The Come Back! .... Wait. Come back?

 So. Our goal at work has been to have two dog trainers in the store.

That way we can hold classes on multiple different days and different times to better meet customer's needs.

Only....

We've struggled to actually have Two dog trainers.

Like at first it was the 'we'd hire one, and then the previous one would quit' sort of ring around the rosie.

But this past year....we had one of our dog trainers take a long leave of absence. Like a sudden long leave of absence where they vanished in the middle of all their classes. Which, thankfully we had another dog trainer just coming in at the time, so they were able to take over a lot of those classes and finish them for the customers...but we also had a ton of them returned too because no one is willing to wait an undetermined amount of time for their original trainer to come back. 

I honestly wasn't sure they were EVER going to come back, honestly. I mean. We do have workers who will vanish for the summer because they're college kids and move home for the summer. But then they come back in the fall...but that's like...maybe 3 months max. 

This dog trainer was gone for SIX months. Half a Year. 

They vanished at the beginning of summer last year and only just returned towards the beginning of January.

And like. We were relieved. That we could finally have two dog trainers again. That we could again schedule more classes. Because the one dog trainer had finally returned from their medical l.o.a. 

But....

Truthfully...I had my doubts. Like yes, this trainer has returned....but how long would they be back for? Like the very first shift I worked with them they mentioned that they were looking into starting their own dog training business. Taking courses and such. 

And like....if they're already looking to move elsewhere....how long do they mean to stay here?

Like will they start classes and just quit in the middle of them? Leaving customers hanging? Or will they finish out the entire course before vanishing?

Hard to know....

Like all the old trainer's classes had been moved to the new dog trainer. So the one that had been gone for 6 months was basically starting out fresh again. They would have to work shifts in the store where they'd be able to interact with customers and sign them up for classes. Like, us workers can do it too, but the shifts they were scheduled originally were to help them set up classes and such.

But like.....I only saw the old dog trainer like....twice? Maybe three times.....before they started calling out sick.

Like literally the old trainer had only been at work for twoish weeks?? Before they called out the first time....and I think they might have missed a couple of shifts before that too without calling out. 

Not too important because no classes had started yet for them. But kinda....disheartening.

Like you were gone for SIX MONTHS you weren't getting PAID during that time. And you're ALREADY calling out sick after working like...two shifts???

And it's kept happening. They keep calling out.

And now we've had to start canceling their classes and postponing classes, and RETURNING classes because again, customers don't want to wait to start a class they paid for. They don't want to deal with a flaky trainer that doesn't show up every week as promised.

And like....it's frustrating.

But what's even more frustrating is that today the dog trainer sent in a doctors note. 

Said doctors note said that the doctor was excusing the trainer from work from JANUARY 15th to February 10th.

TODAY IS FEBRUARY 5th.

TODAY is the FIRST time we are SEEING this Doctor's note.

Like....If you had this note for THREE WEEKS why are you only NOW sending it to us??

I don't understand it. I really don't.

Like...I get that there are medical and health related things happening here. That you can't always control those things and some of them take longer to recover from than others.

But like. You were gone for SIX MONTHS. And then only came back for like...maybe a week and a half? Maybe three shifts total? Before having to get a doctors note again?

I just...I just don't see how it's feasible for us to keep this dog trainer on the books if we can't reliably expect them to be at work. Like our training courses take place over a month and a half. If a trainer can't reliably show up for the entire thing....why would we schedule dogs with them? Why would we even have them?

It also makes me wonder how feasible their goal is to start their own business because like....you need to be reliable. You need to be able to be consistent. Dogs need consistency and if the trainer isn't there consistently to help the owners train the dog....how will they get trained properly?

It's....such a weird situation. Honestly. Like....I can't even put it into proper words.

But it does make me wonder if this dog trainer is going to be around for much longer. Like will they even show up after the 10th is over? Or will another doctor's note appear extending their absence again?? I don't know.

Time will tell I suppose.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

I Bought This! (But Did You?)

 There's no question about it. We get some weird customers that come into the store.

I mean, probably most retail stores get their fair share of odd customers.

But sometimes I think our store sees a higher quantity of crazy characters compared to others.

So.

Today I had a lady call the store. 

Stating that she and her husband had been in the store yesterday about lunch time. Buying a bunch of things for their brand new puppy. 

And they realized that some of the stuff they bought...hadn't made it home with them. So she wanted to know if we had a bag of product set to the side.

Which...having closed last night...I don't recall seeing anything like that.

But at the same time, it's possible that one of the other cashiers had assumed the bag of product was just product a customer decided they didn't want or had returned and they'd put everything back on the shelf.

So I figured I'd do some research....since I couldn't find the bag up front. Just to see if our inventory on some of the products listed as missing were right.

Because like if a customer bought a collar...and inventory says we have 5 of them but there's 6 on the shelf, then obviously there's an extra one there. So it's probably the customers.

But the customer was rather...vague...on what they'd 'forgotten' at the store.

She was pretty confident she'd bought a collar and a dog toy and some dog treats.....

And thankfully she'd had a membership with us so I was able to look up her receipt on the register. 

And that receipt showed a dog toy, and dog treats and....a dog harness.

So I said I'd look into it and call them back.

And tried to track down at least the toy, treat, and harness.

Only the harness was clearance. They'd bought the last one. And the dog treat showed we were one short instead of one over.....and like...there wasn't a collar listed at all.....

Which meant I was getting nowhere fast.

Thankfully, today I had access to our cameras that watch the registers.

And since I had the receipt, I knew what time the customer had purchased everything. So we could pull up the view of the cameras at that time and just...watch the transaction in it's entirety to see if the bag was forgotten and if it was...where it ended up.

... ... ... 

Funnily enough.

Nothing was forgotten.

There was no collar rung up. Only one set of treats rung up. Only one toy rung up. We watched the cashier put everything in the bags and hand all the bags to the customers. Watched them walk out the door.

So like.... 

Nothing had been left in our store.

Doesn't mean something was left in the parking lot in a cart because that does happen on occasion.

But when the customers left the store, they had everything with them that they'd brought up to the register.

Which came as a shock to the woman when I called her back.

"Wait, we got 2 toys right?! No we got a collar too!!"

And it was great that I could positively say. "No, sorry, we watched the transaction. You did not buy a collar. You only bought one toy. You did not buy multiple treats. Everything you purchased on the receipt was handed to you and you took it out of the building." 

And I just...have to wonder....what the customer was thinking.

Like....it's possible that they were indecisive while shopping in our store. That she and her husband put things in the cart, took them out, put them in, and they just forgot what they decided not to get or not.

Or maybe they went to multiple stores and they left their collar and toys at some other pet store?

Maybe they were just trying to get free stuff.

It's hard to know for sure.

But I did have the evidence saying that they didn't get what they thought they got.

..

...

...

In any case, around the same time today...I noticed a couple in the store with a cute puppy...that looked very similar to the couple I'd watched on our cameras earlier with their puppy.

So I definitely was wondering if they came into the store again today to get the stuff they thought they bought but didn't....

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

-Sarnic Dirchi