. To the point where if someone stays longer than a year...then it's kinda amazing. 

It's been slightly less revolving since the pandemic began. Most everyone in the store has been working for a couple of years now. You know, steady income means a lot. 

That doesn't mean that we haven't had our own slew of bathers and cashiers that seem to come and go every couple of months. But overall the main core workers of the store have stayed the same.

So it's not surprising to hear that it will probably be changing soon.

Just....disappointing.

Especially because one of my work friends confided in me that they're probably going to end up leaving soon since working here isn't quite conducive to their current life situation.

And like....it's hard.

Because I want my friend to be happy. To go and do better things and such.

But like....I want my friend to stay here too. To stick around so I have someone to look forward to talking to at work.

*exhales*

It's part of the reason why I often struggle to like...make friends. Especially at work.

Because sooner or later. Everyone leaves. 

So like...what's the point of making more of a friendship if the person will just be gone anyways.

Course...I have this sort of mood in phases.

And like...it's been nice to have work be mostly consistent for the past 3ish years or so as we've dealt with Covid and such. 

But honestly....knowing that my friend is more than likely going to leave... ... it makes me think that I should go out and try and find somewhere to make more friends. To try and be more social.

It's just....I've been in this 'social' game for so long.

Like still stuck in a YA ward...where people move in and out all the time. So like why make friends at church when they'll be gone next semester anyways?

It's hard. I have a ton of acquaintances. But friends? Not many. Because I find it hard to open up enough to reach that 'stage.' 

And while one friend leaving work can probably open the doors for another friend to come in and be made....

I just wish things would stay consistent for a while longer. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Last Minute Shoppers

Okay. I can understand the customers who realize that they're out of food for their pet and dart in the store for two minutes to grab said food and leave.

But I will never understand any customer that comes into the store within the last hour of us being open to shop for their new pet.

Whether they just got a puppy or kitty and need to buy the supplies, or have come into the store to get a hamster/bird/reptile/fish. I don't understand WHY people come in so late to try and get a pet.

Like. It just seems to scream impulse purchase to me.

Especially the college kids who come in last minute to buy a pet.

And like, I understand that customers are people too and that they too work various shifts and so some people might not have time to come into the store before we're nearly closed.

It just...it seems so stressful. Especially if you need to buy everything for the pet to try and do it with under an hour left of the store being opened. 

And those customers who come during the last 15ish minutes. Heck even the last minute before we close....I have to wonder about their time management skills because like....WHY why come in so late? Why not wait until tomorrow since we're almost closed?

 I don't get it. And I don't like it. Especially when the customers coming in last minute means that it will delay us being able to close everything down and potentially make it so we can't get out in time. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

HOW BIG?!

 You know...I obviously don't know sizes.

I mean. I know sizes.

But apparently there's a difference between knowing and seeing. 

You see.

A few days ago, I agreed to take in some fish from one of my regular customers.

As they're moving and need to take down their tank and find someone to take their fish.

Those fish being 5 bala sharks and some "silver fish" and maybe a 6-8" pleco. 

And I was told that the Bala Sharks were full grown. Nice and big.

And I was thinking "Sweet. They'll be about the same size as my current bala shark."

And the "silver fish?" No idea. But they were "smaller" than the Balas so I figured if the fish were too big maybe I'd just keep them at work for a bit until it was "safer" for me to add them into my tank.

And the Pleco. Well I knew the size of our Syrain Hamsters which get around 6" full grown so like...I figured my tank could handle it, but I was reserving judgement on it because like "Really Big" means different things to different people. What is big for one person is small for another.

Just. *shakes head* I'm in awe guys. So in awe.

Because these fish are HUGE.

Like they have been very very very well taken care of. Judging by the bellys on some of the fish....probably a bit too over taken care of so hopefully the fish are fine going on a diet because I do not know how much my regulars were feeding their fish.

But the Balas? Massive. And like....the Regular regretfully informed me that one of their balas had passed away a couple of days ago. Rammed itself against the side of a tank and basically died. and a second one had died today while being fished out of the tank -probably stress-. 

But like dude. It's probably a good thing I only ended up with 3 balas instead of the original 5, especially since the two that passed away were "The Biggest Ones" according to my Regular.

Because 2 of the 3 Balas are MASSIVE. 

Like the other one is about the same size as my current bala. But like my current bala. You'd probably need THREE of them stacked on top of each other to match the mass of one of the larger ones. 

It's HUGE. Like larger than the width of my hand huge. 

Which thankfully I have a 125 gallon tank...but I do not think my tank could have handled 5 of those guys.

Especially because like I also ended up with 6 black skirt tetras. 

And two of them are GIANT too. Like I've told customers that the skirts can get 3" full grown. Or like around the size of a 50cent piece is pretty common. But two fo these skirts are larger than a 50 cent piece. It's CRAZY. 

And like I also added in a purple tiger barb to the tank as well that had been donated to a customer.

So like I added 10 fish into my tank today. :S :S :S

And I'm desperately hoping that it can handle the extra fish and that everyone stays alright. But I definitely wasn't expecting all these fish to be THAT BIG.

*shakes head*

Not to mention the Pleco.

That one I did not end up taking home.

Because this "6-8" fish" was literally the size of my foot. It was a good 12" long and waaaayyyy too big for me to be comfortable putting him in my tank. Like he was larger than the bala sharks!! lol everyone I showed him to at work was like ()_() HE'S HUGE!!

Thankfully one of my other coworkers was able to take the pleco and has plans to get him into a good home.

Because I have my hands full with the other 10 currently lol.

*fingers crossed* that they all end up doing well and that I don't have a ton of casualities from the extra fish. :S :S :S Guess we'll see.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Escapee

I had a couple of odd early morning encounters this week.

Nothing bad bad.

Just mostly odd in that it happened two mornings in a row.

You see, we have this Red Claw Crab tank in the store. It has a lid and such.

But the crabs have been known to occasionally....escape. 

Mostly it happens when the lid on the tank isn't properly placed over the opening. As said opening has wires coming out of it from the filter and the heater we have in said tank.

In any case.

If the lid isn't put on just so...there can be a large enough gap that the crabs can actually climb the wires of the tank...and get out.

It happens on occasion.

But not often. 

But this week I found 2 crabs -maybe even the same crab- wandering around the aisles of the store instead of being in its tank.

*shakes head*

Luckily I found both of them before the store was opened so the chances of being stepped on were low.

But still.

I am wondering how many crabs we have wandering around now.

As the first morning when I returned the first crab to the tank...there were like two others near the top of the tank clinging to the wire. And Head Manager found a crab in one of our fish tanks next to the crab tank that same day.

So like....there could be more than just the 3 runaways scuttling about....

Guess we'll have to see if I encounter any others.

But yah.

Weird that it happened twice in a row. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Difficult Day

 Towards the end of last year, (so like a weekish ago), I ended up with a major migraine. One that kept me up all night so that I barely got any sleep.

And it was a day where....like everything conspired against me.

Like I had seriously considered calling out sick at oh...3ish am?? But then was like "Nah, I'll rest a bit longer." and by the time my morning shift rolled around I was actually feeling alright enough to go into work.

But I was thinking that maybe I would leave early so long as we had the coverage for me to do so.

We did not have the coverage to do so.

Why?

Because the mid manager who was supposed to come in. Called out sick. 

That's fine. I wouldn't be able to leave before noon. I could handle that. But my closing manager would be in a couple of hours later. It would mean I would only be leaving an hour early, but hey, at least it was an hour earlier than my entire shift.

*exhales*

But then closing manager called and was like "Hey, I need to come in a couple of hours late."

Which Head Manager was like "Fine."

And I was just....mentally collapsing in a puddle of tears because that meant that the closing manager would come in around half an hour AFTER my regularly scheduled shift ended.

But hey! Perhaps we could contact the closing petcare person and have them come in an hour early instead.

Nope. Denied. 

Petcare person never responded (because they were sleeping and didn't get the message until it was too late) 

AND THEN.

To top it off I was like "Okay, well I can just leave at 3 when I'm off." Because we'd have a couple of cashiers at that point and the Head Manager would still be there and it would be fine even though my closing petcare person has had a bad habit of being 10-20 minutes late to their shift.

But hey it was a 10-20 minute gap that would be fine. No issue right?

Wrong.

2:55 hits and we get a crazy rush at the fish wall.

Aka like 8 different people decide they all need my help.

Which meant when all was said and done...I ended up clocking out TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES LATE.

To say I was in tears by the end of my shift is an understatement.

Because my migraine had come back full force and I just wanted to go home and die in bed and I was DENIED AT EVERY TURN.

It was soooo frustrating.

And to top off that night....

Just after 11pm.

I received a random text.

Where it was like "Hey did you just try to purchase over a $100 of food from this pizza place witih your credit card? If yes respond with yes. If no, please contact this number." 

And I was like. O_o 

Because....I hadn't used my credit card since before Christmas. So obviously No, I hadn't tried to buy pizza.

But like....I wasn't just going to respond to this random text either. Because like it could be a scam.

So I did the smart thing and used a different device to log into my bank account to check and see if I had any activity there.

Only to be confronted with a message saying that "Your card has temporarily been restricted. Please call this number."

Okay.

So a legit text then. 

So I call the number provided on the banking website (not the text number because I was still slightly suspicious) 

And yah.

Turns out. Someone tried to use my credit information to buy pizza...in CALIFORNIA.

*exhales* 

I literally have no idea how this person even got my information.

Because it had been like over a week since I'd last used my card. 

And I still had my card WITH ME.

So like...either one of the places online where I'd put in my credit information had ended up compromised.

Or else someone had one of those stupid electronic reader things that can just get your information from you if they're standing within range of your wallet. 

*shakes head* I'll probably never know who or why or how they managed to get my information.

But I'm grateful for the quick response from my bank who was quick to flag the transaction as suspicious and deny the person their pizza party. 

Still left me slightly stressed out though for the past weekish.

Just because I don't like not having access to things. And while I don't use my credit card often. I do like having the option to use it. So to not have it...yah it wasn't a horrible thing, but it was a slightly stressful thing. And just what I didn't need after dealing with a migraine for over 24 hours.

*shakes head*

Still. Glad I was able to get it all quickly sorted.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Call Me Back

 So, last night, one of my other managers sent me a text that a lady had called the store wanting to talk to me specifically. So they had taken down her name and number so that I could call her back.

And that was it.

Like. 

My manager didn't give me any other details. Not even the all important "WHY they were calling" detail. 

And like...I had no idea why a customer would want to speak to me specifically to the point where they would want me to call them back instead of them just waiting until I was actually at work and calling then.

And my other manager was like. "Oh yah.... I probably should have a dug a bit better and gotten more details, she just kept cutting in and out so I was having a hard time understanding her."

*exhales* Yah MORE DETAILS would BE NICE.

That way I wouldn't be worrying about just WHY the customer wants to talk to me specifically.

Like obviously it's probably advice related stuff. But is it advice with Fish? With Cats? With Birds? What animal is this customer looking for help from me for?

In any case.

When I had a moment today at work, I gave this customer a call.

And turns out I do know who this person is. 

They're one of the regulars I've interacted with consistently over the past handful of years. I know I've been helping them since before the pandemic. So probably a good 4 or 5 years at least I've helped this customer.

Heh.

I just like....never knew her name?

Like that's not something that really gets passed along in the retail world. The customers know the worker's names due to our name badges, but we don't always know their names.

Honestly...I don't think I know any of my regular customer's names.....

Any who.

The reason why this particular customer had called and wanted to speak to me specifically.

Is because this particular customer is also in the fish hobby. And has bought multiple tanks and tons and tons of fish over the years. The main standout being that she loves our sharks. Specifically our Bala Sharks, but I think she and her husband have gotten the red-tailed and the rainbow sharks as well. 

But yah. I've known her as the Shark Lady.

And she can be....a rather particular customer on occasion. Not in a bad bad way. But there's the occasional visit where she's more difficult to work with than on other visits.

In any case.

The reason why she wanted to talk to me is because she and her husband are moving.

So they need to get rid of their fish. And their largest tank. A 120 gallon. And she wanted to know if I was interested in any of those.

Which I'm pretty sure my roomies would kill me if I tried to come home with a 120 gallon fish tank when I already have a 125 at home.

Lol lucky for my roomies I have no interest in another giant tank. I love the one I got. Don't need another. 

The fish though....it's like a pros and cons thing.

Because she has 5 bala sharks.

And do I want 5 of those sharks? No not particularly. Especially if they're larger. But I do just have 1 bala shark left in my own tank that would probably like a buddy....

But it's also like...my 125 is at a pretty good point right now. The fish are healthy. Nothing is dying. I'm content with the fish that are in there. So adding in 5 balas and potential another handful to a dozen of 'silver fish' that she also has....could upset everything.

*exhales*

So. Currently I'm having the customer bring the fish to me in a couple of days. So I can see their sizes and evaulate and such. I'll probably end up taking most of them home anyways. But at least I'll have a better idea of what I'm working with when I see all the fish.

So yah. We'll see how that goes.

So got rid of one stress by finally figuring out why the customer wanted me to call them.

But added in another stress of should I actually be taking in all her fish???

*shakes head*

Guess we'll see how it goes lol.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi