Which meant that the task...had been drawn out way longer than it should have been.
But finally. FINALLY I was nearing the end.
Which was great because I was scheduled a short shift today and I only had about five minutes to put everything back into the cages before I was off.
The small pet habitats has three sides. 18 cages total.
So I rushed all the food/water/homes/wheels etc over to the cages and quickly started putting everything back so that I would be able to finish and get out on time.
And then.
Like it tends to do.
A customer came up to me.
Needing help.
"I have a couple of questions." she said. Though she was giving off the energy that bespoke more than a 'couple' of questions. She kinda had that 'needy' feel to her, where I could sense that this may be...quite the trip.
I was right.
*shakes head* Why is it usually the cat owners that end up being the most difficult customers?? That and the fish customers on occasion. *shakes head*
In any case.
The woman originally needed my help because the specific can of cat food she buys for her cat wasn't on the shelf.
I did manage to find some of the same flavor in smaller cans, but she really wanted the larger cans. So I went into the back to see if I could find some there. No dice.
Which meant that hopefully it would be on tomorrows truck. *fingers crossed*
So if she would call tomorrow, we'd probably have it all worked and would know if we got any cans in on the shelf for her to come in and get. (As it really depends on when we get low/run out of a product as to when it's automatically replenished, so it might not even be on tomorrow's truck.)
I figured that would be that. I couldn't find the food she wanted in the size she wanted, but at least she had it in a smaller version.
But no.
You see this woman has a special cat.
Special in that it's old. -16 years old- and that it's had recent issues with it's anal glands -in that one swelled and burst-
And she believed it was the diet she'd been feeding her kitty originally, and so she'd switched to a different brand of dry food, only for the dry food to give her cat diarrhea, so she'd switched to yet a different brand of dry food, and had gone for a specific brand of wet food -different from the dry food- --the cans she couldn't find on the shelf today-- because that was the only thing that helped her cat seem to improve. Because she believed that particular can of wet food helped the cat out with the digestive issues she'd been having. And once that food seemed to be helping, she went to that dry food of a newer brand in our store. And that was helping too... as it contained within it probiotics to help out her kitty.
But it all boiled down to...the fact that the hard food she was feeding her cat...was just meant for Adult cats.
While there are brands of food meant for "Mature" cats. Which usually means 7 years or older, in some brands it's 11 years or older. And since her cat was 16...she wanted to feed her a food made more for her cat's needs.
Only problem? It couldn't be just any food for mature adults.
It had to be a food that had specific key words listed in the ingredients. A food with the right percentage of fiber and fat. A food that didn't have wheat as the second ingredient, or really any grains listed as the second ingredient. It had to be a food that contained probiotics, that was grain free.
And it seemed like every brand of food I'd try to show her...she'd find a reason why she didn't like it. Sometimes the reason was as simple as "I don't feel like I should get this one."
It even involved a trip over to our 'health' section to check out some digestive treats, and salmon oil things for her to try before we wandered back over to the food.
Because no matter what I showed her. She would still return to the brand of food that was for 'adult cats' that she was currently feeding her kitty.
But she didn't want to hear that "perhaps you should just stick with that one."
-Because really...if it's not hurting the cat, why change what's working?
But she wouldn't hear it.
She kept dithering between other brands.
Specifically one where she was like "I fed this to my cat for a while, but she didn't like it."
So I showed her a different option for mature cats in that same brand.
And finally.
After much dithering about it.
She finally decided to get it.
One more trip over to the health section for cats was involved to grab the salmon oil.
And finally.
Finally.
I was free of her.
45 freaking minutes later.
Keep in mind that this lady had found me basically right as my shift was ending.
And I had ended up spending an extra 45 minutes trying to get her to settle on a cat food for her to give her cat.
*exhales*
Technically like ten minutes into the process of helping her I could have transferred her over to a different coworker.
As our handy dandy new walkie-talkies allowed instant communication so they knew I was still with a customer and offered to take over.
But I decided not to.
For multiple reasons.
One...because since I was technically supposed to be off, I wasn't needed on the floor. Two. If this customer was going to take forever...then that meant a lot of other people that potentially couldn't have been helped because this woman had a tenacious hold on my attention and would not give it up willingly I could tell.
-I actually had to call my coworker over to help a different customer who had been hovering nearby for a couple of minutes also needing help. So my coworker was able to easily help them.
But mostly I didn't give this customer over to my coworker because she seemed like the sort that was easily overwhelmed. -considering she dithered for so long...it's not that hard to believe.
And if another coworker stepped in, they might tell her different things than I'd been telling her. (because we all have personal opinions, knowledge, experiences that influence what we tell customers.) I didn't want to have my coworker tell her something that would set everything back to point A again.
*exhales* Maybe I should have just let them bite that bullet.
But hey.
In the end, I got the customer to buy things she was basically satisfied with.
....I never did finish putting things back in the hamster cages though.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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