The Cat Issue

*exhales* Uuuugggghhhhh.

So.
It was like....Saturday I think? Maybe Friday? I don't know honestly, time works weird at work.
But there was a guy and a girl who came into work during my shift.
They were memorable mostly because both were in church clothes and both told me that they were going on missions. The guy in like four days apparently. 

And from what I could gather, it was just him and his mom at home.
So when he left for his mission...his mom would be by herself.
And he didn't want her to be alone.
So he'd come to the store on a mission to find a cat to adopt so he could give it to his mom.

Which is such a sweet concept!
And like...they were debating between three different cats before settling on a sweet Orange Tabby that just loved to have attention and such.

Though I had mentioned possibly bringing the mom into the store so she could pick out the cat herself?
But the son was like "Nah, I want to surprise her."

And I made sure to tell him....that we have no return policy when it comes to adopting out cats. So if there was an issue *fingers crossed that there wouldn't be* then he or his mom would have to contact the adoption group and not us in order to work out any issues with the cat. 

The son seemed confident that it all would be fine and went along with the adoption. Buying everything his mom would need and such. And leaving the store with the cat.

And I figured that that would be the last I'd hear of it.

*exhales*
Wrong.
So wrong.

I answered the phone today at work.
To find the mother on the other end....
Guess what?

She couldn't keep the cat. 
She didn't go into specifics. But the cat just wasn't working out for her and she wanted to return it. 

Problem?
We usually don't accept returns for the cats. The only time a cat is returned to our store is only after the adoption group gives permission for the people to bring the cat back to us.

But with it being a new month...we didn't have that option as we switch between adoption groups every month and the new group had just come in. 
And with the cages full and it being a different group....we couldn't accept the cat.

So the best I could do was offer to give her the number for the adoption group so she could get in contact with them.

But she also wanted to know if she could return all the stuff that had been purchased at the store.
Which yes, with the receipt she could.
Only....she didn't have the receipt because the son had thrown it away. (probably because he didn't want his mom knowing how much he'd spent for the cat)
She'd also wanted to know if they could get a refund for the cat. Which....I had no idea. The money goes straight to the adoption group, we don't keep any of it. It gets handed straight to them along with their copy of the paperwork. So it would be up to the group on whether or not they would return the money. I know there are cases where the paperwork states that the people forfeit the adoption fee if they end up returning the cat...though I wasn't sure if this group did that or not. 

In any case....
I told the woman I could look up the receipt if I had the son's phone number (if he used it) or the card he used to pay with...but without the receipt I wouldn't be able to return the products. 

Though the woman would need to contact the adoption group first in order to have the cat taken care of first....because like you can't really return things before the cat leaves the house....

But yah...
It's frustrating...frustrating that this is the situation because I don't know what information the son passed along to the mom. Obviously not the part about them having to contact the adoption group and not my work if there were issues with the cat. Nor apparently the part about letting the cat adjust as it had only been like two or three days...
*exhales*
I hope she managed to work things out. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi