The Skinny Pig Saga

 So.

This story starts New Years Eve.

We have 1 cat left in our adoption center. 

And we all were hoping he would be adopted before the end of the year because that would be so awesome if all the cats were gone before the end of 2022. 

After all, the poor kitty had been the only one left in the adoption center for a couple of days now. 

It was still morning. Not even lunch time yet.

When I get a call over the radios that there's a guy interested in possibly adopting the cat.

Cool. It wasn't busy. So I head on over. 

And admittedly. The dude gave me an off vibe from the very beginning.

Mostly because he basically started the conversation with "I lost my cat 3 days ago." Depending on which coworker dealt with him the dude would tell you he either "was stolen" or "lost" or possibly "dead." and since it's been 3 days. The cats obviously never coming back.

Like ... ... ... Dude. I would give it at minimum a week if not a month before assuming that your cat is gone forever. 

Especially since I don't think he ever gave details on just how the cat vanished. Simply that it's been gone for 3 days.

So yah. It's sad news. But I'm always a bit skeptical of the people who immediately go out after 'losing' a pet and try to replace it.

Like give yourself time to grieve first. Or at least make more of an effort to check the local shelters and pounds and such to see if your cat has turned up there.

Plus with like the holiday weekend upon us....it wouldn't be surprising if most places were closed or closing early. 

But I felt the dude should make more of an effort to find his "Bengal kitty" that he "adopted from us about a year ago." 

... ... I highly doubted we adopted out a Bengal cat. That would be pretty remarkable and memorable. But more than likely the kitty just had a similar coloration to a bengal? 

In any case.

I get our last remaining kitty (a black and white tuxedo) out of the cage for him to see.

And like the cat's tolerating the guy as he's asking me all these questions (what's the breed, the cat's 3 years old is that old? How long do cats live? Will he be able to bond properly with me if he's already that old.) But it's not exactly a love at first sight sort of response. The cat was barely tolerating being on the dude's lap.

Making me think again, that this isn't the best fit for the customer. Especially if he has no idea how long cats live for. Like... ... research is a thing dude. If you've had cats before how do you not know how long they live?

Especially since said customer is going on and on about all the cool things his old cat could do.

Slightly concerning things.

Like the fact that the dude could have the cat unharnessed, sitting in his lap, as he wheeled up and down State Street and the kitty wouldn't react to any of the loud noises and would just sit there.

Which yes, some cats are really chill.

But it is a bit of a red flag that the customer made a point to say that the cat wasn't secured. Like... if you don't want your cat to get startled and run off...it's best to keep them on a harness and leash at minimum when outside if not in a carrier where they can't get loose. 

In any case.

The customer decides to think about it.

Mostly because he wasn't sure how to get the Cash he needed for the adoption fee.

As we only do cash or venmo for our adoption groups. Since the money goes straight to them and doesn't go through the store/corporate at all. 

He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to get to the bank in time to withdraw the needed money and that his bank may have already closed for the day. (Saturday. New Years Eve. Yah banks probably closed early) 

Which was a bit confusing because it wasn't like the fee was large as the adoption prices had actually been cut in half for the past couple of months. And like.... ATMs exist. It should be simple to drop by one of those regardless of the time of day to withdraw money from them.

Still. 

The customer also seems to be wiffling on actually wanting to get a cat. Or continue searching for his other kitty. 

-I would say search for your cat dude.

But I placed the kitty on hold for him for three hours.

And desperately hope that the dude doesn't come back in the timeframe because like... he was giving off a vibe that wasn't quite right. 

But THEN.

Like not even half an hour after I put the cat on hold.

A woman comes up to me. Eyes shiny with tears. She's practically bawling because she's going through a 'grieving phase' as she puts it. But she's super upset because she'd come into the store specifically to adopt the cat and she saw that he'd already gone to another home and it was just like....the worst thing ever for her.

I was quick to give her some hope though.

After all the kitty hadn't been adopted yet. So I told her. The cat was on hold until 230. If the previous customer doesn't come by that point, then the hold stops and I could place the cat on hold for her. That I could even call her after 3pm (since customers are known to be 10-15 minutes late) to let her know that the cat was still available.

And I was sure to add on. "If you don't hear from me after 3pm, assume that the cat's been adopted. I'll only call if he's been adopted."

Which left me desperately hoping that I would be able to call her and that the other customer wouldn't come back to get the kitty.

Time passes.

And like 10 minutes to 3, my other manager answers a phone call. Where a customer is asking if the kitty is still on hold as they were told the hold would end at 230. 

After double checking who the person was on the phone. It was confirmed that the person on the phone was the husband of the woman who'd come in earlier.

And his words were "Do not call her." 

Which :S :S :S Automatically the mind goes to "Oh no, he doesn't want the cat and this is the easiest way to make sure she doesn't get the cat."

Which if that had been the case .... I may have gone along with it .... I don't like it when spouses aren't on the same page when it comes to acquiring new pets and I don't like being part of the discord if one spouse decides to disregard the other spouse's preferences.

However the husband on the phone was like "I'm coming right now to get the cat. I want to surprise her with it." 

Which !!! That's exciting and so sweet that the husband wants to surprise his wife with the kitty she desperately wanted.

So the husband comes in, does all the paper work super quick and takes the cat home.

Huzzah! 

I hope it was a joyful happy end to 2022 for the couple and their new cat.

Plus like. It was great because the first dude didn't show back up. So I was hoping that he had changed his mind and that he decided to keep looking for his first cat instead.

No dice.

Instead. A while after I'd gone home. 

The dude comes back in a bit before 5pm. 

And was super pissed off to discover that the cat was gone.

Like dude. I gave you until 230 to come into the store. Not my fault you waited and someone else took the kitty home. 

Bue he apparently started swearing up a storm (a coworker thinks he was drunk) and literally pulls out a literal wad of cash. And offers one of my managers on duty said wad of $1800 (so he says) to have them call the other customers and make them bring the cat back so he can adopt him.

You know.... I think that's the first time we've had someone try to bribe us. O.o

But also like. Weird? Because the dude was literally struggling earlier today with the fact that the adoption fee was TWENTY-FIVE Dollars. And that he would need to go to the bank to get that money.

Maybe he just couldn't believe it was only $25 to get the cat?  But still. It was weird that he seemed sooo concerned about 'how much' it was...only to bring in a huge wad of cash. 

In any case like dude. No? The other people adopted the cat fair and square. We're not going to ruin their happy storybook ending just to appease you. 

My other manager tells him "No, I'm not going to call the other customer." 

And somewhere in there another customer nearby overhears the conversation and is like "Oh! I have a cat I can adopt out to you!" So he started chatting with them....and according to a different manager actually gave the customer a 'down payment' for the kitty that he would come get at some point?

But at the same time....I get word from the first manager that he's also looking into buying a rodent as a pet instead. At first it was thought to be a hamster. Turns out he wanted a Skinny Pig instead.

Which is another red flag in a way. 

Because like it's always suspicious when customers upon being denied one animal immediately decide to settle for a different animal. It usually indicates they're trying to settle a 'need' but aren't sure what the 'need' is. That or they're in an 'impulse buy' frame of mind and just want to 'buy something' regardless of what the creature is they're purchasing.

But Like dude. If you really wanted another CAT. Why in the world are you buying a Skinny Pig?

And like.

I was rather concerned for the Skinny Pig. Because it was snowing/raining rather consistently all of New Years Eve and had turned into full on snow by the time the sun had set.

And so I was worried about how the cold would affect the Skinny Pig because like....they don't have fur. 

At this point, honestly, I was mentally erecting a mini gravestone for the Skinny Pig. Because odds were extremely high it would be returned to us within the next week. Dead. 

Just from the vibe I got from the dude when interacting with him earlier, but also from what my managers and coworkers were telling me about his second visit.

I figured that Skinny Pig would not last long as the dude's pet.

Still. According to the second manager. They set the dude up with everything that the skinny pig would need. He probably dropped a good $300 or so on the Skinny Pig, Cage, plus extra supplies. 

So like. At least we knew he was semi serious about it since he was willing to buy everything for the skinny pig.

Not that the dude couldn't afford it. Him and his $1800 worth of cash that he really shouldn't be waving around willy nilly and proclaiming how much he has on him. Like we might be considered "Happy Valley" here but that doesn't mean it's like a 100% a safe spot where no one would try to take advantage of that.

In any case.

The dude gets his skinny pig. And maybe the promise of another kitty from the customer??? and vanishes off into the sunset.

In which we all fervently hope that we never hear from him again.

Alas.

It wasn't meant to be. 

I was behind the fishwall finishing up some dishes for the bird bedding change I was in the middle of doing when I get a call from Head Manager over the radio that I'm needed to help a customer. 

Though it got a bit garbled at the end. So I asked for clarification as behind the fish wall can be noisy.

And Head Manager is like "The guy returned the skinny pig, I'm isolating it now, but the customer needs help getting the rest of his supplies into the store to do a return." 

Which on the one hand.

Totaly CALLED IT.

KNEW the guy was going to bring the skinny pig back.

I'm just relieved that he came back ALIVE.

Because I was pretty certain I'd only see this customer again if the skinny pig was dead. *shakes head*

In any case.

The dude continues to not put himself in the greatest of lights.

Like yes, he returned the skinny pig to us alive.

But like. According to my head manager, he literally tossed -yes TOSSED- the open box (so not secured) holding the Skinny Pig onto the counter of Register 1 and was like "I want to return him."

Like dude. YOU DON'T THROW ANIMALS. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!

Red Flag. Another Red Flag. Ugh.

So my Head Manager is taking care of the Skinny Pig and I grab a cart to help the dude get all his supplies out of his car.

All of his supplies sans cage. The cage is nowhere to be found. And I was like "Where is the cage? You can return that too." 

And he's like "Oh no, I put it together wrong, and I'll just take the loss."

Like dude. I'm not sure which cage you bought but most of them are OVER A HUNDRED DOLLARS and you're just taking the Loss on it?! Bring it back and get your money back!

-His money logic makes no sense whatsoever to me. How can you be so blaise about just taking the loss on over $100?! 

But yah he was like "Yah, I couldn't get the cage together properly and so I was keeping the skinny pig in the bathtub instead."

*record scratch*

WHAT

WHY?

Like dude. What would you do with the skinny pig when you wanted to TAKE A BATH or a SHOWER?? Do you just have an extra unused bathroom or something???

-According to my Head Manager he mentioned he didn't like how the Skinny Pig was "pooping all over the carpet." leading us both to believe that he was trying to treat the Skinny Pig like it was a cat, like in expecting it to use a litter box or something instead of going to the bathroom willy nilly. 

Dude. If you want a cat. GET A CAT. don't get a different animal and expect it to BE A CAT. Because IT WON'T BE. *shakes head*

But yah. The dude was keeping the poor Skinny Pig in the bathtub and was like "But I realized that was probably not the best so I brought him back." 

Like at least YOU BROUGHT HIM BACK Before He DIED. 

Ugh.

So I help the dude get all his stuff (but no cage) back into the store. 

And he's like "Oh by the way, you know about people taking care of cats?" And I'm like "????" And he's like "Well you see, I was thinking about getting a cat from a lady, but she sent me a picture of it and like...the conditions...weren't good. You could see fecal matter all over. So like....is it a good idea to get the cat from there? Like would it be fixed? Vaccinated?" 

Like dude.... those would be questions you should be asking the current owner of the cat? Like it literally depends on the person but most people selling cats don't always get them fixed or vaccinated so that would be on him to get that all done.

-Like wouldn't you ask those questions before apparently giving the lady a down payment? Are you just throwing money around now? Can you throw money my direction if you're doing that? Like if you had $1800 in cash on Saturday how much of it do you actually still have today if you're just giving money willy nilly to people???

If you did the down payment....shouldn't you go through and GO GET THE CAT??? 

I don't understand him.

I don't understand him at all.

AND.

To make matters worse.

After he left, I had a realization.

Of all the packages of bedding and food and hay and such that I brought into the store....

I hadn't noticed a single one of them opened. 

So I went back over to the returns to double check them and yep. Not a single one was opened.

Which okay, maybe he bought multiple bags of food and just didn't bring back the open one?

But like he had 2 unopened bags of BEDDING. Which begs the question did you put anything down in the bottom of the bathtub or did you leave the poor HAIRLESS skinny pig in direct contact with the porcelain bottom of your TUB?! Like dude. Those animals can't retain HEAT. They need to have protective layers between them! How warm are you keeping your home?! Like he could FREEZE.

And then there's the unopened bag of food. And the unopened bag of hay.

Does that mean that the Skinny Pig hasn't been fed since 5pm on SATURDAY? It's MONDAY. 

Not to mention did the Skinny Pig even have access to WATER? Did you give him water dude?! Did you even take the cage out of it's box to access the water bottle there or did you just dribble water from the faucet in the tub and hope for the best?

Like Skinny Pigs burn a lot of energy. They need to eat a lot. So not giving them food or water for like THIRTY SIX HOURS IS BAD. 

And after that the dude STILL WANTED TO ADOPT A CAT.

Like at this point I'm highly doubting that he's fit to own any animals. And definitely wondering what exactlly happened to his first cat.

Thankfully. Our adoption group hadn't yet been in contact with me at that point on just when they were bringing us more cats.

So we still had empty cages at that point when the dude came in.

And I told him it was possible that the cats wouldn't be here until Wednesday or Thursday and to call the store first to check as they usually come in the afternoons.

But.

They came today instead.

And knowing that this dude was wanting to adopt the cat.

And having definite Red Flags of "This probably isn't a good idea" but also mixed with "But he kept the cat alive for around a year so maybe he can only take care of cats?" worries, I asked the adoption group what they would want us to do in this situation after explaining it to them.

And the adoption group was like "Yah, No. Don't adopt to him."

So now we have the "Fun" not Fun Job of denying this customer the adoption when/if he comes back into the store.

*exhales*

Considering the fit he threw the first time when we had 'no cats' available. I'm not expecting it to go well and I'm hoping that I'm not the one who has to deal with him if he does return. 

*fingers crossed* that he goes for the other customer's cat instead? One can hope.

But yah.

It's just....a messed up situation. *exhales*

But hey, we at least got the Skinny Pig back alive. So yay for small blessings. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi