Panicking...but Why?

I don't understand how the managers always get so stressed when our District Manager visits. 

Like...she comes in every other month it feels like.
And every time she says she's going to come in.
It's the same old panic.
Where the managers are rushing about to get the store looking clean and shiny and make sure all the planograms for our products are properly set.

*exhales*
And I don't get it.
I don't get why they stress so much about it.
I mean I'm probably missing some aspects of these visits.
Like the paperwork half of it where they sit in the office for forever looking at things.

But overall....
I feel like it's a lot of stress....for nothing. 
We usually do alright with these visits.
No one gets fired....

Yet every time the managers are like "It's gotta look perfect or we're getting FIRED!!!! AHHHH!!!!" 

….
I've yet to see a manager get fired after these visits. 
>.> No...they usually get fired for other reasons. 
But for a visit not going well?
Nope. 

But the managers still react like it's a strong possibility. 
And it makes them....paranoid.

Like today.

Today I had the bird bedding change to do. 
It was all normal things.
Normal procedure.
It was taking the normal amount of time to do things....
Like I'd just finished cleaning the cages and replacing the bedding for the birds, when I needed to go take a lunch before my fellow opener left for the day. 

I hadn't yet put back the perches or toys or food or water.
But that's a normal occurrence. 
I usually only get the cages cleaned before needing to go on lunch and then when I get back I put everything back in. 

Yet....
When I came back from lunch.
I discovered that my head manager had briefly switched out places with our cashier -who is also trained in my department, while my coworker was in the middle of helping a customer with a cat adoption--
But my manager had the cashier placing food and water in the bird cages.
Because he was concerned they'd gone too long without food and water.
And that he would get fired for not having food and water in the cages.

O.o

Like...…..
……..
I really didn't have words.

Because, yes, there was a rule waaaayyy back like four years ago? three years ago?
Where you're never supposed to let the animals be without food and water for long than...an hour I think?

But that was 3-4 years ago.
It's...well it hasn't been brought up in a long while.
Especially since the philosophy of opening changed to "Do the jobs while helping customers"
Which means that the bedding changes take a lot longer because they're done last, while the store is open, instead of first before the store is opened. 

It hasn't been an issue.
Due to customers the bedding changes can often take my entire shift.
But birds?
*shrugs*
That's an easy bedding change.
Normally doesn't take me longer than two or three hours depending on how many cages we have with birds in them and how dirty the glass is.
The birds have been fine without their food and water that long. 

But the way my manager was acting...it was like they were going to drop dead from starvation in the next fifteen minutes if we didn't.
Or he was going to get fired if we didn't. 

*shakes head* 
The birds today had only been without their food and water for a couple of hours by the point I got back from Lunch.
They would have gotten their food and water within the next 15-30 minutes depending on how much I was interrupted by customers.

So like...it was odd to have the manager freak out about it today.
When he hadn't before.
It hadn't been an issue for him before.
But for whatever reason he'd remembered that "one hour rule" today and figured that the DM would remember it and he'd get in trouble and...*exhales*
I don't know why he even thought of it.
The DM hardly ever spends any time in my department. Mostly she focuses on products on the shelves, and occasionally goes "Why is there nothing in this tank? How is the bedding change going?" 
And I answer "Oh those tanks are being cleaned today, or the cages are being cleaned, the bedding change is going good." 

Like...it's never a major issue.....

And it's one of those things where I doubt the manager is going to bring it up again after today.
Because the DM isn't going to be in tomorrow or next week (most likely) and sooo...why do we need to worry about how long the bedding change is taking or how long the animals don't have food and water in their cages while said bedding change is happening? 

So that's probably why I find it frustrating.
Because the managers only seem to notice my department if "things are going wrong"
or if "things aren't getting done quickly." 

If the DM hadn't come in today I doubt the head manager would have said anything.
I probably would have been the one to put out the food and water instead of the cashier.

Yah...
I don't get it.
I don't get the stress over these visits. 
I really don't.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi