Meet the Pets

It was going to be a stressful day at work today.
Why?
Because we were having an 'event.' today.
One that corporation came up with.
Where basically we'd have this class, where a bunch of people would show up, and we'd teach them about the animals we sell here at the store.
It was to be a two hour  event.
One where you'd spent the first hour basically teaching about the animals.
And the next hour you'd give all the kids/adults a chance to feed the fish.

Honestly, I didn't see how that would work.
Few people would want to come to a pet store to stand there for two hours while we blabbed on and on and on about the animals.
It hardly seemed like an 'event.'

I mean, we've held these things before, to limited success.
People come if they need something.
Not to learn something.

But in any case.
There was a bigger problem beyond the fact that I was the one who had to do this 'event'
Because I was the one scheduled to work that day.
No the first problem came about when I looked at my schedule.
And saw that I would be working BY MYSELF in the department that entire morning.
And guess when the event took place?

There was no way whatsoever that I could multitask!
I couldn't host the event as well as break away to help customers who actually were there to buy things.
The ball was definitely dropped in that regard. Because we were given hours to schedule people to work this event....and it had been neglected. >.<
Thankfully though, we were able to get another person to come in earlier, during the event, so I could be free to focus solely on the event and not on trying to be both.

That didn't mean the stress ended there though.
No.
Because they'd also only scheduled me to come in a single hour before the store opened.
And the event started an hour after the store opened.
Which gave me two hours to try and get my department open and get ready for the event!
It didn't happen.
It could have.
I nearly made it, but then I had those annoying "come right as the store opens." customers that ate up my remaining time to get the department open. >.< Boo.
Thankfully I could hand the task off to my coworker who came in.
Though they were acting like it was their first time in the store for some reason. O.o Not comprehending a thing I said when I was like "Hey, this and this needs to be done." And they were like O.o huh? So I had to spell it for them. "These animals still need to be fed. This item needs to go to this animal. This still needs to be done. That still needs to be done. Hold off on doing this because its part of the event." Etc. And I still would have to break away to fix things....or tell them that that wasn't what I meant. So. Weird.

In any case.
With the much needed help of a manager I was able to set up the display table with the animals and pamphlets needed by the deadline of 'hey the event is starting!'

And to no one's surprise.
There wasn't a big crowd of people waiting to hear me talk.
There wasn't a ton of screaming kids for me to try and talk over.
there was....nobody in the store beyond the normal customers.

That was halfway disappointing because I'd gone online and researched and everything to get some little fun facts to tell customers, and speeches all prepared to go over what every animal would need...
And there was nobody there to hear it.
So, I changed tactics.
We'd set up the display of animals up near the front of the store.
So I basically went to 'booth mode'
Where I would greet customers as they entered the store, and asked them if they wanted to hold any of the pets I had out. Some said yes, some said no.
those who said yes, I would let them hold the animal they were most interested in.
And would tell them the fun little facts about that animal. Before sending them on their merry way.
Then, the last 15 minutes or so that the event was happening, we paged over the intercom that we would be feeding the fish, and whoever wanted to join in could join in -I had my coworker do that part, since they were feeding the fish anyways.

Overall. It was a very lowkey thing.
I got to stand there and look pretty for most of it. lol.

Still. It was sad that I couldn't tell many people my fun little facts.
So.
I'm going to spout them off here. Just a few tidbits.
Like:

Leopard Geckos are from the Middle East -Afghanistan to India area. They start off with stripes, but gain spots as they get older, hence why they're called leopard geckos. Their tails get super fat because they store extra fat there for if they have to go through 'lean times' so a healthy gecko = a fat tail.

Bearded Dragons are called that because they like to puff out their chin/neck area and the resulting look resembles a beard. They can eat both insects and vegetables (but just like people some are very picky eaters.) They get to be about two feet long, and are the most mellow of reptiles as a pet.

Guinea Pigs -Are from South America the Andes area. Great pets that usually don't bite, but their claws do need to be trimmed from time to time. They can be walked around on leashes, and if they're super happy will 'popcorn' about their cages. (jump, bounce etc.) But you don't want to place these pets in a ball or wheel because their backs are straight and if you curve them you can break their backs.

Rats -The most intelligent of the rodents. They can learn tricks, be litter box trained, can come to their names, etc. Contrary to popular belief, they don't bite. Its rare to be bitten by a rat, and they are one of the more affectionate of the small pets.

Robo Dwarf Hamsters (I didn't let customers handle him.) Are the smallest and the fastest hamsters in the world. At only 2 inches long, they can run over a hundred miles in a single night. They're basically like little energizer bunnies. They keep going and going and going. lol. Fun to watch, but not a good pet to hold as if you let them loose...they're gone. Super fast. Also, they're originally from Russia.

Parakeet (didn't let customers handle.) Are also known as Budgies and hail from Australia. Where their natural color is Green. (the other colors came about from breeding most likely.) They can learn to speak with the males going to be more talkative than the females. And you can tell male from female by looking at the nostril area above their beaks. If its pink/tan its a girl. If its purple/blue its a boy. But often the ones we get into the store haven't gotten their color there yet, so we can't always tell for sure which gender it is.

Yep, those were my facts.
And hardly anyone got to hear them. :(
Honestly, I think the event would have had more success if we'd held it later in the day for a longer
period of time.
Because, even on a Saturday, hardly anyone comes into the store in the mornings.
If we wanted to have a lot of people come in, make it more of a 'class' then it should have been held later in the day. Like from 1-4 when it gets busy.
-of course we'd have needed more coverage in the department as well due to it being busy.
But we could have had way more people in to learn.
I also think they should have done it earlier in the summer.
Because school is starting back up again soon. People are taking advantage of the last couple of weeks of summer and going on vacation. Plus...people like to do other things on Saturdays besides go to a petstore.
But yah...
I enjoyed myself for how much I'd been stressing about the event before hand.
I was glad it was slow.
That I could treat it more like a normal customer situation.
And relax about it.

We'll see if there is a next time with this event....

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

-Sarnic Dirchi